Weight loss and breastfeeding

[washngo]

I am ebf-ing my four month old. Weight loss is absolutely no part of my decision to do this but, out of interest do any of you find you have lost weight while bfing? I lost a bit after giving birth, but not as much as I'd like. A friend said something along the lines of "I can't lose weight while bfing, so I'll lose it after". Why might this be? Is it just because you have a bigger appetite when bfing? Has anyone else ha this experience? I will continue to bf whatever, jus wondered! (should prob have called the thread "will I get thin one day???)

I put out a thread on this a few weeks ago as my Mum insisted that she never lost weight until she stopped breast feeding(bf 4 kids). I too have not lost any weight at all. Am so hungry all the time and have no wilpower. It seems that some lose weight during bf and some don't just depends who you are I guess...I am still clinging on to the idea that I will lose some when I stop as after 7 months I still haven't lost the baby weight while all the other mums around me have..:)

i've been ebf-ing my DD for 13 weeks and I'm now about 10lbs under my pre-pregnany weight. I lost most of my baby weight in the first few weeks then have continued to lose weight at a rate of a pound or so most weeks.

Breastfeeding does burn extra calories so as long as you're not eating extra (hard to do when your tired and hungry all the time :)) then in theory you should lose weight.

However I know this question has been asked before on this board and there seems to be a 50/50 split between those who lost weight while BF and those who didn't.

I EBF for almost 6 months and I put on weight steadily, such that I weighed almost the same 6 months after giving birth as I weighed just before he was born. But I was hungry all the time and had no willpower so at loads.

He is now 6 months and I am back at work; he is currently being mixed feed - at the moment its half BM and half formula, and I am on v strict diet. Have already lost 3lbs in week 1.

I suspect that I put the weight on as I ate a lot! I know from past experience with DD and DS1 that to loose weight after breastfeeding I need to be on v strict diet.

SO back to your question - will I be thin one day? In respect of myself, only on a strict diet.

think the answer is some do/ some don't. I DO
and love BF as a result yes i am very vain
I am a stone under my normal weight as a direct result of BF (and having 2 under 2)

i lost weight during pregancy and then gained it during BF i always thought it would be the other way around myself but not for me unfortunately i have found it extremely hard to shift the weight post BF aswell whereas it was relatively easy for me to lose weight pre-preg

i suppose the answer is...everyone is different

My mum reckons she was back down to her pre-pregnancy weight of 9 stone within 6 weeks of all her children's births due to breastfeeding. She did say the key was not eating for two though

I'm ravenous all the time though, and don't want to be thin enough to stop eating.

I never lost weight while I was still doing night feeds. If I'm tired, I crave sugar, and eat crap, to keep myself vaguely awake and functional. So I don't lose weight. Once each of mine was sleeping through, I stopped wanting to eat crap, and started feeling like exercising more.

Me too moonunit! Could literally eat all day long and actually have to remind myself I'm not pregnant anymore and have no excuse for the scoffing! Hopefully I'll stop feeling pemanently hungry at some point (although it seems like breastfeeding may not be the reason for it). Oh well I suppose there's no magic answer as far as losing weight goes-diet it is (maybe I'll start next week....)

I'm slimmer than I was before I got pregnant. I'm exclusively b/feeding, DD is 9 weeks old - I weighed myself a couple of days before I gave birth and I've lost 17kg so far. It is slowing down now. I have been eating crap as well - craving sugar as I'm so tired.

This is all well and good but unless I become very strict about what I eat, it will definitely creep back on when we wean, going by my experience with DS.

Best weight loss programme I've embarked on though - sitting on my fat ass for hours at a time, eating shite and shedding pounds.