Breastfeeding slowing the metabolism

[TheAlphaParent]

Hi everyone. I've heard a lot of people say that breastfeeding actually caused them to retain their excess weight. Why might this be? I can't get my head around it. Could breastfeeding alter the metabolism? I know for some people when they're breastfeeding their appetite sky rockets, but surely by keeping to a healthy calorie controlled diet the weight should come off?

I always thought it had been proved that people with higher metabolisms are the ones who are overweight.

Oh and excess weight doesn't happen to everyone, some struggle to maintain weight.

Very interesting. Do you have any links to info that people with higher metabolisms are the ones who are overweight? Is it merely because their large size needs more calories to maintain itself?

I'm specifically interested in how breastfeeding helps or hinders weight loss. Science and common sense suggest that breastfeeding should aid weight loss. It consumes extra calories.

However many people have told me that breastfeeding caused them to retain weight. Why might this be?

I started a thread asking the same question a few weeks ago. Click here

My usual weight is about 8st 10lb. I'll eat a lot if it's put in front of me but I don't generally think much about food and sometimes forget to eat much lunch if I'm busy, without feeling particularly hungry.

Now I'm BF 5 month old DD, I find that if I don't eat and drink quite a lot, regularly, I feel really rough. I get tired, lightheaded, grouchy and, I'm not quite sure of the best way to describe it.....dessicated maybe, like the calcium is being sucked from my teeth and the moisture from my fingertips. It's not pleasant, so I make sure I eat and drink more than normal to stop myself from feeling like this. I'm only a stone heavier than normal, which is fine except none of my skirts or trousers fit. I'm hoping normality will return once I've stopped BF.

I'm normally 9 stone and able to eat pretty much what I want. Normally 90% is fresh and healthy, 10% treats. I was 12 stone when I was full term. 13 weeks of breast feeding and I'm stuck at 10 stone 10. Just can't seem to shift the weight. When I had DC1 I only breast fed for a few days. The weight dropped off after that with no effort. I have wondered if breast feeding is making me hold on to the weight.

I never lost any weight bf both my dd's and ebf them 4 6months each. I've still got my mummy tummy and dd is 9mo. I've now signed up 2 fitness classes 2 remove some of it, as ppl keep asking me when I'm due With dd1 it was worse, as was knackered, felt like the nrg had been drained from me, as she used 2 feed so much, but dd2 only needed 4 or 5 feeds a day, but she was born bigger, and I was HUGE.
Although, my tummy did go down really quick after birth, it then just stayed. There are 21 months between my 2 x

I don't see how anyone could know for certain that it was breastfeeding that 'caused' them to retain weight. Seems more likely that ...

• Any potential weight loss was cancelled out because they were eating extra calories and/or being less physically active
• They had unrealistic expectations of how quickly they would lose weight
• It was just a coincidence - perhaps they stopped breastfeeding at about the same time as starting to lose weight and wrongly concluded that one caused the other.

Breastfeeding, although helpful, doesn't change the fundamentals of weight loss, which are reducing calorie intake and upping activity levels. Both of these are challenging when you have a new baby.

I am ebf my 5 month old. I used to be an exercise junkie pre baby. I am now 4 stone over my usual weight and stuck at the same weight since losing the 2 stone of baby and water after birth. I can not shift the weight at all. However, I am eating alot more than usual -agree with cuppa tea I HAVE too eat otherwise I feel awful also breast feeding mums I am sure have less sleep than bottle mums coz they have to feed more often as babies metabolise human milk quicker so less sleep means you eat more to keep going - well I do anyway!!
My mother said her weight dropped off when feeding me and my bro but my friends said that they felt weight didnt shift until they stopped as if their bodies held on to the weight.
ALSO with Bf. youre sat down alot through the day which cant help. I havent got the energy I used to have. I would do 2 hours swimming and aerobics even when pregnant until 3 weeks before the birth and would do 4 hours heavy gym work/5-6 mile runs pre pregnancy every day. Now I cant believe I did this because I would struggle to walk 5 miles. I am pretty sure this is because of the demands of producing milk combined with lack of sleep = not losing weight.
I would think that youre metabolism is quicker with milk as you are using more energy, and larger people generally have faster metabolisms (watched a programme about this once comparing a fat friend with her thin friend and they scientifically proved fat one had faster met. than thin one). the more often you eat, the more energy you burn and the size you are and the amount of muscle you have effects metabolism.

I ate really carefully and exercised regularly pre pregnancy. I have bf my DS for 6 months now and i am now the same size as I was. I eat more than I did before and although I walk a lot, I am not the gym bunny I was before. I think breastfeeding has massively helped me with weight loss, I am almost reluctant to stop as I will have to go back to calorie counting again...it's ruined my boobs though!

I joined Slimming World at 8w pp. I got an amazing amount of healthy extras (most of the time I couldn't eat them all) and lost well over two stone by six months. The thing is the weight loss is reliant on you controlling your calorie intake, and what's quick and easy, isn't what's low fat, filling and healthy!

Gem, breastfeeding mothers get more sleep actually www.scienceandsensibility.org/?p=3618

Strawberry, breastfeeding wrecked your boobs?

It certainly didn't wreck my boobs! They are still lovely

However, bf has not aided weight loss. I compensate for the extra calories by eating more. Weight loss for me has only happened by calorie counting.

I lost 3 stone the first 6 months of bf and ate loads each day (would feel horrid if I didn't) I ended up just under 2 stone lighter than before I got pregnant! BF works for me.

Bf makes me ravenous. First month both times has required constant high-cal eating, eg whole quiches, chocolate and cereal in the night, etc.

Now after 10 weeks its a bit more sane but still need 5 meals a day. With little energy to cook I need to take care I don't just fill up on cake and biscuits.

After a year of bf was same size but with breasts 2 cup sizes bigger. After 10 weeks with dc2 its the same, but hopefully the breasts will get smaller so I can fit normal clothes (34/6 G/H)

I don't think there is a "one size fits all" where bf'ing is concerned. I'm sure the hormone balance can affect weight retention/loss but don't really know how.

I do know that I lost all the weight I'd put on in pg (11kg) in 2 weeks; and that while I bf DS, I didn't really put any on again despite my 100g chocolate a day habit (500cals!) UNTIL I stopped bf'ing. So for me it was good for weight loss - but I also know people who can't lose weight until they stop bf'ing. Didn't knacker my boobs either - and I was 40 when I had DS.

Am a few lbs heavier than before pregnancy. Didn't put on much during pregnancy. Have been bf for 4.5 months and definitely not eating more than usual so....