Did breastfeeding help you lose weight?

[MangoJuiceAddict]

hey, I was wondering about others' experiences of breastfeeding and weight loss. Did breastfeeding actually help you to lose weight? I breastfed my daughter for 8 months and didn't lose any weight... I gained it as I was so hungry and constantly craved sugar for energy! So is the 'breastfeed to lose the babyweight' saying an old wives' tale? My mum and mother in law both swore it was true but my experience definitely says otherwise!

No!

I can sadly assure you, after an extended test process, it does not. Nor does it make your boobs, bigger, smaller, firmer or saggier.

Basically it does nothing at all except make DD2 happy, which I guess is most important of all.

Yes, I have lost a fair bit and am in trousers I haven't worn for years. HOWEVER this is due in large part to the fact I had zero appetite for the final month of pregnancy and for weeks after DS was born. I had to force myself to eat little things here and there. I couldn't face eating and there was nothing at all I wanted. Not a good way to lose weight!

No. I was actually 1.5 st. heavier when I stopped BFing at around 7m than I was immediately after giving birth . I blame all the thickly buttered toast I craved. I've lost it all now though and am still slowly losing having been on a bit of a plateau for ages.

I lost weight - 4 stone - but I was calorie counting all tat time, excercising and consciously losing weight.

I ate my full compliment of crap and still do

I initially lost weight pretty quickly. I literally lost about a stone in a week post birth, another stone over the next month or so, another few pounds over the next month, and am now stuck at about half a stone above my pre baby weight, and have been for a while now. DS is now 4 months. I havent been eating that healthily though so im pleased under the circumstances but think i might have to start eating a lot healthier now to lose the last bit. It is a bit frustrating because if i was bottle feeding I would probably go on a bit of a crash diet to lose the final bit in all honesty!

I was lighter than my pre-baby weight at dds first jabs (I remember being a bit concerned about my weight so I asked the nurse if I could step on her scales.) Ate much cake for the first year or so in an attempt to keep weight on. That was quite a hard habit to lose! By 2 she wasn't feeding a great deal and I'm probably now just comfortably above where I started.

Yes... BUT... I was also a lot more active after DS was born than I was in my sedentary day job. So for example I would get out for walks often and push him in his pram to things locally rather than drive.

I lost LOADS but I think I was also eating well and doing a lot of walking. I did eat my fair share of cake but didn't go overboard.

I may have also lost weight in the final months of pregnancy as I was eating small meals as I felt too full and obviously wasn't drinking alcohol as I had been before so I think that helped.

Yes, I think so, though to be honest I didn't put all that much on. Only a couple of stone, one of which was gone by the time I got home from hospital, another half a stone over the next couple of weeks, and the final half by 2 or 3 months. I'm still BFing at 8 months, my weight's pretty steady and my diet is SHITE. Cake/crisps/choc most days. But I find I get faint and hungry if I don't eat loads - on a par with when I was training for a half-marathon.

On the other hand my usually v v skinny friend was slightly 'soft' looking when BFing, and then went back to normal super-slimness once she'd stopped.

So basically, everyone's different.

It's pretty interesting I reckon. I wonder why women's bodies react so differently.

Yes, I think I do/did.

I've never dieted & only vaguely monitor my weight. I'm currently bfing DS (#2).

I think with both my pg I put on about 18kg. I started out slightly lighter with DS than DD though.

I bf DD for 9mths. I was back in my Dorothy Perkins size 10 jeans at 10wks post-birth & definitely didn't do anything regarding diet to lose weight. In fact, pg & bfing make me want high-carb/crap food. DD fed a lot but wasn't a big baby & gained quite slowly (9th centile & put on 'minimum' wkly gain according to HV), so it wasn't as if I was making a chunky baby. I did walk a fair bit too - I liked walking with the pram in the warm weather.

I did hang on to a touch extra weight - I was at the top end of my 'usual' weight until I stopped feeding DD & then lost the last 2-3kg. However, I did have appendicitus at that time too, hence stopping a bit earlier than I liked, so it might have 'helped' the weight loss.

DS is not quite 7mo & I'm back to my heavier 'normal' weight. I'm not quite in all my usual clothes, although my jeans fit again at about 20+wks post-birth, as my waist & boobs are still bigger. I am still eating like a pig though, so hope that when he feeds less/stops altogether, the last 2-3kg will fall off. DS is a boob-monster (& now loving food!!) and put on a 1lb in just over his first wk, so a lot of my extra calories are definitely going into him! I'm walking less because its trickier with a 3yo.

I also tend to eat more in winter/the cold, and as DD was a spring baby, compared to winter DS, & its been the longest winter EVER this yr, that might have contributed. Hopefully will the usual summer diet of salads etc I can drop those last few pounds...

I think I'm lucky though. I'm pretty much always able to eat what I want/balance the naughty with the nice, so despite definitely favouring junk when pg/bfing, I don't gain or lose to much.

I'm currently bf and I lost all my pregnancy weight straight after birth. It's the best diet I've ever been on - but I'm not a small lady to begin with lol so it's a lovely side effect. I'm lighter than I was when I fell pregnant and I feel like I eat a lot of cake. I'm amazed by the effect. Of course, considering I'm a size 16/18 most people will just assume it's had no effect at all, but the difference is fab. If I didn't eat so much cake, I would probably be even thinner!!

I'm 3 months in and now struggle to get my MATERNITY jeans over my thighs! How is this possible?! With my first I stopped bf and went back to work after a year and as we have scheduled meal breaks and not allowed to eat between them, my weight went back to pre pregnancy size.

No haven't lost any weight 6 months on. Whatever weight I lost came off immediately but since then nothing. Which is fine though because I am eating a lot more than I normally would just because I'm so hungry all the time.

Just hoping my appetite returns to normal when I stop bf.

My weight stayed static, literally didnt lose or gain a single pound whatever i ate until DS2 started having solids. He's now almost eight months and I've lost 1st 5lb by eating sensibly and tracking food (and biscuits!) using myfitnesspal. Now working on shifting DS1 baby weight (though cant really hold him responsible given he's almost 5! ).

Yes. Lost all pg weight within a few months.
Now wishes I had Maintained it...... Dreams .....

I put on weight when bfing. Tons. I just felt dizzy with hunger all the time unless I ate alot . With pg and bfing I put on 5 stone . Started losing weight as soon as I dropped to one feed a day (which I am still doing) and have managed to finally lose all 5 stone [proud]

DS1: struggled to keep weight on but he was an easy pfb so we dashed around doing cool stuff.

DD: weight also melted off but was dashing around with DS1

DTs: Am huge, hungry and getting bigger. Other DCs are older and semi independent and feeding the twins has kept me pinned to the sofa and stuck in the house.
Now I can feed them individually and get a few hours between feeds, I'm hoping the weight will come off as we start to get out more.

I think the moral of the story is that no amount of bfing can compensate for sitting on your arse all day eating lovely lovely cake!

I didn't lose any weight until I stopped bf DS at 16 months. I started to lose weight then fell pregnant again a month later so I'm piling it back on again!

Yes. DS is eight weeks and I've been back at size 10 for the last two weeks. Boobs still 30j though, so any blouses and shirts gape badly.

I don't have much of an appetite though, just a raging thirst!

Bf takes up 500 cals a day. I don't think you can blame bf for NOT losing weight if your inhaling sugar.

I know. I lost 3stone with dd1. Dd2 I've eaten and apart from immediate weight I've not lost any more. So I'm now laying off extras and its starting to shift.

It did for me

Size 6 pre pregnancies with both DCs, size 10 during pregnancy, after breastfeeding back to a size 6

Yes, like crazy. I easily went to 1kg less than pre-pregnancy weight. Was ravenous all the time and could hardly keep up with the sustenance my body needed. Hope it'll be the same this time around! I have to say though I'm not a big snacker or consumer of baked goods. Baked goods are evil when it comes to trying to lose weight.

Yes. I ended up underweight at 8 st and had to really up the puddings to get back to a 'healthy' bmi

Oh yes. It was heaven - calorie amnesty. I could anything I liked and the weight just kept melting off. Trouble is, as others have mentioned, I got into the habit of eating all sorts of junk, and once I stopped bf'ing the weight piled on till I was heavier than my full term pregnancy weight. I'm still battling to get it off. So perhaps those of you who have to watch what you eat while you breastfeed are better off after all