impossible to lose weight while breast feeding... isn't it ?

[mrsnoah]

Is it just a big white lie they tell you at the clinic that you regain your figure back quicker by breast feeding ?

Don't seem to have lost anything since the birth except the weight of the baby 3 months ago!!

Am NOT dieting..walking very fast everywhere but still it ain't budging!

Anyone else the same?

But exercise has several effects on your body (including increasing metabolism and muscle mass, with muscle burning energy faster than fat) which for almost everyone will result in net weight loss DESPITE the increased appetite it may also cause. There may be a few unfortunate individuals who find the increased appetite isn't outweighed by the other effects, but if so they are very much in the minority.
With breastfeeding on the other hand, it appears that whatever the mechanism, the net effect for a signficant number of people, possibly a majority, is that there is no weight loss (and sometimes this is despite people making great efforts). It would therefore be correct to say 'Breastfeeding MAY help you lose weight', which is clearly the case for some people, but to imply that it WILL is misleading.

Are you taking your information from your own observations Kathy, or do you have some evidence to back this up?

I never lose weight while bf

Am sticking to my ww points pretty strictly and I BET I will not lose any weight until I give up bf

still I'd rather breastfeed than be skinny

Do you mean the comment about the effectiveness of exercise, or the mechanism by which it works? If so this is fairly basic common knowledge, isn't it? (And I'm sorry but I'm not going to go around hunting for references on exercise helping you lose weight - I'm not that bored.)

If you mean on the bf part of my post, I haven't made any scientific claims, just said that it appears that lots of people don't lose weight while bf even if they try to. You can see that from this thread and others on MN, and it's a fairly common thing for people to say in RL, so I don't see what evidence you need beyond that unless you think they're all lying.

To be honest I don't see why you have so much of a problem with my post - I've just agreed with other posters who've said that some people lose weight while bf and some don't, so we shouldn't get told everyone does. Fairly uncontroversial, I would have thought.

I have fed five !!!!
Saggy boobs ?..yes ! 8 month olds gumming a nipple and staring round the room with it in ? yes thats the final sagging straw
Losing weight ...NOT whilst doing it BUT and its a biggy...i think when i stop IT drops!!!
I am four months in and back to normal ish weight but Looking nasty due to butch 'up top' when i stop it will go sharpish and that i have b/f ing to thank ( bad english)

I lost lots of weight while breastfeeding DS2, but sadly not while breastfeeding DS3. And the excess is all still there around my midriff - eek!

LOL Kathy

No I didn't mean the exercise bit although I was interested to read your explanation of it

I meant had there been a study showing that the calories burned led some people to lose weight through breastfeeding while others didn't, because of some mysterious scientific reason that I can't imagine (not my area of expertise at all)

Your argument was quite convincing and I was fully prepared to believe you were right. I was questioning you rather than other posters, because it sounded like you had read up on it and were telling us about something that was already proven, whereas other people were clearly speaking anecdotally.

However if it is just anecdotal, I think it is just the case that some people lose weight while breastfeeding because they are eating about the amount that their body needs, less a bit, and some people don't because they are eating a lot more than they need. It isn't the fault of the breastfeeding.

I don't think anyone is lying. It's obvious some people are going to lose weight in one set of circumstances while others aren't, if they are eating different amounts. However breastfeeding will use up extra calories in all women - it's impossible for it not to - and so I don't see how it can be said that it doesn't help you to lose weight.

I don't have such a problem with your posts, at all, I think they're very interesting. I just don't agree with them

I'm at least 2 sizes smaller than I was pre-pregnancy. been bf for 9 months now.
It's the only time in my life that i can eat anything i want and still lose. (as i tuck into another tunnock's caramel wafer...)

Hate to say I walked out of Hospital in my pre pg jeans and after 6 weeks bf my mum begged me to give it up because I had shed a further stone ...... (its all back with a vengence now thou...)

Sorry Franny, I was getting a bit defensive there . Thank you for saying nice things about my posts.

Actually I'm sure I remember reading about different studies that argue both ways - ie there was a study that claimed people did and another that claimed they didn't! But don't quote me on that as I don't remember the details.
I don't think anything was said about how it all worked though.

I agree with you that the most likely thing seems to be that some people eat more than they need and some people eat less (well, I suppose it's always going to come down to that in the end!). There could be other factors involved - maybe bf has an effect on metabolism, or maybe you get less exercise when you're sitting around on a sofa for ages - but what the factors are isn't really important to my argument here. In my case there was definitely an effect on appetite (ie I ate like a pig for 6 months - yum yum, summer fruits with mascarpone and Greek yoghurt, worth the bf just for that....) and the reason why I think you can blame the bf is that it does seem to have been the bf that caused the change in my appetite - the moment I stopped bf I stopped wanting to eat the mascarpone and Greek yoghurt. So my argument would be that the 500 extra calories burn-up came as part of a whole bf package: I got to burn the calories but only at the price of needing to eat more to feel ok.

The thing is, you can't separate the 500 calories thing from whatever other effects bf is having on your body - if you choose to bf you have to accept the whole deal. If it's the bf that's causing the appetite increase (or metabolism slowdown or lack of exercise or whatever it might be in your case) then it's the bf that is effectively cancelling out any effects that the 500 calories thing is having, so you can only say bf will help you lose weight if you're one of the lucky women that gets that package that consists of a greater calorie burn-up but no counteracting appetite increase/metabolism slowdown/hours spent on sofa or whatever.

ps sorry if I was writing in a way that made me look like I knew more than I did - bad habit born of trying to convince students I know stuff when I don't

Ye-es

I am grudgingly willing to admit I agree with some of that

Don't worry about defensiveness, I think my question about "have you got evidence for that?" probably came across as a bit aggressive - sorry, I just meant "if so I'm interested in reading it, please?"

I do see what you are saying but I reckon unless you go berserk eating, you will naturally lose weight while BFing. I ate like a horse for the first year and the weight dropped off me fairly easily. I do see it is different for everyone, but I still think the idea that it's misleading for HVs to say BF will help with weight loss, is a bit unfair.

I am wondering whether breastfeeding styles have an impact here? I fed on demand, and my god did DS demand He fed all through the day and all through the night, and never stopped. I wonder if a few spaced out feeds a day have the same effect as constant feeding?

so, a question - I am still feeding ds (21 months) quite a bit (have managed to cut him down to approx 4-5 feeds a day). does the calorie-burning of bfing get less as they get older? I have lost loads of weight since having him whilst eating like a pig but only now am being strict with self (ww) is the last stone finally going.

The less milk they take from you, the less calories it will be using up, dinny. Just keep an eye on it - I noticed my weight was creeping up because I was eating the same way as I had been for a couple of years but ds had cut down on breastfeeding a lot. My appetite is a lot less now - just pay attention to your body.

I agree franny, I was serving myself huge dp portions towards the end of feeding ds2, out of habit more than hunger

I really believe listening to your body works, but can be a pita as my body's hunger isn't always consistent with family mealtimes I've found that I ask myself 'am I really hungry?' before eating since the birth of dd and I'm sure that, combined with bfeeding has helped me to get back to my normal size.

Hi, I found myself in the same situation.
When i tried to eat low fat I found that the milk supply get less. Was getting rather depressed about it. Couldn't get into any of my old clothes and had to wear maternity trousers still 4-5 months after the birth of DS (now 6months).
But then suddenly, about a month ago it went. My belly is still soft and a bit chubby, but I fit in my normal trousers again even though they are a bit tighter.
So don't give up hope...

Not read all posts (just first few) but it took me this time (2nd child) about 6mths to lose weight and end up slimmer and lighter than pre-pregnancy. About a stone lighter in fact. Am still breastfeeding at 15mths...

After 1st child though, I lost weight much quicker - down to being younger I reckon!

why does it drop off some people when they stop bfing? does it really?

Oh - I haven't been dieting either, just lots of walking.

I'm still bf and it just went very suddenly around 5 months... Don't know why or why it didn't happen sooner, but i'm glad it did go in the end...

I had been following WW very varefullt adn hadn't lost an ounce. The, when DS2 got more into solids and I cut his feds down, I lost half a stone without doing anything different. When I stopped completely I lost a stone in less than 3 months.
Don't know why it does it but it certainly did it for me!

F&Z, I think a lot of it has to do with your natural metabolism and attitude to food. Given that my weight started going down, both times, around the time I stopped feeding on demand, and particularly when I stopped feeding in the night, I don't think demand feeding is the thing.

Actually, though, the sleep dep might well be a factor. When tired, I really really want sweet foods, to get a bit more energy. (I also cope poorly with sleep dep.) Once I started sleeping more, I started biking more, and wanting more exercise, and feeling more energetic, and maybe wanting less rubbish?

I do stop losing weight when I stop bf. I think. This time around, the weight loss has been more severe, thanks to more running, and mourning, and everything else.

Oh, and I do know people who've put on weight when they stopped bf, as they kept eating the same quantities, out of habit.

Hmm Dinny, lets hope so!
(while nibbling lettuce leaf)

Toddler diet in my house means simply eating their tea AND dinner with Dh later on too !

My actual weight shown on the scales is same, but skirt waistlines seem to be better. Am I simply developing arm muscles while heaving oversized 4mth old ds around ?

I'm nearly at lightest weight I've been but still have vile tummy. does that go when you stop bfing (please!) oh, and boobs, do they disappear?

no and yes dinny..
!!
Tummy does go - just takes a while!