Is it true you hold on to extra weight whilst breastfeeding..

[Twiglett]

if so how much?

see this .. this is what you call "clutching at straws"

I put on weight bfing both dd and ds. My doctor confirmed that some women won't lose weight cos of the hormones.

Although I must add that I'm sure I put on weight cos I'm a greedy bloater

I got back to pre preg weight about 8 weeks after DD now I'm 3lbs lighter than I was before I got preggers (DD 4 months) I think I put it down to the breastfeeding. Although being at home and not in a job that makes you eat food probably helps. I could do with losing another stone but I'll wait until after I stop BFing.

After ds and dd I didn't lose hardly any weight until I had stopped b/f . Maybe it is the hormones or maybe just my appetite re-adjusted back to normal.

Havnt read all the other posts so may be repeating someone but - NO!!! I was at my thinnest when i was b/feeding - i thought i would lose the extra half stone i wanted to when i gave up. But i actually put on a good half stone. I never realised just how many calories b/feeding burns up!

Yep, i gained 1 stone each boob and one stone each bum cheek!

Gained 25 Kilos (not sure how many pounds this is) whilst preg - after birth 7 kilos lighter - after six weeks 16 kilos lighter - lost rest as well by bf. Eat well & have never dieted. For me bf used up the weight gain in preg.

Oh stop it Cardigan!! It's not fair! I dreamed of losing weight while breastfeeding.... I am obviously better designed to survive famines than you are

first two times I lost weight when breastfeeding, but this time I'm 3 stone overweight (1 stone gained since giving birth, oink) and can't seem to lose it at all. Of course not eating like a fat huge greedy pig might help

I am very skinny after breastfeeding all four of my children, but I had a lot of leftover weight after ds1 which didn't go until I had ds2. I believe a lot of the fat you retain to help with b/fing is in the upper arms and places like that rather than the tummy.

aloha is lying! she is gorgeously thin and beautiful!

Anyone who has lost weight whilst bf - don't suppose you could give a typical day's food intake so I can see just how much I am overeating??! Can't stand my baby pouch for much longer!

I've never dieted. I don't eat three meals per day but breaffast & a main meal with lots of snacks in between. Don't really know what I eat but could keep track of it. Today I had two waffles for breakfast & some choc cereal from dds bowls. Had bread for a snack & four choc biscuits. Lunch was scrambled egg with cream, onion & tomato on toast. Had bread for snack pm plus some nuts. Had pizza for dinner & 4 fruit yogurts whilst on pc. Had some bread for a snack plus some cake with cream filling. Water, coffee & herbal tea. Plus had some sweets I found in cupboard! According to the diets in mags I should be bigger than I am. I normally eat much more than today but I was busy. I bf on demand so perhaps this hoovers up the calories?

Hmmm, sounds about my ballpark foodwise! I am feeding on demand too (ds 11 weeks). Am in jeans but size bigger than pre-preg. Also, feel sooo huge cos tits are so massive! My bra size is bloody 38D, was 34B pre-preg. Will they deflate a bit with more breastfeeding? Will have to keep feeding ds till he is a teenager to lose the fat at this rate!

I have posted before my favourite fact, that supposedly breastfeeding for a day uses up equivalent calories to two hours' coal mining! I seem to be staying the same shape despite eating lots of really carbohydratey stuff. Today I had muesli and a banana for breakfast, cullen skink and buttered roll for lunch (and half a guinness)( it was a pub lunch) then revoltingly large cappucino flavoured muffin, a pear and some dried mango for a snack (that lunch wasn't big enough!) and for tea pasta and stir fried veg/tofu and a yoghurt. Feel I am realy needing my fuel at the moment. When I stop feeding DD I will no doubt balloon. Interesting if it's different for different people... I just assumed everyone had this...

Totally varies, I think. Honestly.

That's no bloody consolation is it, sorry!

I'm really, REALLY hoping that my appetite will decrease when I stop bf, and that I'll stop craving sugar in particular, so that my 1.5 extra stone will magically disappear.

Can anyone please tell me that this happened to them????

I didn't change weight at all between my 6-week check and begining to give up breastfeeding (about 17m), despite eating pretty much whatever I wanted. I was ravenous during the early months of feeding. I did shrink inch-wise, mostly because of the 'X number of sit-ups a day' threads, and throwing my children around. In the 4-5m between starting cutting down the feeds and giving up completely I lost about 1 stone and went down one dress-size. Once I dropped the last feed I plummetted 2-3 bra-sizes .

I'd love to see a decent survey into this - because anecdotally some women say breastfeeding helped them back into shape, whilst others swear they couldn't lose the extra pounds until they stopped feeding.

Personally I ate like a horse when breastfeeding, and there's no way I would normally have been able to eat that much without piling on the pounds, instead of which I was positively shrinking. Marvellous.

The NCT reckon in their breastfeeding awareness quiz that bf uses up 500 extra calories a day, which can't be a bad thing. But maybe some women's bodies adapt to store up fat in response to this extra demand on their body.

I definitely lost weight bf. It almost seemed to just melt off. The only conscious thing that I did was to make an effort to not eat junk food.

I have seen a scientific study of this, published in the British Medical Journal or similar. In their controlled study, women who breastfed for at least a few months, had lost on average 2kg (4lb) more by the end of 12 months (ie by the baby's first birthday) than women who did not breastfeed. so in other words not really very different. and it doesn't say in the study whether those women lost it while bf or after stopping, but most of them would have stopped by 1 year.

I'm another who stays fat til stopping the breastfeeding.

Not had time to read all this but...

Early days bf (until about 6 months) I ate loads and had a massive appetite but still lost weight.

6+ months when the feeds dropped off I didn't have the same appetite and the weight loss slowed down.

Dropped 7 pounds the moment I gave up bf.