Reasure Me. I'm not the only BF mom who eat's enough to supply a small army?

[Treadmillmom]

DC3 is 5 weeks old and exclusively BF.
My appetite has gone through the window.
I cannot stop thinking about or eating food.
I'm aware that you apparently need to eat 500 more calories than your daily allowance, but this is ridiculous.
Yesterday I ate:
Oatmeal porridge with raisons.
Fish finger sandwich.
The remains of DC1 & DC2's lunch.
Muller Corner Yoghurt.
Pasta with sausage and pesto and pine nuts.
The remains of DC1 & DC2's dinner.
Apple.
Tea Cake.
4 Custard Creams.
2 Chocolate Wafers.
1/2 a packet of toffee popcorn.
Huge bowl of Cheerios.
4 cups of tea.
2 glasses of juice.
2 glasses of water.
2 glasses of milk.
And I still wanted more...

Me too! BF DD 22 weeks on Tuesday... I am always hungry.

Yesterday I ate:

4 pieces toast & jam
Milky coffee
Glass of grapefruit juice
Bowl of lentil & sausage soup
Pain au chocolat
3 Apples
Bowl of granola & milk
3 big cups of decaf tea
2 litres of water
Bowl of leek & taleggio risotto
Salad
Several roasted chestnuts
Chocolate bar

And could definitely have eaten more, if only I'd had the chance and the time!

Like MM I'm not losing any weight (though I did to begin with before I realised that I needed to eat more if I wasn't to become a skeleton), but I'm not gaining any either.

You are not alone.

IMHO you aren't eating a huge amount considering you are needing 2500 calories a day AT LEAST to maintain your body weight.

It's the Bridget Jones mentality, sold to us by the diet industry, that the ideal number of calories for a woman to intake is zero, and we should feel bad unless we are aiming for it. Penthasileia, you especially don't seem to have a great deal of actual food in your diet, it's very liquid and therefore low calorie.

Eat the same food and quantities as you did before and instead of getting hungry and having biscuits and 3 apples in a day and endless soup and salad, have another decent sized meal, a proper one like a big jacket potatoe with half a tin of baked beans.

Funnily enough, my DH just read this post over my shoulder and said 'that's not a lot of food'.

Hmm, doesn't sound excessive? DH is doing all the cooking and will sometimes forget that yes, we DO need plenty of carbs with dinner! We joke that DD's right forearm is all bourbon creams, her left calf is melton mowbray pies, and her tummy is mashed potatoes. I've found I'm eating a lot more, but I'm trying to make it good calories. The microwaveable sachets of rice with a tin of tuna a good lunch - and scoff at the "serves 2" on the front of the packet .

I went from not being even able to finish a bowl of soup when preggers toeating EVERYTHNG in sight when breastfeeding. Went for tapas with some friends and certainly ate more than my share!!!!!

Yes totally starving constantly. That 'eating for two' myth is only coming into its own now, after tummy squeezed to the size of a pea when pregnant like you say LBAM! Am indulging now, it is the best excuse I've ever had, don't remember feeling full for weeks!

I am starving. 9 months of hyperemesis...appetite back with avengence - I could eat what you list as a days food before breakfast lol.

Keep doing that standing in front of the fridge thing eating whatever comes to hand...

I have never eaten SO much in my life as I did in the first 3 or 4 months of breastfeeding- it was utterly ridiculous!

Thankfully my appetite lessened, and by the time I stopped at 17mo, it was mostly back to normal.

Should have said- my weight was back to pre-pg by the time dd was 6mo- so don't worry! Your body is telling you that you need more energy- listen to it

Don't make me worry! I just went to check the calorie content of a few bits, and:

bread: 110 cal per slice (thick wholemeal stuff) so 4 = 440
granola & milk = 337
pain au chocolat = 240
chocolate = 258

That's the stuff with wrappers to check; figure the risotto with cheese must be around 500.

So, with all the other stuff, I think it's ok - I hope!

10mths of bf-ing and still eating my own body weight every day!

Only downside is that sometimes I can't sleep at night for the hunger!

Ditto on masses of food and LO is 8 mos.

I think it's funny that the stereotype of pg is eating lots - I was inconsistent during pg but have never felt so hungry as I did/do BF.

Stop counting calories - make sure it's generally healthy and then just eat away! If you are a BF and hungry means you and LO need it!

yesterday I ate:

3 sausages and beans and 2 doorstops of bread at 9am . washed down with coffee and oj.

at 11 am I had 2 weetabix and raisins with semi skimmed milk

at 2pm I had a large roast lamb sandwich and a plate of chips with an orange/mango smoothie.

at 7 pm I had a large soup bowl of home made chicken rogan josh and rice with broccoli.

I have no idea how much calories those had but it all tasted fantastic.

bfing a 5 wk old and a sneaky 3.5 yo who has 3 feeds a day.

much? much? many!

Funny SmugColditz, pudding25 that you think that's not much food! It seems likes masses when you're constantly grazing.
Well you've made me feel much better, I'm gonna chow down for England.
Thanks for everyone that responded, I feel less self concious now and off to make some toast!

My DS is three and although I am nowhere near as hungry as I was at the beginning, I am still hungrier than I was before I had him

I guess I will be permenantly hungry until he self weans!

When he was tiny, I actually got fed up of eating. Now, I am somebody who loves food, and I never thought I would find eating a chore, but I did!

As you cut down the amount of feeding (when baby starts solids, or if they start sleeping through etc) then you will probably find that your appetite drops too. I also found that I lost chunks of weight at these times too rather than gradually IYSWIM. After about a year or so, I was actually lighter than my pre pg weight.

Eat when you are hungry and drink when you are thirsty and don't give it another thought would be my advice!!

LOL DS2 is 6 months and not weaned and I still eat mountains. I am at pregnancy weight but not losing any despite having a big flobby tummy. What gets me is one second your ok and then a masssive hunger takes your breath away. I regularly eat panninis as a 'snack'. Its normal

permanently hungry and i find if i dont eat enough(lots every couple of hurs) i get hormonal, once i've eaten my mood lifts. my mother keeps asking me when i'm going to lose the weight, but i'd rather wait and ebf for now.