How to balance decreasing calories when you re postpartum and needing to lose weight?

[1990shopefulftm]

So I had a baby 4 weeks ago and at the moment I m 2 stone over what's ideal for me (I m about 6lb overweight but I know that in itself won't be good for my body) , I had no plans originally to even consider a diet this early but the stress of labour during covid and a bad diet in the 3rd trimester and I ve ended up with a high blood pressure and an iron deficiency so the changes can't really wait if I m to get off the medication I m on asap.

Problem is to even lose half a pound a week it's suggested I cut to about 1600 calories and in a honestly a month ago I must have been having 2500 a day so combined with looking after a newborn, I m struggling not to feel sluggish 3 days into this diet, does anyone have any advice on how I can keep this up?

You just had a baby! Cut yourself some slack! Congratulations on your new baby.
Start gently. Start going for some walks with your lovely baby when you feel up to it. Get your steps up.
Then maybe make some healthy swaps like snacking on fruit, having semi skimmed milk or sugar free soda (insert particular high calorie preference).
Are you breastfeeding? You need an extra 500-800 calories per day if so, so 1800 calories would be far too low.
You could download my fitness pal and just track what you're eating now and not reduce the calories, just get in the habit of tracking. I found that as soon as I started tracking it stopped me reaching for the fifth biscuit so it cut my calories automatically.
Take it gently and slowly. Your body has been through a lot and you just grew and birthed a human. In a pandemic. You're amazing. X

From what I can find you need between 1800-2200 calories per day if breastfeeding so I definitely wouldn't go as low as 1600.

Foods like oats are also recommended to maintain good milk production.

Work on just moving to a more overall healthy diet, that will help with cholesterol, blood pressure and iron.

Add in oats for breakfast so porridge with berries, nuts and seeds

Add in leafy greens to help with iron and give you a lower calorie but more nutrient dense side to main meals.

Easy foods with protein and iron would be things like multi grain/seeded toast with baked beans or scrambled egg and you can add spinach into the eggs for added iron.

I've cut dairy and soya due to baby having CMPA and switched to alternatives. It's a pain in the arse but it's limited all the bad treats I can have and cut out a lot of the snacks I would eat, so instead I have to eat fruit etc. Still having sugar in my coffee and a hot chocolate with oat milk every day 😂. Not done anything else and my weight is dropping off steadily and I don't feel sluggish etc. Probably helps I cant have cheese or butter loaded on my bread. Or chocolate/cake/puddings 😩. There are some free from options though. Not sure if dairy free is for you though. Also take a multivitamin if you aren't already.

Congratulations on your new baby!

I echo what other posters have said about making healthy swaps. I didn't start as early as 4 weeks but about 8 weeks I realised that I was eating a lot of rubbish because I was tired, which made me more tired! So I bought a selection of snacks - popcorn, oat bars etc. - to have instead. This helped, also lots of walking. Even small changes should help your blood pressure and health.

I started a diet at the 3 month mark, my son is now 6 months. It's slow and steady, I'm having 2000-2200 calories a day and still breastfeeding and managing to lose gradually. Bit of a Christmas blip, but overall am about 8kg down which I'm happy with. Whether you're breastfeeding or not I'd recommend more than 1600 calories, especially in the earlier weeks when you need your energy.

Best of luck!

@Hollywhiskey baby's formula fed so no concerns about reducing calories in that sense. I ve lost 5lbs since I posted a month ago, I ve been using my fitness Pal and there's no cakes or biscuits in the house so now I just have a low fat yoghurt or a cereal bar if I need a snack.

It's not so much the number on the scales that worries me, it's that the extra weight has been causing me joint pains and that I needed to get off my bp medication as it was giving me side effects which I m now on the lowest dose for and hoping the doctor gives me the all clear to stop it at the end of the week.

Be kind to yourself and aim purely for maintenance calories until you're feeling stronger. No low fat stuff, just lots of good, nutritious, satisfying food.

Only just notice your op was a month ago.

@HalfShrunkMoreToGo I m a real fussy sod and can't stand seeds or eggs but I do have a bag of spinach in the freezer that I ve been chucking in random meals. Unfortunately I don't think it's been enough to help my iron yet so got to wait to get a blood test done next week to see if they ll prescribe me anything for now.

@iamverytired I m sorry that your baby has got CMPA, must take some perseverance giving up all those foods to carry on BF. I know DF isn't for me really, I ve had a vitamin D deficiency in the past so wouldn't want to risk cutting any particular food groups out completely.
I'm taking some leftover pregnacare, there's a shortage of appointments for blood tests but I ve got one for next week as it seems if not my iron levels, something seems to be low.
@Jigglemonster I m now eight weeks, I go for short walks with the pram when I can which is making a difference but my body really isn't made to have been 2 stone heavier than normal so I get bad knee pains if I walk too far.
DS now sleeps for 3 hours at night has one feed then sleeps for another 4/5 hours on most nights so I m not too sleep deprived that I feel like I need to eat that many calories as he's formula fed. I ll certainly get some popcorn in.

Hey, I recognise you (wave)

I'm 9 weeks pp and have been using my fitness pal for the last week. I'm sticking to 1200 cals a day but often coming in under but so far, weirdly, not feeling hungry.

I have a lot more to lose than you. Close to 5st actually.

@Monkeyseesmonkeydoesnt I feel so hungry if I ve ever gone under 1500, there's a good chance I m deficient in iron if not more at least so perhaps when I get my blood results back and fix it I ll feel less hungry. What sort of things are you eating to keep your energy up?

honestly, I've just posted another thread about this cos I'm actually eating closer to 800cals a day but weirdly I'm feeling fine and not hungry at all...its really odd

I drink 5/6 cups of tea a day so maybe its the caffeine but I am eating a lot more fruit and veg, whereas before, I barely ate any so could be that?

Are you taking any supplements?

@Monkeyseesmonkeydoesnt It could be the tea, I can't drink too much caffeine as it puts my heart rate up a bit much.
I m taking pregnacare for now but need the blood test to know how high a dose to take iron wise as I know pregnacare has a very small amount of it in.

I'd get some Spatone to help with the iron deficiency. The apple flavour one is 27 kcals per sachet.

I was anaemic and started taking them. Felt loads better in myself within a week or two- so much more energy and my iron levels were bang in the middle of normal range after about 12 weeks.

I'd also recommend cooking in a cast iron pan or skillet and limit dairy and tea/coffee when you are taking the supplement or having a high iron meal for an hour or two before and afterwards as this interferes with absorption.

Once your iron levels are on the way up you'll find that you have loads more energy to get some exercise in ato help the weight loss.

Good luck, and congratulations on baby!