Am I eating too much?

[Aiionwatha]

Since having my baby 2 months ago, I'm about a stone heavier than I was before I got pregnant. Back then I was 9 st 6 lb, now I'm 10 st 7 lb (I'm tall - 5 ft 8").

I'm breastfeeding but not exclusively.
I can't seem to shift this extra weight.

This is what I typically eat in a day, but according to my calorie counter app it's several hundred cal over what I should be eating.
Breakfast: bowl of homemade yoghurt with sugar free mueali, a tsp of honey and berries.
1 slice thick homemade brown toast - half with peanut butter and marmite, half with marmalade
Coffee
A tiny glass of orange juice.

Lunch: it changes, but usually something like a quarter of a potato and egg tortilla, some salad and a packet of crisps.

Dinner: something like a homemade chicken casserole with brown rice and steamed spinach.

Snacks: a few chocolate biscuits / piece of cake. A few cheese on crackers. I probably have about 3 snacks a day.

Is this a lot?

What are your portion sizes and calorie count?

Muse love, cake, biscuits - calories.

I posted almost the exact same a couple of days ago! I’m tracking but my weight is creeping up - following to see if anyone else has any ideas! It’s so frustrating isn’t it?!

Its impossible to say without knowing the portions sizes and weights or how active you are. Download a good calorie tracker, I like Nutracheck but there are lots out there.

Sounds like the snacks pushing you over but bf you probably need them. Maybe try cutting out crisps and cut down snacks or choose fruit instead

Cut the honey, crisps, chocolate etc.

Yeah basically it's too much

Depressing, I know

If your weight is going up and you have no other factors impacting your health - blood sugar issues, thyroid issues, etc. - then your weight is increasing because you are eating more than your total expenditure.
There is nothing wrong with the food you're eating as long as you're satisfied with it. What is most likely wrong is the portion sizes being just too large, even taking the energy expenditure of breastfeeding into account.

How does that compare to what you were eating pre-pregnancy? And are you much less active now? (I know I was for a looong time post-baby). I doubt you’ll lose any weight on that sort of diet but you might maintain it if you’re active enough with you breastfeeding too

It may be too much, but also you're only 2 months pp. I've found that it takes me at least 4 months to get back to my pre pregnancy weight, presumably because there's fluid and fat stores that only gradually get released. As you're breastfeeding, you will need more calories than a standard calculator says and you do need to be careful to keep eating enough to maintain supply?

What's your current weight trend? I lost about 1lb a week on 2400 calories a day, while my usual maintenance calories are 1800... So long as you're losing, even if slowly, I wouldn't cut much further until a bit longer after giving birth to give things a chance to settle down.

Iwas eating pretty much the same pre pregnancy, maybe slightly less

I'd cut the chocolate / cake / cheese and crackers, have healthier, lower calorie snacks and make sure your portions aren't huge.

I eat hardly anything to keep my weight right down
I've had three kids

You need to be in a defecit to lose weight

You won't be in defecit with this

Make portions smaller to start with

It's not too much - you're breastfeeding! I'm breastfeeding my 5 and a half month old and still have a stone to lose too but someone please pass me the cake

Here are some more specific measurements. Sorry I'm rubbish at predicting grams.

Breakfast: 3 tbsp yoghurt with 3 tbsp sugar free mueali, a tsp of honey and 2 tbsp berries.
1 slice thick homemade brown toast - half with 2 tsp peanut butter and marmite, half with 1 tsp marmalade
Coffee
A tiny glass of orange juice.

Lunch: it changes, but usually something like a quarter of a potato and egg tortilla, half a plate of salad and a packet of crisps.

Dinner: something like a homemade chicken casserole (maybe 2 cups) with 1 cup brown rice and 1/2 cup steamed spinach.

You're a healthy BMI for your height, you only just had a baby, eat the cake!

How can you eat hardly anything when breastfeeding?

Your bmi is fine so please don't worry too much, you've just had a baby!

Way too much,

Get rid of the snacks and excess sugar.

*Way too much,

Get rid of the snacks and excess sugar*

please god stop with this bullshit. The OP had a baby 8 weeks ago… there will be time for weight loss down the road. The fact she’s even asking the question is a sad reflection on our society.

Breastfeeding doesn't mean you can necessarily eat lots I'm afraid. For some of us, it actually makes us hungrier and hold onto weight. After babies 1 and 2 I was significantly overweight while bf, yet was a healthy weight pre kids. Now have a 7mo (dc3) and I've had to really cut down on calories to finally shift the weight. There's been no impact on supply - have a chunky baby and lots of milk (still leaking) but I am eating a lot less. However, sounds like you're in the healthy range so at this point I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I am the same height and weight as you and I'm a size 8 on top 10 on the bottom.

I get everyone has their "comfort weight" but you've just had a baby fgs!

What you're eating sounds absolutely fine and normal. It took me about 6 months to lose the baby weight after having my dc's - I honestly think you're being hard on yourself and this board will only make you feel worse as it seems to centre around people who survive on lettuce and mungbeans and think anyone above a size 6 is fat.

I eat hardly anything to keep my weight right down

And that's really good advice to be giving a breastfeeding new mum isn't it? 🙄

Oh OP, you are only two months postpartum, you are BFing which will make you hungry (and contrary to the reigning BFing makes you lose weight narrative I've known many women who say there was that last bit they just couldn't shift till they stopped, their bodies were holding on to it as BFing insurance). Add to all that with your height and weight you are a perfectly healthy BMI. If you start restricting right now you will send your body all kinds of crazy messages which may well cause it to go into famine/starvation mode or hold onto weight because it thinks there's an issue. Which could lead to a crappy yo yo dieting cycle and long term reduced metabolism. Please just go easy on yourself, you've grown and are feeding a human, eat what your body tells you you need and if you must worry about it do so a few months down the line.

Oh sorry @Aiionwatha i didn’t see the 8 weeks PP. ignore me - I thought you were 12 months PP!

Your body is still recovering. Give yourself a break. Eat what you need x

Both times I breastfed I held on to an extra 7-14 lbs. I was hungrier and guess I needed the food. It came off within a couple of months of stopping feeding with no / minimal effort.

By the way, I wasn't suggesting stopping breastfeeding. Just sharing my experience.