Why can't I lose weight???

[banana87]

I don't get it!!! I had DD2 8 weeks ago and am EBF. I am counting calories using my fitness pal and taking into account 500 extra calories for EBF. I am not eating loads of junk, I'm being quite healthy (lean meats, fruit and veg). I'm dairy free so not eating loads of biscuits or chocolate. However I'm maintaining my weight!!! Why??? I don't get it! I'm not exercising because I had SPD so needing to take things slow (walking at a slow pace with DD in the sling into town was too much for me yesterday and SPD has acted up today). I plan on joining the gym in feb and getting a personal trainer but I am desperate to lose something between now and then! Where am I going wrong??

What's your typical daily menu?

Granola bar for breakfast and black tea
Soup and half baguette or egg sandwich for lunch
Spaghetti, beef bourginion (sp), steak, or turkey meatballs, plus 5% fat oven chips and sweet corn, other veg for dinner.
Snacks clementines, ginger thin cookies, decaf soy latte, or crackers for snack. Daily calorie intake is usually less than 1200 once you subtract the 500 calories per day EBF.

I don't know if this is a scientific explanation, but I know a lot of anecdotes about your body holding on to fat when your BFing. Just relax and enjoy your baby!

It might be all the fluid and water still in your system. I didn't loose weight for a while then suddenly dropped down a chunk all of a sudden. Also only 8 weeks since birth ur doing great!'

I just hate that I'm still in maternity clothes makes me worried I'm going to be one of those women who never lose the baby weight

Carb intake sounds pretty high, personally I can't drop weight eating bread & pasta.

If you can get a copy of today's Times newspaper there is a very good feature on food from a DR and what to eat to lose weight- he says do not calorie count, eat 80% of your diet from fish, meat, good protein and fuit and veg, and cut out all transfats, refined carbs, potatoes etc etc.

I think hormones have a lot to blame. I recently ent on Cerazette and my weight ballooned! Even though I'm now eating normally the weight won;t shift, and my only explanation is that as soon as I am in sniffing distance of any extra progesterone my weight rockets on, and perhaps it'll take a while before it leaves my system...

p.s. on the face of it- looking at that typical menu- it's high in refined carbs and low in protein- try eggs for breccie, or porridge with milk,don't have carbs- refined carbs- at all 3 meals.

you;d be better eating plain unsweetened yoghurt, small piece of cheese etc instead of the biscuits.

I meant to say, I've now stopped taking Cerazette, but the weight is still glued on. Perhaps you need to wait for the hormones to leave you? NOt sure how long it takes though, probably vaies from person to person.

I hold onto weight when breastfeeding, and I'm not alone.

I have other friends who can chomp their way through whole packets of biscuits when bfing and still lose weight.

It sucks.

But then in other ways it doesn't really matter.

How many grams of carbs should I be aiming for per day then?

Can't have cheese as its dairy

do you have anyone who can nip out and buy The Times for you? I can't link to it as you have to be a Times subscriber.

it's not so much a case of how many grams- its what you eat. This guy says that you should avoid refined carbs. Eat more protein. There is - sorry- a lot of junk in that days food you posted- biccies, crackers,white bread, white pasta, chips.

If this was unrefined carbs- brown rice, wholewheat pasta etc it would be better but your only protein all day was the meat and possibly an egg.

you need protein at evey meal- especially when BF.

I also think if you ruthlessly count those cals they would be way more than 1200!

If I were you I'd forget dieting as such while BF and focus on really healthy eating so that your snacks are giving you nutrients and cut back on the empty cals from junk food.

why no dairy?

If you can't eat it then I hope you are taking calcium supplements and food high in calcium.

I put on weight when I was bfing and I wasn't overaeting and doing shed loads of walking- some people do. You sound as if you're one of the unfortunate ones who won't lose weight until you stop. Just eat sensibly and stop worrying.

I lost it when bfing DD1 although I didn't diet or worry about it, just ate what I wanted and it happened. Really hope I'm not one of the ones who gains bfing!!

I know quite a lot of people who didn't lose until they stopped bfing - apparently your body holds onto some fat reserves or something.

It's really easy to eat loads of crap carbs. Are you exercising? Walking miles at this stage kept me sane :)

I lost nearly a stone in a month, after I stopped breastfeeding, without changing my eating habits.

It's only been 8 weeks, and if you're still going slowly after SPD then you're probably not spending that many calories yet - plus a newborn isn't going to be ingesting the average amount of calories for a bf baby yet. Muesli bars and thin biscuits are high in sugar and fat, too - how about porridge from whole oats in the microwave and other wholegrain stodge to keep you going?

I don't think I lost any weight until ds was about 3 months, but then all the bf and prescribed walking after SPD (30 min at least, at least 5 days a week, usually more, plus postnatal physio) meant it was gone by 6-8 months.

I don't mind changing my breakfast or snack habits. What kinds of snacks are wholegrain/good carbs? Will be doing the Ocado tonight. Also would flavored instant porridge count? I'm not very good with porridge!!

If you have to snack on carbs, oat cakes would be better than biscuits. or a banana. Porridge is easy- simply add half milk and water and simmer for 3 mins.

Flavoured porridge has added sugar - get plain and have with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

BTW I never lost all the baby weight til I stopped breastfeeding either.

You need to eat a better breakfast first, eggs, fruit, natural full fat yogurt, it is the most important meal of the day. Drink lots of water to hydrate your body, sometimes thirst can be mistake for hunger and water will help your liver process the crap you're eating.

Stay away from refined carbs, so not white bread pasta etc and refined sugar in the formsweets, biscuits junk food, fizzy drinks even your soup unless its homemade. Your body can not process these and stores them as fat.

Try and eat as natural as possibly by that I mean if it didn't swim, fly, walk on land or grow out the earth then try and stay away from it. Same with things that have no added sugar, they contain sweeteners most of the time, these make the body believe it is going to get a sugar hit, when it doesn't then it release a hormone to make you crave sweet stuff and so you eat it.

I think if you are honest with yourself the typical diet you posted would be more than 1700 cal a day and if you are not moving much you won't be expending many calories.

Sorry if this sounds a bit brutal but I didn't lose weight until someone was very brutal with me. I'd been deluding myself.

As for snacks fruit, carrot sticks, celery sticks - I carry things like this with me all the time so I have something to hand and I don't stray into McDonald's he'll.