applauds bettybat
There is a lot of pressure on women to be slim, even while they are doing something as amazing as growing a baby and nursing one.
Its sad that women are given the expectation that they ought to be concentrating on returning to their pre-pregnancy body shape in those first few weeks and months when really they ought to be able to enjoy and get to know their babies. The fact is that pregnancy puts our bodies through a lot and it takes a while to recover and our bodies may not be quite the same even then.
The media culture of pouncing on celebrities the moment they leave their confinement and either praising them or shaming them based on their appearence is awful and must add to the pressure ordinary women feel too.
I do genuinely need to eat healthily and exercise for health reasons (approx 6 stone overweight) but I don't agree that it is desirable for this to happen quickly. Its better to make sustainable, healthy changes to our food intake and activity levels rather than crashing to our goal weight and rebounding.
I think that feeding my baby is a healthy thing for me (and baby) to do. I'm hoping it might help with the weight loss, but if it doesn't then I'll eat well, be more active and I will be healthier whatever the scales say. I am happy to wait until my baby self-weans to see the difference on the scales.
You don't need to commit to a certain length of time breast-feeding right now. It would be a shame not to start just because of a few pounds - especially when other people find that BF can help them lose weight! If you are otherwise wanting to BF then start and see how it goes.
Its worth pointing out though that many FFing women don't lose all their pregnancy weight either and that BF babies are less likely to become obese.