Cambridge diet

[Olive1988]

Hello, long story short I put on a couple of stone just before falling pregnant and another few being pregnant. It is making me quite depressed, crying most evenings.

Our baby is due in a few weeks and I am desperate to lose the weight and have successfully lost lots on CD before. I know you are not meant to do it for 3 months after and not while breastfeeding. Does anyone know why?

Thank you x

@Olive1988 hi! I think it can affect the milk supply if you're planning on breast feeding.

Because it’s an extremely low calorie diet and basically you need calories to make milk.

If you BF, You'll be surprised how much you will loose naturally in 2-3 months and also by 6 months. You will also be surprised at how ravenous you will be!

You'll also not really care much for the first few months.

Thank you. Does anyone know why you can't do it if not breastfeeding? Xx

When your body has just grown a baby for 9 months, it's a bit low on nutrients and you need a good balanced diet to replenish. A v low calorie diet is a terrible idea. If you must diet with a newborn, try something like Slimming World which is midwife approved.

You need the 3 months to recover. The low calories will prevent you from healing properly.

Personally, I found I was far to sleep deprived to go back on it for at least a year. I tried, but just couldn't stick to it.

Your body really needs time to recover after a pregnancy, whether you’re breastfeeding or not. These really low calorie diets can put a strain on your body, so I can see why you need a decent break to recover.

I naturally dropped weight with a newborn even when not BFing. Didn’t follow any particular plan, was just rushed off my feet and tended to eat small, regular meals because of weird sleeping patterns. Trying to follow a specific diet in those chaotic times would have been a nightmare.

I know it's hard OP but you really really don't need to worry about your weight gain during pregnancy. Your body is performing something incredible and whilst certain parts might be a bit squishy for a wee while after baby is born that's only to be expected. I have never seen a woman of any size and looked at her tummy whilst pregnant as anything other than gorgeous.

Breastfeeding can use upto 500 calories a day and you really need a healthy balanced diet to make sure you and baby are getting all those vitamins you both need to be healthy after such a massive event. Also you need the energy to cope with the lack of sleep in those first few months.

Once you have recovered and feel ready then by all means do whatever you feel necessary but honestly honey given what we have put ourselves through growing our precious cargo and then caring for them once they arrive, the last thing we should be doing is denying ourselves a treat if the need arises in those first few months we are getting to know our baby xxxx

You also need certain nutrients to recover healthily such as b vits, calcium, magnesium, selenium and iodine (esp if bf)

This page on Kellymom is a very good, sensible guide to dieting after pregnancy. It makes it clear that you need at least 1500-1800 calories a day when breastfeeding. Any less is likely to have an impact on your supply, and given that stage 1 of CD is only 500 calories the two clearly aren’t compatible.

Even if you aren’t breastfeeding your body needs proper nutrition to restore its depleted stores of essential minerals and vitamins. Even after a totally straightforward birth the placental site is essentially a large wound which needs to heal. Your body will also need to heal and repair if you need any stitches or lose blood.

I apologise if I’m misreading the subtext of your most recent post, but: there are many many good reasons to choose not to breastfeed if you wish, but if you would otherwise want to do it I don’t think a VLCD is one of them.

In the early months you'll be very, very tired. You need to be well fed to keep your energy levels up. If I was on a VLCD in that period I'd have wanted to top myself, sometimes it felt like cake was the only thing keeping me alive.

What's the hurry? Enjoy your baby and don't put pressure on yourself. Eat a sensible healthy diet and shelve any dramatic weight loss ideas until after Christmas.