Intermittent Fasting while breastfeeding

[7Worfs]

Hello,
I’m thinking of doing IF while breastfeeding and would appreciate any advice.
My situation:
Baby 16 weeks old, established supply
Am doing 20min fasted cardio every morning
Currently usually eating between 7am and 6pm (wake up time is around 6am, bedtime varies between 6 and 8pm)

Should I go for it and what should be my eating window?

A hopeful bump...

... speak to your doctor?

I really wouldn’t

Clouds you reckon it would affect my milk supply?
I was thinking since I already go 13 hours without food easily, stretching it to 16 hours wouldn’t be a big deal

God, do you really?? Why?

Oh, sorry, you mean overnight...

Haha, yeah. Eating between 7am and 6pm and then am upstairs with baby, so no eating.
Would it be crazy to try 9am to 5pm eating, which is good quality and quantity, I wonder

No, 9 to 5 is probably the healthiest way to do it. Good luck 🤞

Jesus give yourself a break and be a bit kinder to your body. Making milk is hard bloody work for it and it needs adequate nutrition.

Are you losing weight gently but steadily? I read that 1lb a week is ok when you're breastfeeding, anything more is too quick and might effect supply.

I'm confused, when are you fasting?

You eat between 7am and 6pm every day? So when do you fast. Isn't that just normal?

Fwiw I eat between about 1pm and 8pm and I'm breastfeeding. No issue with my supply. But baby is now eating solids. Would have been harder to skip breakfast when she was milk only.

My window is 10am-6pm, and I’m breastfeeding, but my ‘baby’ is more than a year older than yours! (Currently feeding more at night than she ever did at 16 weeks though...) It’s feeling easy but may be of limited use to you to know that.

I had a try at 5:2 when she was about 4 months (the breastfeeding version where you get 800-1000 calories on fast days). It seemed to affect my milk supply and it definitely affected my energy/mood so I quickly knocked it on the head and things got better almost immediately. I didn’t really get into the swing of 16ish:8ish until I was back at work when she was 14 months - I have an older child and hiding from him that I was trying to lose weight seemed too complicated, whereas now we go out that bit earlier so I just say I haven’t got time to eat while we’re getting ready and I’ll eat at work.

I think there’s some debate around whether 16:8 is particularly optimal for women anyway, or whether 14:10 might be a bit better - worth reading into, and trying a more gradual increase of your fasting window?

Good luck, whatever you do. Be gentle with yourself - 16 weeks since being heavily pregnant and giving birth is no time at all, really, and being the sole/major source of nutrition for a rapidly-growing baby is also a pretty momentous thing!

WHat, why would you want to do this? As long as you're eating healthily, you shouldn;t need to be fasting right now. You'll have plenty of time for that after you finish breastfeeding.

Don't even think about this atm. Just eat when you want to eat and concentrate on your baby. I lost all the weight I'd gained whilst pregnant (over 3 stone) just by breastfeeding and walking with my baby instead of driving to places.

What on earth is wrong with an eating window of 7am to 6pm?

Who needs to eat before then - and then also past 6pm if they've had an early dinner...?

And yes, I realise the OP is breastfeeding.

Thank you for the comments, indeed it’s not really restrictive, just late breakfast and early dinner, no counting/restricting calories.

I’d be more than happy with 1lbs loss a week, at the moment I’m probably losing 2lbs a month even with fasted cardio.

Nell I haven’t heard of 14:10 I’ll definitely read into it as I’m naturally very close to it as it is

The advice is to eat an extra 500 calories per day while breastfeeding. Think carefully about your supply.

I read that milk production burns 200-500kcal daily, and after supply is established after the first 2mo, losing 1lbs a week will not affect supply. I’m not even aiming for that much, I just want to start shifting the weight slowly

I lost 3 stone in 4 months from my baby being 3 months to 7 months. I wouldnt have fasted I don't think... I just ate lots of veg and limited cakes etc. I didn't notice a drop in supply but it was steady progress of 2.5lbs a week ish. I always focused on nutrition first

That’s impressive, deer
My stats are:
Pre-pregnancy - 9.8st
End pregnancy - 13.4st
1 month PP - 12st
3.5 months PP - 11.3st

I lost a lot at delivery, but not much since. I was eating non-stop in the first 2 months, but now that my hunger is regulating I want to help myself a little.
I’m eating well, indulging in sweets maybe twice a week, but have a ready meal for dinner as no time to cook.

I honestly think using the word 'fasting' in this context is stretching the meaning of the words to the outer limits of its definition.

The OP would basically just not be eating while sleeping.

That's not fasting. That just normal eating.

If you were taking about doing 5:2 or super-fasting - no, that wouldn't be OK while you were breastfeeding.

But an eating window of 7am to 6pm is really not fasting and I can't even see how it would make a blind bit of difference to your weight.

IF is the name of the 16:8 eating, it’s not something I came up with 👀

The advice is to eat an extra 500 calories per day while breastfeeding. Think carefully about your supply.

I think that is only if you have very little body fat. If you're overweight you should just eat normally your body can get the extra calories it needs from the fat stores you made while pregnant.

I know that 7Worfs - but think about it.

Eating during pretty much the entire window that you are awake does not actually constitute 'fasting' in the accepted sense of the word.

I don't think you're going to run any great risks, but I also don't actually see how you will lose weight.

"But an eating window of 7am to 6pm is really not fasting"

You've totally misunderstood. This is what the OP does NOW, but she's talking about STARTING to do IF and changing this. Nobody's saying that not eating overnight is fasting.