when people say "Breastfeeding makes the baby weight melt right off" - Page 2

[ssh]

I think it has to do with genetics. Some people lose weight like crazy and some people can't lose weight until they wean. I lost 30 pounds initially and then put it all back on. Maybe our ancestors lived in areas with frequent famines and our bodies are trying to make sure we'll have milk even during a famine.

[kittywitty]

It does work for me. I lost all of my weight, and usually more, while bf. With #4, I added dairy back into my diet and had trouble keeping the last 5 lbs off. With my son, I could only bf him 2 months for medical reasons and never lost the weight until I breastfed my next child. I was the same 9 months pg with him as I was when I got pg with my daughter. So for me there is definitely a breastfeeding=weight loss correlation. My family members that bf more than a few months all had the same weight loss. So genetic, maybe? We all had oversupply and heavy letdown issues, too.

[Snapdragon]

[QUOTE=laohaire;15678185
I think my body really, really, really wanted a good layer of fat around me for breastfeeding.
.[/QUOTE]

This is kind of how I feel too. I have some discomfort with how I look still 30 lbs heavier than usual. but yeah- that extra fat absolutely feels supportive to me while nursing. Still- I would like to move towards feeling fully supported while weighing less than I do now.

[Snapdragon]

Originally Posted by laohaire

I think my body really, really, really wanted a good layer of fat around me for breastfeeding.
.

This is kind of how I feel too. I have some discomfort with how I look still 30 lbs heavier than usual. but yeah- that extra fat absolutely feels supportive to me while nursing. Still- I would like to move towards feeling fully supported while weighing less than I do now.

[enigo]

Originally Posted by hollytheteacher

It was darn true for me! i became WAAAY underweight while nursing ds. By a year i was like down to 114 (and i'm 5' 9")! which is less than what i was in highschool (118). Nursing takes a LOT of calories and i could never eat enough to keep up my weight. Once i started placing limits on nursing, i gained enough weight back, but while exclusively nursing it was VERY true for me!

This was exactly true for me. Same height and weight too.
I think it was when my son was just under a year that I realized I had lost an enormous amount of weight. He had gained it, he was huge and hungry. Around his 1st birthday when I saw the pictures from his party I was horrified at how gaunt I looked. Interestingly within a month or two of weaning, (when he was 2 1/2) I GAINED about 20 pounds or so which actually put me back about where I ought to be.

[journeymom]

Originally Posted by MeepyCat

It honestly does work for some people. I had a massive case of oversupply with my first kid - pumping ~40 ozs. a day AND breastfeeding on demand in the evenings and through the night. I was hungry all the time, and I lost weight like crazy. When I finally weaned, I gained ten pounds just about instantaneously.

This was my experience (aside from the oversupply issue).

My sil did not lose weight while nursing.

I will say I didn't start really loosing weight until ds was about 5 months old and still taking milk exclusively. So he was growing fast and I was his only source of calories. Nursing night and day to a fast growing bigger baby was very effective for me.

But as soon as I started giving him solids (maybe a month later) the calorie-burning effect lessened noticeably. When I stopped nursing through the night it lessened more, then stopped altogether.

It was great while it lasted !

[harli]

This saying really bothers me because it's simply not true for a lot of people. Then for those it's not true it only makes you feel like your fat and lazy. When I asked my MIL if she gained while BF'ing she pretty much told me that the BF'ing isn't what is keeping my weight on. It's IMPOSSIBLE! and that I'm just older now then I was before preggers (at the ripe old age of 27 thanks for the insult MIL) and my metabolism is slowing down.

I was only able to BF my first for 1 month due to many problems. The weight melted right off once I quite BF'ing. Now I've been BF'ing my second for 14 months. It was hard for me to loose the weight, it took many months. BF'ing didn't really affect my appetite at all so I can't say that is the reason for the weight retention like it is for some. I discovered that the more I tried to loose it the more I gained. I simply went back to my normal diet and the weight very slowly started coming off.

Now that I'm 14 months pp I'm down to my original weight but I am still retaining about 5 lbs of water every night. I can only blame the water retention on the BF'ing. It's very frustrating and uncomfortable. For me that is the only downside to BF'ing and the only thing that makes me look forward to weaning.

[boobs4milk]

pre-pg i was 163
at birth i was 174
post birth i was 159
at 6 mos pp i was 180

a week ago, i was 174. sigh. i always gain while bf, though. i pumped for 6 months for my son and gained 50lbs this last pg, i was also on complete bedrest for 4 months, so it's taken me a bit to get my muscle tone back.

[THBVsMommy]

This is so refreshing for me to read! My 2 best girlfriends had their babies a few months before I did and they both lost all of their baby weight and THEN some while nursing. One nursed for 8 months, had gained nearly 50 lbs in her pregnancy, and is now 10 lbs below her pre-pregnancy weight. The other nursed for 6.5 months, was down to her pre-pregnancy size by 1 month pp, and and is now 15 lbs below, though she's obsessed with working out, so I know that helps.

I'm at almost 7 months post pardum and probably have a good 20-25 lbs to lose (don't know my weight.. going off my size). It's frustrating to me because I've been hitting the gym for 2.5 months now and haven't noticed even the slightest difference

I only nursed DS until he was just about 3 months old and then lost the remaining 30 lbs in less than a month, so I'm holding out hope that once we wean the same will happen. However, I'm in this for the long haul with DD so it probably won't be for a couple more years until I'm at my pre-preg weight.

[nicky85]

This is interesting. I just started chiropractic care for myself and had an EIS scan where they measure the functions of your organs. I am breastfeeding a 5 1/2 month old and the scan said that based on my metabolic rate, I needed to be eating 2600 calories a day. Wow! I don't count calories so I don't know if I'm eating that much. I do get very hungry from breastfeeding, but I guess I've been losing weight because my pre-pregnancy clothes are starting to hang on me and my skinny jeans are have come dangerously close to falling down a few times. (I don't weigh myself either, so I can't really track it; at the chiropractor's office I came in at about 125 lbs on 5'5" frame.) I really attribute it to eating a 60-80% raw vegan diet. My husband got me eating raw during my pregnancy and I love it! I enjoy food now more than ever. Right now I just eat whatever want (mostly raw nuts, dry fruits, green smoothies, raw fruit, flax seed crackers; I make Indian food and rice, pasta with raw tomatoes and herbs, or salsa and homemade rice tortilla chips for lunch and dinner).

[lazzybee]

6 months PP and I've been exactly 15 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight since the day my son was born. I'm constantly hungry, typically for rich, fatty foods. Running hasn't done a thing. Oh well! At least I'm not gaining more.

[Therese's Mommy]

Oh my goodness, this drives me nuts. I have a friend whose dh (who generally rubs me the wrong way anyway) told me, while I was pg with my 3rd that by 2 or 3 weeks pp I would have quickly lost some ridiculous amount of weight. I informed him that while that may be true for his wife, I know that is not the case with my body. He stated it so matter of factly I wanted to sock him in the nose! FWIW, his wife had her 3rd child a month before I had my third and at about 4mos pp she was very fixated on losing that "last 5lbs". IMO, she looked great, while I was still hanging on to about 20 extra lbs, but I was much more comfortable in my skin. I often wonder if his misconceptions were what drove her to constantly fixate on that weight.

[donutmolly]

Count me in on those who don't lose weight while breastfeeding. I've been bfing for 5 years now (consecutively) through 2 pregnancies, and yes, the weight only starts to come off once my fertility returns (but then I keep getting pg!) Before that, it's useless to worry about it... I can exercise all day and restrict what I eat... and the pounds stay on. A little discouraging, but at least by this point I know that eventually the weight will come off.

[scottishmommy]

I didn't really start losing weight until dd started walking/running. Some women need that extra fat to produce milk. I am one of them!

[Aufilia]

I lost weight like crazy after my first, and it wasn't due to lack of eating. I could eat anything, in outrageous amounts, and I still lost weight. I was like a size 2 when DD was a year old, and I wouldn't've thought my hips could've ever been a size 2!

Sadly, this miracle of weight loss has not repeated itself with kid#2.

Clearly I had an awesome metabolism the first time around that has disappeared in the meantime. I'm sure DS drinks more milk than DD ever did. He weighed 2oz less at birth than DD did, but has grown much faster. He was as big at 6mo as she was at a year.

[SilverFish]

SO different for every person. I eat like a horse, always have, always will. i'm constantly hungry, even when not nursing or pregnant. I only gained 15 lbs while pregnant and lost it all immediately after giving birth, and not only that, but none of my clothes fit me any more. All my pants are really loose and baggy, but I LOOK heavier than I did before. Excercising would really help but I don't think my metabolism will really allow for that until we've cut back on nursing quite a bit. I just can't eat enough to nurse and excercise without feeling run-down and exhausted. I've given up the idea of "pre-pregnant" size and weight.... there is no such thing. My whole body has completely changed its dimensions, I think.

[Lauren31]

I lost my preg weight super quick but now with bfing I have gained about 5lbs... All I want to eat is chocolate while bfing so that doesn't help!

[livinlovinlaughin]

I was going to ask this question in breastfeeding until I saw this thread.

I have been struggling to lose any weight since DS was born 21 months ago. I eat well and exercise (just as I did before and all through pregnancy). I have been losing and gaining the same 5 or so pounds for the last 21 months. I do not give up or anything, my body just will not let me lose the weight. I can do the same thing 2 weeks in a row and eat the same and I will gain one week and lose the other.

My question is for those of you who say you did not lose until you weaned. I would love to Child-Led wean. My concern is carrying all this weight for a few more years if he wants to nurse that long. I am hoping to guide DS to daytime wean and just nurse before bed or the occasional comfort session. Did you have to wean completely for the weight to come off or did anyone start losing when nursing sessions dropped?