[Faithsmom]

Hi ladies. This is my first time posting in this particular forum.

I am about 4.5 months postpartum w/ DS. I am currently tandem nursing him and his 2.5 yr. old sister. (she only really nurses at bedtime, in the night and in the morn.5
I was actually 15 lbs LIGHTER after about a month postpartum w/ DS than my begining weight BEFORE I got pregnant w/ him. The weight just "melted off" as they say.

But, here I am, 4.5 months postpartum and I have already gained about 10lbs of it back.

(I am not a thin girl mind you.... I was 195 and now I am about 205. I'm 5'4")

I would like to get down to about 165lbs. I'm thinking january is a goal for that or maybe the end of march which would make me 1 yr. postpartum.

I have joined a gym, and go once in awhile when I have someone or DH to watch the kids. The childcare there would take DD, but not DS/... too young.
I was walking before it got too hot out, pushing both kids in a tandem stroller doing 3+ miles/ day. Now that it is starting to cool off a bit, I think I'm going to start that again soon.

My problem is, because I'm nursing I get these hunger pangs out of the blue. It's the "if you don't eat now, you WILL DIE" type of feeling. I'm just not sure of the calories that I should be taking in seeing that I am tandem nursing.

I'm also not sure if my body is trying to "hold on" to what I currently have because of the nursing. Is that possible?

Does anyone have any book recommendations (other than adventures in tandem nursing) on the weight loss while breastfeeding subject???

Anyone else in the same boat and want to be my buddy in this journey???

 

[OhMel]

Hey Mama,

I'm 6 months post partum (only nursing one though, I weaned ds while 7 months pg) and have lost 50 lbs. I am aiming to lose 20 lbs more.

I started around 1 month post-partum trying to lose weight. Initially this meant just eating my starches during one meal. Then around May I started doing 15-30 minutes of exercise every day. In June I found the 1000 minutes/month thread in this forum and that really anchored the habit for me. Also from this forum I stumbled onto SparkPeople and began tracking what I was eating and how much water I was drinking. (You need to say you're not nursing or pg to use it.) To me this is not really about tracking calories as it is tracking what I'm eating, so I really don't worry about what caloric range it gives me. Doing all of this and still living a normal life (drinking beer here and there, going out for treats, chocolate, etc.) I have averaged losing 1.25 lbs a week. I weigh myself everyday and then average at the end of the week (I have an Excel spreadsheet set up for this). If I eat like a saint -- 3 meals, 82 oz water, 30 min exercise) I lose 2.5 lbs but I am not a saint very often.

Re the need to eat immediately -- I think this may be more of an insulin reaction than a nursing one. (At least it is for me.) From reading the book "The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet" I figured out that if I confine my starches/sugars to only one meal (lunch for me) that I feel better and don't get these feelings. If I eat like a "normal" person and have cereal in the morning, a sandwich at lunch, etc. I will feel faint and NEED TO EAT in the afternoon even if my caloric intake is normal or high. The book has a whole program in it but that's the only thing I do and I don't really do it very strictly (I eat any veggies I want whenever) but even my few modifications have been a huge help in controlling those feelings.

I think this may be my longest post ever.

Good luck and I hope this was of some help.

 

[Faithsmom]

hey! thanks for the info! i love that site! i just joined on your advice. here's my page :
www.sparkpeople.com/mypage.asp?id=SFORMAN

 

[DesireeH]

I get that way when I am hungry too so my advice is to not let yourself get hungry like that. I keep lots of healthy snacks in the fridge, washed and ready to go, cherries, grapes, carrot sticks and in the car I keep Special K or those 90 calorie Quaker granola bars (not the ones with fake sugar though). Rice cakes (flavored) and 94% fat free popcorn are my friends too. LOL I cant let my blood sugar get too low or I am snappy and dizzy.

I'm almost 8 months PP now but I started dieting (WW with the extra BF'ing points) on Jan 13th when my daughter was about 3.5 weeks old but it didnt affect my milk supply at all, she's a healthy chubby little thing.

 

[ChasingPeace]

Did your ds recently start solids? I remember with ds the weight melted off, then plateaued at about 6 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. And would not budge. After ds started solids, I gained about 20 pounds. Once I started exercising and avoiding sweets, the weight came off.