"weight falls off breastfeeding" - How??!!

I am nursing 3 kids-my newborn twins and my toddler, so I figured the weight would come melting off. Wrong! I actually started GAINING weight. I am slowly losing weight now, but only because I am eating less. I don't get those women who lose weight breastfeeding, either.

I just talked to my Doctor about this yesterday, as I also had no idea how many calories I should be eating.

Now, keep in mind that I have no intention of actually counting calories... just more of a guideline, really. I also know that I need to exercise so that I can tone up and work on my aerobic capabilities.

Anyway, I currently weigh 165 pounds. To lose weight and get to my goal of 130 pounds, I need to be eating between 800-1000 calories a day... PLUS since I'm nursing I need to add 400 calories to that. Now, my Doctor also said that I should work down to this amount, and if I start feeling too tired of my milk supply drops to up a little and stay at that level, perhaps increasing my exercise. Keep in mind I lost about 30 pounds the first month I had the baby (fluid, most of it), and haven't lost any weight for the last two months... because I'm eating too much.

The weight with the first two wasn't really a problem. I just didn't snack as much and was more busy. I'm more sedentiary now, and that's a problem.

The women who had babies this past year in dh's family (note, while it seems like I'm judging them or something, I'm actually only noticing their weight so much because I'm concerned with my own.):

Woman 1: Slightly overweight before pregnancy, ended up exclusively pumping to 9 months. Lost most of the pregnancy weight within a month or so mainly from having a baby who wanted to be walked and bounced all the time. Since switching to formula and her baby becoming more complacent about not being carried everywhere, she's put on a bit of weight

Woman 2: Obese before pregnancy. Lost most of the pregnancy weight within a few months, probably from nursing as exercising was difficult. Seems to be maintaining about the same weight.

Woman 3: Slender before pregnancy. Lost all of the pregnancy weight nearly instantly. Is now too thin because she's too busy to make herself food and she just did not like how she looked when she was heavy. Her previous response to feeling too heavy was to eat less until she was back to a reasonable weight, but she knew she couldn't do that during pregnancy and as a result she's let herself overshoot the usual point where she starts eating more. Baby is highly active, which makes her get lots of excercise without trying. Due to her work schedule, baby ends up with quite a bit of pumped milk, but no formula.

Basically, it looks like breastfeeding helps your body get back to it's usual pre-pregnancy state. It won't actually help you become more fit.

When I had my 1st baby, I lost all my pregnancy weight by 3 weeks PP. It just "fell off"! With my 2nd, I exercised a lot, but never lost all the weight until I stopped breastfeeding. Now, with my 3rd, I'm just stuck at 20lbs. over my pre-pg weight & I WISH bfeeding would make it melt off!! I want to diet but don't feel comfortable doing so while bfeeding. So, I eat very healthily, exercise (not nearly as much as I wish I were), & don't expect to lose every pound until after I'm bfeeding. : Darn pregnancy chub.

I eat the same as I did prepregnancy. I lose on average 5 lbs a week. It doesnt look like it because I just resumed my prepregnancy workout.

My hips are still bigger and my tummy still has quite a bit of flab. Otherwise, my face and arms and legs are the same as they were prepregnancy. Yet I only have 7 lbs to go to reach my before weight.

I think you can keep losing weight as long as you start off taking it easy and just bf. Then if you add in some running and situps, pushups etc. at about 6 weeks pp you will do just fine losing your weight.

My average food intake is something like this since I am a working mom..

Dunkin donuts for breakfast - Blueberry muffin and extra large coffee
Burger King salad or Salad from Taco Bell
Something of my choice for dinner... Usually its Steak, mac n cheese, spaghetti or chicken.

I buy watermelon and strawberries to snack on when I get the munchies.

I don't know about calories, but I eat alot! I'm currently 15 or so lbs below my prepregnancy weight and would like to put at least that much back on, so I'm eating lots of avacados, nuts and protein shakes. I'm vegan, so gaining weight is more difficult....not alot of high fat foods in my normal diet. Bea is 9 months old and still what I consider EBF, even though she eats solid food whenever she can wrestle it away from me

I was really surprised how quickly the weight fell off...even with my limited diet I eat whatever and whenever I want and the quantities are pretty astounding sometimes. I don't excercise, per se, but I do walk everywhere and I do carry Bea all the time (my wiggly 20 lb weight), so I'm sure that helps.

Not sure about calories & anything SPECIFIC as to how it works...but I DO know that my DD isn't even 3 weeks old yet & I weight LESS than I did before conceiving her. And with mega boobs than makes for one kick-arse body!! BFing is wonderful!!

I lost literally 50lbs in less than 6months after having dd just by breastfeeding. I was a bit overweight to begin with, didn't gain at all during pregnancy(lost actually) and then lost after giving birth. Currently I weigh 120lbs on a GOOD day that I'm eating well. I struggle keeping weight on. I'm not doing any exercise other than chasing around my own 15month old and the 16month old I watch during the week and my 5year old. So with 3 kids to care for, and a nursing toddler, I have my hands full. I'm constantly running around with the kids playing soccer or chasing the babies around the playground(we have no fenced in playgrounds here) and most times a meal is a quick protein/fruit/yogurt smoothie. I prefer to drink my meals most times because it's all I can grab on the go. I have a very active parenting lifestyle but not a very active lifestyle in going places and doing things. I think just chasing the babies has burned off the food I eat. I am CONSTANTLY snacking but never gain any weight.

Meg

I too wonder how weight can just "fall off". With pg#1 I started at 112 lbs and gained to 138 lbs (26 lbs). I came home from the hospital after giving birth weighing 130. It took a month to get down to 125 (I don't consider 5 lbs in a month to be weight just "falling off") and I very slowly lost to 115 over about 6 months. Mind you, I was eating 3 or 4 nicely stacked sandwiches for lunch and then complaining about being hungry 2 hours later. I'm a bit of a pig I guess. I never did lose all my pregnancy weight and now I am pg again. I have had several people tell me that with some people the weight starts to "fall off" after you are done nursing and that with some people while you are nursing the weight tends to cling more. I don't know if that is true for me, because DS still nurses and soon another little one will be nursing. The thing that has bothered me the most, is that even though I was only 3 lbs more than my pre-preg weight (before I got PG again), my clothes did not fit....I could not even button up some pants that were loose pre-preg!!
I'm crossing my fingers that this next time around, the weight will just fall off. It could happen, right?? lalalalalalalalaaa...

I'm not sure how this happens, it just did for me...
I lost all of the weight I had gained during the pregnancy by postpartum day 2. (25#) and despite eating upwards of 4000 plus calories per day for months, I was down another 25 pounds by 2 months post partum. So, I was at 110# at 5'7. My baby was (is) a voracious nurser, he nursed so many times in a 24 hour period the first 6-8 months that I lost count of how many times a day he nursed. It was pretty much all I did. He still nurses a lot (15 months) round the clock but nowhere near before. My weight has finally settled down at 120, and I look healthy. I still eat a lot and notice that if I get a lot of exercise I will drop 4-5 pounds like overnight. I have to watch it. I noticed that once my fertility returned at 12 months postpartum the weight started sticking a little more and I could cut back on my calories. (our food bill was unbelieveable!).

So, I think it is your body type/composition before pregnancy, genetics, weight prepregnancy, how much you gain in the pregnancy, how much baby nurses, etc. Seems there are a lot of factors.