Our second son was born 9 months ago. My wife hasn’t lost the “baby weight” yet and she is tired of people asking when she’s due.
She’s been pumping enough breast milk for our son and almost enough for a medically fragile baby whose mother has a host of medical issues herself.
A few weeks ago she used the NIH calculator to estimate a gentle calorie deficit. Since then, her milk production decreased. She’s bumping up her calories by a couple hundred to see if her supply returns. She’s lost about 2-3% body weight per week for the pas few weeks, so my guess is that she overshot the deficit.
Are there any general recommendations for breast feeding women who want to dial in appropriate caloric intake for a slow weight loss?
I originally suggested she logged her caloric intake for a week or so, then used that as a baseline to decrease from (which I seem to remember hearing BBM folks talk about doing), but she decided to dive right into a deficit.
thanks.
Milk production is quite a bit more complicated than surplus/deficit and I don’t think her production should stop just because she’s losing weight, particularly if she’s carrying significant amounts of excess fat. If she lost 2% in a week, I’d add back 250-500 Calories and go from there rather than trying to calculate things, especially if she’s not tracking.
Thanks for the reply, and thanks for all the info you put out there. I listened to the podcast that came out today and your eye thing sounded scary AF. I’m glad you okay.
Although I am a doctor, I am not your doctor. This information is for informational purposes only and should not substitute the advice from your healthcare professional. All kinds of exercise and dietary changes are potentially dangerous, and those who do not seek counsel from the appropriate health care authority assume the liability of any injury which may occur. and does plank help reduce breast size i see a site about exercise i recommend you to visit this site .