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How to track calories burned by breastfeeding??

Old 04-12-2010, 07:10 AM
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Question How to track calories burned by breastfeeding??

Hi everyone. I'm new to FitDay and am trying to enter my daily activity to get everything going. I have a 2 month old and am nursing. I know this burns additional calories, but I don't see anywhere I can input this type of "activity" to be included in my daily tracking.

Can anyone help?

Also - If anyone else out there is nursing, trying to lose the last 20-25 pounds of weight gained while pregnant, and can give me some pointers, PLEASE do so. It has previously taken me years to lose the weight.

A friend of mine did Atkins while nursing and shed a ton of weight, her doctor approved the diet. I'm starting the second week as we speak, but I don't see a change at all. I thought it would melt off so fast, like it did for her.

I use a pilates machine with cardio rebounder, 30 minutes, almost everyday.

I'm 5'4", currently 150 and want to get back down to 125. It took over 2 years to do it with the previous baby, and I don't want to wait that long this time!!
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Old 04-12-2010, 12:04 PM
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I'm in almost the same boat as you. My little girl is 7 weeks old, and I want to lose 30 or more pounds. I am nursing. I don't know how to track it, sorry. I have no idea how many calories it burns. Is Atkins free, or is it one of those things you pay for like Weight Watchers?
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Old 04-12-2010, 02:06 PM
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Don't think you can count it as an activity but you can customize your baseline metabolism and include the calorie burn that way. I don't know how to guesstimate how many calories though.
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Old 04-12-2010, 09:29 PM
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Most of what I've read says nursing moms need to eat 300-500 additional calories from quality foods (dairy, veg/fruit, protein). I'm guessing that would be for a baby that is exclusively breast fed.
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Old 04-13-2010, 04:14 AM
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I added 300 calories to my baseline metabolism (customized) when I was breastfeeding 2 or 3 times a day. I've also heard that the baby takes the same amount of milk for as long as you are breastfeeding, even with solids, until you start weaning. I'm not sure if that is true, but the 300 extra calories worked for me until I started weaning a month ago (he was 14 months). He also took about 8 oz of cow's milk during the day, so he was getting less breastmilk than a baby drinking only breastmilk.

I would go with trial and error. Enter extra calories into your baseline and see how that works for a while. Remember to take measurements, because if you are excersizing, you may not lose weight for the first while, but you will lose inches. Also, I found it really hard to lose anything before my boy was a year old, no matter what I did. But keep it up and you will see results!! The most important thing is making sure both you and your baby are healthy, so make sure you eat enough good food to get your nutrients!
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Old 04-13-2010, 05:53 AM
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Originally Posted by Wylie7
I added 300 calories to my baseline metabolism (customized) when I was breastfeeding 2 or 3 times a day. I've also heard that the baby takes the same amount of milk for as long as you are breastfeeding, even with solids, until you start weaning. I'm not sure if that is true, but the 300 extra calories worked for me until I started weaning a month ago (he was 14 months).
I think I would tend to disagree with the idea that the baby takes the same amount of milk the whole time. All 3 of my kids would go through growth spurts and end up nursing 2-3 times more a day for a while, then slow down and there I would be with all the extra milk... Yikes. But every baby is a little different, so it could be true for some - I dunno.

I don't really know what to tell you on this one. I never lost weight while nursing, I was hungry all the time, the cravings were worse than being pregnant. My friend was completely different, she was never hungry, drank water non-stop and was rail thin by the time her babies were weaned. So each mom is different. What I can say is that if you are dieting and nursing, you need to drink 64oz/day for weight loss and then an additional 24-64 ounces of water for milk production - minimum. Which puts you at roughly a gallon/day. Also I would strongly recommend that you take a multi-vitamin. Even while taking the vitamins, I ended up having vitamin deficiencies by the time I weaned each of my children. Kids take a lot out of you - every thing you have to spare and then some....
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Old 04-13-2010, 06:54 AM
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Originally Posted by almeeker
I think I would tend to disagree with the idea that the baby takes the same amount of milk the whole time. All 3 of my kids would go through growth spurts and end up nursing 2-3 times more a day for a while, then slow down and there I would be with all the extra milk... Yikes. But every baby is a little different, so it could be true for some - I dunno.
I had heard that a baby needs 1 to 1.5 oz per hour, this is from breastfeeding experts who have said it for a 2 month old and a 12 month old. But, to agree with your comment, my first was not exclusively breastfed and would drink at least 24 oz of formula and then breastfeed each day. Then, when he started eating solids, his liquid intake dropped to about 16 oz of formula a day, no breastmilk. I rarely had extra milk with my second, especially after growth spurts, but his spurts lasted a month.

Anyway, I thought it might be a good place to start, and then figure out what works. It seems that no one really knows for sure, and everyone uses a different amount of energy to produce milk. I had a girlfriend that lost all of her baby weight in a couple of months, despite eating everything around.
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Old 04-13-2010, 07:10 AM
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Originally Posted by Wylie7
I had heard that a baby needs 1 to 1.5 oz per hour, this is from breastfeeding experts who have said it for a 2 month old and a 12 month old. But, to agree with your comment, my first was not exclusively breastfed and would drink at least 24 oz of formula and then breastfeed each day. Then, when he started eating solids, his liquid intake dropped to about 16 oz of formula a day, no breastmilk. I rarely had extra milk with my second, especially after growth spurts, but his spurts lasted a month.

Anyway, I thought it might be a good place to start, and then figure out what works. It seems that no one really knows for sure, and everyone uses a different amount of energy to produce milk. I had a girlfriend that lost all of her baby weight in a couple of months, despite eating everything around.
You're right, it's as good a place to start as anywhere. I would agree that I produced 1-1.5 ounces per hour, at least with the first when she was a newborn. She had an undeveloped jaw and had trouble latching on, so I had to pump and bottle feed her until she was strong enough to nurse on her own. But later on when I had to pump because there was extra is anybody's guess. I tend to think that it was more than that per hour, and once they started solids somewhat less. I nursed my children for about a year each, and I'm sure the amount of milk went up and down with the breeze.

I think I have that same girlfriend, she still eats everything and is skinny as a post, despite having 5 kids.

You know now that I think about it, breast milk contains protein and fat, so you might try and make sure that the additional 300-500 calories were primarily protein with some fat on the side, and keep your carbs on the low side for weight loss during nursing. You might try that and see if it helps move the scale some.
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Old 04-21-2010, 04:53 PM
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I also have a 2mo and am trying to lose weight.

Oddly enough, I am lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight because I had gestational diabetes and was on a low carb diet. It's pretty healthy and that is what I started back up on this week, along with the 30 day Shred.

I like the baseline metabolism trick. I was adding a childcare activity of 500 calories.
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Old 04-22-2010, 01:58 AM
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I would like to start off by saying that I cannot give any advice on this subject, for I have never actually been pregnant, nor have children; however, this subject interests me a lot and do have questions. Excuse my ignorance. #1. someone said you feed your kid every 1.5 hours. could you pump an entire days worth in the morning and bottle feed for the whole day? can your breast give this much at one time? or do they fill up as the day goes and you must do it every 2 hours? this would be very time consuming! how could you do this if you have a full time job. #2. To lose extra weight, couldnt you just "pump" extra out? wont your body compensate by making more for baby? thus, burning more calories (this is my plan if i ever have kids). I read somewhere that it burns about 500 calories/day. If i pump double what my baby needs, wouldnt this burn 1000. you would lose the weight in no time! I'm thinking this may not be possible? anyone?
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