Informal BF/EP and Weight Loss Poll

[genet313]

B/C anecdotes. I'm curious if there's any correlation between weight loss and milk supply.

If you BF/EP and you had good/over supply...did you find BF/EP to help you lose weight?  All of it, part of it, etc?  
If you had low supply, do you think you held onto weight as you tried to make enough milk?


ETA:  For me, I lost a lot of initial weight that I don't think was due to BFing.



I'm now holding onto about 15 lbs (from 38 total gained), and that's up about 5 lbs from my low point on mat leave. Part of it I'm attributing to being sedentary now that I'm back at work, but I also don't have great pumping supply so I'm wondering if my body is holding onto weight to try to make enough milk. And if my body is unique in that regard, or if this is common.

[justjen]

Interesting. I have low-ish supply and have held onto weight. It didn't occur to me that these were related.

[Deleted]

I ended my BFing ten pounds lower than I was when I got pregnant with my first kid (so I was about 155 when I got PG with DS 4 years ago, and was about 140 at my lowest, and about 145 when I weaned DD).

For me, it definitely helped me lose weight. My supply was good (no oversupply, though). 

[Deleted]

I lost weight with Bfing but TBH it was a lot of water weight and I was on a very restrictive diet (allergies for DS). I had a mild oversupply in the beginning due to EP. When I went to even more restrictive diet my supply also suffered and eventually dried up.

I quickly gained 20# after weaning though. Womp womp.

[nessness]

I have low-ish supply and am almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but it's taken over 9 months. I have to eat a ton to keep my supply up, so I definitely think that's the reason for the slow weight loss.

[Deleted]

I gained 45-50lbs during pregnancy and am almost 6 months pp now. I have a good supply and EP 50oz a day.

I've lost all but 8 or 10lbs. I think a lot of weight was water from my hypertension though. I lost all but 15lbs by 3 weeks pp and another 5-10 since.

So, no idea really. I eat like a teenage boy without gaining weight and that is definitely the pumping.

[sunshine608]

I had oversupply and lost the weight quickly. Than I gained it back b/c of crappy eating

[justjen]

Aug 4, 2015 10:13:47 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

I ended my BFing ten pounds lower than I was when I got pregnant with my first kid (so I was about 155 when I got PG with DS 4 years ago, and was about 140 at my lowest, and about 145 when I weaned DD).

For me, it definitely helped me lose weight.

How was your supply?

[andthentherewere10]

So much weight loss. I eat so much ice cream and just got weighed officially since my first pregnancy appt (august 2013) and am 15 pounds below that weight without any effort (I used to exercise and eat healthily and hovered around 120 and now I eat ice cream everyday and babywearing is the extent of my exercise lately). I'm one of the lucky ones, I know.

Eta: regular supply. Never had to supplement.

[justjen]

dupe

[Deleted]

Aug 4, 2015 10:18:44 GMT -5 justjen said:

Aug 4, 2015 10:13:47 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

I ended my BFing ten pounds lower than I was when I got pregnant with my first kid (so I was about 155 when I got PG with DS 4 years ago, and was about 140 at my lowest, and about 145 when I weaned DD).

For me, it definitely helped me lose weight.

How was your supply?

Sorry, good enough. Not over supply, just enough for the kids.

I was nursing 2 for 9 months, though. 

[mrsGreeko]

Anecdote alert. Totally opposite for me.

With my first I had extremely low supply (only made 50% of what she needed). I lost weight like crazy. I was down to less than 110 lbs when she was 6 months old. I actually had a woman at work chase me down in the hall and chatise me for losing too much weight. I even had my thyroid checked because it was just falling off me. I do think I had PPD which made me have little interest in eating (probably caused some of my low supply). It leveled back out around the time she was a year, incidentally also when my period came back.


With my second and my third I had over supply, donating 700-1000 ounces of milk with each of them. I held onto the last 10 pounds until they started to nurse less frequently and my period came back, which was 14 months with second and 17 months with third. As soon as that happened I immediately dropped 10 pounds in a very short amount of time and again was at pre-pg weight.

[Poppy]

I was up ~5-10 lbs from my happy weight when I got pg (gained some with my loss beforehand). I gained 30 more while pregnant. I returned to pre-pg within ~6w and back to happy weight by ~3mo. I've had a pretty good supply though I'm no longer outpacing my son by much and now I seem to have plateaued (I call this my happy weight but I'd prefer to be another 10 lbs lighter), though I'm not complaining about that. I am a little worried what will happen as I wean, but I'm pleasantly surprised so far.

[linz]

I lost all my weight plus some super fast....like before my kids even came home from nicu. But I was barely eating or sleeping so that had a lot to do with it. I have put some weight back on since returning to work but I sit all day and eat like crap.

I do produce over 50 oz a day.

[longtimenopost]

I lost a bunch of weight because DD was MSPI and I couldn't eat anything delicious! At my lowest, I was 15 lbs below pre-pregnancy weight. HOWEVER, I gained back the 15 lbs when she outgrew her allergies plus another 10 when we weaned so...overall I started this pregnancy 10 lbs heavier. I've always been a yo-yoer though!

[Velar Fricative]

My supply wasn't great. I am slowly realizing that I think the fact that BFing never helped me lose weight is just because I had weight issues from way before I got pregnant and began breastfeeding (and now my weight issues have been exacerbated by two pregnancies). Weight never falls off me for any reason. It's a battle for me and always has been, but I hoped BFing would help and it didn't.

Bitter, party of one.

[linz]

Also I have to eat a lot to maintain supply. I think that's partly why I've pit weight back on. Whereas the first 8 weeks or so I barely had time to eat but my supply was amazing from hormones.

I remember the LC said girls with PCOS don't usually produce much. I proved her wrong

[jewel]

I had an oversupply (because of pumping) and lost weight very quickly.

Once we got back to nursing, and my supply regulated, I gained 5 pounds back.

It could be related to milk supply, or the amount of time I had to eat again. Probably both.

[teatimefor2]

I gained a lot with both boys, 70 and 50 pounds with each.

I've had a great supply with both. With DS1 I lost everything by 12 months. I'm 9 months PP with DS2, and I'm hanging on to about 10lbs. Part of it is summer ice cream. I'll get there.

It's a combo of luck with BF, good eating and exercise.

[dottyblue]

I lost all of my weight, plus 5 lbs by 9 months without trying. My supply was... troublesome, but I attribute that more to DS's undiagnosed tongue tie than to weight loss. I managed to EBF/pump for a full 12 months because I'm stubborn.

[sillygoosegirl]

Good supply, weight came off, though it felt slow (45 lbs in 8 and a half months). Elimination diets, when I was doing them, lowered my supply and sped up weight loss.

[water*drop]

I had a good supply (not an oversupply; just average) with DD as long as I ate a TON of calories. I lost a lot of weight, but I think that was more a result of being on a restricted diet than bf'ing itself. I ended up about 10 lbs lower than my pre-pregnancy weight. FTR, I lost very slowly for the first 6 months, and then weight dropped off VERY rapidly for the next 6-9 months or so. DD nursed for 2.5 years, but my weight didn't change much from 12-15ish months on.

[deo]

I had a good supply and I think it helped me lose the pregnancy weight.

Both times I held on to an extra 10lbs while I was breastfeeding. As soon as I weaned I lost the 10lbs fairly quickly (like < 3 weeks with minimal effort on my part).

[scribellesam]

I have slight over supply issues and lose pregnancy weight very quickly. I tend to stay 5-10lbs under my normal weight while I am BFing.

[Cicero]

Oversupply but I was at my pre-baby weight by 4 or 6 weeks pp so I don't think it was a major factor. BFed for a year and ended up 5ish pounds below my pre pregnancy weight.

[ewall]

I had an oversupply until recently (7 months) and I've settled back at my normal pre-pregnancy weight without any effort on my part. I will have to actually work at losing the last few pounds to get to happy weight.

[starlily]

I had low supply both times.

I dropped nearly all of my pregnancy weight in the first 6 weeks, most likely because I had GD and followed the diet closely. With DD1, I actually gained the weight back in an effort to increase calories and boost supply. It didn't work.

[turtlegirl]

I had a really good supply, responded really well to the pump and overall didn't have any major issues with breastfeeding except initial soreness and sometimes massive boobs getting in the way of feeding a tiny newborn, lol.

I pretty much lost all my pregnancy weight within the first two months both times.

And I never got a pp period until over a month after fully weaning.

I'm pretty much the woman that all breastfeeding women hate, lol.

[shelbyann]

Oversupply early on, then normal/good supply. Gained 15 lbs that would not budge for several months in spite of my best efforts.

Never weaned before getting PG again. Oddly, dropped the last of that weight during my first trimester and am now, at 13 weeks, the same weight I was pre-DD. Bodies are so weird.

[Ashley&Scott]

My supply was great & I lost a ton of weight BFing. It's slowly creeping back on since I'm not BFing much anymore. I'm not happy about that at all, I loved being able to eat anything & everything without a care in the world.