How to Lose Weight While Breastfeeding

Not only is breastfeeding good for the baby, but most women also benefit from burning extra calories to reduce the amount of weight gained during pregnancy. However, weight loss while breastfeeding should be done carefully. On the other hand, by eating the right foods, exercising, and taking good care of yourself, you can aid in your postpartum weight loss. Breastfeeding and caring for your baby is a time-consuming task, which may lead you to think that weight loss goals are impossible. However, with just a few changes to your daily routine, you can find a safe and affordable weight loss method that works for your schedule and your baby’s needs. Just remember that the body needs to maintain the extra weight (2.25-4.5 kg) while you breastfeed. As such, you cannot return to your pre-pregnancy weight until your breastfeeding period is over.

Table of Contents

Eat regular meals and healthy snacks

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Try eating every 3 hours. It may sound counter-intuitive, but eating regularly to lose weight is very important. While breastfeeding, you shouldn’t eat less than 1500-1800 calories per day and most women need a lot more calories than this. Fasting is not a good idea, which can be dangerous if you are recovering from childbirth and are breastfeeding. Consuming too few calories is also counterproductive to weight loss goals.

Breastfeeding burns an extra 300-500 calories per day and has been shown to help with overall postpartum weight loss in most women, even without calorie restriction. ^{[1] X Trusted Source PubMed Central Go to source} You should eat enough to meet this calorie requirement, in addition to calories in a healthy diet.
Research has not demonstrated a significant link between reduced maternal calorie intake and breast milk production. However, eating too few calories can increase health risks and increase feelings of fatigue. ^{[2] X Research Resources Riordan, J. and Wambach, K, (2009), <i>Breastfeeding and Human Lactation, 4th Ed.</i> ISBN 0763754323}
Eating meals and snacks regularly will help reduce hunger, making it easier for you to control what you eat. If you let yourself go hungry, it’s easier to reach for the most convenient food available instead of choosing the healthiest food.
When you don’t eat enough calories, your body goes into “starvation mode,” or thermogenesis, to reduce energy expenditure, including burning calories. This can affect weight loss. ^{[3] X Trusted Source PubMed Central Go to Source}

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Bring healthy snacks with you. Snacking on nuts, sliced apples, or carrots in between meals is a great way to reduce hunger. Whether working from home or outside, a nursing mother does not have much time. Therefore, it is advisable to prepare healthy snacks in advance when you have free time.

Keep healthy snacks close at hand while breastfeeding. Breastfeeding forces you to sit still for a while, and when you’re resting, you can reach for some snacks.
Keep snacks that can last a long time, such as nuts or dried fruit, in your baby’s bag or diaper bag, or in the car for easy access while out and about.
Wash all vegetables. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends rinsing fresh fruits and vegetables under running water immediately before eating, cutting, or preparing them. No soap or commercially available fruit and vegetable washing products are required.

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Set a slow weight loss goal. You should wait at least 2 months after giving birth before starting to lose weight. However, during these 2 months, you can eat healthy and avoid junk food as much as possible. After 2 months, you should try to lose weight slowly and steadily, rather than losing it all at once. A reasonable goal is to lose about 0.7 kg a week. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Avoid trending diets, detox water, fast weight loss promises, fat burning pills, weight loss pills and natural supplements. These can pose a risk to anyone and are especially risky for women who are breastfeeding.
Research shows that losing weight too quickly puts extra strain on the cardiovascular system. Giving birth and breastfeeding puts enough pressure on your body that you need to avoid adding more. ^{[5] X Research Sources}
When you lose weight fast, your body usually burns muscle and loses water weight instead of burning fat. This makes it much more difficult to maintain the weight you lose than if you were to lose weight over the long term. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

Make healthy choices

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Choose nutritious foods. Choose foods rich in iron, protein, and calcium in place of foods with empty calories or foods high in fat and sugar. Protein-rich foods are especially important because they keep you fuller for longer. Try to avoid consuming processed foods or foods containing simple carbohydrates such as white bread, white rice, cookies and sweets. This way helps you lose weight without affecting your nutritional health.

Food sources of iron include whole grains, green leafy vegetables, and citrus fruits.
Eggs and dairy products, lean meats, soy products and meat substitutes, beans, lentils, nuts and whole grains all contain protein.
For calcium, you should increase products from animal milk or green leafy vegetables. Alternatively, you can find calcium-fortified products such as fruit juices, cereals, soy milk, yogurt, and tofu. ^{[8] X Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Go to Source}

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Avoid processed foods, foods high in fat, sugar, and caffeine. A healthy diet not only helps with weight loss but also improves the nutritional value of breast milk. Junk or unhealthy food and fast food only add empty calories, not a sustainable source of energy for you to take care of yourself and your baby.

Avoiding salt, sugar and additives in processed foods is better for overall health.
Reduce fat intake to 20-25% or less of overall calories. Replace calories from fat with foods that are low in fat and high in protein. ^{[9] X Research Source}
Beware of hidden sugars in fruit juices and sodas as they only add calories with no nutritional value. Many sodas also contain caffeine, which you should limit to less than 2-3 cups per day. Consuming more can affect your baby’s and your sleeping habits. ^{[10] X Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Go to Source}

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Process tracking. There are many creative charts to help track what you’ve achieved during weight loss. Weight loss charts can help you keep track of how much weight you’ve lost on a daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly basis.

Create your own chart using Excel Spreadsheet program. This program helps to record the information that is most relevant to you.
Download weight loss chart. It only takes a little searching online to find many different types of weight loss charts. Many charts allow you to download and print for free.
There are many examples of other types of body measurements available online. You can take inspiration from what others have done to create your own charts.
If you choose to chart daily, you should choose the same time each day to weigh and record. Remember that body weight is usually lowest in the morning. ^{[11] X Research Source}
Once you start tracking your weight, it’s easy to obsess over it. Try to record a limited chart. Avoid weighing yourself more than once a day and don’t get frustrated when your weight fluctuates up and down.

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Try to reduce stress. Stress while raising young children is hard to handle, but you should try to avoid it as much as possible. Stress can affect your weight loss plan. When you’re stressed, your body releases the hormone cortisp, which increases your appetite and makes you eat more. Stress also causes the body to accumulate more “visceral fat” in the abdomen, exactly where you want to lose weight most. ^{[12] X Research Source}

To reduce stress, you should write down your feelings and frustrations during the day so they don’t keep you up at night. Keep a diary of your motherhood, breastfeeding, and weight loss efforts.
Talk about your feelings. Share your thoughts with your husband or a trusted friend/relative. Talk about parenting challenges with other mothers (online or in person).
Try to focus on happy moments with your baby instead of thinking about the difficulties of being a mother. Remember that breastfeeding is very short.
Ask for help. If you feel overwhelmed with the responsibilities of breastfeeding and motherhood, you should seek help from those around you. Make sure your husband is willing to share the burden. You can ask grandparents to take care of older children or help prepare meals.

Stay active

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Do Cardio regularly. Exercises as simple as walking can help with weight control quickly and effectively, including weight control in the abdominal area. There are many fun ways to stay active, even while nursing your baby.

Take a brisk walk or jog while pushing your baby in the stroller around the block. This is a relaxing way for you to exercise and your baby to breathe fresh air.
Take a brisk walk or jog while pushing your baby in the stroller around the house. This is a relaxing way for you to exercise and your baby to breathe fresh air.
If you don’t like pushing a stroller, consider buying a baby carrier to use when taking your baby out for a walk.
Group cardio exercise. If you know other mothers in the neighborhood who are also raising young children, you can invite them to go for a walk. This is a great way to get out and socialize – something you can’t do when you’re at home with your kids.
Everything needs to be in moderation. Don’t exercise until you’re tired. On the other hand, high-intensity exercise is still great during breastfeeding (with the consent of your OB/GYN, of course). ^{[13] X Research Source}

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Prepare for the exercise session. There are many steps a nursing mother needs to take before exercising so that both mother and baby feel comfortable. Keeping the body and breasts in the correct position for breastfeeding and milk production is a very important step.

Wear a supportive sports bra during vigorous activity. Support your breasts with a well-fitting bra to help reduce friction and discomfort in the nipples. Sports bras for breastfeeding women are available.
Drink plenty of water before and during exercise. Drinking 2-3 glasses of water will help ensure that the body is not dehydrated to avoid affecting milk supply.
Try to breastfeed before exercising. This way, your child will be less fussy if you bring them along. Exercising when the breasts are not eaten by the baby is also much more comfortable. ^{[14] X Research Source}
If you sweat a lot while exercising, you need to clean your breasts before breastfeeding. Some babies don’t like salty taste.
If you’re concerned about sagging breasts after breastfeeding, breast exercises and lifestyle changes can help prevent this (you should also know breastfeeding isn’t the main cause of breast cancer). sagging breasts). You can find more information here: How to prevent sagging breasts after breastfeeding.

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Try strength training/weight training. You don’t have to gain a lot of muscle to reap the benefits of weight training. Just gaining muscle (more or less) can help burn extra calories, even at rest. Increased overall strength also helps with carrying your baby.

Use resistance bands or weights for high-intensity interval training and endurance training.
Repeated repetitions with light weights are just as effective for building muscle as heavy weights, while also causing less injury. ^{[15] X Research Source}
If you lift weights regularly or do repetitive hand movements, you need to start slowly. If you find that your breasts are irritated or your milk ducts are blocked, you should stop these exercises for a while.

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Exercise to tone your abs or core. You don’t have to do 1000 sit-ups to see the benefits of abs workout. Just pulling your abs every day will help your abdominal muscles become firm.

In Pilates or Yoga there are many effective exercises that help to tone the abdominal muscles. Practicing yoga also brings many other benefits such as correcting your posture after a day of pushing a stroller or carrying a baby. ^{[16] X Research Source}
Try a plank or an exercise where you need to maintain a position for a short time. Plank helps to work many muscle groups at once, including abs, biceps, front muscles, back muscles, and even biceps. ^{[17] X Trusted Source Harvard Medical Schop Go to Source}

Full rest

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Try to get enough sleep. Most of us need 7-9 hours of sleep every night. This is especially difficult for women during the breastfeeding period because babies often need to feed throughout the night. However, you need to remember that adequate rest is essential if you want to lose weight.

If you’re tired, it’s easier to find a quick source of energy in the form of carbohydrates or sugar. The brain’s reward centers are more active when you’re tired and make you seek out unhealthy snacks.
Research shows that too little sleep can cause many people to eat larger portions, thereby increasing calorie intake. This quickly derails your weight loss plan. ^{[18] X Research Sources}
You’re also less likely to want to be physically active when you don’t get enough rest. Lack of sleep keeps you from exercising or going to the gym. ^{[19] X Research Source}
Consider pumping ready and having your husband breastfeed for 1-2 hours at night so you can get some sleep.

Advice

Taking a multivitamin or supplement can support and meet the nutritional needs of you and your baby. Continue taking prenatal vitamins for women during lactation. If you follow a strict diet, your healthcare professional will recommend taking a vitamin B12 supplement daily. ^{[22] X Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Go to Source}

Warning

Consult with your doctor or health care professional about the right time to start exercising. Depending on the nature of your pregnancy and childbirth, you may need to wait a while after giving birth before you start exercising. If you had a normal delivery and no complications, it’s safe to start exercising as soon as you feel ready. If you’ve had a cesarean section, recently reconstructed an enlarged vagina, or have complications after giving birth, it’s a good idea to talk to your health care professional before starting an exercise program. ^{[23] X Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Go to Source}

Steps