This is for my wife. We had our daughter 10 weeks ago and my wife, who's 5,8", is now about 138 lbs. She got down from her post-delivery weight of 150s down to this current weight fairly quickly, but it's been rather static for the past week or two. She's walking with me about 15 miles a week at a good pace. I know for a fact that her calories are no more than 1500/day (remember that breast feeding uses up calories too). She eats well and quite evenly throughout the day.

The problem is that her weight loss has slowed, and somebody mentioned to her that breastfeeding is the reason, because her body is madly keeping onto fat stores to help with milk. Is that the case? If it is I suppose there isn't much she can do. I told her that of course if you're eating under maintenance you _will_ lose weight, as it would be impossible not to, but will her body aggressively pull back the metabolism more than a normal person's body would, because of her breast feeding?

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Okay, did it occur that she may not be eating enough calories? What is her weight prebaby? Breastfeeding uses an additional 500 calories a day. Give or take depending on how hungry your baby is. But my guess is that 1000 calories a day and her body will hold on to every pound it has. I just had a baby 15 weeks ago and I have been able to drop 15 pounds in 8 weeks (I only started working out after the baby was six weeks). Eating too few calories as you and I both know will not help her get back any muscle either. When you are pregnant your body turns some of your muscle into fat, you need to work hard at getting back that muscle. I would just say that she probably needs to take in more calories. Also breastfeeding is well known to have great effects on women losing weight afterward, but it is because it burns 500 calories a day. Just tell her also that your uterus doesn't completely go down until about week twelve to week sixteen. Tell her good luck!

Thanks! I should have noted that her pre-pregnancy weight was abotu 128. She's hoping to get to around that by Christmas. I have told her to step up calories possibly and she has tried doing that as of several days ago - not really long enough to see any progress yet. Unfortunately her appetite is not very good so she's forcing herself to eat a tiny bit more than she otherwise would.

Good advice girlcop.

Why is everyone always in such a big hurry? When you have a new baby, you should be focusing on getting your sleep and enjoying your new baby, not losing weight. Plan on nine months to lose pregnancy weight. If you lose it quicker than that, you may be doing your body harm. I think she should be eating WAY more than 1500 calories a day. You don't want your little one malnourished, do you?

Good advice girlcop.

Why is everyone always in such a big hurry? When you have a new baby, you should be focusing on getting your sleep and enjoying your new baby, not losing weight. Plan on nine months to lose pregnancy weight. If you lose it quicker than that, you may be doing your body harm. I think she should be eating WAY more than 1500 calories a day. You don't want your little one malnourished, do you?Naturally she's "in a hurry" because she doesn't like the weight. She is not, however, losing it too fast. At the beginning she was just letting things play out, and it's only been the last couple of weeks that she's put extra attention into it. The little one is far from malnourished, if the scale has anything to say about it, and in any case breast milk takes precedence over a mother's health when feeding; if she was not eating enough it would hit her before the baby.

The typical advice calls for 6 months to lose the weight, although that is for the average person. I would expect that a person who was in good shape going in and is willing to try harder at it than most (since honestly most people do very little to lose weight) could do it faster, and christmas time would be 5 months on the nose.

Generally she is not getting more than 1500 because her appetite is staggered throughout the day and it typically dwindles as the hours get on (quite unlike my own!). A couple of days a week she treats herself to a slacker diet and would exceed that.

Just so you know, Guava is right, nine months to put it on and nine months to take it off. Of course I can relate, because Christmas time will be six months for me and I want it gone too. But because I have been heavy once and lost the weight I know that it needs to come off in a good slow fashion. I have been working out for about 8 weeks and I have lost approximately 15 pounds and now of course it has halted the last couple of weeks, but that is the appropriate 1-2 pounds a week. How much weight does she have to lose? With this baby I put on far more than one should, but it is number two. With the first one, I was so sick I couldn't eat, with this one I couldn't quit eating. I thought he was coming out and asking for steak. I need to lose another twenty by Christmas to reach my goal, but I am hopeful, not demanding. Any weight my body is willing to give up, I am thankful for. Tell your wife to force herself to eat something, even if she has to fill the calories with juice or pasta (those calories can add up). If not she may have side effects from bad nutrition (loss of hair, bad teeth, weak bones, should I go on). Tell her it takes time and that she is beautiful every day. She will get there eventually.

Just so you know, Guava is right, nine months to put it on and nine months to take it off. Of course I can relate, because Christmas time will be six months for me and I want it gone too. But because I have been heavy once and lost the weight I know that it needs to come off in a good slow fashion. I have been working out for about 8 weeks and I have lost approximately 15 pounds and now of course it has halted the last couple of weeks, but that is the appropriate 1-2 pounds a week. How much weight does she have to lose? With this baby I put on far more than one should, but it is number two. With the first one, I was so sick I couldn't eat, with this one I couldn't quit eating. I thought he was coming out and asking for steak. I need to lose another twenty by Christmas to reach my goal, but I am hopeful, not demanding. Any weight my body is willing to give up, I am thankful for. Tell your wife to force herself to eat something, even if she has to fill the calories with juice or pasta (those calories can add up). If not she may have side effects from bad nutrition (loss of hair, bad teeth, weak bones, should I go on). Tell her it takes time and that she is beautiful every day. She will get there eventually.Pre-pregnancy she was 128 and wants to get to 125 or 126 this time. She weighed herself this morning and is down to 135, so it is indeed coming off it seems...not sure why it stuck for a while there.

She's been burned out from lack of sleep. Breast fed babies apparently get less full each time and thus are less likely to sleep for long stretches. Plus my wife has never been a good sleeper, althought last night we reached a milestone: I woke at 4:58 wondering if our daughter was still alive, because she hadn't made a peep all night. 15 min later she started grunting and by the time her diaper was changed she was crying and absolutely starving. Hopefully we'll get some more straight nights like that. It was pretty nice :D

Hello, new here, ran across this thread and thought I'd share my experience with this situation. I have found with both my boys that as we neared the one year mark, my weight dropped off more and more easily. With my second child, by the time he was 11 months I was actually working on NOT losing any more. I have talked to many moms and found that it happens very frequently this way. Now that we are almost to our minimum goal of meeting the World Health Organization's recommendation to nurse at least two years, I can see I have followed the common pattern of losing all the baby weight by 9 months, struggling to maintain weight for a few months around one year, and stabilizing again by about 18 months.

Hope all is well for your family! :cool: