Post partum weight gain

Linzers86

Is anyone actually gaining weight post partum? I lost 17 lbs my first trimester and very happily stayed thin throughout the pregnancy without any effort or diet change. Giving birth wreaks havoc on my hormones; last time my thyroid got all jacked up and I ended up gaining 25 lbs before I had my diagnosis of hypothyroid. My thyroid levels are within normal range so what the HECK is causing this weight gain? I know the HCG while you're pregnant can keep weight in check, and I know cortisol (the stress hormone) can cause weight gain...I'm EBF and eating very clean and am active. If anything, I don't eat ENOUGH calories so it's not diet. Please help!

Ceridwen77

Weight gain is simply due to you taking in more calories than you are expending. Are you weighing/measuring your food and tracking calories? You may be taking in more calories than you think. And unfortunately diet is the most critical component when it comes to weight loss/gain. You can be super active but if your diet is bad you'll have little progress.

rachswi

Also if you are seriously eating too few calories your body could be going into starvation mode where it turns everything you eat into fat and stores it. Eating way too little isn't going to help you. I read somewhere that the absolute minimum number of calories you can eat in a day while BFing is 1800 (not sure how accurate that is but I do know that the non-nursing female body can't survive long term on less than 1200 calories/day so 1800 sounds about right)

Linzers86

My diet is good, I have a food log and I'm netting around 1700 calories a day and BF shaves 500 off of that. I'm more concerned with hormonal issues because I've been absolutely obsessed with logging every calorie in the past only to find out that no amount of dieting and clean eating were going to help because of my thyroid issues.

cdepperschmidt

I also read a minimum of 1800 calories while breast feeding. In addition,I have hypothyroid, so I am familiar with those issues. Have you seen and endocrinologist PP? Mine wanted to see me 6 weeks PP to check my levels.

GoogleMD

Linzers86 said:

My diet is good, I have a food log and I'm netting around 1700 calories a day and BF shaves 500 off of that. I'm more concerned with hormonal issues because I've been absolutely obsessed with logging every calorie in the past only to find out that no amount of dieting and clean eating were going to help because of my thyroid issues.

What are your thyroid levels at? The newer recommended level for TSH is .3 to 3, ideally under 2, though many physician still use the older guidelines .5 to 5. Also have you had you T3 and T4 levels checked. Synthroid is the inactive form of the thyroid hormone, your body has to be able to covert it to T3 the active form. Definitely see an endocrinologist if you aren't all ready.

Linzers86

My TSH is sitting at .9...I started on synthroid but made the switch over naturethroid (natural dedicated) to address the T3/T4 issue. I'm thinking maybe it's adrenal fatigue or estrogen dominance? I've always had high cortisol levels which make the weight stay on too. I do need to see an endo! Trying to figure out how to get my insurance to cover that

Cook3133

I have always gained weight when I was nursing.