Anyone else having a really hard time losing baby weight??

kjojola · October 2013

So here I am, 14 weeks after birth, my pregnancy weight was 157 and at my 6 week postpartum check up I weighed 133. Ok. That was encouraging right? I thought "Oh yeah. This weight loss thing will be easy. Especially because I am breast feeding." WRONG. That is what every woman I know told me. Oh you don't have to work out, you can eat whatever and still lose weight because your breast feeding. Well, I did start working out intensely at week 10 and I have been eating well as in healthy for the most part since my precious LO was born. For her first eight weeks I was eating really nothing but meat, fruit, veggies, and nuts. It didn't seem to help really and it put me in a horrible mood. To say the least, I started eating regularly again minus anything fried, frozen, full of empty calories or sugar. I haven't been very strict lately, I am BFing and started pumping again, so I am hungry and I refuse to starve myself or eat rabbit food. I workout at least five times a week, an hour to an hour and a half each time, about a third cardio and two thirds medium intensity weight exercises. On my fifth day I either bike ride/ walk/ go hiking. I have been on this routine for 4 weeks now, combined with BFing, shouldn't I have lost some weight by now?? I weighed myself at the gym and the scale said 136! WTF??! My baby tummy is being extra stubborn as well, so I usually wear a belly belt when I sleep and around the house. All I want to know is, am I the only one having these issues? I was 110 lbs before pregnancy and I have so far to go before I get back to that. Is there any tips, tricks, anything that anyone who has dealt with this can give?

Watergirl21 · October 2013

I was just about to post the same question- I was 170 before I delivered and 156 at my 6 week appt. lo is now 5 months, and I still weight 156. I was 143 before I got pregnant this time and 133 before my first pregnancy. I consulted with a dietician who gave me a meal plan and workout with a boot camp group 75 min 3 times a week. I breastfeeding aswell. My eating could be better. I have heard that some moms don't drop the weight till they wean... Any advice would be awesome.

kjojola · October 2013

That's kind of what I was thinking, I am also wondering if my menstrual cycle still being away might have something to do with it.

VPGIRL06 · October 2013

Honestly? Even not Bfing, it's like something didn't click until like 5 months PP. I stayed at 6-8 lbs over my preg weight until I added extra running on top of my Crossfit, lost that and haven't gained it even without running. Not sure if it was extra cardio or just hormonal but now I'm at pre preg weight with alot more muscle

ARJ6511 · October 2013

Are you eating enough calories? My weight really plateaued when I wasn't eating enough. I need to eat 2200 while exercising to lose weight while BFing as well. I plateaued when I started exercising, so I cut calories an plateaued even longer. It was so frustrating!!! I started upping my calories back to 2000-2200 and I am back to losing, thank goodness. Make sure you are eating enough calories and getting enough water and the weight should start coming off.

zbeesma86 · October 2013

I always bloat the week before my period and retain 5-8lbs- sucks!

But like PP said- make sure you are eating enough calories. Do you use my fitness pal? record your activity and diet and it will tell you how much you should eat.

You sound very active and that was an issue I had too- I wasn't eating enough. So my body wasn't shedding the weight. I eat 6 small high protein meals a day. And drink a gallon of water. My body has changed a lot since baby and since changing how I eat.

kjojola · October 2013

Calories are probably the problem. My brain has a really hard time grasping the concept of more calories=more weight loss. I am definitely going to start tracking what I intake though. Thank you ladies for the advice!!

st.augbride · October 2013

With ds the weight fell off, but with dd not even close. I was 160 at my peak and 6 weeks out still in the 140s. Like you I tried all my typical tricks of running a lot and eating lightly, but with BFing nothing helped much and I felt down. I didn't know how much or little to eat. WW has a nursing mom option so at 8 weeks out I joined. Best move ever. Turns out I needed to eat more though within limits and exercise less. I used every point they gave me and lost 1 to 3 lbs per week. By 5 months out I was back to 121. I got off it after and am now back to my typical eating and not much exercise (no time) and maintaining 123 which I'm happy with. If I ever need to lose again, I will def do ww

care99 · October 2013

You're only 14 weeks PP - cut yourself some slack. The BF'ing thing works for some people but definitely not for everyone. My body held onto weight while BF'ing and I lost the last 10 lbs in days after I weaned (same with both of my kids). I think I just needed more fat/calories while nursing. I'd also eat more calories though, esp. working out so much.

kjojola · October 2013

st.augbride said:

With ds the weight fell off, but with dd not even close. I was 160 at my peak and 6 weeks out still in the 140s. Like you I tried all my typical tricks of running a lot and eating lightly, but with BFing nothing helped much and I felt down. I didn't know how much or little to eat. WW has a nursing mom option so at 8 weeks out I joined. Best move ever. Turns out I needed to eat more though within limits and exercise less. I used every point they gave me and lost 1 to 3 lbs per week. By 5 months out I was back to 121. I got off it after and am now back to my typical eating and not much exercise (no time) and maintaining 123 which I'm happy with. If I ever need to lose again, I will def do ww

Can you tell me a little bit more about the program? Was it WW360 and did you do the meetings or online? If you did do online, do you get to choose the nursing moms option after you sign up? I am having a bit of difficulty navigating their webpage.

kjojola · October 2013

care99 said:

You're only 14 weeks PP - cut yourself some slack. The BF'ing thing works for some people but definitely not for everyone. My body held onto weight while BF'ing and I lost the last 10 lbs in days after I weaned (same with both of my kids). I think I just needed more fat/calories while nursing. I'd also eat more calories though, esp. working out so much.

Thank you for the encouragement, I know, I am overly hard on myself most of the time. It just sucks when BFing works so well for some people, and then they ask how it is working for you and all you can say is "well, it's not really..." kind of awkward. But either way, I am definitely going to try the more calories thing, I definitely didn't know that before this website.

BP607 · October 2013

Yeah, 14 wpp isn't that far out, cut yourself some slack! As PP said, you prob aren't eating enough and your body is holding on to everything so it can make milk. Make sure you drink TONS of water -- also as a PP wrote, I lost 10 pounds in about a week after weaning. It must have been extra water weight or something. GL! Also, take in to account you may gain some muscle, which weighs more than fat

araeh08 · April 2014

Hey there! I had my baby in February (love of my life!) I definitely am having some issues losing all of the baby weight even though I'm breastfeeding. And, my mom revealed that she actually held onto weight while breastfeeding and then lost it after she was done. Could that be it?

Also, I was recently cleared by my doc FINALLY to start working out, though she warned me of course to start slow and to watch my caloric intake so my milk supply stays up. So the focus now is to stay healthy for the baby rather than to just shed pounds, though I shamelessly would love to at least tone up and start getting back into shape. I want to get a group of 6-8 moms together to join my online private support/accountability group if anyone is interested. To be honest, I really don't have a ton of friends who have babies yet, so I would love to "meet" some other moms, too along the way. Think of it like an accountability support group where positive attitudes and encouragement are available and NO negativity is allowed. There will be NO crazy dieting since we are all trying to bring up new babies, and you choose the types of workouts and schedule that works best for you and is okay with your doctor. Just focus on supporting each other to create and stick to our goals. I'd like everyone in the group to be new moms (who are cleared by their docs!) to start incorporating fitness into their daily lives after having a baby.

I've lead a group like this before, and found that people have much better results when they have the support of a small group of positive people. If you are interested or know someone who might be, please have them shoot me a message. I'd like to start with my new mom partners this week.

If I don't hear from you, best of luck!

mcfife09 · April 2014

I totally understand your frustration I'm not even as far out as you and Im eager to lose the weight. I'm pretty fit and I worked out really hard through out pregnancy. I also felt great after having my baby and was going on long walks at 5 days pp and working out at 3 week pp. I was also watching calories and eating high protein and….. nothing. no weight loss. I finally like a PP said decided that taking care of my babies (toddler and new born) needed to top my list and I needed to let go of the numbers on the scale. It is really really hard. I think when I was still pregnant and someone said something about the last 10 pounds, I told her to chill and enjoy her baby, hahaha a few months later that is me, letting something so silly stress me out. I also agree that I needed to be taking in more calories, and I exercise because I love it, so if I'm going to exercise, I really need to be eating A LOT! I track on My fitness pal and on a hard exercising day I eat 2,700 calories… that is intense. I was eating 1,800 at max when I was in a plateau (which was terrible- because it did nothing for me). I'm just going to let it go focus on consuming enough to continue breastfeeding and working out eating healthy but eating a lot and let the cards fall as they will. BUT ONE THING-- it bugs me that so many people have this information wrong, a pound of muscle and a pound of fat weigh the SAME- they just look totally different. a 130 lb active woman and a 130lb couch potato will carry the weight differently. Anyway, I feel your struggle, I hope that you can shed the weight and move past this plateau! Good luck!!

MrsDoodleXO · May 2014

I just completed a 28 detox program through Arbonne and I was able to shed 14lbs in the 28 days. I'd be willing to share my before and afters too. But basically the program eliminates wheat, soy, dairy and gluten from your diet for 28 days and replaces with protein shakes (filled with veggies, fruits and h ealthy fats) for lunch and breakfast and then a "clean meal" ( not processed, lean meat, veggie and good carb) for dinner. Their protein shakes are 100% vegan and dont contain any additives and are safe for BF mom's.. There are parts of the program that aren't recommended for BF moms.. the detox tea, and the caffeine supplement but everything else is OK. The support group is lead on facebook via a private group and each week you get new recipes and shopping lists. Seriously amazing. I actually signed up to be a consultant because of how much I believe in it and the number of friends that signed up. If anyone is interested in more of the day to day detail and cost y ou can email me at katiepjenkins@Yahoo.com

Anyone else having a really hard time losing baby weight??

Re: Anyone else having a really hard time losing baby weight??

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