minksmit's Journal, 08 Jan 24

my own recommendation is that you just eat healthier now, its said that breastfeeding mothers must consume atleast 1800 calories a day. Maybe there is some mommies who is already on the journey while breasfeeding and can give you some recommendations as to what meal plan to follow.  

I love to eat keto/low carb, but when I was breastfeeding this seriously decreased my Milk supply- I was breastfeeding my adoptive daughter so it was induced lactation, but I was able to breastfeed her successfully. As soon as I would cut carbs, my supply would diminish significantly. So that’s then only thing I wouldn’t recommend ☺️ 

thank you! these are all very helpful. I'm 39 weeks pregnant and just planning some meals ahead of time.  

Hi there 👋 ok so I’m just tapping into this in my course but this is super interesting actually and a lot of it overlaps. Your docs would have probably told you this but our milk is super dense with nutrients (obviously 😅) and you should eat everything, but just the good kind of everything. Lean proteins, legumes, eat your rainbow type vibe. Stuff like; salmon and spinach with potato, butternut and quinoa warm salad, Prawn, avo and buckwheat with basil, chicken/livers with chickpeas and peppers are gold. Good kind of everything would also include trying out a Greek yogurt with dark chocolate mashup for a dessert instead of more processed type foods. Haven’t gotten to the exercise part yet, but if you’re going to exercise you will need to take your calories and energy levels into consideration defs 🙂 

I wouldn’t advise going on a diet while breastfeeding. You are gonna be so miserable. Just eat everything in moderation. Eating what the package says is the recommended serving helps. 

Shrimp or prawn tails deshelled and precooked are fine because they’re low in mercury :)  

Research the Carnivore diet. It completely changed my life and I effortlessly lost 12kg (I’m currently 54kg) and everything about my health has improved. Look up Carnivore diet and breastfeeding Anthony Chaffee and decide for yourself. FYI. I used to be vegetarian and this was the hardest and most minding thing I’ve ever done for my health. All the best 🥰 

Go slow! See what works for YOU! (Please remember that nobody here is a doctor so take everything with a little bit of scepticism). Don't do extremes. Having a baby is already very extreme. Not to mention that you are now the primary caregiver along with all the responsibility that entails. If you try to lose a lot of fat in the process, you will screw yourself over and fail to lose weight in the process. 1) Track your calorie intake for a week so you get a sense of what your normal is at the moment. 2) Switch out all the junk food for healthy foods (if you have any junk food...maybe you already eat very healthy) e.g. instead of biscuits, eat some fruit. If you're craving fats, go for avo/nuts. Get your carbs from vegetables and wholegrains. BUT KEEP THE CALORIES THE SAME. 3) Change your macros and keep the calories the same. Do that for a week. 3a) Protein: You need to eat 2.2g of protein for every kilogram you weigh (your weight x 2.2). E.g. if you weigh 65kg that would be 65 x 2.2 = 143g of protein 3b) Fat: You want about 0.77~0.88g of fat per kilo of body weight. So for a 65kg person it would be 0.77 x 65 = 50g and 0.88 x 65 = 57g and that gives them between 50g~57g. 3c) Your carbs should fill up the rest of your calories (sorry, the maths gets tedious here but I'll do it with the example). Take grams of protein x 4; grams of fat x 9; then take total calories minus those two numbers; divide the answer by 4 and that's how many grams of carbs for you. i) Protein: 143 x 4 = 572 ii) Fat (two calculations here): Get the average fat intake ~ 50+57=107 then 107÷2= 53.5 (make it 54). Now take 54 x 9 = 486 iii) Carbs: Say your intake from step 1) was 1600 you would do Total - Protein - Fat then take that answer ÷ 4 e.g. 1600 - 572 - 486 = 542, and then 542 ÷ 4 = 135.5 or round to 136g of carbs. 4) So now you've tracked your calories for a week, eaten healthy for a week and eaten a good ratio of protein:fats:carbs for a week. Time to figure out how many calories to subtract. Take your weight x 0.5%×1100 = calories to subtract so...65kg x 0.5% x 1100 = 357.5 or 358cal. 5) Last bit of maths is subtracting from total calories: 1600 - 358 = 1242cal. So that is your new daily calories goal. The best advice I've heard is 50% of that can be activities (e.g. go for a walk. And not even a lot because for our 65kg person, that means walk for about 30min or swim for 15...you can use this very app to figure it out). The other 50% can come from fats (but don't fall below your minimum fat number!). The rest comes from carbs. Go easy, take your time. Remember, fat loss is changing a lifestyle. Good luck & be smart! 

Wow. Thank you for the lengthy and VERY interesting feedback. I really appreciate how supportive this community is. You guys make me feel more at ease. I gained more than what I should have during the pregnancy and felt anxious about it, and really want to do what's healthiest for myself and this baby. It is my first, so I have much to learn. But you give me the confidence to at least conquer the healthy eating part. Once again, thank you very much for the guidance.  

First of all congrats! I gained 23 kg twice for each of my pregnancies and lost more than 23kg on both occasions… first of all I see you’re still pregnant so don’t stress. The best thing is to wait 4-6weeks postpartum to ensure that your breast milk production is regular, steady and well established. Once you get the clear from your doctor at your 6 week post partum appointment to exercise (I had unplanned c-sections which were a real setback), go ahead it’s the best time to combine exercise and diet because you’re also burning calories from milk production. I waited almost 3 months post partum because it was Christmas and also the breastfeeding cravings are real as you will see…once I got serious I ate around 1500-1800 calories daily. Make sure to include foods that promote breast milk I.e. tahini, barley, black tea, Brazil nuts… don’t let anyone tell you you can’t diet while breastfeeding it’s such a misconception. As for exercise I focused first on shedding the fat so just cardio, took my baby in her car seat, she would sleep peacefully next to the treadmill and I ran 8km a day 5 days a week… after losing the bulk of my weight I focused on muscle and toning, you can do HIIT, freeletics, weight training whatever. Yoga on top of this is also good. Remember one thing, it took 9 months to put on, it should take 9 months to come off.. 

Hi MinkSmit! 👋🏻 I’m currently breastfeeding and following low carb (<50g carbs) and calorie counting (<1800cals). I picked up so much weight during my pregnancy, my daughter is 9 months now, and I’ve only recently found it within myself to start eating right again… I wish I started earlier, but with a full time job, and baby and everything it becomes a lot. So be gentle with yourself, if you work full time, and it’s in budget - I can definitely recommend Dinnerbox just to help out. They have low carb and low cal options. But most importantly just plan for success. Plan your meals, plan your snacks, plan your drinks! You’ll see the immediate need to quench your thirst as soon as you breastfeed. Have healthy things around you… Good luck and enjoy the little one! They grow up so quickly! 💚 

Hi everyone. Baby was born on the 12th, so far I've just been enjoying the hospital food. And focussing on learning how to breastfeed. Thank you to all for the guidance. Once we can go home, I will weight myself and keep you updated on the journey ahead.