3 Smart Ways to Lose the Baby Weight & Boost Milk Supply
Making enough milk for your baby and losing the baby weight are two of the most stressful things about your postpartum journey. Be sure not to pressure yourself into losing the weight quickly. You are still growing another human being with your own body!
Your body will get back into shape in good time. After all it took 9 months to grow that belly, give yourself AT LEAST 9 months for your body to recover. Making enough milk for your little should be priority over losing weight, but here are 3 smart ways to help you lose weight while boosting your milk supply!
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3 Smart Ways to Lose the Baby Weight & Boost Milk Supply
1.) Nurse on Demand
Nursing does burn around 300-500 calories a day, and for some women it helps them shed the pounds like crazy. Nursing on demand is the absolute best thing for your milk supply. This is how your body knows exactly how much milk to make and meets the growing needs of baby.
2.) Drink Plenty of Water
Drinking plenty of water is recommended for weight loss even if you aren’t breastfeeding. Sometimes our bodies mistake thirst for hunger. Drinking a glass before meals will help keep you fuller and will result in you eating smaller portions.
Drinking plenty of water will also prevent dehydration and will help replace fluids lost during lactation. Listen to your body when you are breastfeeding, and be sure to satisfy your thirst.
3.) Make Savvy Food Choices
You’ll find that you may crave lots of sugar and fatty foods while nursing, and some days it can feel like you are constantly starving. Being home by yourself with a newborn, it can be easy to just grab the first thing you see, healthy or not.
Having your house stocked with whole, non-processed foods can help eliminate the junk food out of your diet. Fruits and cinnamon are great for satisfying those sugar cravings, and yogurt and cheese can satisfy those fatty cravings, while meeting your protein needs. Avocados and coconut oil are other great fat-healthy foods.
Eating small, frequent meals throughout the day will also help boost your metabolism.
Certain foods in general have been shown to boost milk supply, such as oatmeal, fennel, and barley.
Oatmeal is full of fiber and aids in digestion, Plus, it gives you energy; a must for the sleep-deprived new mommy. Add a bowl of oatmeal to your morning routine. Fennel is also great for digestion, and is an excellent galactagogue. Drink some fennel tea, or add some fennel to pasta or salads. Barley has been shown to increase prolactin in humans and animals. Add whole barley to homemade bread, soups, and salads.
Bye-Bye Baby Weight, Hello Milk Supply!
Following these 3 smart tips will help you increase the quantity and quality of your milk supply, all while helping you lose the baby weight. Remember to not pressure yourself into losing the baby weight too quickly. You grew a human inside of you for 9 months, and now you are growing baby on the outside with your body. Your’e amazing mama!
What About You?
Did you find this post helpful? What helped you lose the baby weight without hurting your milk supply? Leave a comment and share this post with all your mama friends.
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This is such a great post. I would definitely agree that water and oatmeal are perfect healthy choices when breastfeeding. I’m currently breastfeeding my 6 month old, definitely have some weight I’d like to lose!
Thank you for the kind words! The baby weight will fall off eventually. Congrats on making it to 6 months of breastfeeding!
If I had been able to breastfeed, im certain these would have been helpful tips for me. If i had known to be resourceful with reading, when I was trying to breastfeed it probably would have helped me better. Thanks for sharing. It’s definitely nice to find posts such as these who are actual experiences of women, and it works.
xo Maria | https://imommy.co
Thank you for the kind words Maria. I’m sorry breastfeeding didn’t work out for you, but in the end a happy, healthy, fed baby is what is most important. I hope to continue to provide more accessible and valuable information to women like you, so they have a better chance at being successful at breastfeeding.
Some moms say they can’t tell if nursing helped them loose weight or not but I know it helped me because I gained like 7 or 8 lbs within a couple months after I weaned even though my diet and exercise didn’t change. But I agree that keeping the milk coming is a priority over the weight loss. These are great tips!
Some moms do struggle to lose weight when breastfeeding. Some even gain weight. I’m in the same boat as you, once my daughter started nursing less, I started gaining some weight back. Thanks for the kind words Jordan!
Awesome tips you have!! I’ll be using those tips when I have my next baby!! Thank you so much for your wonderful tips!!
I second the water intake! That really helped me increase when I was pumping ❤️❤️❤️
It helped my pumping output greatly as well! You could always tell the days that were super busy at work and I didn’t get enough water and food in me.
These are such great tips! A lot of new moms will find this helpful!
Belle | One Awesome Momma
Thank you so much for the kind words Belle!
This will become very helpful for when I have a child someday. Eating small meals more often works for speeding up my metabolism as well for someone just trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Thanks for the kind words Adrina! Eating small, frequent meals is definitely helpful for boosting metabolism!