My little guy was 6 months old and I was still blown away by every inch of him. I remember staring at him thinking “Wow, can’t believe God thinks I am good enough to be your mum!” It was amazing. As fun as motherhood was, it didn’t hurt that now I could walk past the mirror and the 60lbs I gained from pregnancy were non-existent. Life was getting more recognizable and I finally had a handle on my new schedule.
People would reach out to me asking “How did you do it? Are you still breastfeeding?? I heard breastfeeding really helps, is that true” My first thought was “I’m know breastfeeding helps” but for some reason, physically it just didn’t really feel real. The weight loss was relatively easy. Being a Fitness Lifestyle Coach, I knew exactly what I needed to do to see results and having a newborn, I was sure not to do even an ounce more than I needed.
5 months later, my son was 11 months and we mutually agreed that it was time to wrap up breastfeeding. Haha. So by the time he turned 1, breastfeeding was history. Though I knew better, I didn’t change my food intake; I maintained my exercise routine and just went with the flow. A few weeks ago, I was at the gym when I stepped on the scale and hello 10lbs! I couldn’t even be mad, I just smiled and thought “Welp, I saw that coming”
See the body is super simple.
Calories Burned > Calories Eaten = Weightloss
Calories Burned < Calories Eaten = Weight Gain
Calories Burned = Calories Eaten = Weight Maintained.
Basically if you burn more calories than you eat, you WILL lose weight except when your body is not getting enough nutrients at all. In that case it just does whatever it can and it’s usually not in your favor
So let me explain how breastfeeding translates to calories. Basically breast milk provides food to your child which is the calories that your child needs; Usually 200 to 500 calories depending on age and how much they eat. The calories of breastmilk come from the foods you(Mum) eats. So by breastfeeding, you are burning calories you have eaten. Then as you introduce formula or solids to the child, they begin getting their calories from those foods as well. Make sense?
This means that when you stop breastfeeding if you make no other changes then you are reducing calorie burned and will you gain weight simply because now Calories Burned < Calories Eaten.
Instead of letting that happen, be proactive and balance the equation by increasing exercise or reduce food. Note that it is recommended to eat more food/calories while breastfeeding so reducing it just brings you back to your regular eating. So I simply made those adjustments and have watched those lbs simply fall offJ You have total control of your body as long as you understand it! Fitness is simple! Let’s do this!
