In each of my pregnancies, I gained an awful lot of weight – 55 pounds in the first, 50 in the second, and 63 in the third. Each times I used Weight Watchers and was able to get down to my pre-pregnancy weight within about 6 months postpartum. Here is my experience losing the baby weight while breastfeeding.
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When to Start Trying to Lose Weight?
With my first baby, I had read that I should wait about 6 weeks – 2 months before trying to lose weight. That was my plan after he was born, as making sure that I was able to breastfeed him was more important to me than losing the baby weight.
Over the first month, I lost about 20 pounds of water weight, so I wasn’t really in any hurry to start dieting – it felt like the weight was sort of falling off by itself. In addition, I was really hungry, all the time. I was up around the clock taking care of my baby, and I was starving around the clock, too. The idea of going on a diet was just overwhelming.
Around the five week mark, though, the weight loss had stalled, I didn’t like the way that I felt, and thanks to fenugreek I’d gotten my supply up to where I was overproducing. I decided to go ahead and start trying to lose weight. (With my second baby, I started earlier than that – she was born in mid-December, and I thought it might be easier if I joined everyone else in the country by starting my diet on New Year’s Day.)
Going on Weight Watchers
To lose the weight, I decided to go on Weight Watchers. I picked it because I knew that they had a program especially for breastfeeding moms. Even though I was starting a little earlier than recommended, I didn’t want to jeopardize my supply. Also, as I said in a previous post, I didn’t really know what to do with the vague calorie guidelines that are given to breastfeeding women (in the past when I’ve lost weight, I’ve just counted calories) and figured that I could just follow whatever the Weight Watchers rules were.
I ended up being really happy with the plan and counting points. At first, though, I was STARVING. It seemed like the number of points that I got were really small compared to how many points foods “cost.” After a week or two, though, I figured out how to make it work for me. A few of the things that I did to minimize hunger and live “normally” as much as possible:
- I came up with a few go-to snacks. The big one was fruit (a banana, a bunch of fruit salad, etc.) and a Hershey’s Kiss. On Weight Watchers, fruit is free, and the Kiss was just one point. Between the bulk of the fruit and the fat in the Kiss, it was a pretty filling snack and I’d be okay for an hour or so.
- I limited bread. I LOVE carbs, and I could never do an Atkins-type diet. However, bread costs you a lot of points, and it just wasn’t worth it to me as they didn’t fill me up for long enough.
- With a new baby and going back to work, I didn’t really want to deal with cooking fresh food – when I was home, I wanted to snuggle with my baby. Though it was less than ideal, I found some processed options that worked for me.
- On Weight Watchers, you get weekly points that you can use any time during the week – you can spread them out, eating some each day, or you can eat them all in one day. I almost always saved mine for the weekend, and tried to eat fairly normally then. It was so nice to be able to go out to dinner or whatever a few times a week and not have to worry about points, but just enjoy the event.
I was able to dig up a graph of my progress from my Weight Watchers profile from my second baby. Overall, I was really happy with the rate at which I was able to lose the weight.
When I did Weight Watchers with baby #3, I was about three months in when they switched from PointsPlus to SmartPoints. I didn’t really like SmartPoints, but that just might be because I was used to the old way and change is hard. I would definitely recommend checking out some other reviews with the current system before signing up.
Maintaining the Weight Loss
Once I’d gotten to my goal each time, I went on the the Weight Watchers maintenance plan. I was surprised to find out that maintenance only gives you 6 additional points over the weight loss plan, but I went with it. With both babies, I continued to lose weight on the maintenance plan and a month or so later transitioned to eating to appetite (really being careful to stop eating when I was getting full, rather than finishing everything on my plate – I knew I could always get more later) versus than tracking.
So that’s my experience. Tell me about your experience! What worked for you? What didn’t work?
For more information about losing the baby weight while breastfeeding, check out my posts about how many calories you need while breastfeeding and exercising while breastfeeding.
Thank you for this great resource! It seems to incorporate more than one valuable reference. Not only does it give a formula plan for calories and production, it also makes you realize the importance of eating healthy for your little one. I think of it as a way to keep yourself in check. I have a 13 week old and feel that it is time for me to try to lose the weight I’ve gained. This is my fourth child at 39 yrs old and I have been mainly exclusive breastfeeding. I’ve gained a whopping 40 lbs from the pregnancy and 10 lbs from nursing. I noticed just when I was starting to lose, I then gained not long after. I think your information will prove very useful for me because I would like to feel better self esteem. My little ones health and the nutrition in my supply is of the most importance. So I am thankful for coming across this page along with the links to others you have created. It is my goal to continue providing breast milk for my daughter even if I decide to exclusively pump. I could then get the best of both worlds for nutrition for her and better controlled nutritional health for myself. This has been a great support for me, thank you! If you have any encouraging advice to share from my related post, I would love to hear from you!! I feel like this is my fourth and probably final experience…and I want to make it a more enjoyable one. Not to say I haven’t enjoyed it, I have… I have just have been struggling with my self esteem and image. It’s affected my moods at times and also the feeling that I’m not attractive to my husband….mainly because I don’t think of myself as attractive right now. (Kind of effects how I display acts of intimacy in the bedroom towards my husband.) So, I need a change that I can meet in the middle for healthy results that can meet the needs of all involved. Thank you again and God bless!
Mummy magic weight loss tea is an excellent way for healthy weight loss. That is how I finally lost the weight after I had my daughter. Eat fruits, veggies, fiber and so on. cut out all processed food, sugar, sweets, even butter, eat bran. Keep walking…… it will shed off.
Good points. I love to exercise so I always try to lose weight with a proper workout, but I have found some really useful tricks that can help me lose weight in addition to exercising. About two years ago I started making blended fruit smoothies and was amazed at how much better I felt. I am always more calm after drinking a smoothie, especially the green smoothies. It was a little challenging at first, but after a couple of weeks I no longer craved sugary foods. I actually craved the blended fruit smoothies. I started out with largely fruit smoothies. Green smoothies were more challenging. About 3 months ago I really forced myself to take on the green smoothie challenge :). I started making green smoothies once a day and forced myself to drink them. I also found this program which helped me tremendously: https://bit.ly/2r6KVDx . Now, it’s actually easy to drink the green smoothies. I usually start my morning off with a green smoothie, then a fruit smoothie in the middle of the day and then a mixed smoothie for dinner which includes both vegetables and fruits.
I gained almost 60 lbs in my pregnancy and I lost all that weight by the end of 4.
Thanks for posting this! I really like that you were honest and it never felt like you were selling WW. And thank you also for reminding people that the priority is being able to provide for our baby (though it’s hard sometimes to see how much our body has changed!)
I’m in a unique situation – I have a lot of weight to lose and am 16mo pp but still nursing on demand. I’ve been working out at home and using My Fitness Pal but I’m not thrilled. I wonder if it would be better to switch to WW?…
Hi Sarah! I think that if you aren’t in to processed foods it can be really good! It doesn’t work for me right now (I have zero time to cook) but could totally work for someone with a different setup. Good luck!
This is such a great and useful post – just what I needed to read. I’ve never been on weightwatchers or any known weight loss plan, I merely would follow fitness coaches online and eat according to their advice but I’ve just had my second baby and i think I just might check weightwatchers out now. Thank you for sharing!
I am about 7 months postpartum and I’ve been doing WW since May. I felt like it has been SLOWWW to lose the weight. I feel like whenever I eat my 52 points, I don’t produce as much milk. Does anyone else have this problem? I’ve lost about 10 pounds on WW so far.
I’m 6 1/2 months PP and I think the same for me…I felt like there was a dip in my supply and LO was on all day trying to get a full feed. 🙁 Ive been on for almost 2 weeks, working out and have GAINED a pound and half. Feeling VERY discouraged.
Great article! I have just had my second son in as many years, and I never lost the baby weight from the first, so I feel like I’m “extra” behind on getting to my ideal size. This article gave me valuable information on how to get started, as well as some much needed motivation! Thank you!
Thanks for sharing! I’m 5 weeks post partum with twins. I gained a whopping 80 lbs! I dont regret it because both babes came out at great weights but like you I’ve lost the initial weight (50 lbs of babies, placentas and liquids) and I’m now plateauing. I hate how gross I feel so it’s time to get back to business! Thanks for the tips and motivation!
Great read! Now I feel motivated. I had my second girl two months ago and now thinking I need to start getting focused on loosing the weight. I gained 40lbs with the first and only lost 30 and 3 years later gained another 50 with my second one. I am pumping and breastfeeding but hungry and not losing much (like you lost the initial 25). I have never done weight watchers and can barely put in some exercise (just did one video of insanity today and almost died, lol). Any tips on scheduling exercise with two and working? (I will go back to work in a month)
Hi Jessica! I do best with working out at lunch – any chance that is an option? Plus it helps me make better choices at lunch too. 🙂