The Reluctant Earth Mother

I have been very fortunate this time round to lose a lot of weight with minimal to moderate effort. I lost a bit with my first without putting any effort at all in but by the time I was pregnant with my youngest, a routine diabetes test was strongly encouraged (aka. mandatory).

I had just slipped under the threshold with my first pregnancy. I did end up going later on but that was to do with bump measurements. It was incredibly uncomfortable having to “relax” in a waiting room, alone for 3 hours with a huge bump. By contrast, at 20 weeks, it was blissful to have 3 hours without my hair being pulled or my glasses being ripped off my face.

Anyway, with Baby 2, I gave myself 5 months in which to give into any urges and gorge myself. My mission to return to an acceptable weight, as decided by me, began in the traditional month of failed resolutions: January. My reasons were clear: I like my waist, and god forbid more of those awful injections if I’m daft enough to have a third C-section.

I have a long history of dieting so I knew that calorie counting was the method for me. It took a bit of playing around and accepting that dizziness and an obviously hungry baby weren’t the best ways forward before I settled on around 2000kcal a day. The weight melted off. Even without the suffering. It was incredible, in all the years of trying I’d never been so successful.

Then, about 3 months in, it all stopped. Trying to remember that the dreaded plateau happens to everyone and is a normal part of the process was excruciating. It was another 3 months and a bolt of lightning to my slow, mushy brain that started it up again. It had taken all my motivation to maintain then I remembered that you could, and probably should, “start again”. As you lose weight, your body needs less to maintain it so the amount you eat may not actually be a calorie deficit anymore. I took 100kcal of my budget and started again. 

A quick google suggests that you burn between 500 and 700 kcal a day to make breast milk to feed your baby. This comes from La Leche League International so I’m willing to trust those numbers. Certainly having those extra calories to eat a day made things a lot easier. But so was the need to not punish myself or try to lose weight quicker by being hungry all time because otherwise I had a hungry grumpy baby. 

My experience has been hugely positive and I highly recommend combining weight loss with pumping out a ton of calories in a sweet milky form. You are literally obliged to eat. Trouble is, as with everything, one size does not fit all. Some women end up with their bodies clinging to excess for dear life. The science suggests that many, many, many factors dictate as to whether breastfeeding will help you lose weight (Smethers, 2023).

Smethers, A D. Trabulsi, J C. Stallings, V A. Papas, M A. Mennella, J A. (2023). Factors Affecting BMI Changes in Mothers during the First Year Postpartum. Nutrients. 15(6).