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I think i put ON weight while breastfeeding?!

"You burn off so many calories breastfeeding!"... "i'm hungry and eating all the time because i'm losing so much weight breastfeeding!"... "it's so great i don't have to work out and i totally went back to my pre pregnancy weight!"... etc 

I heard phrases like these everywhere before i gave birth for the first time. It was one of the things i was looking forward to before i became a first-time-mom with Lennox almost 2 years ago. I knew i would try to breastfeed if i was able to. And another selfish reason i wanted to breastfeed was because i've heard tons of stories of women who lost their pregnancy weight (and more) just like *that*.

Ok let's back track a little here. I am always in favour or being strong & fit rather than thin & weak. All my life i've never been the small/skinny one and that's been ok. I've always been active since my teenage years with canoeing/canoepolo, wakeboarding and now crossfit. I have tummy rolls and cellulite and that's fine as long as i feel good in my clothes and that i feel powerful.

I put on a pretty decent amount of weight for both pregnancies, around 9-10kg with each. I guess i was looking forward to being lazy aka just losing the kilos without having to do more than breastfeeding >.<

But the whole weight melting off thing has unfortunately not happened for me. Instead i feel like i actually put ON weight while breastfeeding!!

My milk guzzlers Lennox & Sterling at 23 months and 2.5 months


In the first 4-5 weeks of Lennox's life, I had felt a hunger that i NEVER ever felt before. I was CONSTANTLY hungry and thirsty. I ate everything in sight (luckily for me, relatively healthy meals) and 2 hours later i would be hungry again. As i took on the task of being the only source of food for my baby for the first 6 months of his life, i made sure i ate well so he would be well-nourished. It was an internal struggle... I wanted to lose weight, but also knew that i didn't want to do anything too drastic to lose weight which might affect my milk supply.

I started working out again about 6 weeks postpartum and although i felt myself getting stronger each week, the weight still remained the same. That was demoralising for me because i still could not fit into the pre-pregnancy clothes and i just felt uncomfortable in my own skin. After awhile though, I was starting to feel good again and I was actually intensifying my crossfit training when Lennox was turned 1 in June 2016.

AND THEN I FELL PREGNANT AGAIN. *rolls eyes*

ANYWHO. Now i am 3 months postpartum after birthing Sterling and you know what? I have no more crazy expectations of losing weight from breastfeeding. Or losing weight in general really.

I aim to fully breastfeed Sterling until he starts solids (and beyond) and my priority is for all of us just to stay healthy. I am working out now about 2 times a week, but the aim is to become a STRONG mama... and if i lose excess weight in the process, that's a bonus. I have all the time in the world to lose unwanted weight after my kids do not rely on me for milk.

Also, this just means i need to do more clothes shopping in bigger sizes... haha ;)

Any of you experience the same as me? Or are you one of the lucky ones who lost weight from breastfeeding?



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