counting cals..bf moms come in (repost from Jan2012moms)

michnthecity

Hey mamas,

I was wondering how losing the baby weight is coming along.  I started using myfitnesspal, a calorie counting website, again that I used since 2008 up until pregnancy.  It helped me monitor what I ate and initially helped me lose 25 lbs.  So here I am again, back at mfp and struggling with how much I should eat to lose while nursing.  I have 30 lbs to lose, maybe 35 to be at my ideal weight.  I religiously followed a 1200 a day plus added in the 500 for breastfeeding, plus on my workout days added another 550 or so cals, that left me with a grand total of 2,250 cals to eat daily with a projected weight loss of 1.5-2 lbs a week.  I didn't see the scale really budge.  For those of you who understand how the deficit works, what am I doing wrong?  I can partially answer my own question-a.  I probably haven't been at it long enough.  b. Maybe I need to not count cals while breastfeeding (the weight isn't just flying off like I heard it would   c.  I need more cals?  The latter sounds ridiculous, that's a lot of cals to eat if I need more than 2250, especially if I'm not hungry. I read somewhere that a nursing mom needs about 2700 a day, which I guess I understand that a typical daily intake of cals is around 2000-2200 plus the extra 500 for producing milk...

I guess my question is, for those of you who are losing the baby weight steadily while breastfeeding, what is your diet like, what is your activity level and how many cals are you eating approximately?  Also, are you working out?  I really hit the gym hard with mostly cardio (spin and step classes) and some weight training, until I made myself so sore that I fell off the wagon completely and it was a huge pain to even get out of a chair or go down stairs....and no, I didn't see my milk supply affected.