Weight Loss Or Weight Gain Through Breastfeeding?
Weight loss or weight gain from breastfeeding is another change in your body. There is evidence that breastfeeding has positive effects on both baby and mother. Breastfeeding helps new mothers to get back into shape after pregnancy and is rated positively.
It’s not all positive, however: weight gain from breastfeeding can also occur.
If the fat in breast milk came straight out of your thighs, that would be tempting. However, this is a myth. Milk production is related to diet, hormones, and a number of other factors. They don’t necessarily have to be related to your current weight.
If you lose weight while breastfeeding, it has to do with the calories you have burned and the amount burned from milk production. This has led to the belief that breastfeeding prevents obesity in some ways.
However, this does not apply to all women. Some mothers report weight gain while breastfeeding. They can’t explain why this happens to them and not to others.
Weight gain from breastfeeding is possible
To produce milk, a woman’s body burns at least 550 calories a day. Then how can you gain weight while breastfeeding? The activity of our body during this time is comparable to an endurance run per day.
The body’s fat reserves are used. This will make you more likely to lose weight. In addition, many women eat healthier than usual.
However, every person is different and every woman has a different metabolism. Some find it difficult to lose weight even though they exercise a lot and eat healthily. Others can lose weight with ease.
In addition, your diet can change while you are breastfeeding without you noticing. Fatigue, fear and exertion can automatically lead to an increased need for foods rich in carbohydrates and sugar.
At this stage in our life, we tend to feel hungrier. We are also prone to insomnia. That can be the perfect justification to pamper us.
So we can only reduce our weight through breastfeeding if we maintain the right balance. The relationship between the calorie intake and the energy we burn producing milk. So if we eat more calories than we use, we gain weight. As if we weren’t breastfeeding.
When hunger overwhelms you, you eat larger portions. It is therefore recommended not to go without meals or a snack for a long period of time. This can actually lead to weight gain from breastfeeding.
For many mothers, however, that doesn’t fully explain why they gain weight while breastfeeding. There is still one factor missing: the hormones.
A lack of estrogens can lead to weight gain from breastfeeding
When a woman produces milk, her menstrual cycle changes and ovulation does not occur. This condition varies from woman to woman. When you don’t ovulate, the endocrine system releases less estrogens. This can lead to a slowed metabolism. This means you burn fewer calories when you are resting.
Storage of water in the tissue can also occur. This could make you feel bloated. They subside as soon as your menstrual cycle starts again. It is well known that pregnancy brings about major hormonal changes. After the birth, it takes some time for the changes to return to normal levels.
Some women also suffer from postpartum thyroiditis, an underactive or overactive thyroid gland after childbirth. It can lead to weight loss or weight gain due to the imbalance.
Postpartum thyroiditis can occur up to the 18th month after birth. This is around the time of weaning. It usually goes away on its own. However, in around 20% of women, the condition does not go away easily.
