Nutrition, Weight Loss & Exercise While Breastfeeding

New mothers are often eager to regain their pre-pregnancy shape but moms who plan to breastfeed may have concerns about how to lose their baby weight quickly without damaging their milk supply or exhausting themselves. Luckily, breastfeeding burns calories on its own and combining nursing with a healthy diet and exercise can be an effective way to lose pounds.

Timing

A nursing mother should wait until the baby is about two months old before embarking on any type of weight-loss program to ensure that breastfeeding is well established first. Mothers who are breastfeeding should avoid crash diets and focus on healthy, slow weight loss, aiming for a loss of about 1 1/2 lbs. per week. She may be able to raise this for short periods of time to about 2 lbs. a week, but for a long-term dieting strategy, it's safer to burn off the extra weight at a slower, steady pace.

Calories

According to Kellymom, breastfeeding burns between 200 to 500 extra calories a day, beyond what is burned during normal activity. Because of this, a nursing mother needs at least 1,500 to 1,800 calories a day in order to keep up her breast milk supply. Some women will need even more than 1,800 calories a day, so it's important to lower your daily calorie intake by only a small amount a day in order to determine your ideal calorie level. Another reason to cut back on calories gradually is that a sudden decrease in calories can slow or even completely halt milk production.

Nutrients

It's important to get a good variety of vitamins and minerals when breastfeeding, since you are supplying your infant with all of his needs as well as your own. Important nutrients for a nursing mother include vitamin B6, vitamin B12, iodine, iron, folate, vitamin D and calcium. Eating a diet high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains will usually supply all that mother and baby need, but some mothers choose to continue taking a prenatal vitamin while nursing.

Exercise

According to Breastfeeding Essentials, exercise should not affect milk production as long as the nursing mother takes care not to lose too much weight too quickly. Breastfeeding mothers may need to wear a supportive exercise bra while working out, especially during high impact activities such as jogging or aerobics. Women who have experienced a plugged duct in the past may want to avoid excessive upper arm movement, since this may contribute to developing this condition. It's a good idea to nurse your baby just before exercise since this not only makes the breasts more comfortable than they would be if full of milk, but also helps keep the baby full until a little while after exercise.

Considerations

Nursing on demand and breastfeeding for longer than six months both allow for faster weight loss than scheduled breastfeeding and early weaning. Women who lose fat rapidly, such as those on a crash diet, may inadvertently release toxins stored in fat that can harm the baby. Losing fat at a slower pace allows these toxins to be more efficiently filtered out of the body by the kidneys and liver.