Can I lose weight and exercise while breastfeeding?

New mums should eat a healthy balanced diet post pregnancy, paying special attention to sufficient vitamins and minerals, especially if you are breastfeeding. You will need to make sure you have all the essential nutrients because these will translate as food for the baby.

Keep exercises light like walking and swimming to start. Moderate exercise does not usually interfere with breastfeeding. Have a balance of exercise and rest, and be sure you drink plenty of fluids, especially if you’ve been sweating. Some babies don’t like the taste of milk just after vigorous exercise. This is not common but if you find that your baby refuses the breast at that stage, just make sure that you feed before your work-out, then again until you have cooled down.

If you’re exercising, be sure to consume plenty of vegetables, adequate fruits, good quality carbs, preferably whole wheat for fibre and nutrition, sufficient protein and adequate good quality fats, like olive oil and nuts. 

You can eat as much fruits and vegetables as you like. For carbs, the quantity to eat per meal should be about 1 tennis ball, for protein, no more than a palm-size amount at each meal. Eat foods containing calcium every day as a lot of calcium from your body will go into breast milk. Milk and dairy products like cheese and yoghurt are the easiest way to get calcium. You can also get calcium from soy milk, tinned fish with bones like salmon and sardines, tofu, almonds, hummus and from green vegetables.

If you are looking to lose weight, you will need to reduce your food amount and pay attention to your fats and carbs consumed. It takes 3,500 calories to put on 1 pound, so keep your daily calorie intake below that and incorporate some light exercises to lose weight. Try taking 5 small meals daily instead of 3 large ones and choose healthier options like grilled fish and steamed vegetables and fruits instead of sweets.

Cut back on all soft drinks and fried snacks. It is possible to deliberately lose weight while breastfeeding without affecting your milk supply, but it needs to be gradual. Aim for about 1 pound a week. Avoid crash diets, which may affect your milk and will certainly lower your energy levels. It is also important to build up energy to cope with caring for your baby and you can do so by eating B vitamins which comes from wholegrains, green vegetables, fruits and eggs.