Could anyone share their Healthy diet plan that worked!

I put on 25kg with DD,given i was only 60kg to start with that is/was a lot! Giving birth it just fell off but a few weeks into BF and i was piling on the weight. Took me 9 months to see 60kg again and 2 weeks later was pregnant again,i started excercising after 6 weeks but didnt loose any till i stopped BF. . Exactly the same weight at 24weeks as i was with DD so expecting the same to happen again. Midwife toldme to eat more porridge etc calories that give slow energy release and dont make your sugar levels fluctuate rapidly as this is when you crave sugary/bad foods. Keep on hand carrot/celery sticks, raisins,almonds,oat cakes so to avoid eating high calorie carbs when out and about. Eat little and often of the right stuff. Plan easy healthy meals as looking after LO will take up most of your time. Have you heard about/tried pure fitness classes where you take the LO? <em>edited by nutty on 18/01/2012</em>

Breastfeeding made me pit on weight instead of loose weight! I just went up, and up, and up, and up :\: I craved calories and I ate calories ;) At 6 months pp I started getting active again and started eating very healthy...the scales started to drop! DD was 9 months when I was able to fit into my pre-pregnancy clothing (I was 56kg when conceived and 76kg when delivered)...and then bamm fell pregnant again just as the weight was coming off! The theory behind 9months on 9months off played true for me, but it did not come with loads of hard work towards the end! I did not loose all the weight, but was in the low 60's when I conceived again! So_IndEcIsIve - have you looked at [url=http://www.breastfeeding-diet.org'>The Breastfeeding Diet[/url'>? A friend bought the book and had great success! Good luck x

OK... my warts and all account! lol Pre-children, I was at about 68kg... I was 89kg at term with DD and was back down to about 70kg within a year naturally (no diet, no watching what I ate, but breastfeeding). Got pg with DS 2 weeks after I stopped breastfeeding so started putting it on again, but was down to 69-odd at 12 weeks because I was just so darned sick! Was 87kg at term, down to 75kg at 6 months PP and then stayed there until I started making sound food choices (less of the "oh, I'll just finish the kids' meal"... "oh, maybe one more slice of cake"...) and stuck to reasonable portion sizes. I have never crash dieted, worked out (tut tut) or cut what I was eating to the point of wanting to binge. It took about 9 months, but I'm now at 64kg and have stayed there... mainly because I focussed on creating healthy eating habits, rather than depriving myself. Cor, if I still had my breastfeeding-induced G-cup, I'd look like Jordan!

I put on 17 kg when pregnant, (which was a lot given that I was only 56kg when we conceived) wasn't remotely concerned at the time as I had been assured it would just "fall off me" when I breastfed. Am still waiting for the thump when the last of it it hits the floor! If you work by a 9 months on, 9 months off philosophy then yes, by the time DS was 9 months I had lost almost 3/4 of my preggie weight, I think with that level of weight gain its unrealistic to expect to lose it all much sooner than that and not affect your supply as you' have to dramatically cut out or burn off your calories. To be fair I wasn't working out at all, I didn't lose anything (besides the physical weight of the baby and the placenta etc) until DS was 3 months old then I lost 5 kg in about 2 weeks for no apparent reason. The next 5kg "fell off" at around the 9 month mark but the rest has stayed put, if I work hard on not eating treats I lose a kg or 2, but it soon creeps back on, so it seems to have plateaued. I remain hopeful ;) that the last 5kg or so will go once I stop BF as seems to have been the case for a few of my friends. I don't carry weight well as I have quite a small frame so 5 kg makes a huge difference in how I look and I do feel quite upset about it at times. As far as eating plans basically just make your calories count. So obviously don't have soft drinks, chocolate, cakes etc. Don't fill up on white rice, pasta, potato or bread. Eat to hunger with lean meat, fish, eggs, non starchy vegies, leafy greens, fruits and whole grains and you should slowly lose it. Keep an eye of for faux-healthy foods. I craved yoghurt when I was pregnant and was eating masses of little pottles of peach and berry ones, when you read the level of sugar you might as well be drinking cola!. Switch to unsweetened yoghurt and eat your fruits whole, not juiced (avoid juices in general and try to drink just water whenever possible). I cut back on dairy quite a lot and I found that helped. (keep in mind cows don't drink milk in order to make milk, so while there are lots of nutrients in dairy products, cutting back should not have any effect on your supply. Basically give yourself a break, your main focus is being a mum and feeding your LO, you gave your body up for 9 months, you can give it up a little longer, no need for drastic losses, starving yourself etc just slow steady healthy eating and exercise if/when you can manage.

I am having the same problem. DD is now 14 months old and my weight loss has ground to a complete halt! I have been working out (ok on and off!) since DD was about 6-7 weeks old, but I am certain it is more due to my nutritional choices (!!) rather than lack of exercise. I am curious - has anyone really managed to lose weight successfully while still breastfeeding (and I don't mean you lucky (careful!) ones who only put on 10-12kgs for your pregnancy but those of us who put on 18-25kgs during pregnancy). I know many women who have shrunk back to their normal sizes very quickly but none of them bf at all or did it for a very short period of time. So basically I am hoping that the weight will magically fall off once I stop (not to say I am in a hurry to stop as I am happy to continue for some time still... but it would be nice to lose these extra 10kgs that are making me feel like a whale, especially if we want to try for #2 later this year :\: )

if you're working out as well as breastfeeding, then really don't worry about cutting back on calories - you should be eating at least 1800 cals for the breastfeeding aspect (exclusively breasfeeding needs an extra 300-500 cals per day) and then you should be eating back most, if not all of the calories you've burned through exercise, lest you drop to below 1200/day by accident. Er... that makes no sense! lol! Right. Let's say you're eating your normal recommended 2000 cals a day. Deduct the 500 that you're burning through breastfeeding and you're left with 1500, so you will be losing weight gradually. Let's say 40 mins on a cross-trainer burns another 500 cals, so deduct them from the 1500 cals (intake - bf) and your body is left with 1000 cals to do all the things that it needs to function properly. 1000cals isn't enough ([url=http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator'>this[/url'> site had a calculator that tells you how much your body needs just to function) and so your body will take action to conserve energy - mainly in the form of stockpiling more fat whenever it has a chance and/or dispensing with any actions over and above the core functions = ie your milk supply. Anyhow, so, eat healthily and regularly - a nice, balanced diet which is nutrient-rich. Treat yourself occasionally and above all, listen to your body - if it's hungry, feed it. The weight will come off, never you fear! Oh, and my "plan" was to use MFP to track what I was eating. I only started this when DS was nearly a year old because my weight loss had ground to a halt and I didn't understand why... made a warts and all diary of what I was eating and ho ho... yeah. Coffee, snacks and portion sizes were the big culprits! <em>edited by Hello.Again.Kitty on 15/01/2012</em>