Breastfeeding Can Help You Lose Weight, But It Can Also Help You Get Fat
Breastfeeding is proven to be a beneficial phase for babies and moms. In particular, this phase is recommended to help regain pre-pregnancy weight due to caloric expenditure. So how is it possible that this phase can make us gain weight?
Believing that the fat in breast milk comes from our muscles, apparently, is part of the myths that surround pregnancy. Milk production is related to our diet and hormonal stimulation, in addition to other factors that do not necessarily have to do with the weight we have maintained so far.
If we lose weight through breastfeeding, it has to do with the amount of calories we consume, which can be expended on milk production. That’s why the idea has spread that breastfeeding somehow prevents obesity. However, not all women can guarantee that this has happened to them. On the contrary, some feel fatter and don’t understand why their story is so different from other women’s stories.
Breastfeeding can also help to gain weight
Knowing that, to produce milk, a woman’s body uses at least 550 kcal a day, how is it possible to gain weight this way? This change in our body amounts to an activity like going for a run for at least an hour a day. In addition to expending accumulated fat in our body. Without a doubt, this makes us think that losing weight is quite possible. Even more if added to the change in eating habits, which generally become healthier.
However, it all depends on the particular characteristics of each one. Women are not equal to each other and neither are our metabolisms. Some people can exercise and eat healthily, but are unable to achieve the desired effects in a short time. Unlike others who manage to lose weight quickly.
The secret is food
Likewise, the type of food we have often makes a difference, even if we don’t believe it does. Increased consumption of sugar and carbohydrate-rich foods goes hand in hand with tiredness, anxiety and caloric expenditure itself. In other words, at this stage we will be more hungry, rest less and get the perfect justification for eating more.
In this sense, the effect of losing weight during breastfeeding happens only when we manage to match the caloric expenditure we had when producing milk. That is, if we exceed the amount of calories ingested in relation to what we expend, we will gain weight, just as it would if we were not breastfeeding.
Likewise, when we let hunger get too great, we will need more energy consumption. Therefore, experts recommend not to go without food for a long time, as this is the main cause of weight gain. Despite this, there are some people who still do not understand why they are overweight while breastfeeding, as so far we haven’t mentioned anything that has to do with them. It is in these cases that hormones come into play.
Lack of Estrogen Can Make You Fat While Breastfeeding
During the breastfeeding period, a woman’s menstrual cycle undergoes changes. Therefore, a non-ovulation phase begins, which is different for each woman. This phase causes the endocrine system to reduce estrogen levels, which can slow down a woman’s metabolism. This, in turn, results in the fact that at rest the woman will consume fewer calories.
At this stage, there is also a fluid retention process that begins to decrease when the menstrual cycle returns to normal. However, as we know, pregnancy can produce the greatest hormonal variation a person can go through in a lifetime. This is an aspect that is not always restored immediately after delivery.
In this way, we can speak of an imbalance known as “postpartum thyroiditis”. This disorder is capable of causing weight gain or weight loss as a product of hypothyroidism or transient hyperthyroidism, respectively. Postpartum thyroiditis usually ends within 18 months of childbirth. In most cases, this time coincides with the natural weaning of babies. However, it is believed that at least 20% of women do not overcome hypothyroidism after this stage.
