Hi everyone.

I have a question re: maintenance and stalling. I am still breastfeeding my 2 year old daughter, although it is clearly for comfort on her part and not nutrition... and she certainly isn't BF like a newborn. Currently it is only at nap and bed times. Nevertheless, I was told to be totally "safe" and not pass on potentially harmful ketones in my milk to go on the maintenance plan. I was told the weight would come off, albeit much slower, which is fine by me. I needed to cut out sugar anyway as we have a history of diabetes in our family. (BTW, I did Atkins 3 years ago before getting PG and started with Induction, etc. and did quite well on it. So I know low carbing does work for me.)

To make a long story short, I started the maintenance right before Christmas (everyone said I was nuts, but I needed something to keep me motivated from diving into the apple pie!). I have kept my carb intake to between 50-70 a day-- what I have read is considered maintenance. Anyway, I lost 2 pounds the first week, a pound and a half the second week, and now I gain a 1/2 pound one day, lose it the next, etc. etc. It's driving me nuts. I'm wondering if I should be trying to cut my carbs back a bit more since it seems like I am stalled. Or am I? Is this "normal" for jumping right to maintenance and not doing the induction?

Thank you, in advance, for your comments.

Jill in Sunny Phoenix, AZ

I know you burn way more calories breast feeding but i'm really not sure about this and it is very important.

It sounds like a good level but I would probably recommend increasing your carbs a bit more with something high fiber like a slice of high fiber bread but then again I am not a doctor so you may want to get keto sticks to make sure you are at a good level.

Jill, the whole fluctuating weight scenario is perfectly normal. If you think about it this way it becomes clear: everything you put into your mouth weighs something. Water will register on the scale, food will register, inflammed muscles will retain water and cause a spike, TOM will do this - when you think about what goes in, what gets used and what comes out it's logical that you're not going to end up exactly where you started off every day.

Since it's only been a few weeks you can't really check to see if there's a pattern to follow. What matters is that the ups and downs are heading in a downward direction; this is the case for all of us, not just those eating more of a Maintenance plan.

Hang in there and keep at it.
Nat

Well for one thing...I wouldn't weigh myself everyday. 1/2 pound fluctuations are totally normal. I'm not entirely clear on whether you are still wanting to lose weight or be on maintenance? Either way...you may want to put the scale away and only get on it every week or so -- otherwise those little fluctuations are going to drive you nuts!

Going higher carb will certainly slow down any weight loss.

As for calories...I can't imagine you are deriving a huge benefit from bfing. Nursing a newborn uses upwards of 1000 cals a day. I'm sure your 2 year old is nursing at that rate anymore so your milk production is much lower (and big kudos to you for continuing to nurse for so long...that's just wonderful!) I hadn't heard anything about the dangers of passing ketones onto children through breastmilk and would love it if you had some additional info to pass along...we have several pg and nursing moms here.

Hi everyone.

Yes, I agree that BFing only helps with weightloss when it is the baby's only source of nutrition. Once you slow down with BFing the weight loss tapers off. When my daughter was first born I was so *famished* at every meal that I ate everything in site just so I wouldn't get low blood sugar.... and I still lost weight. Once she was about 5 months old and started on some solids, it slowed down. At a year she started on table foods and, like I mentioned above, now she only BFs a nap times. And I'm working on cutting those out as I want to get her weaned soon if possible (trying to take her feelings into consideration too, and she just *loves* "milky").

About the ketones in breastmilk, from everything I've read there is no hard evidence to substantiate that ketones get into the milk and if they do, that they can harm the kid. On the other hand, no one can say for certain that it doesn't and Atkins himself (unless his position has changed) only recommends maintenance to BFing mothers. I even called their center and said "but she's only nursing for maybe 10 minutes a day." They still said to be safe stick with the maintenance program and you'll still lose weight it will just be slower. I know they are probably just doing a CYA when advising BFing moms to not do induction.... but I might be close to full weaning so I thought I would just try maintenance first (I am cool with it taking longer; it's a "sacrifice" worth making). My goal *is* to lose weight on maintenance and I've been told it should work as it is a big change from my eating habits before (loads of carbs, and not the good ones either).

Good suggestion on putting the scale away. I think I'll just weigh once a week for a few weeks and see how that goes.

It's good to hear that the fluctuations are normal on the maintenance portion of the plan.... I am really only used to (and remember) how induction really jumped started things. I just need to be patient, but wanted to make sure I wasn't kidding myself into thinking that 50-70 a day would be low enough to lose. In my mind (and from what I've read) it is a heck of a lot better than I was doing before so it should produce weight loss even if it is slow and go.

Thanks again for the responses. I really appreciate the info!

Jill