Whitney, I'm nursing a 4-month old. I keep going up and down also. I can't seem to lose more than 5lbs before I regain it. Only because I'm not staying consistant. Now I'm SERIOUS about this because I got to see what I really look like last week while vacationing in Santa Barbara. I was so depressed our entire trip My hubby feels so bad for me - so he took me yesterday and bought me a StairMaster for my birthday. I'm so excited, I can't wait for it to be delivered

I re-started the diet yesterday and I plan on sticking to it this time for sure. I'd like to keep in touch with you so that we can be a support to one another. Let me know and I'll give you my email address.

I am new here and was looking for other moms in the same station in life as myself. My daughter, Ashley, turns 1 on Wednesday. I started in the induction phase of Atkins on 9/10/04. I read all the info about breastfeeding and Atkins I could and deceided it was time regardless of when she weaned. I am tired of being overweight. My husband says he doesn't care about how I look but the sad fact is he does and is to polite to say anything. My six year old son isn't so polite. We taught him to tell the truth and boy did he ever. While school shopping for him, I took him to the mall (a rare occurance for me). When we got home later that day he asked why my butt was FAT! I could have died, MY SON, said that to me!!! I told him it was because I had his sister, which caused me to gain the weight(BIG FAT LIE, which he saw through). Imagine how I felt when he said, "but mom Ashley is almost one how come your STILL FAT". I was angry, sad and hurt all at the same time caused by the words of a child which were all true. I didn't know what to say to him so I put my educated mind to work that night. I am going to loose my "FAT BUTT"!
My friends are shocked I have a weight problem, because I always ate healthly "low-fat" whole foods. Heck, I was shocked the weight didn't melt off after the second baby. All my friends lost huge amounts of weight after successive children(piggy-backed kiddies (18-30months apart)). My weight never lowered and if anything it climbed to an all time high. I had every test done possible to figure out why the weight wouldn't go away with "proper diet and exercise". I had scheduled an appt. with a doctor to discuss the Lap-Band, when a good friend said I had nothing to loose (but the weight) by trying Atkins, even while breastfeeding.
So, 2 days later I started Atkins. I am doing great so far no cravings (passed the first two days), feeling more alert (even when Ashley is up all night), acne on face seems to be getting better (even before period) and my clothes are loose.
My son is funny, he says mom after school I want to go to McDonald's for a snack, I say sorry McDonald's makes my butt fat I can't go then he says Ok, for your butt we won't go(mom smiles in car).
But, now that I am doing this I worry sometimes about my daughter and the extra toxins she is consuming. I am in ketosis, heavy duty according to the LTS's. She is not ready to wean as she nurses 6-10 times a day(and night). I am not ready to wean her, as this is my last baby due to severe complications with my pregnancy with her. I want to nurse as long as we are both willing even into the third year. So, I guess I just need to put my heart at ease that this is okay for her. She does eat normal table foods in fact she demands it. But, she drinks only breastmilk and water. All other liquids have been refused.
Thanks for the shoulder to vent a concern.
M

I wish I had some advice for you but I don't. I didn't do LC until I weaned my first. I tried it with my new guy (now 5M) when he was 2M and my milk supply dwindled so I decided to hold off until at least solids.

I can tell you I lost 30 pounds easily doing LC after my first and I struggled with every other type of diet with no success. Once I got past the cravings (and you say you have none) I loved doing LC. I lost consistently and it only took about 6M to lose that much weight.

If I were in your shoes I'd just be watching Ashley closely for fussiness or any reaction to the toxins and I'd be drinking TONS of water to help wash them out. I wish they knew more about breastfeeding and LC since it's natural to want to lose weight after pregnancy and not have to wean our babies to do so!

Cindi

Thanks, Ashley is my key to this thing. Purchased Mother's Milk Tea today and Fenugreek capsules to help is the supply department. She's not complaining or asking to be at the breat all day, I can feel the let down still but my breasts don't feel as full as they used to. Strange. When I self express there is milk so not sure if this is just my body changing to feeding a 1 year old or if it is the Atkins starting to change things. I drink about a gallon of water a day as well as other herbal tea(caff. free). So I know I am doing everything I can to encourage milk supply.
Good news is I feel great and I am gonna keep going. I did some measurements and I half lost about 1/2 inch around my waist, thighs, arms, and hips sad part is I lost 2 inches in my bust but I knew that was going to happen. Good luck wth the newest baby, they are gifts from Heaven.

M

Things are going great so far. Ashley is nursing well. The battle is slowing being won over the weight. Lost another 9lbs. this week !!! I am losing around the arms, bust, chest, wait and hips but my thighs have remained the same. Need to find good exercise for thighs and tummy "jelly" as my son calls it. The fat around my lower waist that is below my belly button. Gotta find something to help that. Well, just checking in with all hope your all well and fighting a good fight. See you all next week.

Michelle

Hiya,

Wanted to give small update. It's 10/20 and I am down to 237 from my starting 282. WOW...I still cant believe that this works and I feel great. Still nursing Ashley and I found that if I dont drink enough water she wants to nurse all day long. I have introduced a sippy cup to her but she will only take water out of it, when I put in Breast milk, cows milk or formula she completely refuses it. Getting pressure from in-laws to wean, but I just ignore that they said anything and keep nursing my baby. I had to go buy a pair of new jeans yesterday, I have always hated shopping because of my weight. I was pleasantly suprised be be able to wear a size 18 (normal was a tight 24). Instead of the normal frustration and depression I went home happy and proud of my progress. Started walking today, got up a 5:00am and walked for a whole hour, dog was not happy about such a long walk. I am going to walk every day. It felt great to not hurt after such a walk...Hope everyone is doing great too.

I'm so glad to see you're losing without a fight! My body is still refusing to drop an ounce! I've been LCing consistently for about 4-months and finally I've been able to stay below 160lbs. My body was hovering around 164lbs for the longest. Today I'm 158.5lbs. I keep telling myself any day now and my body will stop holding on to the weight and I'll start to drop weight more quickly. But it hasn't happened.

But congrats to use - this encourages me to hang in there.

Hi Ladies~
It was encouraging to hear from some l/c nursing mom's losing weight! I just had #6 and she's 7mo. and mainly nursing BUT I have GOT to lose this weight! Hubby is not too happy I just know and NEITHER am I! I wish I could STRICTLY L/C but my milk supply utterly dwindled w/#5 and I too would like to nurse for a while ~ as this seems to be it and I had a VERY hard pg.
Any clue's on where to start? How is everyone else doing l/c and milk supply wise??
Thanks for any input!

Hiya Hezz,

Well, congrats on baby. I can only tell you what I choose to do and what my Doctor said. My daughter was almost a year old and mainly nursing (she would flat refuse everything but blueberries and breastmilk from mom...not even via a sippy cup would work) when I started Atkins. I started right in with hard core induction and I am still on induction (week 6, lost to date 47lbs.). I know what the book says about nursing and L/C but after talking to my doctor and several friends, I deceided to do it anyhow. I got to much conflicting information from friends and my doctor had no real advice other than my current weight wasn't healthy for me and my family and there was no real research regarding L/C and nursing. He told me to listen to my baby and my gutt feeling. So, I read everything, I polled friends and finally after the last straw emotionally, I did it. My milk supply seemed to lessen, however I am not sure if what I did helped or my body just needed time to adjust. I noticed in the first week that my daughter wanted to be latched on all day and night. At first this really concerned me, so I went to the nature store and purchased Mother's Milk Tea and Fenugeek capsuals. I started them on week two and they seemed to work... I used them for only about a week and now things are going great. What I noticed most of all is that if I don't drink about a gallon of water a day my milk suppy is lessed the next. My daughter complains that she's not getting enough which reminds me to drink my water again. I even went to her peditritian (excuse spelling) and he said that "doing" L/C after baby isn't an issue. If you think about it starts to make sense.
Most woman in US really pack on the pounds during pregnancy. After baby, your body will want to shed that weight so any toxins (which is the concern with breastfeeding and L/C) that were stored into your excess fat would normally be released into urine and possibly breastmilk. Now we are christians and so is our doctor so please do not take offense by his quote. He said that God was smart enough to make sure that the toxins released during wieght loss would end up in greater concentrations in the urine and that the breastmilk might have some but no more that what my baby is already exposed to daily. From a scientific point of veiw I saw this as also highly possible. When the toxins are rereleased in the body, they are in the blood which is cleaned and purified by the kidneys and liver, which deposit the toxins into the urine for elimination. Only, if you have non active fat stores will the body try to store the toxin into the fat in our bodies which is how it got there in the first place. But by doing L/C, you are using those fat stores and forcing the body to eliminate the toxins through the urine. Just keep drinking that wonderful water to help flush them away and keep your supply at max for baby.
I also had to remember that as my daughter gets older, she will demand more or less milk based on her growth. Which is why the human body can adapt so quickly to a growth spurt and then a slowing in growth. As your baby needs more milk your body will produce it if it has the fluids to make milk, meaning more water, millk and juice intake by mom.
Now, not everyone has the weight to loose that I do. But I have choosen to stay on induction until I am within 15lbs. to my goal. My doctor is okay with this so long I get my blood work done every 3 months to make sure that bloodpressure, liver function, and cholestrol are all great. So far he thinks that Adkins has been great for me. And was glad I gave this a try before having stomache surgery which was in the planning process. I was going to have it done on my daughters 1st birthday. But, I thought I should give this a go, seeing I had tried everything else to loose the weight and nothing worked. I really thought that stomache surgery was my only choice...WOW, was I ever wrong. I canceled my surgery appt. and have put it off...seeing that I am loosing weight and feeling great about my self, a first since my son was born 6 years ago when I really packed on the pounds(120 to be exact and they never melted away like I thought). I have about 72 more pounds to go then I will be at high goal of 165 and I will ease off of induction into OWL and at 150 will go into lifetime managment. Being 5'10", 150lbs will be my college weight and stunning to my hubby again. That was a weight I thought I would never see again, but now I know it can be done...

Good Luck and take care of you little piece of heaven,
arnoldmj

Was my post somehow missed! Anyway. . .

Hezz, my milk supply also went down, but then it picked back up a couple of days later. I think water is the key. That and eating every couple of hours seems to do the trick for me.

My body is finally starting to shift in the right direction. For whatever reason I'm finally starting to go down in weight (instead of maintaining 160-164lbs). Today I weighed myself and for the first time I was 156lbs!!!!!!!!!!! That's huge for me So now I'm really motivated to continue eating right and working out.

Cindi, how's your progress coming along? Hope things are going well now that your little one is 6months (like my little guy )

Hi all-
I figured I would jump back in here!!
How is everyone? Kelly!!! I am still working at llcing of course I have been having some issues sticking with it while I am nursing. I feel guilty somedays. Granted I am only nursing 3 x a day with Skyler taking solids 3x a day and eating snacks.
She is now 9mths now. I plan to nurse her till she is over a year. I nursed the boys intill they were only 7mths and then started atkins and lost all most all of my weight!!
I was wondering how many carbs are all of you eating? I found that I was having waaayyyyy to much fruit. I have cut down on the fruit and started to w/o more. I love doing the firm tapes!! I try to go and do weights 2x a week at the gym. Phew I am tired!
Any help would be great!!!

I decided when Eric was 7M I really needed to start. Like you, I took off all my weight from my first doing LC AFTER I stopped nursing. I just couldn't take the weight anymore! I was so tired and getting sick all the time, too, so I decided to go for it. I've lost 10 pounds in the first few weeks and I'm dragging a little now with the holidays coming. Hopefully I'll get back with it after the New Year more seriously and lose the next 10. I feel a ton better already, though, and am back in some of my old cloths, which is nice. It didn't seem to effect the baby much, either. He was also on 3 full solid meals a day and nursing 3-4 times a day when I started. I don't eat any fruit right now - I'm estimating 40-50 carbs a day when I'm doing good. Hang in there! For me, the increased energy alone makes this worth it with a baby and a preschooler to keep up with!

Cindi

How is everyone doing?
Well i got back up to 144.5!! YIKESso needless to say I am back. I am trying to eat as clean as I can today.
How many ppl out there are still nursing? Skyler is now 10 months and starting to wean a bit. She had a cold and she started to bite so I slowed down on nursing. Though I am still nursing her 2x a day.
I am thinking about going back to induction levels. Is anyone else doing that?
Hope everyone had a good holiday!

I stopped nursing this week. Caden is 10.5 m. Can't believe he will be one next month. I have not lost anything. Anytime I tried LC my milk supply would go down. I am hopping to stay on track now. I would like to lose 25lb. I have a wedding to go to in the spring and hope to have some of it gone by then.
Good luck to all.

Well, Caleb stopped nursing about 11 days ago. I promised myself after he was done nursing I would start the Fat Fast for a couple of days and then do induction. I'm on my 3rd day of the Fat Fast and have lost 3.5lbs so far. Something I've been unable to do up until now. BFing stalled my weight loss. No matter how hard I worked out and watched what I ate my body was not ready to part with the extra pounds.

Good luck everyone!

Whitney, thanks for visiting my journal!