370: How to Track Macros While Breastfeeding (Without Losing Your Supply)

Introduction 

You're listening to Biceps After Babies Radio Episode 370.

Hello and welcome to Biceps After Babies Radio. A podcast for ladies who know that fitness is about so much more than pounds lost or PR's. It's about feeling confident in your skin and empowered in your life. I'm your host Amber Brueseke, a registered nurse, personal trainer, wife and mom of four. Each week my guests and I will excite and motivate you to take action in your own personal fitness as we talk about nutrition, exercise, mindset, personal development and executing life with conscious intention. If your goal is to look, feel and be strong and experience transformation from the inside out, you my friend are in the right place. Thank you for tuning in. Now, let's jump into today's episode.

Hey, hey, hey, welcome back to another episode of Biceps After Babies Radio. I'm your host, Amber Brueseke. And if you are a new mom who's breastfeeding and you're wondering how or even if you can track macros without messing up your milk supply, my friend, this episode is for you. What I hear from a lot of women who are in this space, and maybe you are very similar, is there is a large part of you that wants to lose some of the baby weight. And at the same time, in your heart of hearts, feeding your baby is the top priority. Or you're at that place where you're like, I just want to feel like myself again. I want to feel like my pre-pregnant self. But again, at the top of my list is making sure that I'm not tanking my milk supply because I want to be able to breastfeed my baby. If you're in that conundrum, you are not alone. I hear this from moms all the time. And I want to say this right up front. Yes, you can do both. You can track macros, you can lose fat, and you can continue to breastfeed safely and sustainably. And you can continue to feed your child. However, there are a few things that you need to understand first. And that is exactly what this episode is going to be all about. I'm going to walk you through what I want every breastfeeding mom to know before you start tracking macros so that you can feel confident in both. You can feel confident that you're nourishing yourself and that you're continuing to nourish your baby because I know that that is likely your top priority if you're listening to this episode. 

My personal experience, not medical advice 02:28

But first, a little quick note. I am a nurse. I am a mom of four. I have breastfed all four of my babies and I've coached thousands of other women through this exact season of life. But I am not your doctor. I am not your lactation consultant. I am not here to give you medical advice. This episode is me sharing my experience personally and the patterns that I've seen after working with so many women. So as always, if you are unsure or you have questions about your very specific situation, you'll want to bring those to your healthcare provider, to your lactation consultant. And at the end of the day, you are your expert on your body. You are the expert on your baby. And my hope is that this episode will be here to give you some helpful guidance, some practical tools, and some support and expertise. But of course, it's never going to replace specific medical advice for you and your baby. Okay. With that aside, let's dive in to five things that you need to know about tracking macros while breastfeeding. 

Wait at least six weeks postpartum before you put yourself into a deficit 03:35

Okay. Tip number one is I want you to wait at least six weeks postpartum before you put yourself into a deficit. And this is really important. That postpartum period, there's a lot going on with your body. There's a lot of healing that needs to happen. There's a lot of things and organs being put back into their correct and proper places in that postpartum period. And so it's really important to give your body time to heal. Your body utilizes calories for energy. And guess what? Healing takes a lot of energy. So the last thing that I want you to do is to dive straight into a deficit in that postpartum period. While your body is trying to recuperate, it's trying to regenerate, it's trying to heal, we want to give it as many calories as we can to be able to help aid that healing process. So I don't want you diving into a deficit too early. 

Another reason I wait, I tell clients to wait until at least, and I'm saying at least, I'm not saying at six weeks, that's everybody's going to be ready. I'm saying at least six weeks postpartum is because this also kind of aligns with your baby establishing a… You establishing your milk supply and your baby establishing some sort of regular schedule in terms of feeding. It also aligns often up with when your provider clears you to go back to exercise. Usually women have a six-week postpartum examination. The doctor makes sure, or the provider makes sure that you are in a good position to be able to go back to movement and exercise. And so it all kind of lines up with that six-week postpartum timeframe, which I just think is kind of a good transition time if you're thinking about going into a deficit. It allows your body to be able to, like I said, have your milk supply come in, have you establish a good milk supply, have that consistency, know your baseline in terms of what your milk supply is before you start fudging numbers or tweaking numbers or trying to go into a deficit. Because again, if we're trying to create a deficit and lose fat without losing your milk supply, we need to know what your milk supply is before you go into that caloric deficit. Plenty of women struggle with their milk supply and it has nothing to do with going into a calorie deficit, but you won't know that if you haven't spent time making sure that you're eating enough before you add on that layer of creating a deficit. So establishing that milk supply is first and foremost, give yourself those six weeks before you're diving into a deficit.

Difference between tracking macros and creating a deficit while tracking macros 05:57

Now, here's the thing that I think is really important to think about. I did not say you'd have to wait six weeks to start tracking your macros. I said, wait six weeks to create a deficit. I actually think whenever you're mentally and physically, there's a lot that goes on in those first couple of weeks postpartum. And if you feel like you're drowning, girlfriend, you don't need to add anything else to your plate. So especially if this is your first baby and you're just feeling like, man, keeping myself and this infant alive is all I can do to make it through the day. Listen, I get it. I've been there. So do not even think about adding this to your plate. However, if you're somebody, especially if you've had multiple children, the postpartum period is hard, but maybe you feel like you have the capacity to be able to do it. This could be a time where tracking can be, and you have experienced tracking. I would say that that's probably really important. You have experienced tracking in the past. You maybe had a baby before. It's maybe not as new or as challenging, and you didn't have a lot of birth trauma or anything like that, right? There's a whole lot of caveats to this, but you can consider tracking your macros during that six week, those first six weeks postpartum only to just get a baseline, to get an information about what it is that you're eating, how much it is that you're eating, to get back into utilizing the skill of tracking, to get back into the consistency of tracking, to just bring more awareness to what it is that you're eating. And then at that six week postpartum mark, then we can consider transitioning into a deficit. So I guess what I'm saying is I'm differentiating between tracking macros and creating a deficit while tracking macros. 

A point that I like to make all the time is that you are eating macros whether or not you track them. So in that first six weeks of postpartum, you are eating macros. You are eating a certain amount of macros every single day, whether or not you're paying attention to it. And so bringing awareness to what it is that you're already doing is such a great first step before we transition into trying to create a deficit. Now listen, if you are feeling like you're in survival mode, let it go. And you don't have to start a deficit at six weeks. You don't have to start it at that point. That's a minimum for me, not a deadline. So if you're not ready to do it, give yourself more time. There's no rush. Let me say that again. There's no rush. We don't need to get back to anything. This whole idea of bouncing back to your pre-pregnancy body, I think is really damaging. We don't need that pressure. Okay? So I want you to give yourself a lot of grace, but I also know that there are women who maybe you're ready a little bit earlier. Some people are ready a little bit later. So just being honest with yourself, being gentle with yourself, realizing you have plenty of time to be able to hit your goals. Those first couple of weeks of newbornhood, man. I mean, my youngest right now is 11 and we did get a new puppy a couple of months ago. And I feel like I'm a little… I feel like I went back to the newborn stage. But there are so many amazing things that are awesome about newborn stage. Yes, it's hard. Yes, the lack of sleep. Yes, the breast waking up at the middle of the night so tight and hurting. And you just are like, gosh, I got to unload some of this milk. I remember it all. It is a hard and a wonderful period of time. So I don't want you to feel like you're on any deadline, that you have to start trying to lose weight. You have to start getting your pre-pregnancy body back. I hope that none of what I share today comes off as me pressuring you for some kind of outcome or me pressuring you to make this happen faster or think that you're behind or any of that crap. None of that crap. We don't have that here. I am sharing this for those of you who feel ready. You feel like you want to do this and you're just wanting a little bit of guidance. If that's you, great. You're in the right spot. So to summarize tip number one, in general, we want healing first. We want to establish that milk supply and have that baseline. And then we can start talking about fat loss and creating a deficit.

Add between 200 and 400 extra calories to your TDEE to account for nursing 10:07

Okay. Tip number two is when you're setting your macros and when you're creating your deficit, one of the first things that I have clients do is to figure out how many calories they're currently burning in a day and then create a deficit from there. One of the things that people understand intuitively about nursing is that it burns energy. Breastfeeding burns energy. We have to create this milk that doesn't just come out of thin air. It takes energy to be able to produce that milk. However, what I hear from a lot of women is there's a lot of overestimating that comes with how many calories they're burning on a daily basis when it comes to breastfeeding. I've read anywhere between, oh, you burn 600, 800, 1,000, 1,500 calories a day burning. And it's true for some women, especially in those very early months where you're doing round the clock feeding, your baby is getting all his or her nutrition from you as the mother, your caloric burn may be on the higher end. But especially as your baby starts to transition and you start to introduce solid foods, usually around that four to six month mark, now they're getting some of their nutrition from regular food. They're getting some of their nutrition from you. And then as they continue to get older, usually that curve tapers off where yes, you're continuing to breastfeed, but they're getting more and more and more of their calories and their nutrition from actual food sources. So it's really easy for you to say, oh, I'm breastfeeding. So that means I'm burning 700 more calories a day. And yet your baby is 10 months old. You breastfeed a couple times a day and they get majority of their nutrition from the food that they're eating. You're just not. Maybe when you are exclusively breastfeeding, you're feeding six to eight feedings a day, maybe you have a higher caloric burn. But I guess what I'm trying to say with this is that I find that most women tend to overestimate how many calories they are burning when they are nursing. So I usually advise clients to allocate 200 to 400 extra calories to make up for the fact that they are nursing. 

Personalize breastfeeding macros 12:16

Now I will add the caveat that that is a starting point. So what I encourage all of my macros one-on-one clients to do is to start somewhere, get feedback from your body and then use that to adjust and to zero in on what's going to work best for you. So you may burn more than 400 calories and that's possible. But starting with a 400 calorie increase on your calories and then seeing how your body responds will give you information as to if that's too high or that's too low. So if you're using a calculator or you're free guide to be able to set your macros, which I'll link to that free guide in the show notes, or you can go to bicepsafterbabies.com/setmymacros, all one word. So if you're using that free guide, you'll know that one of the things I have you do is to estimate your TDEE or your total daily energy expenditure. So what you would do if you're wanting to account for breastfeeding is you would calculate that TDEE, that estimated TDEE, and then you would add 200 to 400 calories to account for breastfeeding. If you're closer to that six week mark and that exclusive breastfeeding, maybe you're adding 400. If your baby's a little bit older, you're doing less of exclusive breastfeeding and more of combined breastfeeding with them eating other foods, maybe you go closer to that 200 extra calories to account for the breastfeeding. And then from there, that's when we create your deficit. So you're creating either 10, 15, 20, 25, whatever your deficit is, you're creating that deficit from that new estimated TDEE that includes the calories that you utilize for breastfeeding. 

Prioritize protein 13:55

Tip number three, prioritize protein. If there is one macro to pay close attention to while breastfeeding, it's protein. I hear the concern from a lot of women that they're worried about going into a caloric deficit because they don't want to lose their milk supply, which is completely valid. Feeding your baby is a top priority. And I know that there's a fear that if you create a caloric deficit, that your milk supply is going to dry up and then you're going to be SOL trying to feed your baby. So that's the fear and that is a valid fear. What I will say is that caloric intake has less to do with milk production than protein intake does. What do I mean by that? I mean, I've seen lots and lots of women be able to create a caloric deficit. And as long as they keep their protein intake high, they have a good milk supply. So it is not the fact that you cut calories that tends to dry up your milk supply. For a lot of clients, it's that if they cut protein simultaneously, and if you're not paying attention to macros, it's very easy to do. If you're like, I just need to lose weight and I'm going to go into a deficit and you're not paying attention to which macros you're utilizing to create that deficit, it's very easy to see you lowered your calories, but you also lowered your protein and then your milk supply drops. And then you wonder why your milk supply drops and you blame it on the calories. When in reality, protein has so much to do with being able to keep that milk supply high.

So yes, of course, calories matter. Of course, there is a lower limit that if you drop your calories super, super low, your body isn't going to have the calories that needs to be able to make the milk. But again, what I've seen over lots and lots of years, saw with myself, seen with clients, is that if you keep your protein intake high, most women can create a caloric deficit successfully.

So they can create a caloric deficit, they can see fat loss, and they can maintain their milk supply. So I'm always having my clients aim for about 0.8 to one gram of protein per pound of body weight. So if you weigh 160 pounds, that's 130 to 160 grams of protein a day. Again, focusing on keeping that protein intake high will allow us to be able to create a caloric deficit while being able to keep your milk supply high. Now, if you do that calculation quickly in your head for your body weight, and that sounds crazy pants, it's okay to baby step it up. So I would never suggest anybody jumps from, oh, I've been eating 50 grams of protein a day, and now I'm going to try and eat 150 protein grams a day. That's bonkers bananas. And just setting yourself up for failure. Which is why tracking before you start trying to create a deficit is so valuable because you an start to see how much protein do I eat  just on a normal everyday basis when I'm not paying attention to it.

Once you have that baseline, and you have the idea of, I would like to eat 0.8 grams of protein per pound, I would like to get to, let's say 130, but I'm only eating 50 grams of protein now. Well, the worst thing that you could do is try to jump straight to that 130. You're going to crash and burn, I promise you. Instead, you can say, okay, I want to get to that 130 eventually, but I got to babysit my way to it. So I've been eating 50 grams of protein. Let's start with eating 70 grams of protein. That's going to be better than eating 50. Let's make that easy. Let's make that habitual. Let's make that something that it doesn't feel hard to do. And then we can go from 70 to 90. Again, figure that out, make that habitual, make that easy to do. And then you keep progressing onwards. But the more we can do to keep protein high when you're creating that caloric deficit, the better you'll be able to do at being able to maintain your milk supply. 

Focus on nutrient-dense foods 17:46

Tip number four is to focus on nutrient-dense foods. Now, technically, your body composition responds to macros and calories, not necessarily food quality. You've probably seen people who eat just Pop-Tarts and hit their macros and still see fat loss. But when you're breastfeeding, it's not just about fat loss. It's also about recovery. It's about nourishment. It's about energy. It's about feeding your baby. And so food quality does matter. Your baby pulls nutrients from your milk. And in order to produce more milk, you need to be able to replenish those nutrients. So during breastfeeding, focusing on food quality is really important. You want to prioritize whole foods, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, healthy fats. Food quality is going to help you to feel more satiated. It's, again, going to replenish those nutrients that you are then able to pass on to your baby. 

So think of it like this. If you're going to be in a caloric deficit, you got to make those calories work for you. You got to replenish the things that you're giving away to your baby. And this does not mean that you have to be perfect, right? Yes, you can have a cookie. Yes, you can still make room for the things that you enjoy, but I really encourage you to aim for that 80, 20, 90, 10% balance, right? So 80% nutrient dense, whole foods, 20% flexibility. Somewhere between 80 to 90% whole foods, 10 to 20% things that are fun. And you can think about it in terms of how many calories are you eating.

So if you're eating, let's say 2000 calories a day, somewhere between 100 to 200 calories are your flexible fun foods. And then the other rest of the bulk of your calories, like you said, you're eating whole grains, you're eating vegetables, you're eating fruits, you're eating lean protein, you're eating healthy fats, things that most people would call “healthy”. You're really trying to prioritize those because again, it's not just about the macronutrients, it's about the micronutrients that you're able to put into your body so that you can transfer those over to your baby.

And then also don't forget hydration because the other thing that can cause milk supply to dry up is dehydration. So keeping your protein high and keeping your hydration high can be very, very helpful. You'll want to drink a lot of water. I remember when I was breastfeeding, I would just had a water bottle with me all day long and I just was always trying to down water. One, because I felt more thirsty. Your body is cueing you saying, hey, we need to keep that water supply up. And also because I knew how important it was to my milk supply. So keep that water bottle near you, really hydrate as much as possible because again, that's going to be a key in keeping that milk supply up. 

And then there are foods that there's research to support that inherent in and of themselves are natural milk boosting foods. And you can Google this and there's lots and lots of recipes, but things like oatmeal, spinach, flaxseed, brown rice, garlic, fennel, these are foods that have that little extra kick to helping to keep your milk supply up. So you don't have to go overboard and you don't have to only eat these foods, but if you're looking for a way to be able to help support your milk supply naturally with the foods you eat, some of these small tweaks can help you out. And like I said, you can Google it. There's plenty of research information online on these natural milk producing foods. And if you want to include them, you can. 

Pay attention and adjust 21:20

All right. Tip number five, last one is pay attention and adjust. This is probably the biggest tip of all. Listen to your body and listen to your baby. You can track macros, you can be in a deficit, but if you start to notice your supply dropping, that's a signal. And it means that it's time to adjust. So we're wanting to pay attention to wet diapers. Are there any changes that have happened with the number of wet diapers that your baby is producing per day? Are they growing as they should? Are they on track with their growth chart? Paying attention to just anything you notice with your milk supply. We're in tune with our body. And if you're ever curious about your milk supply, I do encourage you to take a time to pump and to see how much milk your body is producing, and then have that as a reference to be able to compare it later. And that was something that was always helpful for me is like, I knew my baseline as to how much milk that I was producing before I ever went into a deficit. And then that way I could reassure myself that I was still producing adequate amounts of milk for my baby. 

But if you start to notice that milk supply is starting to drop, you start to notice the number of wet diapers starting to drop, you start to notice your baby acting more hungry, or they're not on their growth scale, that's important feedback and information. And it means it's time to adjust. And so what would I do? I would add in some extra calories and continue to monitor, making sure, am I getting enough protein? Maybe I'm at that 0.8 grams per protein. Can I get up to that one gram per pound of body weight with protein? Making sure that you're, again, getting enough, making sure I'm checking all my food quality, making sure that I'm hitting those nutrients, making sure I'm hydrating well enough. So I'm checking all of the boxes to make sure that I'm doing everything on my end to be able to make sure that I am optimizing for being able to produce that milk. Sometimes just a small tweak upward in calories or a small tweak upward in protein is enough to stabilize your supply again. 

And again, remember macros aren't magic. They just are data. It's information. And the feedback that you get from your body is incredibly valuable. The whole goal is to be able to listen to your body and to be able to adjust over time. That's what makes macros so awesome. So for most women, and not all, I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever say all. I don't want you to listen to this podcast and feel shame if for some reason this doesn't work for you or you're broken or you're wrong. Most women can create a caloric deficit safely and keep their milk supply up. Again, I will never, ever say all. And so at the end of the day, I have to imagine that your top priority is feeding your baby. And so if it comes to that and you cannot create a caloric deficit without your milk supply fading, well now you're in a choice. And you get to choose, do you want to stay in the caloric deficit and maybe choose to feed your baby other ways? Or is being able to breastfeed and feed your baby more important right now and you're willing to put fat loss on the back burner? So for most women, there is a sweet spot and we can usually find it with a little bit of tweaking. But at the end of the day, it's really important for you to know which is more important to you. Because if we're not able to create that caloric deficit, I don't want you to feel like a failure. It really is just an opportunity to say, hey, this is more important to me, whichever that is and whatever you choose, and then to move forward from that place.

Recap 24:53

So let's recap the five key things here to remember if you're tracking macros while breastfeeding. Number one, wait at least six weeks postpartum before you go into create that caloric deficit. Number two, you're wanting to add between 200 and 400 extra calories to your TDEE to account for nursing. Number three, prioritizing protein, aiming for getting up to 0.8 to one gram per pound of body weight. Number four, focus on nutrient-dense foods that support your recovery and support your milk supply and support nourishing your body. And number five, pay attention and adjust based off of your body, your baby, and the results that you're getting.

Listen, I've had four babies. I know this season of life is intense. You're healing, you're adjusting to a new human that you're trying to take care of, you're feeding your baby, you're likely running on very little sleep. And yet I also know for many women, there's this part of you that wants to feel strong and confident in your body again. And I just want to say you are not selfish. You are not selfish for wanting that. It's not wrong to desire fat loss or energy or feeling more like your old self again. And you don't have to rush it. You don't have to do it perfectly. And you definitely don't have to choose between your goals and your ability to nourish your baby. You can do both. And with these tools, hopefully you're able to find a safe, sustainable way to be able to get started.

Now, again, if you want help setting your macro step-by-step, I got you. You can download my free guide at bicepsafterbabies.com/setmymacros. And I walk you through that whole process. And if this episode was helpful, I'd love it if you shared it with a fellow mom. Whether you know someone who's pregnant or newly postpartum, or is in the throes of nursing, the more women we can empower with the tools and confidence to fuel their bodies well, I mean the better. So thanks for listening. Thanks for being here. You've got this. Now go out and be strong because remember my friend, you can do anything.

Outro

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