3 Reasons Why Dieting While Breastfeeding Doesn't Work

With the New Year only 3 days away (!!!), odds are you’ve thought about making a goal or resolution that involves your postpartum health, postpartum body, or weight loss journey. 

Since diets are always a hot topic around this time of year, I wanted to share the top 3 reasons why starting a diet, or a restrictive eating pattern (like low carb), won’t work in the long term for your goals (and can be harmful for mamas who are breastfeeding). Don't worry though, because I’m then going to share how I reframed my nutrition and lifestyle, which is what I now teach to hundreds of other mamas, to help support my goals.

But first...

January 2nd is the launch of my signature group nutrition coaching program: 30 Days to Fit Postpartum. If you are looking to start a fitness/weight loss/nutrition transformation in the New Year, this program will give you the guidance and knowledge of how to safely start moving your body after baby, help you repair and recover, both physically and nutritionally, after baby, and have the tools that you need to know how to progress on your journey to meet your fitness and breastfeeding goals (because you shouldn't have to sacrifice either!). The program includes:

• Weekly self-paced trainings (with lifetime access)

• 4 live group coaching calls with Bethaney via zoom

• 4 individual email check-ins with Bethaney

• Access to a private Community group Facebook for between call questions and to share your wins!

• Handouts, exercise ideas and basic fitness plans, recipes/meal plans including grocery lists, and journal activities to help your implement the information we discuss in the trainings and calls.

• PLUS Breastfeeding tips and support, to help support you to meet your breastfeeding goals AND fitness goals.

Interested? Click here to check it out....

Now back to our topic...

First I want to clarify what I mean when I say “dieting.” Dieting in this context is any eating pattern that requires you to count and cut calories (such as less than 1500 calories per day),  restrictive diets like cutting out food groups, certain ingredients/additives like gluten (when you don’t have a medical reason for it, AND when you are not educated on how to adapt your eating to include nutrients that you would miss), or any eating regimen that is totally different than your own and doesn’t account for your preferences/ family preferences/ finances/ location/ etc.

Let’s talk about what research and personal experiences show about long-term effects of dieting. Dieting can work sometimes in a short term duration, helping you lose weight, and sometimes lose weight fast (especially when making large changes to your current nutrition). But diets are known to not be sustainable in the long term (especially fast weight loss).  

“ Weight regain is generally the rule, with one-third to two-thirds of the weight lost being regained within 1 year and almost all is regained within 5 years. With studies of the long-term outcomes showing that at least one-third of dieters regain more weight than they lost…” PMID: 25614198 

Diets don’t teach us why our bodies are at our current weight, how to overcome things like emotional/stressful binges, what to do when your body weight plateaus (and you are already eating only 1200 calories per day), or how the, in my opinion, LARGEST influencer of body weight, hormones, comes into play. 

For a breastfeeding mama, these are the top 3 reasons why diets don’t work (and can be harmful for you AND baby)...

1. Restricted eating leads to Nutrient Deficiencies. 

It’s estimated that even at 1800 calories per day, lactating mamas might not be meeting vitamin and mineral needs for things like calcium, magnesium, zinc, thiamin, vitamin B6,, folate, phosphorus, and iron. 

When your body doesn’t get the nutrients it needs from food, it starts to pull from it’s stores in your bones, blood, fat tissue (fat soluble vitamins like vitamin E), and muscle (in very restrictive diets). It first will provide the nutrients that are needed for your breastmilk, but after a while, that will be affected too.

And, when your bones become weaker because of less minerals, you can be at risk of injury and fractures.

1. Energy Drain and Fatigue

In relation to the above, when we restrict nutrients that our body needs to run, we start to lose energy and have a hard time doing the things we used to enjoy (and making it really really hard to keep up with a newborn and breastfeeding demand). 

We often associate that low energy feel during the baby phase as a “normal” thing, because of less sleep. But nutrients like thiamine that helps with carbohydrate metabolism, and iron and magnesium that have been shown to improve deep sleep, can become deficient when your body is not getting enough from food, AND you are still depleted from recovery and breastfeeding. 

1. Hormonal Imbalances

Both of the above lead our bodies to crave sweets, binge eat when we are so hungry because of restriction (especially when our bodies know we need more food), and further throw our hormones out of balance:

• inconsistent eating throws off insulin and leptin (our fullness hormone)

• sleep deprivation throws off ghrelin (our hunger hormone), leptin, insulin, cortisol

• Stress increases cortisol, which can cause weight gain

So what steps do I recommend breastfeeding mamas take that help with weight control (and loss), improve overall postpartum health (that will lead to improved health throughout motherhood), and help you on your postpartum and breastfeeding journeys?

• Rebalance your plate to include at least 30 grams of protein, 1 cup/serving of whole grain carbohydrates, and 2 cups of vegetables/fruit. 

(Check out my Postpartum Meal Guide here to get a FREE guide that will walk you through the steps, and gives you lots of recipes to try!)

• Optimize the sleep that you do have by making sure to include iron, potassium, and magnesium rich foods in your daily intake. 

• Practice one way daily to help with stress management and self-care, such as deep breathing for 5-10 minutes while listening to a podcast (high stress can also decrease milk volume, so being in a relaxed state while nursing/pumping is a great way to help your milk supply).

• When you’re able to, start incorporating daily movement like walking, resistance training, yoga, etc. Exercise has been shown to improve cortisol levels, and possibly help with other hormones that are associated with weight gain like Neuropeptide Y, CCK, and Peptide YY.

These are all steps that I help guide you through during the 30 Days to Fit Postpartum program. Remember to check it out to make 2024 your best year of motherhood yet ;)

I LOVE feedback - let me know if you found this helpful!!!