According to any mother you ask, breastfeeding requires an immense effort. Due to the exhausting demands it puts on the body, breastfeeding can burn almost 500 calories a day, which increases or decreases depending on the frequency and the amount of milk produced by the mother. Although it burns many calories in a day, these expended calories do not necessarily equal weight loss.
Due to the demands of the breastfeeding body, mothers need to take extra care with their diet to ensure healthy milk production. Mothers need to consume more calories to produce enough milk for their growing infants. Intending to lose baby weight as quickly as possible, too many mothers rush into weight-loss regimens, which can result in less milk production because they do not consume enough calories. Instead, medical researchers and doctors encourage women to ease into their weight loss routines by waiting two months before starting a serious effort, which enables the body to acclimate to producing milk. In fact, many breastfeeding mothers will consume more calories in a day than other women because of breastfeeding’s demands on the body. While breastfeeding does burn many calories, the mother’s dietary requirements mean that the expended calories rarely lead to weight loss.
