It’d be best to discuss this with you doctor. Every woman is different and they might be able to give you some really good nutrition tips and tell you if it’s a good idea for you personally. All the calories you’re losing while breast feeding, you need to make sure you have the energy.
Breastfeeding Mom here. I don’t think it’s a wise things to do (apart from the fact that you won’t really have time to focus on your body much for a few months bc this is a really stressful time 😅) because your body needs rest & nourishment. Especially the first six weeks are sooo essential to your milk supply so restricting yourself there in any way could impact that! That being said, just giving birth was -9kg within two days. Your body took 9 months to grow this child and it’ll take 9 months to get back to normal. Be patient and gentle with yourself. Give yourself grace, don’t focus too much on losing weight. I eat whenever I’m hungry (and sometimes that’s at 10pm lol) and do postpartum workouts and the weight is coming off slowly by itself.
Start light and see how you get on. Make sure you’re drinking plenty of liquid.
I would definitely research which supplements would be beneficial.
IF works essentially because it follows a more natural way of eating. We evolved to cope with scarcity and our milk supply likely evolved too.
This article has some good info.
37 weeks here. From some research I’ve looked at, they actually explain that because you’re breastfeeding around the clock, say you don’t eat for the 8 hours you’re asleep, but your body is working hard to produce breast milk, you’re actually “further in” to a fasting phase than a non-breastfeeding woman. I’ve also read to wait 6 weeks, to make sure your milk supply is established before changing anything. Suggestions are to not go below 1800 calories a day for the average woman. My natural pattern this pregnancy has been 12:12, sometimes 14:10, so i plan to just go with the flow. Exclusively breastfeeding and making sure I’m not hurting my supply is #1 on my list before losing weight.
I am in the same boat and SO eager to start IF again!
My babe is 4.5 months, so I have a ways to go on breastfeeding.
I’ve been thinking of just trying to not eat so late, even just doing a 12:12. If still be eating plenty of calories, but not over eating late.
I used to do 16:8 but it’s not been possible since being pregnant (currently 34 weeks) and assume will be same for breast feeding. A consultant told me you lose around 500 cals a day breastfeeding alone (this is why it’s so good for helping shed baby weight) so I’m not gonna try and fast unless my body seems to want to (which it hasn’t during pregnancy) cos it can apparently affect milk supply and energy levels. My mum said she needed to eat more when breastfeeding than when she was pregnant. Different for everyone though - you may find it works for you!
I am currently but my baby is almost 2 years old now, I’d be careful with IF with breastfeeding if you really want to breastfeed because it can make it hard to keep a sufficient supply to feed baby. I didnt start doing IF again until recently because I struggled with supply initially and I wanted to breastfeed and didnt want to take the risk that I wouldnt be able to eat enough calories. So far I’ve had no issues breastfeeding and IFing, my supply is even staying up. All that really matters though is that you eat enough calories. What you eat doesnt matter in regards to the quality or quantity of the milk.