Customer Reviews

Eat Well, Lose Weight While Breastfeeding: The Complete Nutrition Book for Nursing Mothers, Including a Healthy Guide to the Weight Loss Your Doctor Promised

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Cut to the chase, I lost 71 pounds after having my baby, 31 was baby weight and 39 was additional weight. Did this book do that? Not entirely of itself but it was a huge influence on me.

I was disappointed when I first read it because I was expecting a diet. A real diet with strict limitations and tricks. This was very similar to the nutritional guide I received from the hospital. I had changed my eating habits during preganancy to be more healthy. I did not consider it to be a life change.

This book encourages you to eat, eat, eat, and I did. If you are breastfeeding you cannot diet!!! I can't emphisize that enough. You must meet your nutritional requirements to make good milk. I actually did not eat enough and suffered temporary hair loss, skin discoloration and fatigue when I strayed from the eating plans in the book. When I got back on track my hair grew back and I wasn't so tired anymore.

Ok, basically, I was not deprived. This is not a deprivation diet. Your baby will get all necessary nutrients in the breast milk. If you want any for yourself you have to eat. You also have to get out and walk about 20 min 4 times a week as well. Moderate excecise and the eating plans in this book helped me to lose the weight.

This is not a gimmick diet but a real nutritional guide to healthy eating. It is also extremely informative in all subjects relating to breastfeeding. I definitely reccommend it.

I was thrilled to find a book that addresses the needs of breastfeeding mothers who are interested in losing weight. Althought I breastfed my first daughter I did not experience the weightloss I anticipated. With our second daughter I wanted to find out what I could do to lose weight safely yet not compromise the health of the baby. This book describes a gentle weight loss plan. Instead of a diet, I'd call it a way eating for life. I have learned the value of nutrition and am enjoying foods I never thought I'd be eating. The recipes are very helpful and easy to prepare. A must for busy moms. I now weigh 6 lbs less than I did when I got pregnant with my first daughter three years ago. Thank you Eileen!

I bought this book when I nursed my first baby, and now I am reading it again with my second. The author does an excellent job of encouraging the nursing mother to eat nutritious foods, both for her good and her baby's. Sensible food choices are encouraged, and healthy eating is stressed more than dieting. Foods to avoid are listed, along with the reasons to stay away from them. Also, I especially enjoyed the recipes in the last chapter. Very tasty and easy!

What an easy book to read--I read it in one day!! The focus of the book is about breast feeding successfully and healthfully. Weightloss is just a benefit of following the well balanced meal plans outlined. She focuses on caring for your body and your baby and does not include guilt in any way. She encourages very slow healthy weight loss and gives you the tools to achieve success.

This book is an excellent resource. I used it myself to melt away over 50 lbs after baby #2!!! I am an RN and Certified Lactation consultant and use this book as a reference when counsoling mothers on weight loss. This is a wonderful book and will be a wonderful benefit for the reader. It helps you plan meals and know how many servings you need to achieve your weight loss goals!

This is a great guide for any woman struggling with losing weight while breastfeeding. It gives a clear, easy to follow guide of how and what and why to eat the right ammount of the right nutrients to insure healthly milk production for your baby and still allow you to lose weight slowly as is always recommended. Every one tells you how to eat when you are pregnant, but leaves you in the lurch once the baby is home. This book has been a super aid.

I never wanted to think too much about what I eat, and I don't care for exercise, but when I gained weight after child #1 and had lower energy levels, despite exclusive nursing, I bought this book for #2. Boy, am I glad I did! With easily liveable tweaks to my normal eating habits, I have been losing weight at a healthy rate of about a pound a week, and I feel better. I have two ways to know my supply isn't compromised: my son is staying at the top of the growth charts, and my daily pumping (in preparation for returning to work) yields a lot.
First, details about the different vitamins and minerals (what they do, where to find them, how much you need) are presented. Then, foods are grouped according to similar nutritional content, and we're told how to eat the right proportions of the groups for our body weights. I learned that just eating healthy foods isn't enough - I have to eat the right amounts of the different foods. For example, fruit is healthy, but if I eat lots of fruits and not enough grains, my body won't get what it needs and I'll still feel hungry and tired. There's a lot more great stuff, too. I only wish this book were updated to reflect current understandings of fats, and included the detail that you can shortchange your daily caloric intake by up to 500 calories/day below your current weight level without triggering your body's hunger reflexes, so you shouldn't try to eat too little.

Having been on a "plan" in the past (before pregnancy and after), I found the book to be very sensible and nutritionally sound. It is very difficult even to find books on this subject, which don't seme like fads....this one seems both do-able and healthy....

My favorite part of her book is how she explains the weight that a pregnant woman gains and why it is so important. I felt that even though this new body that I am left with is strange to me, it is comforting to my daughter; and necessary to her health. Ms. Behan took away my panic to lose weight quickly--like NOW!--and helped me to understand that what others think is not important but how I treat myself and my baby is vital.

I have been struggling to lose weight while breastfeeding my third child.......with the first two it came off easily..this time (15 years after my second child!) it has been a real struggle. I just recieved this book last week and have not been on the plan for long enough to see any real difference yet,but I feel a boost in my energy level already! This diet follows an exchange diet plan which is the same diet diabetics are taught to follow. It is a sensible and healthy lifestyle change. It requires some time and planning..but is probably one of the most sound nutrition plans out there. Keep in mind that breastfeeding mothers must follow a higher calorie "diet" to meet their own needs while their breastmilk is meeting their baby's needs. The exchange diet is easy to taylor to your needs after you wean the baby by adjusting the number of calories you take in and burn off, so this is an adaptable diet for anyone. You are not "dieting" in the traditional sense of the term........you are eating soundly and sensibly. The weight loss will be "gentle" as the author states. I love this book because it has answers to so many breastfeding mother's concerns. The book also explains the importance of exercizing in the process of losing weight. I hate exercising, but enjoy being active and am reminded that I must do so for any weight loss plan to work. I am regaining the energy (by making nutritional changes the author recommends) that I lost while being on moderate bedrest during a difficult pregnancy, and am confident that I will be successful. There are no gimmicks here......just sound advice. The author lays out some sample menus and there are some great ideas for snacking as well as some really good recipies. I tried the "orange cream" drink and it's really good...tastes just like a creamcicle and it's zip to make. I recommend this book to all breastfeeding moms.......it offers smart advice and is very readable.......the author engages my interest and keeps my attention.