Decisions, Decisions????!!!!!

[camcyd]

Now I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. Some of you may know that late Oct, I delivered my beautiful baby boy. Since delivery I have not lost any weight besides weight of baby / placenta. I weigh about 25-30 lbs more now than pre-pregnancy. Before I became pregnant I could have lost 20-25 more lbs, but God had other plans.

So to try and make a long story short, since delivery I have been struggling with water retention issues. The only time I didn't have a problem with it was when I was in the induction. I felt great with less than 20 carbs, but my milk supply decreased. I am getting to the point of depression because of this extra weight and water retention, but I feel like I am being selfish if I stop nursing as this is my last child. I know it is recommended to do the maintenance, but I feel best in the induction as my water retention issues are gone. Please help!!

[BellaLinda]

The only suggestion I can come up with is to work backwards with your carbs. Instead of starting at 20 and adding in 5 until you lose weight, start at whatever your level is now and drop five until your supply starts to suffer.

I'd personally never choose weight loss over breastfeeding. Your son's not quite three months old yet. He needs your milk. I'm not going to harp on the benefits of breastmilk; I'm sure you know them already. In the long run, which would you regret more, not nursing your son or not losing weight right away? He'll start demanding less once he starts eating solids in another three or four months (or maybe sooner, depending on the kid). I mean, yeah breastmilk is still going to be his main source of nutrition at least til 8 or 10 months unless he's really interested in table food, but he'll still require less, and perhaps by then your supply will be super-well-established and you'll have fewer problems.

In the meantime, why not try to address issues that could be causing the fluid retention, like sodium intake and water intake? If you pick up a copy of The Fat Flush Foods, you can probably incorporate many of them into your diet (none of them are starchy veggies, of course) and it may well help with water retention. You can't do a full-fledged Fat Flush, of course, since it's too low-cal, but my husband has had success just drinking the "Long Life Cocktail." I'll try to find the recipe for that & post it in a bit.