Eating Myself Out of House and Home

I know that I've talked about one of the GREAT and FANTASTIC side effects, or positive aspects, of breastfeeding - the weight loss factor. You've probably heard all of the statistics somewhere else before so I won't bore you all with them again, I'll just emphasize again that they're ALL true!

You really can burn calories like a mad-woman who works out at the gym two or three times a day. Or like that woman who only eats salad and yogurt and is actually satisfied having a handful of almonds for a snack at 2pm and loses an amazing 20 pounds in 2 months. It really can happen from doing something so simple as letting your body do what comes naturally after giving birth - make milk.

And I'll also reiterate here, just so you don't think that I've gone the breastfeeding route solely because of the weight loss factor that I do truly enjoy breastfeeding my son. I have enjoyed almost every single minute of it. No, it's not really fun when they tug and pull at your nipple. And I'm sure that it's no fun if you experience sore/cracked/bleeding nipples, which (knock on wood) I've somehow been lucky enough to manage to avoid thus far. It's not really a lot of fun wondering if something that you ate is causing his tummy troubles, and it's certainly not fun going more than 4 days without pizza...don't laugh, we all have our Achille's heel...

But despite all of that, it's been totally worth the experience. I'm glad that the choice was made for me and that this is something that I did this time around. I don't regret not doing it the first time around, but I'm glad that I was lucky enough to get to experience it this time around. I know that there are a lot of women out there who really, really want to breastfeed and for one reason or another are not able to realize that dream. I still feel strongly that this is a VERY personal decision, one each woman should make for herself, and either way your decision goes you will have a healthy and well-fed baby.

So do you want to hear my latest breastfeeding craziness? I'm starving hungry all the time. Like not just a bit hungry, but having hunger pains in the middle of the night so that I can't sleep even though I'm exhausted and should be sleeping fine type of hunger. That's nuts to me! I haven't experienced this since the first week or two of breastfeeding, when my body was adjusting to the process and I was pumping in between feedings in order to increase my milk supply. And it's just been in the last two days that this has happened so I'm not really sure what's causing this, but it's got to be linked to the breastfeeding.

I can eat a full plate of food and be hungry again in an hour or two. I need a snack before going to sleep, and I'm learning that it might be wise to bring two of whatever that snack is and leave it on my nightstand for a middle of the night snack! I eat breakfast, have a mid-morning snack and am still ready for lunch around 11am. Then there's my early afternoon snack, my late afternoon snack, all to be followed by dinner. And the bedtime snack. It's like I'm eating all day long.

It's the craziest thing ever!!!

Did any of you other breastfeeding Moms go through periods of intense hunger while you breastfed? Does it come and go for you too? Because I will swear on a stack of Bibles that it wasn't like this two weeks ago for me...I was fine eating like a normal person back then, even if I could eat more candy and ice cream without worrying about the calories. It wasn't the sheer volume of food that I seem to be consuming this week!