Breastfeeding and weight loss
During an appearance on Oprah, Salma Hayek’s comments about her weight loss and her breastfeeding experience caused some controversy. Hayek said:
I thought, ‘As soon as this baby’s out, I’m just going to lose all the weight superfast because I’m going to breastfeed, and everybody tells you if you breastfeed, [the weight] is going to come off.’
It’s a lie; It’s not true. I’m going to say something. Except for a couple of exceptions, the only reason people lose weight like that when they’re breastfeeding — it’s cause they’re not eating and they’re breastfeeding. And this is not good for the baby.
It takes you nine months to get it, and nine months to lose it. There are shortcuts, but it’s not good for the baby. So I’m taking my time. I’ve lost a lot — most of — the weight and I’m very proud of it, because it’s been really hard work studying what can I eat that’s healthy for me, what’s healthy for her. But I’m still losing, even if it’s slow. And I’ve been working out.
I’m proud of what I’ve lost. And the rest is going to go when it’s time to go.
The main objection to the statement is that it sounds like she’s accusing women who did lose weight easily of lying and being unhealthy. I can see why her comments could be taken the wrong way, but since I’m one of the women who did not lose weight easily I know exactly where she’s coming from.
When I was pregnant with Sam I had an easy, healthy pregnancy where I worked out several times a week and ate well. The weight piled on anyway. My doctor didn’t believe that I’d gained as much as I had and questioned the accuracy of my pre-pregnancy weight. I carried small, with a big basketball belly right up until 37 weeks when I puffed up like the Goodyear blimp.
I thought for sure that breastfeeding would help me drop the weight. It didn’t. The water weight dropped off right way, but the rest went slowly. Even before I got the okay to exercise I walked miles every day up and down unfairly steep hills pushing a 30 lb stroller. Once I got the okay I went to yoga classes, did cardio several times a week and lifted weights two or three times a week. I ate well and drank a ton of water. It still took me nine months to fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans and close to a year and two stomach viruses to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight.
I think it’s great that Hayek was honest about her experience, despite her generalizations. Her generalizations are probably based in experience- I’m sure plenty of Hollywood mamas work out too much and don’t eat enough in order to lose the baby weight, just as some of the mothers I’ve known have done the same thing.
For me, weight loss because of breastfeeding was a lie. I worked my ass off to lose the weight and it still felt like it took forever. If breastfeeding helped you drop the weight, that’s great. I’m envious. But it doesn’t work for everyone.
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April 12th, 2008 at 9:28 am
No, it doesn’t work for everyone and don’t think diets and breast feeding should go together anyway. The main reason most of us breastfeed is because it’s healthier for our baby and not because it’s a weight loss method. I can see how some that did lose weight easily could become offended though.
April 15th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
I kind of lost weight when I breastfed, but that was probably because I only gained 15lbs when I was pregnant and the my Godzilla daughter was nine pounds of them. What really sucked was GAINING about 20lbs as soon as I stopped breastfeeding because I forgot that I was not burning those extra calories I began to take for granted. I ended up weighing more post-wean than I did when I was pregnant. Thank God for Weight Watchers, the offending poundage is all gone now