Hi all,
I am new to this forum and in need of advice regarding breast feeding milk supply weight loss keto and calories.
My little one is 4months only and I started a LCHF plan with a nutrition expert. I mentioned to I was nervous about starting. I exclusively breast feed my son and have typically had an oversupply. I was reassured me the plan would be fine and full of nutrition.
My concern was low protein and calories and she said calories don’t matter. They may not but I think when you are EBD they do.
I have about 6-8kg to lose. The plan involved fasting and was very strict. The total calories were about 1200, 30-40g total carbs and 70g protein. by 5 days in my milk supply completely tanked. I tried to wait it out but my son was ravishing. I immediately stopped and fill up on bowls of oats and my supply came back up. Despite litres of water and loads of electrolytes. I did lose about 4kg in 1.5weeks.
Of course without question my sons food source is crucial. However I am wanting to shift the weight and curious If it was the low calories (max 1200 and some days maybe 800) that tanked my supply or the low carb?
Now I eat 3 meals - 2 of meats green veggies and good fats etc and beaky of oats. So maybe 70-80g carbs a day. My supply so good. Where should I go from here? Do I try again with holding in mind higher calories or is it that milk supply is reliant on carbs?
Seeking advice and for those who have been able to successfully or not successfully go low carb/keto and maintain supply and lose baby weight?
Thank you
Keto breastfeeding and milk supply
Just my opinion. You’re not eating enough. Anyone eating 1200 calories or less on keto is not eating enough for themself, and you have to eat enough for two.
Yes thank you. I couldn’t agree more. I did mention this to the nutritionist however they kept informing me calories don’t matter? So I was left confused. Given my calories are back up to 1600-1800 but with carbs, would I start by decreasing the carbs to get to 20g from 80g or should I avoid keto all together while breast feeding?
Thank you
I am of the opinion that carbs are not the solution to anything. So I think increasing carbs just to increase total calories is a mistake. Eat more fat instead. Total calories matter because you need to give yourself sufficient fuel to maintain your level of activity and metabolic health, and in your case feed your baby. Those fats contain essential nutrients in addition to fuel. Eating carbs gets in the way. Our ancestors lived, bred and fed their children for hundreds of thousands of generations while in ketosis, and not eating more than occasional, incidental carbs. I see no reason you can’t do so. I suspect you will lose weight eating to satiety and grow a healthy baby while doing so. But I will yield to any women/moms with experience to advise you specifically. Best wishes. 
Thank you for your thoughtful and generous response. Yes this all does make sense. I also ready that breastfeeding requires an additional 20% protein which my equate too about 15g for me.
I’m going to give it another go as I feel so much better in every aspect when going low carb keto and the moment I start to add in carbs the hunger and cravings kick in. I will again closely monitor my supply and of course I have been weighing baby daily. Thanks again
I agree not to limit your calories while nursing! you probably don’t need the extra carbs but your body might be particularly sensitive to a big change so lowering your carb grams gradually makes sense to me.
I lost baby weight almost immediate while nursing but this was before I discovered Keto and 've always had a very fast metabolism. I do know that different women have different experiences with breastfeeding -for some, the hormones of nursing prevent much fat loss and for others they seem to enhance it. But in any case, you definitely don’t want to put your body in a state of panic for fuel - not good for you or for the baby!
Congratulations on your little one! Four months 
Thanks Madeline for your thoughts. I agree too that calories matter and think this was my down fall when I attempted the diet for 11 days 2 weeks ago. The diet was prescribed by a nutritionist whom said it should impact my supply and calories don’t matter - although I was probably only eating 1200 and doing 16:8 IF most days, as well daily 10-12000 steps and strength training 3 times a week and 2-3hr waking for feeding my little on on demand. I kept wondering if he was having a growth spurt but I realised he was fussy because he wasn’t getting enough milk. He would feed hourly to extract more milk! I felt so terrible I immediately ate 3 bowls of oats purely because I know they boost my supply.
I can give it a go again with a boost to protein fats and overall calories and no fasting and see what happens. If I feel there is a dip again I could add In a bowl of oats possibly? It’s all trial and error. I listened to a great I tube video today saying the reason by 50g carbs is ideal for mums is because breast feeding extracts 30g of glucose daily ?
It sounds like you’re on a good track and paying attention to the right things. The oats fixed the mix supply the first time, so it’s nice to have it as an option in the future!
It definitely makes sense to me that higher carbs while nursing could be useful, and in any case not to make a quick abrupt transition while nursing.
Please watch the quality of your fats (no processed oils like canola, safflower, soybean oil). Those aren’t good for you or the little one.
There should be no hunger and no calorie restriction on keto, especially not while breast feeding! Seems to me you need to find a new “expert” 
I agree! Bummed I paid good money for the program and of course shared my anxieties at the start which were shut down. I’m the sure the nutritionist is great with general weight loss but breast feeding weight loss is a specialist area I think.
I’m going to give keto higher calories a go and monitor my supply. If I need to add in carbs I will.
Your priority at the moment is baby and even without keto, breastfeeding will help shift some of the pregnancy fat gains.
My instinct is telling me maybe the best approach for you will be a gradual carb decrease so you can get it as low as possible now, without affecting your milk supply, and use that as a stepping stone towards keto when the time is right.
Good luck x
Hi Scottty
I listen to podcasts that interview Dr. Jamie Seeman. She is an OBGYN and a specialist in ketogenic nutrition. In this latest podcast she is really clear about nutritional ketosis, pregnancy and breast feeding and the nuances involved especially tips on when not to be in nutritional ketosis. I think her lactating moms wear continuous glucose monitors as part of some studies that they participate in.
Thank you FrankoBear for sharing the podcast. I did listen the podcast and it contained a wealth of information. She sounds very experienced personally and professionally regarding hormones keto etc
She made it clear that calories are important when breast feeding. She didn’t appear strict on keto or not but made it clear of course a well nourished diet is possible and questioned the place of “carbs” in pregnancy or breast feeding -‘encouraging veggies and some fruits.
I listened to another video by a doc who mentioned, as did Jamie, that Breast feeding pulls glucose from the body and that it utilises about 30g a day of glucose for milk supply. This makes sense then as to why many practitioners recommend a 50g carb limit
(50-30g would leave one at around 20g). Where as 20g only might mean too many ketones in the body and the risk of Ketoacidosis? If my lingo and science is right.
Either way I think my fault earlier was too low calories and overall doing too much whilst feeding the baby ok demand creating a significant deficit. It was eating 70-100g fats, 30-40g carbs 70g protein and had to push through a lot of hunger. It involved fasting too. I stuck with it as I felt I needed to trust the expert and let her guide me - no such luck though.
I’ve adapted my program to much higher calories fats a little more protein but keeping carbs low 30-40g to see what will happen with my supply. Instrength train 3 times a week and walk daily - Min 10,000 steps. Trying to ensure I don’t do too much.
I also got onto Dr Berg. The keto guru who has so much information out there on how to make this all work.
Thanks again everyone for the support. Very much appreciated 
From everything I’ve read, if you are not a Type I diabetic, it is almost impossible to get into ketoacidosis (exception might be severe alcoholism?). Sorry that I can’t cite the physiological details of why that is the case, but my memory for regulation of enzymology in the liver is terrible! Ketoacidosis begins at 10 mM ketones. Even if we ate nothing almost but coconut oil for a week, most of us wouldn’t be at more than 3 or 4 mM.
I do know that your liver should be able make enough glucose to cover that extra 30 grams. My understanding is that there are three sources of carbon that the liver can make into glucose: lactate, glycerol and amino acids. IIRC, lactate is the least significant. The storage form of fat is called TriAcylGlycerol (TAG), in which the “acyl” means the three fatty acid esters. Release of the fatty acids for metabolism (either directly by muscle or by conversion to ketones to be used by cells that don’t burn fatty acids, like neurons) leaves the glycerol available to be converted into glucose, (two glycerols become one glucose molecule) but that won’t fill all our needs.
So, the remainder will be made up by conversion of amino acids to glucose. You don’t want this to be coming from your tissues at this point, I suspect, so don’t view protein consumption as a limit not to be exceeded. Whatever you believe is your daily need for protein should be a minimum!
Ketoacidosis occurs with high blood ketones and high blood glucose due to the loss of insulin regulation i.e. there is no insulin circulating. With functioning pancreatic beta cells, insulin producing cells, you won’t go into ketoacidosis, even with a “zero-carb” way of eating.
I think Dr. Jamie was more concerned about hypoglycemia/ very low blood glucose in ketogenic mothers who were also taxing blood glucose with milk production.
Hence the constant glucose monitor (CGM), to find if individuals were driving their blood glucose too low with strict very low carb eating while lactating (the blood ketones are protective for the brain and body in hypoglycemia - see interviews with Dr. Dom D’Agostino PhD, if interested)
Thank you FrankoBear for clarifying this with me. I must have missed that section on the podcast so I’ll listen again and check out your other recommendation. This all makes sense to me now; well on a basic science level. I do have a blood sugar monitor at home that I used during pregnancy to check my levels daily. Would that be a help or do you require more scientific equipment? I can also monitor Symptom. So far I’m feeling good and my milk supply is fine. Last time by day 3 my supply was deteriorating and I felt drained. It’s really quite shocking that the “expert” advised her plan and said it would be plentiful when in fact it was low calorie low protein and low carb all at once. Given I lost 3.5kg in the first week is telling how taxing it was. If my supply dips again and I easily know by his behaviour, I’ll know to add in a serving of carbs and probably oats Nd has they are the most effective for me along with flaxseeds.
I really do appreciate everyone’s comments. there is a wealth of knowledge and experience on this board above and beyond a so called nutritionist and expert. I have already gained so much knowledge on this forum.
Thanks NuchRimfire for your input. My knowledge falls a little short to clearly understand what your saying but I am hearing you say, and correct me if I’m wrong, because bfeeding pulls glucose, say 30g, a low carb/keto diet only supplying 20-30g falls short of this. So through glyconeogenesis? Then protein is used to create the glucose required…so don’t short change yourself with protein, use my requirements as a minimum?
I did just read an article from Dr Jamie Seemans ig account stating that the process of glucogeonesis? Is actually low (using protein to make glucose?)…if that were correct one would be better to add in the 30g if carbs then rather than extra protein?
I think your milk production and how you feel is most relevant. The blood glucose metre is good as an adjunct. When you feel really good and relaxed check your blood glucose a few times to get an idea of your normal. Then, if you feel off colour, you can test and see if there is a difference. If it is low blood glucose (without ketones) you apply your oatmeal fix (or any wholefood carbohydrate). These are just my thoughts based on what you have been sharing. For the complex stuff consider a lactation consultant. I had never heard of these before. But apparently they exist in the USA according to Neisha Berry (Dr. Berry’s wife - just for association, not as a judgement). Just note here that she is low carb proponent and not as good a source, in my opinion, of information as Dr. Jamie Seeman that you are looking for, but she may be to your liking?
Neisha has been a nurse for many years including obstetrics. So while Dr Seeman may be a better resource, I don’t think Neisha’s knowledge and experience are anything to sneeze at. She might not be the only voice I’d listen to, but I’m happy to have her in the choir.
Some people worry about gluconeogenesis adding to their blood glucose as a bad thing. Saying that it is not significant is meant to sooth those people. To my understanding, gluconeogenesis is need driven, not supply driven. So if you eat more protein than you need it will only be turned into glucose if you need glucose. Seems to me breastfeeding is exactly the kind of situation this biological function was made for.