Thrive Training and Breastfeeding

Hi! I am wondering if I can follow Thrive while breastfeeding. I have a 7 months baby that I am breatsfeeding.

The reason I have started Thrive is because I  am training too thus reasoning that I have a double reason to have a very nutritious diet. I am only I  step 5 and so far I don't see any issue with breastfeeding. 

Atm I train 6 days a week for 2 hours around 10 am to 12 pm. 3 days I do GB Foundation and Handstands. and 3 other days I do lyra (aerial hoop), pole and stretching. 

Fact is at the moment I eat a lot of everything and defintely butter, fatty meat, carbs and Greek yoghurt. I drink a lot too as I need to avoid dehydration. so the program just helped me not forgetting enough vegetables and the awesome forums inspire me to control my sweet cravings and improve my diet. 

Thanks! 

Do whatever you feel is right for you and your baby but, my wife ate thrive during breastfeeding. 

Hi @Jeff Serven, if you don't mind, i'd like to ask question regarding thrive or generally nutrition while breastfeeding and training, because I'm experiencing energy crushes and episodes of binge eating.

So, i'm breastfeeding a 9month old daughter. Because she refuses to eat veggies, fruits and other baby stuff, 95% of her nutrition is breastmilk, which is a lot, might be more than 1,5 litre a day.

I also try to be consistent with my training, doing foundation and handstand 4-6 times a week, lots of walking, chasing older daughter. All in all, I'm pretty active and like it that way, but lately i've made little to no progress and feel more tired and fatigued during my workouts.

Anither issue - because of the breastfeeding, I have poor sleep - Waking every night at least 3 times, 4-5 times being closer to reality. Currently, there's no way I can change it.

Do you think, that as a breastfeeding mother who also trains up to 6 days a week (but with lower intensity), should I eat more in order to keep stable milk supply, recover better from my workouts, prevent energy chrushes and binge eating crap junk food? 

If so, how much more? I know there's no measurable answer, I'm more interested in something like a nutritional "strategy" how to overcome current lack of sleep, providing nutrients to my daugher via milk and have energy for lower intensity workouts and recovery.

should i focus on more protein, or carbs, or maybe fat? Right now, I'm sticking to thrive (higher end of the portion sizes), with one or 2 snacks, some bcaas for recovery. 

please, i'd like to hear your opinion on my situation from nutritional point of view. Thanks in advance.

Not that I would know but from watching my wife, being a mom is a tough job and being tired is a part of the game. Call me crazy but I see the daughters heath as more important than training so here is what I would do. 1) eat more, keep relative proportions, more of everything, more cow bell. 2) lower training intensity - more stretch, less top end 3) erase social media from phone. 

Thanks @Jeff Serven ...

I agree than health of the baby is more important than training now. No need to be crazy for that. They won't breastfeed forever and it gives them a proper start in life. Yes I have been eating more of everything, home cooked food ... maybe a bit too many carbs. when sleep deprived it's hard to resist a croissant with my coffee (my native country being neighbour of France we love croissants). But truth is delaying carbs to later in the day like the evening helps not crashing after lunch (as i am always a bit tired). 

I particularly like your third one, as social media is a particularly annoying time waster when you have your hands free but stuck in bed breatsfeeding. Must speak from experience by proxy

Thank you both for your replies.

@Jeff Serven ... balance between your suggestions 1 and 2, is what i'm trying to find since new year. And to be honest, I sort of know that limiting the volume and intensity of training should help, but I'm so stubborn ... :-(. It really is a challenge for me to back off (completly unbelievable for some people). I'm trying much much harder since july, coz half of a year of "sort of trying" got me nowhere.

as for third suggestion ... if it wasn't browsing social media while lying on the bed pregnant, I would have never came across gymnasticbodies ... (and would be jumping with tony horton or that other guy right now) :-D.

@Isabelle De backer thanks ... and yes, breastfeeding is more important than training, you're right. But for me, training is something like "my sacred time", that helps me stay sane :-). Definitelly need to find balance ...

touche Petra.

My wife was very strict on her diet and training during pregnancy, I do think it helps and finding a balance is the trick. Don't look at backing off as sort of trying just shift focus on to things you can go all out at while pregnant; nutrition- get crazy take it to the next level, stretch, joint prep, etc. Just don't go run burn out 400s every day. 

Again judging only off of my wife; you can train hard 3 days a week, joint prep and stretch the other 3. 

Thanks @Jeff Serven. Things are going much better since beginning of july. I'm not completely where I want to be, but definitely much much closer. 

I'm doing 4 foundation sessions a week, maybe some additional sets here and there, but nothing more strengthwise. More mobility daily, stretch series and no more "speed walking" with the stroller.

As for nutrition ... it's always easier during summer, because we have homegrown vegetables and lots of berries, so when I start to feel snacky, I'll go outside and get some straight from the bushes :-). I "reintroduced" daily soup to my diet, mostly bone broth with vegetables, this helps a lot. And daily dinner dessert - yogurt with those homegrown berries.

thank once more

Hi @Petra Kmecová

Thanks for posting your experiences here. It is great to hear from a variety of people in unique training situations and how they are making things work. A great system like Thrive or GymnasticBodies will allow for some variation within their principles to accommodate to the fact that we are all unique. Keep posting and informing us as to your progress as I'm sure that others will find value in it.

Hi @Petra Kmecová

Thanks for sharing. Yes I do understand what you said - I am still breastfeeding my son that is now 1.5 years. It's only recently that he stops waking me up 4 times a night and life is much easier when you sleep. I still have the occasional binge eating craving when I am really tired. Like dreaming of chocolate cake only knowing that it will make it even worse if I eat it lol. I cut back on heavy sessions a bit, only 3 a weeks. But I added more stretching and mobility and a contortion class. So at the end I am still doing 6 sessions a week.

As for you, it's training that kept me sane during these months. It was my "Me" time, very precious on those selfless sleep deprived days. It was worth a bit of tiredness. 

I have not gained strength really fast this year, not back to where I was before the baby still. Some days I blame it on my laziness, some other days I acknowledge that sleep deprivation is the killer. 

 I am still worried for my son to go back to his old bad habits of waking me up if I talk too much about it so on this I wish you a great day and many good nights ! !!