Hi to all the mommies :) and congratulations to you all for moving forwards in your quest to a healthier body and life style. I just had my 5th child and am now ok to begin working out again, so I included Slim Fast as my dietary moniter because it is too easy to focus on making the kids healthy meals, but snack off of junk food myself. I wanted to let you all know that in case you were considering breastfeeding, it can help you to loss weight. Many people think that breastfeeding helps to loss weight because of the calories burned by the milk making process; this is not exactly true. Breastfeeding takes about 200 calories a day to produce and nurse. The real weightloss comes from the fat that your body takes to include in the breastmilk. Breastmilk has fat essential for baby's development. That fat is taken from the mother's body from fat storage centers (think belly, hips, thighs) and added to the milk for baby. Studies show that women who breastfeed have lost more weight by 6 months post-partum than mothers who did not breastfeed. So, if you are considering breastfeeding, this is another benefit to nursing that it can give to you.
Good luck to you all :)
~Jessi, CLC (certified lactation counselor)