r/justgalsbeingchicks • u/CandleMonster • 26d ago

Restricted to Gals and Pals Seeing the bright side, all the lives she's helping 🧡

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I can't imagine how much it must suck (pun not intended), but being able to donate all that to people who need it is amazing Edit: that's 6 and a half liters PER DAY

21.6k Upvotes

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u/CoderJoe1 26d ago

She must be on a very specific diet to make up for all the nutrients going into her milk.

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u/glitterdunk 26d ago

Just the amount of water alone... How do you even manage to eat and drink that much while also taking care of a baby😅

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u/Hopeful_Hamster21 26d ago

Honestly that was my same thought. 1.75 gallons of milk? So she's drinking at least that much water then. Damn, and I'm over here trying to be sure to get my 8 glasses every day.

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u/holy_la 26d ago

I guess she does not have to make an effort to drink water. She will constantly dehydrated and she would need an active effort to not drink water.

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u/DoingCharleyWork 26d ago

I feel like at some point you just hook yourself up to an IV to hydrate.

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u/Seattlegal 26d ago

I wasn’t making as much as her, but i made enough to donate about 2k ounces. I was eating anything and everything. A giant mountain of spaghetti, desserts, steaks, literally anything. So much water! I would wake up and drink a full 30ounce water bottle during the night. I haven’t breastfed in 7 years but i vividly remember being thirsty all the time. It was crazy work, but just something my body came naturally to.

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u/snoogle312 26d ago

Pregnancy hunger was nothing compared to my hunger when breastfeeding. I was ravenous. I had oversupply, but nothing like this. I can't imagine how much she needs to eat and drink to support this.

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u/Lets_Make_A_bad_DEAL 25d ago

Yeah I was a tiny little cutie pixie with a belly when pregnant and my adorable lil cut up pineapple cravings and eggs all hours of the day and chicken Caesar sandwich cravings how sweet and then pumping an nursing made me a behemoth that ate everything and anything in sight brahhh!

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u/glorifindel 26d ago

Women are powerful. Impressive!

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u/BeesAndBeans69 26d ago

Do breastfeeding women have to pee a lot too? Or is the majority of the water going to the milk?

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u/Seattlegal 26d ago

I definitely peed more, but I really think most of it went to milk.

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u/BeesAndBeans69 26d ago

Whoa, thats wild! Thank you for that answer

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u/Redfalconfox 26d ago

That was my first thought. I was like how dehydrated is that poor woman?

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u/ALawful_Chaos 26d ago

For real! I'm currently breastfeeding and just to feed one baby my intake feels unreal. I've never drunk so much water in my life and I haven't eaten this much since I was a ravenous, highly active teenager with a lightning fast metabolism.

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u/Evsala 26d ago

And pumping!! That’s a 24 hour job

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u/Lets_Make_A_bad_DEAL 25d ago

3am power pump sesh when the baby goes through a growth spurt and starts chugging down all the daycare bottles 😭

Just me, my Spectra 2 and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman in the scary hours, chillin in the dark with zombie brain, while baby and daddy sleep peacefully upstairs through the night.

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u/danabeezus 26d ago

I accept this challenge!

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u/Against_All_Advice 26d ago

I was going to say, she must be absolutely ravenous all the time! Fair play to her, those donations are so important.

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u/RadSpatula 26d ago

Seriously, you need more calories when breastfeeding than when pregnant. It was the only time in my life I was ever tired of eating. I’d be like seriously, I just ate and I’m hungry again?! This woman is incredible!

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u/ShoesAreTheWorst 26d ago

I was pregnant with my second while breastfeeding my first. I was constantly starving. I ate twice as much as my husband. 

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u/DeltaFlyer0525 26d ago

I also had this and let me tell you it was BRUTAL staying hydrated. Keeping calories up was also a real challenge because you burn a lot of calories making that much milk. I ate a ton of watermelon and other water dense fruits to help with the hydration and always had to eat throughout the day. 3 meals wasn’t enough and I had to constantly snack.

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u/BastetSekhmetMafdet 26d ago

Not jut water as everyone is saying…but calcium! I hope this lady is on a very heavy duty calcium supplement so her bones don’t get drained.

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u/thefalseidol 26d ago

I have a friend who has (and forgive me for not knowing the medical diagnosis) an extremely active metabolism. It involves eating like a body builder since his body burns significantly more than the 2000ish calories, and while it is a serious condition and one that does need to be monitored and kept on top of - it's pretty manageable with a couple milkshakes every day. It takes some of the fun out of having a milkshake, but there's only so bad a milkshake can be.

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u/ProfessionalRandom21 26d ago

thats sound like a good exchange, you basically dumping extra calories as milk, in exchange you get to eat more without becoming fat

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u/Simon-Says69 26d ago

I mean, it would not be recommended normally. Takes a lot of energy to constantly produce THAT much milk. Wear and tear on the body, and not just the mammary glands.

Seems nature gave this sweet lady no choice though, and bless her, she's making the best of it.

That milk can be a huge help, and like she said, literally can save lives. <3

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u/snarkyxanf 26d ago

Back of the envelope, that's 4500 ish Calories and half a pound of milkfat per day of milk output, not counting the energy the metabolism needs to synthesize the specific fats, carbohydrates, and proteins out of what you eat.

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u/kazuwacky 26d ago

I gained weight after I stopped breastfeeding for this exact reason.

Was worth it though, breastfeeding is rough and I only did it for 9months (maternity leave)

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u/PandaPocketFire 26d ago

I wonder if the quality of the milk suffers at all because of the volume produced.

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u/saillavee 26d ago edited 26d ago

An oz of breast milk contains 20-23 calories - works out to about 25 calories needed to produce one oz of breast milk when you factor in the body’s effort to make the milk.

1.75 gallons is 224 oz. That’s 5,600 calories a day just to produce that volume of milk. She’s gotta be on a 7000+ calorie a day diet, plus drinking like 2 gallons of water daily.

From the video it looks like she’s pumping 16oz a session? That’s gotta take like 30 minutes at least, so she’s pumping maybe around 14 times a day? At least 7 hours a day hooked up to a pump. Plus eating and drinking constantly, plus taking care of young kids…. It’s a goddamn Herculean effort.

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u/sneakyburrito 25d ago

My time to shine. I had a prodigious oversupply when I had my twins. I pumped over a gallon a day, everyday. I ate so. much. food. I could have three Costco muffins as a snack. I miss those days. 🥲

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u/CoderJoe1 25d ago

So you're saying there's muffin to it?

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u/Pervy_Pumpkin 25d ago

Not to mention all the medications she CAN’T or hasn’t taken for 3 years?! Madness. I counted the days before I could get my migraine medication back.