Breastfeeding and Flab: Good News, Bad News

First the bad news: even though breastfeeding burns a lot of calories-- 200 - 500 a day-- it does not appear to help moms lose weight any faster, or to keep it off.
The good news: Breastfeeding does help keep children from becoming obese. One study found that formula-fed babies have triple the risk of being obese at age six.
Breastfeeding does have lots of other benefits for moms, though, including lower rates of osteoporosis and breast cancer.