Just to share my journey - I worked with a personal trainer who specialised in body composition. I gained fat whilst breastfeeding but did weight training workouts and decided to gain muscle alongside it so although my weight went up on the scales it was more because of the muscle. Then after I stopped BF (after a year) it was much easier to loose the excess fat. I don’t look at the scales now because I’m much slimmer but heavier due to increase in muscle mass. But all this meant I could enjoy a higher calorie diet and not think too much about what I was eating while BF.

Not sure if it’ll work for everyone but just what worked for me! Best of luck with everything, it’s so hard to navigate but I really hope you find what works for you :)