Loose Skin and Lower Belly Pooch From Pregnancy

Getting Rid of My Mummy Tummy

I have had three pregnancies prior to this one and only in my last pregnancy was I able to figure out why my tummy wasn't toning up and how to not only get rid of most of my stretch marks but how to prevent new ones from forming.

 

After I had my first baby, I dropped the weight fairly quickly, but I still had a pooch protruding out when I would go to sit up or whenever I did abdominal exercises.  At my 6 week postpartum checkup, they checked for a "muscle gap" but they said with time, it should go away on its own.  6 months after my son was born I was pregnant with my second.  I still had that pooch, but I decided I couldn't do anything about it since I was already pregnant and about to get big again.  When I mentioned it at my first prenatal appointment, they just chalked it up to having my babies close together.

 

She was born, but now I was still faced with a loose belly and that muscle separation that never did get better with time, no matter how much I worked out. I was down to my pre-pregnancy weight but my stomach would never tone up. 

 

Thankfully, a friend of mine became pregnant with twins, and I became obsessed with twin pregnancies: chances of conceiving twins, how much weight to gain with twins, twin pregnancy belly photos, postpartum twin belly photos...etc. Then I came across Twinpossible.  I finally learned that this abdominal gap that I had has a name: Diastasis Recti. I was floored. Not only did I learn that I could heal the gap myself, but that I most likely made it worse by doing exercises that my body wasn't ready for. I had lost the weight, but my skin wasn't tightening because I had no muscle behind it to support it.  Also, I wasn't really taking care of my skin properly.

 

On the web site, she shows safe exercises you can do during pregnancy as well as exercises you can do after pregnancy to close the gap. I did as much of the diastasis recti exercises as I could before my belly started growing, then I used my 10 Minute Solutions Prenatal Pilates dvd for the rest of my pregnancy. My belly stayed smaller this time around compared to my second pregnancy.

 

After I had my youngest son, I bought these Fabulously Fit Moms workout dvds. I started with some gentle postpartum exercises, and diastasis recti exercises, and once my abdominal gap was less than 2 finger widths, then I started using the dvds. 

I also bought the Squeem belly binder from the Twinpossible web site, and got really fast results once I was able to wear it.  It took 4 days for my belly to shrink down enough to get it to close. Since I was already pregnant when I bought it, I had to guess on the size.

 

I had used a Motherhood Maternity abdominal support band after my first baby.  It was hot and itchy, and since it was made of elastic and Velcro, I had a hard time adjusting it to be tight enough to do its job.  It was also too bulky to wear under clothing without everybody knowing I was wearing it. Once I had lost the baby weight, my muscles weren't completely healed, but I had to stop wearing it because I ran out of Velcro to close it.  I got rid of it before I had my daughter.  I didn't wear a belly binder after my second pregnancy and I regret it now because my tummy never went down without binding it. I exercised religiously, but never looked any better because I was working out wrong and not training my muscles to go back where they're supposed to be.

3 months postpartum, with no belly binding.

I wore my Squeem belly binder every day for 3 months, and only took it off to shower and sleep.  It held my stomach muscles in place when I worked out, and after I got used to it, I hardly even noticed wearing it. Every day, I would continue using my Palmers' products, sugar scrub and Olay age defying body wash.  I think the tummy butter and the skin tightening butter really made all the difference.  Here are some postpartum photos while belly binding and doing the diastasis recti exercises:

 

I'm sorry these aren't the greatest photos. I took them for personal use as encouragement if I thought I wasn't making any progress, but clearly from the photos the things that I did worked.  I still had a little bit of loose skin when I got pregnant this time around, but I suspect that would have gone away with a little more time.  I came across these web sites that have more info in diastasis recti one of which has some great exercises for preventing one or keeping yours from getting worse:

www.befitmom.com/diastastis-recti.html

www.thisreadingmom.com/?p=66
 

I will try out these new exercises during this pregnancy and see if it makes an even bigger difference.  I was able to close my diastasis recti before getting pregnant again, and I feel that my pelvic floor has regained a lot of its strength, so I would like to do all I can to make sure I don't reverse my hard work too much.  Hopefully all of this nausea and dizziness subsides soon so I can get back on a good fitness plan.

I am not a doctor or a personal trainer so my results may not be the same for everyone.  Before beginning any fitness program you should always talk to your doctor and make sure the exercises are safe for you.

 

Until next time,

Trad Cat Mama