Has anyone gotten rid of the after pregnancy belly?
 

Hey, I am new to fitday and I just had twins a year ago. I am done breastfeeding now, so I figure it is time to really get rid of this pregnancy belly!! So has anyone on here had twins or even just a really big baby that stretched out your stomach? I was 130 before I got pregnant and I am 141 now, but I can't for the life of me tone my stomach!!

Right now I am doing 30 minutes of aerobics / cardio every day and toning 2-3 times a week. I am eating about 1700 calories a day. I would love to hear advice or success stories!

I have not achieved success on the belly front either. I have a lot of curvature to my spine, so my abs have always been an issue, but my second child really did a number on my belly. I started at 182, am now 154 and am shooting for 135-ish. I do a half hour of cardio, half hour of weight machines twice a week, plus yoga and pilates at least once a week, adding some walking in now that the weather is nicer. I am trying to increase the Pilates as well. My boy will be 2 in just a few weeks. I still don't have any definition to speak of, but I am finally just starting to notice increased muscle strength in that area. I'm afraid nothing short of surgery will fix the problem, and I just don't think I want to do that. Maybe if I make and maintain 135 and am still not happy, I'll consider it. At least I'm finally able to wear a normal shirt again, I was still wearing most of my maternity tops for the extra fabric. I think the belly just looks that much bigger if my shirt is too tight.

If anyone else has won the battle of the bulge, I'd love to hear from you too. But you definitely aren't alone!

Can't say that I've worked mine off either. I don't have twins, but I had 3 separate babies, and let me just say that all my belly elastic was gone after the first. Actually I'm one of those unfortunate ones, my stomach muscles actually split down the middle during pregnancy. After the first and second children it healed back together, but not after the 3rd. So now I have this weird belly button thing that is starting to look really bizarre now that I've lost some of the weight. So I expect I'll have to at the very least get that taken care of at some point. But I keep doing my ab sets every day, in hopes that muscle tone will pull it back together. I can do 40 full sit-ups which I follow with about 200 crunches give or take. After my youngest was born, I could not do a sit-up to save my life. It took about a year of doing crunches just to do a single sit-up. My doc said this is pretty normal for those who get the divided stomach muscle thing.

Well I am glad to hear I am not alone! I asked my stepmom about it and she looked at me like she had no idea what I was talking about. I don't think I will have surgery if it comes down to it, but I would like to get rid of it!

Lizziecritter - I know what you mean about the maternity clothes! I still wear them sometimes and I love graphic tee's because they don't stick to you like other shirts! It sounds like you are getting close to your goal, congrats!

Almeeker- I have never heard of the muscles splitting, is that really painful? Good for you for being persistent and working through it! I am sure it took a lot of work to be able to do the things you could before. I hope it comes back together for you!

During pregnancy the whole body softens, so no it was not painful, well not anymore than pregnancy is anyway. It's actually very common, I want to say 1:4 or 1:5 women have it to some degree. Most heal up in the first 3-6 months after the baby is born, but healing is harder with each pregnancy. I actually thought that once I could do sit-ups again it would be back together, but nope. I don't know that I would get surgery just to fix a flappy belly either, but the belly button thing is occasionally painful, especially now that it isn't covered with so much fat. And if I were to go under the knife for the belly button, they might as well fix the flap too. Right?

Yeah, that is a lot better reason to have it done than pure vanity! (which would be my reason:) ) Still, it might all heal up and lose the belly without surgury, I hope so for your sake! Good luck!

It's a nice thought, but my baby will be 4 the end of June and I've been doing crunches since she was about 6 weeks old. So I think the belly button issue is not going to resolve itself. I'm going to wait until I reach my goal weight and maintain for a year before I make any decisions. They say that saggy skin can continue to decrease for quite a while after you reach goal. At this point I thought my skin would be a lot saggier than it is, so to some degree it is keeping pace with the weight loss, which is great news. I feel like my weight loss has all been from the perimeter, all my appendages are thinner, even my back is thinner to some degree, but the tummy and fanny are holding on to that fat for dear life.

Truthfully, I think vanity is just as good a reason as any. If you've done everything you can do and still can't get rid of the belly and hate it, then it's okay by me to get it done. I have a friend whose breasts completely deflated after nursing her children, I mean completely to the point where she was concave. She admitted to me that she cried about it every day. So after much soul searching and discussion with her DH, she went and got them fixed. I tell you what, she's a whole new woman. It improved the quality of her life to the point where I really believe it was medicinal.

I really think I have the split muscle thing going on too, because the area around my belly button doesn't feel normal...not quite like a hernia, but it definitely ain't right. Haven't had it confirmed though, been worried about bigger health issues lately. I still don't know what caused my "episode" at work, was supposed to have MRI results in 3 days, it's been 9 :mad: <sigh>....

I'm definitely not making any decisions re: surgery until I reach and maintain my goal. IF I go under the knife, I may have something done about the chest too, because the girls definitely hang low these days. I don't really mind that, b/c a good supportive bra works wonders :p, but the texture of the skin is terrible there. I went from a barely B to spilling out of a DD in 4 months with the first one, they've now settled into a C but the stretch marks are awful. Not sure if anything can be done about that.

Lizzy are we twins? I call mine "the girls" too, but mine have been a DD since college, and the size didn't really change with pregnancy (thank the good Lord). Mine are hanging low too, and could/should be reeled back in a little. I didn't realize that as I lost weight my pants and boobs would get longer and longer.... Sing it with me now:

Do your boobs hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?

Holy cow, a bow? Are they serious? Well actually, now that I think about it - maybe...

Can you throw them over your shoulder
Like a continental soldier?
Do your boobs hang low?

:D