How to lose that mummy tummy...
Your body is such an amazing thing, negotiating its way through pregnancy, labor and finally birth – but many women despair of their shape after they’ve had a baby.
Certainly during the first few months after you’ve had your baby you may feel that your body is out of your control as you adjust to life with a newborn, the days passing in a milky fog. So, is it possible to get your old body back? Yes and no…
It’s entirely possible to get control of your body again and to find real happiness with your shape. Most moms feel a newfound respect for their body for what it has achieved – a feat far greater than running any marathon. But with this respect comes an understanding that bodies do change, that your breasts might not be quite the same after nursing; or that because your pelvis widens (thankfully!) to deliver your baby, your hips might appear just a little wider. But it’s not all bad. Slightly wider hips just make your waist look smaller and a good bra can work wonders!
Reality check
There’s no magic wand to making the best of your body whether you’re pre- or post-baby. The fitness world is always buzzing with one craze or another but really it’s simple – to get fit and to ensure you’re at a healthy weight you really need to sweat a little and try not to take in more calories than you can burn off. Anything that promises you a better body or a flatter stomach while you nestle into the sofa among the cookie crumbs is almost certainly going to disappoint and will only have a shrinking effect on your bank balance.
The celebrity yummy mommy
The pressure on new moms at the moment is just huge. It can feel as if you’re expected to make the biggest adjustment in your life, juggling the roles of domestic goddess-sex-kitten-earth-mother without ever breaking a sweat. On top of that, the media is jammed full of celebrities complete with ripped abs, who are back on the catwalk or red carpet just a couple of weeks after giving birth. Repeat after us: this is just not normal?! Don’t be fooled – it takes an army of stylists, hairdressers, make-up artists and some very serious underwear to look like that. Gwyneth Paltrow famously revealed her secret weapon when interviewed on the red carpet a few weeks after giving birth: she was wearing not one but two sets of the most heavily structured underwear that money can buy – the sort that goes from knee to bra line and looks like it could be worn for scuba diving. Good for her (if you can get help – take it!). It takes nine months for the body to expand to accommodate your baby and it takes time for the skin to regain some elasticity and return to normal. A bit of wobble is quite to be expected and nothing to be ashamed of.
So – how to tackle the mommy tummy?
With a baby in tow, it can seem impossible to find a time or a way to exercise. Our first advice to any new mom is to walk, walk and then walk some more. We’re not talking just a stroll here, but walking the way that your body is designed to. This means upright posture so you have to use your tummy muscles, and at a pace where you can just about discuss controlled crying vs attachment parenting. But only just.
Walking is a brilliant way to burn fat and to rediscover your muscles, without putting any undue strain on ligaments which are still softened by the hormones of pregnancy. It has the added bonus of helping most babies get off to sleep, it’s free and you don’t need any special equipment. It might seem like old-fashioned advice, but fresh air and a little scenery can work wonders to help ride the hormone-fueled rollercoaster of the first few weeks and months of motherhood.
When you’re pushing the stroller, you can’t swing your arms as you walk, so you’ve really got to concentrate on using your abdominals. Concentrate on drawing your belly button in towards your spine and try to keep your hips directly facing the stroller as you walk. In this way you’re activating your abdominals and using them to stop your hips rocking and rolling while you walk.
Do your Kegel exercises daily whether you think you need to or not. Your pelvic floor incorporates some of the deepest abdominal muscles and a strong internal muscle structure will help you enormously.
At every opportunity, try and reawaken your abdominals by bringing your belly button in towards your spine. With a new baby you often seem to kneel on all fours either to change a particularly special diaper or to coo at your new bundle of joy. When you lean forward, you’ll often feel the effects of gravity on your mommy tummy as it wobbles beneath you. This is a good time to work your deep and low abdominals (especially the transverse abdominus). Try and really draw your tummy button upwards towards your spine while you’re leaning forward, without rounding your back, and you’ll immediately feel the effect it has on flattening your stomach.
Although it sometimes feels that you can’t lie down without immediately falling asleep, you should try and do pelvic tilts every day. Lie down on to your back with your knees bent. Try and relax so that your spine is in a neutral, ‘normal’ position (with a small space under the small of your back). Scoop your tummy in towards your spine, breathe out and tilt your pelvis up so the small of your back meets the floor. Hold, relax and repeat – probably until you do actually fall asleep!
Pregnancy can cause your abdominal muscles to separate. This is not quite as scary as it sounds and is quite normal. However, you want to make sure that things are getting back to normal before embarking on anything too strenuous. Your physician can check the separation, but it’s quite easy to do yourself. Lie on your back, put your fingers just above your belly button and use those tummy muscles to lift your head, neck and shoulders just off the floor. You’ll feel the muscles squeeze together around your fingers. However, if you can feel a gap of more than about three fingers between the left and right hand sides of your abdominals, you should stick to working your transverse abdominus, doing your Kegel exercises and pelvic tilts.
Don’t be tempted into doing endless crunches and sit-ups – they won’t help. Carrying and feeding a baby can emphasize rounded shoulders and too many crunches only makes this worse. Most people do them all wrong anyway and are wasting their time. ?A simple abdominal exercise to begin with is to lie on to your back, knees bent. Place your hands on your tummy and concentrate on pulling that tummy button towards your spine. Raise your head, neck and shoulders just off the floor while trying to ensure you maintain the tummy-button-to-spine position. Hold and then slowly return to the start position. Breathe steadily and keep control throughout the whole movement. You’ll be surprised at how tiring this is when it’s done properly.
Postpartum fitness classes provide a great opportunity to learn some of the techniques to regain your abdominal strength. Many classes allow you to take your baby with you and it’s always a great way to meet other people who’re in exactly the same boat. Pilates can work wonders for posture and abdominal strength but you should remember you still need to do something that works up a bit of a sweat and gets you puffed in order to burn some fat and improve your fitness. Stroller workouts in the great outdoors are great for this – log onto www.strollerfit.com to find a class near you.
Eating for two
Post birth isn’t a good time to start a crazy diet. You need strength to look after a new baby and a lack of food will only make everything seem much harder. It’s quite simple really – eat good honest food, as little junk as you can. Always eat breakfast, eat at least five portions of fruit and veg a day, drink plenty of water and remember that cookies, chocolate, chips and cake are stuffed full of calories. See healthy diet for a new mom for more help.
Breastfeeding can be a great reality check about what to put in your body – after all you don’t want to put in junk if it’s being passed straight on to your baby. Try and get wise to what food labels really mean – understanding how to recognize hidden sugars and fats and remembering that ingredients are always listed in order of the quantity contained in the food, so the first on the list makes up the biggest proportion of that food.
Keep your energy levels up with slow-release low-fat foods. If you’re hungry, try and eat some proper food rather than reaching for the instant hit of a sugary snack. As a small but important change, eat only whole grain bread instead of white bread. White bread gives you the kind of quick sugar high that’s followed by a slump in energy levels, just like candy. A slump in energy levels is almost always accompanied by change in your mood, not usually for the better – the last thing you need when you’re adjusting to life as a new mom.
If you’re breastfeeding you do need to take on board extra calories, but this doesn’t automatically mean a large slice of cake (although sometimes it’s just what the doctor ordered!). Breastfeeding can use up to 500 extra calories per day. This sounds like a lot until you think that some fruit juice drinks can contain around 250 calories per glass.
Finally...Don’t be downhearted about your post-baby body. You’ve achieved something really amazing and done something physically wearing. Getting your body into the kind of shape you want will require you to sweat a little, but it’ll be nothing in comparison to what you’ve already done.
The information in this feature is intended for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your health, the health of your child or the health of someone you know, please consult with a doctor or other healthcare professional
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Last Modified: 07/01/2008