How to Flatten Your Tummy After Pregnancy

If you’ve had children and you’re having a hard time getting rid of your “Mommy Belly” there’s a good chance that your abdominals have forgotten how to function properly, causing them to distend.  But don’t worry!  I have some secrets to share with you on how to get your tummy back to pre-pregnancy shape! 

And even if you’ve never had children, if you plan to, I suggest that you read this because you’ll get some tips on how to prevent the dreaded Mommy Belly.

Your abdominals go through a lengthening process when you’re pregnant.  As your baby grows, there’s an increased stretch placed on your abdominal wall from the inside, which causes your body to add “sarcomeres” or functional units to your ab muscles to make them longer.

Normally, after you’ve given birth to your baby, the stretch force reduces and the sarcomeres reduce in number, allowing your abdominals to rebound to their pre-pregnancy state. 

But, unfortunately, this is not the case for many women.  There are three big factors that can prevent your abs from bouncing back:

1. Getting pregnant again to soon.

2. Gaining excess weight during pregnancy.

3. Having a cesarean section. 

Or all of the above, which is a triple whammy! 

When you become pregnant again before your body has had a chance to fully restore itself, with each child, you increase the chances that your body won’t remember what ”normal” should feel like.  Often times women who have had more than two children in a two-year period or less have a higher incidence of abdominal wall dysfunction (How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy, Paul Chek.)

Gaining excess weight during pregnancy is very common and very unnecessary.  Unfortunately, many women see pregnancy as an opportunity to eat anything and everything, but this is not healthy for you or your baby.  Your abdominals don't know the difference between the stretch force from your growing baby or the stretch force from the excess fat you’re putting on from eating poorly.  Both of these scenarios will cause your abdominals to stretch, keeping them lengthened and resulting in a flabby tummy and increasing your changes of back pain.

C-sections can also lead to some problems in addition to a distended belly.  When a doctor performs a C-section, her or she cuts through the three layers making up your abdominal wall, thereby wounding them.  When your abdominals are stitched back together, scarring and adhesions occur. 

When you have scarring and adhesions, your muscle fibers and individual layers of muscles lose their ability to slide across each other naturally.  The pain resulting causes your abdominal muscles to weaken. To avoid the pain, your body learns to avoid contracting your abs, which results in defective muscle recruitment. 

When your abdominals stop functioning properly, this directly destabilizes your back and indirectly destabilizes your whole body.  So when your abs don’t work properly, you’re basically increasing the changes of hurting your back and sustaining injury in other parts of your body like your knees, ankles, hips, shoulders and neck.  Remember, everything’s connected and ALL movement emanates from your core!

Three Ways to Restore Your Abdominal Muscles

Here are three simple action steps that you can take to get your abdominals back to a normal length and functioning efficiently:

1. Eat clean foods and meals that are balanced for your metabolic needs.
2. Drink about 50% of your body weight in ounces of water per day and limit your intake of other beverages.
3. Test your core and perform corrective core exercises.

Below is a video to show you how to perform two simple core tests and some exercises that you can do to get your core back and your tummy flat!

If after following these three steps for a month you see no improvement, email me for a complimentary consultation.  Melissa@FriendYourBody.com.

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To getting your tummy back,

Melissa Koerner