Ok, so you’ve gone through your pregnancy, had your wonderful baby (or two or three, in our case – four), you have more or less gotten through the fourth trimester, and now you are looking at your midsection, wondering, how can I get rid of my postpartum pregnancy belly.
Loosing the postpartum pregnancy belly
Here’s what has consistently worked for me:
- Close the diastasis recti gap before any exercise.
- Regular Core exercise from Les Mills
- Wear jeans at home.
- Wear a belly wrap.
- Use a coffee scrub.
- Use a massager.
- Dry brush for lymphatic drainage.
- 15-second cold shower after a hot shower.
- Don’t eat sugar and drink lots of water.
Getting rid of your postpartum pregnancy belly can take a while. Patience and consistency are key.
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If you are still breastfeeding, don’t expect any miracles. Our bodies are designed to hold onto belly fat while breastfeeding. Actually, for many breastfeeding moms, weight gain can come when we start breastfeeding. Unfortunately, this was my case as well. I didn’t gain much weight during pregnancy, but I did during the long breastfeeding period after.
However, getting the muscles under the belly fat strong and conditioned is important, even if you don’t see much results while you’re breastfeeding.
Close the diastastii rectii gap before you start doing any crunches.
This is super important. It’s something that isn’t talked much about, and you certainly don’t hear much about it when you are a first-time mom. Diastastii rectii is when you have a gap between your stomach muscles, as they separate during pregnancy, especially in the last trimester when your baby grows big.
You must have no more than 1 finger separation before starting any serious training. Watch the video below to see if you have it.
If you don’t close that gap first, you risk making things much worse. Closing the gap can be done with simple exercises that take less than 20 minutes a day. The exercises are so simple that you may not feel like you are doing anything important.
Watch the video below for simple exercises to fix your diastasis recti
C-section recovery and weight loss
Obviously, if you’ve had a C-section, recovery may take you way longer. You have a healing cut to take care of, in addition to maybe also diastastii rectii and belly fat. I’ve had one C-section and three V-BACs. I strongly recommend walking to speed healing after surgery.
Now, obviously, you won’t be able to walk much in the first month or so, nor will you be able to climb stairs. Small incremental steps to increase movement throughout the day are important for building stamina and speeding up recovery.
Making your core strong
The core is your midsection, including all your stomach muscles and back muscles. It’s so important to rebuild the strength lost in all your core muscles. Let’s just say that a weak core can cause you to have lower back pain, weak pelvic muscles, incontinence, and even organ prolapse.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve met and heard of six women who had huge complications from having weak pelvic floor muscles. Complications leading to hysterectomy (removal of the uterus), organ prolapse, and a whole bunch of other medical terms I can’t name. Most of them were in their late 50s and 60s.
Your core may be fine now, but could degrade later
The women I met were fine in the years after their births, but because they didn’t take steps to strengthen their muscles, they slowly became weaker and weaker over time.
This is why it’s important, once you become a mother, to accept that you may need to make exercise a regular part of your routine. There isn’t a way around it, unfortunately, to my knowledge. Personally, I wouldn’t take the gamble, not after four births.
Accept that you need regular exercise
For women unaccustomed to exercise, this may be tough. But the truth is, without exercise, those muscles that are now a little bit weak will only grow weaker. They don’t magically get stronger when unused.
Resistance training is your friend
In other words, things like using weights and resistance bands. If you are 30 or younger, you may be able to get around while still losing weight by doing cardio. However, after 30, and especially after 35, women’s bodies change. We lose muscle mass and bone density, and it’s harder to maintain muscle. What that means is you can become weaker faster.
You actually need to train with weights and resistance bands just to maintain your body’s strength.
Dealing with lower back pain
This one hits home for me. After my third birth, I had severe lower back pain. I was afraid to get back into exercising because my second and third pregnancies were very close together, and I didn’t properly recover after my second pregnancy. My third baby was a big one, over 9 lbs (4 kg), and it left a big diastastii rectii gap to repair. I wasn’t quite sure when the gap was closed, so I didn’t get back to any kind of exercise.
Long story short, my lower back pain got so bad that I was often taking painkillers just for the pain and to help me get through the day. My balance got so bad that I even fell off a ladder.
A friend of mine told me that I must have a weak core. I didn’t know what that was. I was told I need to do core exercises. That’s when I started doing the Core exercises from Les Mills, and I can’t recommend them enough.
Best budget exercises for core strength
I strongly recommend the Core exercises from Less Mills on Demand. Their Base subscription is very affordable, and it covers a three exercise routines from their many programs, which is fine to start with. For postpartum recovery, I only recommend the Core exercises. They integrate lower back, balance, anti-slouching, stomach, and pelvic floor muscles in the same exercise routine. It can be done in 30 or 45 minutes, as they offer the same exercise routine in both time frames, so you can choose whichever works best for you. Currently, I do the 30-minute classes three times a week.
All you need, equipment-wise, to get you started with Less Mills Core exercises, is a mat, a set of dumbbells (either 7lb or 10lb, but 5lb would be fine as well), and a set of resistance bands.
Wear jeans at home
If you are a SAHM, or a homeschooling mom, or a mom working from home, it can be very easy to get used to wearing sweatpants or pajamas at home.
Don’t do it.
You adapt to your clothes. Baggy pants encourage weight gain.
Have you noticed how when you wear tighter clothes, you are not as hungry?
I’m not saying to get into the tight jeans you wore back in high school, or jeans so tight you can’t sit in them or button them. Not even the ones that you need to lie down on the bed to close the button.
Just a normal, slightly stretchy pair of jeans that are not too low-wasted or high-wasted.
The point is to feel some restraint while still moving, squatting, or sitting easily.
Wear a postpartum belly wrap
I know there are trainers out there who say don’t do that, because it’s teaching your muscles to be lazy, and that you should use your own muscles to support your belly. Yeah, right, those trainers are usually men and haven’t dealt with what we are dealing with here.
Belly wraps help, but only if you actively engage your core and don’t rely on them alone.
I have used this pregnancy band as a post-pregnancy band as well, and it works very well.
Apply coffee scrub between exercise and shower
A homemade coffee scrub is great for bringing circulation to that problem area. Here’s a recipe on how you can make your own budget-friendly coffee scrub. It’s easy and very cost-effective, and what’s even better is that it works great for cellulite.
Now, bear in mind that it can make a huge mess in the shower, and you should use a drain strainer to avoid plumbing problems later.
If you use a septic system, use an extra-fine drain strainer to catch coffee grounds before they enter your septic tank. A repurposed strainer from a broken Ikea coffee press works well as an addition to your drain strainer to catch the smaller coffee grains.
Coffee is also skin-tightening, so if you are patient and consistent, you will notice your belly skin tightening.
Use an electric massager
I love this massager. I think it also works very well for lymphatic drainage. Honestly, it won’t do much for weight loss unless paired with exercise. Together, though, they can deliver results much faster than exercise alone. The one in the link below is an upgraded version of the one I have. The one I have been using is no longer available, probably due to the massage attachment falling off every once in a while (which is fine with a piece of tape).
Cupping
I’ve tried this method, and it does increase circulation to the belly and to any area you use it. I’ve read a lot of women use cupping successfully to get rid of cellulite on their thighs. However, I found the sensation very bizarre and uncomfortable. I don’t think cupping would work for anyone with a tendency toward varicose veins, because you can bruise way more easily, and well, it just feels very weird.
If you think it’s worth a try, these are the silicone, good-quality ones I got.
Red light massager
The one I have been using is no longer available for purchase as it’s an older model. I do think it works if used once a week or once every two weeks especially when combined with exercise.
The only reason I tried that is that I saw they use a similar machine in procedure salons and charge $500+ for a few sessions. It must be used with ultrasound cream, or you’ll get a red-light sensation. When combined with exercise, it works very well to reduce unwanted fat and cellulite.
Dry brushing for lymphatic drainage
I met an older French woman with glowing skin. She said her secret is dry brushing. I hadn’t heard of it before.
You need a natural-bristle brush. Before bed or in the morning, brush your skin with it, moving from the outer areas toward your heart.
After a hot shower, turn the water cold for 15 seconds. I don’t mean just cool—make it cold. The kind of cold that almost makes your heart stop. I can’t explain what it does, but it feels really good and healthy.
Don’t stay in cold water longer than 15 seconds, or if your shower is already cool.
Don’t eat processed sugar and drink lots of water.
This is a pretty logical one, but I’ve been surprised by how many women I’ve met who are complaining they aren’t losing weight while eating sweets.
So yes, sugar, especially processed sugar, isn’t good for you. Don’t eat it.
In closing
It can be hard to add physical training into your routine, especially after children. Check out our Habit Tracker and Weight Loss Tracker to help you establish a healthy routine.
I wish you every success with your postpartum pregnancy belly recovery.
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