Moms with mombod - did you ever get back in shape?
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Anonymous
Its the calories-not the sugar, gluten or dairy. You can eat 1800 calories of pure crap a day (which is not much food) or you can eat 1800 calories or low cal/high protein and still lose weight. The key to losing weight is being in a calorie deficit. Period. Add in heavy weight training to reshape your body and you are done. |
Anonymous
| I really, really recommend a program like MuTu (there are other similar ones, the names are slipping my mind). It truly changed my abs post pregnancy - I didn't do it until a couple years after my last baby was born, and I had been doing boot camps, heavy lifting, and traditional ab exercises that were making the issue worse. The skin on my stomach is not going to be the same without surgery, but my abs and waistline look nearly the same as they did prepregnancy now. Plus my posture looks better. |
Anonymous
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I am confused by the question. If OP is working out as she says she is, then she is in "good shape" -- fit, good endurance, strength, etc.
So it seems like the real question isn't one of diet or overall exercise but really a question of people's experience with the belly issue. Obviously after multiple full term pregnancies, your belly is going to look different and take time to recover. I'm 3 years post from my last kid, and my tummy looks pretty okay. If I'm standing up, it lays flat and I can wear pre-pregnancy pants and they look about the same. But in a bikini, if I don't have perfect posture, you can see the sag. Same if I'm in a plank position -- it doesn't matter how engaged my abs are. At this point, it's mostly a skin issue, and I think at 40+ I have to accept that the elasticity of my skin has relaxed enough that I'm never getting rid of the sag with a surgical intervention. At the same time, it only bothers me very occasionally, so my incentive to have an expensive cosmetic surgical procedure is low. I've always preferred one-piece or higher waist bathing suits because I'm super active at the pool/beach and feel more together in them. And I know my DH isn't remotely bothered by it. So yes, I guess on some level I have just accepted it. But I don't think it's a "mombod" issue -- my body is in great shape and no one looking at me in clothes or even walking around with decent posture would think I was struggling to lose baby weight or even struggling with my body at all. But I guess if it's bugging you, try barre? I really enjoy it and I think the ab isolation exercises are really good getting at those lower abdominal muscles that people often neglect. |
Anonymous
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IF has been the only thing thats worked for me in toning my midsection. I still have a slight pooch from the loose skin but you mainly only see it when I bend over. Standing I actually have abs now.
It's not for everyone but if you don't like dieting, its worth a shot. |
Anonymous
How are you 5'4 and 113 (BMI on the border of underweight) and "packing a round gut"? How is this physically even possible? Are your arms amputated or something? |
Anonymous
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Of course. It just took time and effort. And, at least for me, there was a gap between “losing the baby weight” and truly being back in shape. Lost the baby weight 9 months baby #1, 12 months baby #2. But it took another 6 months or so to really get back in shape. Diet and exercise were important.
I still have loose skin below my belly button and a c section scar. It doesn’t bother me. Besides that my abs look good. Honestly, the parts that do somewhat bother me- thighs and bat wings- I’d probably be dealing with with or without kids. Gives me something to keep striving for. |
Anonymous
| For a while, yeah. But it took a lot of effort - heavy restrictions on sugar and calories, lots of running/biking, strength training. I'm 5'8" and managed to get back down to my pre-baby weight of 135 when my youngest was around 2 or 3. Held it for a year or two. Then it crept up to 140 for a year or two, then 145. DC is now 10 and I'm hovering in the high 140s. Not my best body ever, but not terrible for a mid-40s mom during COVID, and I'm reasonably happy with my balance of eating / working out and enjoying life. |
Anonymous
Can you explain what you do? 16:8? I started doing it but then read a lot about how IF is actually bad for women and makes insulin resistance worse and is bad for autophagy. Whereas for men it's like a miracle cure. Any links or info greatly appreciated. |
Anonymous
I'm 5'7" and 120 and have a belly. I am thinned boned. It's not as skinny as you think. I also have a butt and thighs. |
Anonymous
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I did with daily peloton and very restrictive eating. Basically vegan keto/IF.
What I thought was diastasis turned out to just be baby weight that I could sweat and starve away. Not sure why the size of your babies was relevant, tbh. |
Anonymous
 Women with bigger babies usually wind up with bigger bellies which can impact the abdominal core more. Also,the bigger your belly the more skin sag you get, especially if you are older when you have them. All of this is pretty straightforward.
Also, everyone is talking about several different issues as though they are the same issue. Diastasis is a separation of abdominal muscles and usually results in a pooch. If you have diastasic and don't correct it via physical therapy or focused abdominal work, you will still have a belly even if you lose all the baby weight. Skin sag comes from the stretched skin over your pregnant belly and women recover from this to varying degrees. Abdominal core work can help a bit but it's mostly a cosmetic issue and can only be "fixed" with a tummy tuck. Weight loss actually makes skin sag worse -- women who lose baby weight quickly can wind up with very pronounced skin sag. Weight gain is obviously not the only impact of pregnancy on your body. Extra weight around the midsection. Which happens to a lot of people in midlife and can be exacerbated or brought on my pregnancy. It's very common for women who have multiple kids in their 30s to struggle with losing weight in their midsection, especially if their body shape tends to carry weight there. You might have one or a combination of these. There is no magic bullet. And in particular, there's no guarantee that diet and exercise will address any of them, and it is unlikely to affect skin sag at all (you might see some moderate improvement via work on the obliques and lower admirals in terms of getting a smoother appearance, but only when upright). Diet won't affect diastasis - it's a musculature issue. And diet and exercise can obviously help address extra weight, but for many women it's extra challenging because of the way their bodies want to hold weight. Plus it's normal to get thicker in the midsection as you age so you may be fighting something other than baby weight. |
Anonymous
5'4, 120, 24" waist and a thigh gap, size 0. Body composition varies a lot. |
Anonymous
| Yes, I got into better shape than before kids, except the slightly stretched out skin on the belly. Calorie deficit to lose fat and strength training to give me some shape is what got me there. As you already concluded yourself, you really need to watch what you eat. Cutting dairy, gluten and sugar is an overkill though if you don't have any sensitivities. I eat cookies, bread, yoghurt, cheese, milk etc. daily and it did not prevent me from being and looking fit. The key is keeping your total calories under control plus you should keep your protein high when dieting. Everything else is of third order importance. |
Anonymous
| Nothing I do is getting rid of the excess skin/pooch. I had two c-sections and I weigh 15 pounds less than I did with my first pregnancy. I’m eating 1200 calories a day, low carb, exercise every day, have done diastasis recti workouts, etc. it’s still there taunting me. |
Anonymous
| Lift heavy shit. Eating well enough is fine. But you’re overdoing it on cardio. It’s the opposite of everything you’re being told here. But it is also the truth. |