Lose Belly Weight After Pregnancy

Congratulations! You’ve just brought a new life into the world. Relax and enjoy the happy glow of motherhood for a while.

Once you’re ready to get back on your feet, you may start forlornly looking at your pre-pregnancy clothes and wondering how you’ll ever fit into them again. Unfortunately, the last few months of pregnancy can have a profoundly negative affect on a woman’s level of fitness. The pregnancy itself as well as the birthing process can also wreak havoc on the pelvic region.

You may notice that you now have a layer of belly fat as well as a bulge that won’t go away. These features may be from a combination of eating more calories during pregnancy, getting less exercise and the physical stress of the birthing process.

Be careful in the first few months after pregnancy. Your body has been through a lot. Give yourself plenty of time to rest and readjust to your new life with baby. After a few weeks (more if you’ve had a C-section), start with rebalancing ab exercises, which entail holding your abs tight as you balance your body in various positions. Consider doing some easy-medium level yoga exercises, while concentrating on keeping your ab muscles tight and flat.

In the beginning, you’ll also want to focus on strengthening your internal ab muscles to stabilize your pelvic floor. It won’t do any good to jump right into a routine filled with crunches. These only work the outer layer of abdominal muscles.

Instead, work the transverse abdominis muscle, or TvA, which will help flatten your abs from the inside out. The simplest TvA exercise is to suck in your stomach and hold. Think about pushing your belly button to your spine. Hold until you feel a low burn in your abs. Release and repeat. This is an exercise you can do anytime throughout the day – perfect for new mothers!

Doing the TvA exercise for a couple of weeks along with rebalancing exercises will help strengthen the internal ab muscles. Gradually reintroduce more traditional ab exercises, such as crunches, sit-ups and planks. Go slowly through the motions, concentrating on keeping your abs engaged. It’s not a race, and quality of motion is much more important than quantity.

Take your time and don’t expect results overnight. It took nine months for your baby to form inside you. It only makes sense that your body needs some time to rebound from that experience. Using the exercises described above, you should be able to flatten your abs, burn away any extra belly fat you may have picked up during your pregnancy, and, eventually, fit back into your pre-pregnancy clothes.