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AIBU?

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Original poster

To ask how long it took to get your figure back after having a baby?

182 replies

SilkObsidian · 09/03/2016 10:58

And if it took longer the second time?

After DC1 my body went back to normal within 24hours of giving birth (flat tummy, no stretchmarks or saggy skin) and I wore non-maternity clothes home from hospital. I'm 32.

Everyone says the second time is different!

OP posts:
19909ninty · 10/03/2016 08:38

You lose muscle tone with age it's as simple as that everyone does.

rainbowontheway · 10/03/2016 08:44

I think a lot of it is genetic. I don't have a single stretch mark and thought I'd get off lightly! The rest of me was back to pre-baby shape a couple of months later but my belly didn't go flat and I was later found to have diastasis recti. I have no excess skin, but my tummy bloats something awful and always protrudes. If I contract my TVA muscles, it goes flat again, so it's clearly diastatis recti and not fat. It's also a known fact that when BFing you harbour far stores despite the bumph that BFing makes the weight fall off, and having being sleep deprived makes us crave carbs a sugars, which doesn't help either. But I could diet and work out as much as I like and my tummy still looks pregnant! In fact, diastatis recti tummy is MORE noticeable when the rest of you is in good shape. I have a short torso which I think doesn't help as I notice taller women seem to ping back more easily - I guess baby has more space to spread vertically? And I was 34 when I had my first child so maybe age is also a factor. I'd trade my diastasis for stretch marks any day though. The latter you can hide with clothes, even swimwear!

rainbowontheway · 10/03/2016 08:47

Buckin yes, having good ab tone pre-pregnancy seems to make diastatis recti worse. And many women exacerbate things by doing the wrong kind of exercises in pregnancy and postnatally eg crunches, burpees etc.

Peachesandcream15 · 10/03/2016 08:54

I don't understand why some people here can't understand why some women put on additional weight during pregnancy. Clearly they had a good pregnancy. Lucky them.

Pre pregnancy I went to the gym 4-5 times a week plus other exercise, ate healthily.....but I had a terrible pregnancy. I ate what I could stomach, which was a lot of bland food, and I went to the gym about 3 times in 9 months. I had NO energy. None. It was all I could do to get into work and sometimes I couldn't even manage that. The lack of energy and stamina was far harder to deal with than the changes to my body.

I didn't just sit around eating cake because I wanted to.

I'm still working on getting my body back 5 months in. About a stone left. I'll get there. Cut us some slack huh?!?!

SamanthaBrique · 10/03/2016 09:03

If you've had a bad pregnancy then I can totally understand that. But I've known many who've had perfectly normal, healthy pregnancies but have said they stopped all exercise the moment they got their BFP and used pregnancy as an excuse (their words, not mine) to "eat for two". Consequently they put on several stone and despite moaning about it, make no attempt to eat healthily even now.

boscros1 · 10/03/2016 09:07

First time it took a few months, second time a few weeks, this time I'm hoping a few weeks again as I'm lighter and in better shape pre pregnancy.

suzannecaravaggio · 10/03/2016 09:11

I was pregnant in the 1980's
Before the obesity epidemic reached critical mass
That's why my body wasn't affected

19909ninty · 10/03/2016 09:14

I'm not sure what the obesity epidemic has to do with this if I'm being perfectly honest.

Fratelli · 10/03/2016 09:16

My body has totally changed shape since having ds. I carry weight differently. The worst bit is I still have massive boobs but they're lifeless! All worth it to have my boy though.

rainbowontheway · 10/03/2016 09:22

suzanne I've never been obese, or even overweight. And as I explained, in the case of diastatis recti, it's much more noticeable if you're not overweight and people are more likely to assume that you're a few months pregnant, as opposed to dealing with stretched abdominal muscles. It's worth noting that it's not just pregnancy that causes DR. Intense exercise eg cross-fit, weight lifting, can cause it too and men as well as women can get it.
In some cases, only surgery can fix it and it can be linked to prolapse, hernia etc.
Let's not assume that all women are somehow to blame for the toll that even a 'good' pregnancy can take on the body.

bialystockandbloom · 10/03/2016 09:23

I'm about the same weight now as pre-pg (dc are 6 and 8) but my shape isn't the same - waist was much smaller before. Pelvis and rib cage expand with pg for all women so that must apply to everyone to some degree, no?

gincamelbak · 10/03/2016 09:27

With #2 I stopped being able to exercise by the time I was 7 weeks pregnant. I had run a half marathon two days before it found put I was pregnant and was v fit. The problem was I got breathless just standing up. Same happened with #1.

I didn't over eat but put on about 20kg with #2. It was mostly water. I left hospital 5kg over pre pregnancy weight. But it took a good month for my uterus to properly contract. So no snap back here.

It's only in the last few months I've been able to exercise regularly that I've lost the last 5kg. #2 is 1. I'm fine with that.

With #1 it took about the same. But I was larger pre #1 than i was pre #2.

phoenix1973 · 10/03/2016 09:28

I had my first and only aged 33.
My boobs are ruined. I didn't breastfeed. I still hate them nearly 10 years on and have never got used to them. Used to be B cup, now floppy, empty, DD cups. I'm not a big boobed personality, and NO tops look good with these whoppers.
I got an umbilical hernia, which the doctors won't fix as "not priority". So my stomach still has the pregnant profile. From the front I have a waist,but from the side I look about 3/4 months pregnant.
I was a size 14 before p/g and am a size 14 now, but with loads more junk on my torso than before.
So in answer to your question, I never got my pre-baby body back. She will be 10 in September.

Whathaveilost · 10/03/2016 09:29

With DS1 it took 5 weeks with bloody hard work. Eg an hour in the gym 5 days a week and 50 length swim and walked everywhere with him in the pram. However he was a summer baby and it was nice and warm

DS 2 took about 10 weeks as it was inter and really miserable so I didn't go walking as much.

In fact I was in better shape then and also the day before I gave birth than I am now!

Libitina · 10/03/2016 09:30

22 years and counting Sad

suzannecaravaggio · 10/03/2016 10:16

men as well as women can get it
I notice a lot of men with very distended abdomens and I have wondered if there is some separation of abdominal muscle involved

SamanthaBrique · 10/03/2016 10:18

I don't know about that but with a lot of men I see I'm guessing there's some gluttony involved!

Ludways · 10/03/2016 10:23

Never. I was an international athlete in my teens and twenties, had a baby at 34 and 38, there's no way I could continue the 6 hours a day training and constant monitoring of my nutrition intake, nor did I want too. I'm 48 now, my boobs barely move when j take my bra off but my tummy jiggles. I'm fine with that. I could do with losing a stone, which I'm currently working on.

suzannecaravaggio · 10/03/2016 10:24

I think its also hormonal, androgens mean that fat is more likely to be stored in the midsection, visceral fat has a detrimental effect on all bodily processes and makes you more prone to visceral fat storage... Its a positive feedback loop which becomes increasingly difficult to reverse as it gains momentum

suzannecaravaggio · 10/03/2016 10:28

Phew! 6 hours is a lot ludways
May I ask what discipline you competed in?

rainbowontheway · 10/03/2016 10:48

suzanne I agree on the hormonal dimension.

More on diastasis recti here:

mutusystem.com/mutu-system-blog/diastasis-recti-test-what-works-and-what-to-avoid

www.webmd.com/baby/guide/abdominal-separation-diastasis-recti

DR is widely undiagnosed and I would bet that a significant percentage of women who think they're just struggling to shift baby weight have it without knowing.

Runningupthathill82 · 10/03/2016 11:12

I have diastadis recti. Pre-pregnancy I was very fit and had very defined abs. Apparently it's much more common in fit women with good ab muscles and low body fat.
Certainly doesn't make it easier to get my figure back.

KeyserSophie · 10/03/2016 11:19

My friend also has it. Naturally lean and slight frame (although can't comment on her abs). Three big babies and she has a massive separation plus her ribcage has also expanded. She has lost all her baby weight but she's just a totally different shape to before

Jibberjabberjooo · 10/03/2016 11:50

My muscles haven't quite closed either and I have a saggy belly. People often think I'm still pregnant (I think being small doesn't help), I find it all quite hurtful.

boscros1 · 10/03/2016 13:08

I had DS in two previous pregnancies and waiting for it to happen in this one. I have always had a '2 pack' naturally and thats where the split was. I was able to repair it within a few months both times with Pilates and some physio input. Achieved a 6 pack after baby 2, so a toned tummy is not something you have to wave goodbye to after. You just need the right advice and exercises.

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