To think it’s physically impossible for some women to regain their pre-pregnancy shape?

[HarryHarry]

Did your shape change permanently after pregnancy? I used to be a UK size 10. After I had my baby I lost all the weight (about 30 pounds) quickly but found that I was struggling to fit into some UK size 12 jeans/trousers. I don’t think I am carrying any extra fat - it’s as if my hip bones themselves have expanded. Is that even possible? Is there anything I can do to be thin again? Or am I stuck like this forever? Give me some hope please! I hate dwelling on “trivial” stuff like this when I should just be grateful for my beautiful, healthy baby, but it’s really getting me down. I feel so old and frumpy and I never thought that would happen to me.

When you have had children you usually do look different - you look like someone who has had a child - you look like a mother.

I don't see a problem with that unless you are seriously and unhealthily fat.

My feet went up half a size after my twins. Gutted!

At first it was just lifestyle keeping the weight on, and I was eating more than before I had kids. I could no longer do strenuous exercise 4/5 times a week (though I had a good go at keeping it up), not could I go out dancing for hours at a time.

Now I'm in my 40s and was diagnosed with endometriosis after DD2, there is definitely something hormonal going on and my metabolism is much slower, I can't get away with eating more than an average of about 1600 calories a day regularly without gaining weight, I go to the gym three times week, walk the dog and do yoga, and walk about 4 miles a day. I'm not unfit but find it hard to get below BMI 27 whereas before having kids I was BMI 20 - 23.

It might be worth getting your thyroid checked floribunda could be slightly under can occur during pregnancy.

My breasts aren’t as good as before (but have sprung back quite a bit) and the skin on my belly Ida little loose. Otherwise all is as before. Mind you I don’t do any exercise at all. With a bit of work I could probably return my bellly to morale

@Mishappening mothers look different?

I did. Twice.

But if the pregnancies dont wreck you and the booze and the chips dont get you, ageing will!!

It might be worth getting your thyroid checked floribunda could be slightly under can occur during pregnancy.

Thank you. Yes, I must do at some point, as it is something of a family thing (low thyroid). Though in practice it will just mean years and years of levothyroxine, which has other side effects I'd quite like to avoid!

My blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol are "perfect" though so at least that's something.

Women used to wear girdles and such things after they'd had a baby and that used to help to bring the ribs and pelvis back to pre pregnancy size. No one really does that now unless they're into waist training, probably wisely. I'd rather be a couple of inches wider round the hips and torso than have to wear constricting foundation garments.

Im extremely shocked that my body is exactly the same after pregnancy. (Exept some extra stretch marks on my hips, bum, legs & boobs) im 7 months pp.

Thing is RisingSun I am shaped like a teenage boy🙈 aka apple shape
Actually the Kelly Brook shape is very much in fashion at the moment and if I were curvier I’d not mind carrying extra weight (KB carries it well). I do not carry it at all well.
For me it is teenage boy or the “Terrys chocolate orange on two toothpicks” look
All excess weight goes to my stomach - it’s so unsightly and unhealthy I point blank refuse to tolerate it!
I thought having a baby might give me some hips. I actually have fewer curves now, not that I ever had any really!

My hips were ok (I'm big anyway, didn't notice a difference). But my feet! I was already a 10 pre pregnancy and after I'd had them all (3) I had size 11's! 15 years on from youngest being born I'm still an 11. Basically I live in men's trainers and Converse. If I want anything fancier it's big £££ And/or "specialist" websites for men that I don't like to think about. So yes, pregnancy has permanently affected my body shape!

feelingverylazytoday Chinese binding after birth is going mainstream and getting popular among younger women (there are youtube videos on it) and frankly I wish to fuck I had worn a corset or did some binding after my 2. It makes sense from a clinical point of view. Loads of women get hernias after child birth or diastasis recti and that can be very mentally distressing when its severe. I wouldn't hesitate to tell my daughter to do it for a few months knowing what I know now.

I may actually go and buy a corset from What Katy Did and see if it helps a little.

Oh siameasy I'm not trying to put anyone down!
It just makes me annoyed that we are made to feel that we are not perfect as we are.
Young, old, fat, skinny, big feet, small feet - we all look different and will change at different points in our life, it's really ok. We are worth more than what we look like on the outside.
Your babies love you just as you are I promise.
That is all xxx

Belly binding can be really dangerous. Mad that this kind of thing is starting to get popular in the west at a time when it is getting less popular in Asia.

I have an appointment on the 24th for a specialised physio. The tummy thing is called abdominal diastasia, and no, classical exercise will do eff all to shift it.

Yeah I look like actual shit now!

My tummy muscles split down the centre during pregnancy but they never knit up again. Partly because of this I now suffer from chronic severe back pain, as my core muscles are shot. I've been told the only solution is surgery, which I can't afford.

Chinese binding after birth is going mainstream and getting popular among younger women

Seriously? How can that be good for you?

I was back to pre-pregnancy weight the day after having DC2 (morning sickness helped!). I actually took up running and ran a marathon the year after and was the slimmest and fittest I’d ever been, still couldn’t fit into some pre-preg dresses though. My rib cage is bigger now! 🤷‍♀️

Yes my hips have got broader each time. I had no bum and narrow hips before, now I'm more of an hourglass. Only with a flabby belly. My boobs are completely different in every way following breastfeeding. I used to have the figure of a barbie doll all boobs and skinny otherwise. I doubt I'll ever look like that again. And I'm fine with that.

Prawn, have you tried Pilates? I'm not saying it's guaranteed, but I had severe DR and was told during pregnancy I'd most likely need surgery, however after doing weekly post-natal Pilates for a few months it almost completely healed. It has also done wonders for a chronic lower back issue which I had been having physio for (and the exercises from the physio was basically dumbed down Pilates).

I'm no medic but I'm highly sceptical about the supposed benefits of binding. I have a history degree and remember looking at images of Victorian women whose bodies had become malformed through wearing corsetry. Therefore the thought of Chinese binding and similar is horrendous to me. The prospect of wearing a restricting item after a c-section makes me shudder. It was six months after my section before certain parts of my stomach stopped being hyper-sensitive and I couldn't wear firm waistbands. I can't imagine putting myself through that just to conform to an unhealthy ideal of a woman with a tiny waist.

A size 10 isn’t slim? Really? Way to make women feel shit about themselves.

I have bigger boobs, bigger hips and my ribs stick out. I also have a tummy that no amount of going to the gym will get rid of. I hate my stomach. I’m about half a stone bigger than I was pre children, and a completely different shape now.

I had to go up a size in shoes every time I had a baby, so three times. And my c-section overhang is terrible, really awful. Doesn’t matter how much weight I lose or how much I try to tone up, it just doesn’t improve. I was a size 8 last summer and it was still just as bad as ever. My boobs used to be fantastic too, now they’re saggy as hell. So all in all, I’m a wreck