Postpartum body - truthful answers!

[Sammie1990]

Hi all
just for context before having my baby I was a semi professional athlete who trained 5 times a week to a very strict regime with a nutritionist also. During pregnancy I put on 4 stone (I know!). I am now 8 months PP and 4lbs heavier than my pre pregnancy weight which considering the training I was doing I’m pretty cool with (im obviously aware I’ve lost some muscle). I am back in the gym and have been since 3 weeks PP. I train hard but obviously not like I did before. My diet is okay, could be better but not terrible.

so my question is is it possible to get your stomach to be how it was before kids? I’ve always had short big legs (which I hate but needed for my sport!) with a really flat toned stomach. This meant if I was going out I’d wear wide leg trousers/jeans with a crop top and feel like I looked quite good. However my stomach doesn’t stick out now but it’s not toned looking and a bit wobbly. If I up my cardio and sort out my nutrition can I make improvements to it or is this just what PP stomachs look like? I see a lot of women online who seem to have done it but that’s the internet after all!

interested to hear people experiences

thanks

It’s hard to answer your question really. My stomach went to back to what it was, reasonably flat, at 4 months. I’m now 3 pounds lighter than my pre pregnancy weight. I’m not a semi professional athlete by any means, but I work out 5 times a week and have done for years. So compared to my base line, my stomach is very similar to what it was, but I haven’t regained all my muscle yet. I’m only 5 months pp so I can’t say whether it will ever be absolutely the same.

but look up Shauna Coxsey - ex Olympic climber. She put on loads of weight in pregnancy and got her washboard abs back quickly. She’s more comparable to you than most on this forum will be. And I agree with those saying you should probably speak to the many people you know in real life in the fitness world for better advice.

I’m surprised you haven’t seen a pelvic health physio if you’re semi professional. If fitness is such a big part of your life you should definitely spend the cash on seeing one. I saw mine during and after pregnancy and she was worth her weight in gold. I got fantastic advice on what was going on with my body and how to rehab it. Definitely do it.

This is bollocks- very far from a. Professional athlete, but my body returned to pre baby. The only difference was a slightly bigger rib cage! I could wear crop tops afterwards.

no big regime, but take it easy OP. It will take time.

Agree on Pilates

My tummy was completely flat and firm again about 9 months after birth once I'd lost the excess weight. There is no reason why it shouldn't be with diet and exercise. It only goes flabby if you put on a huge amount of weight during the pregnancy, gave multiple children and do no exercise.

Surely a “slightly bigger rib cage” IS a fairly different body to your pre-pregnancy one? Honestly this is ridiculous. I wasn’t saying women look worse post pregnancy but there are changes and pretending there aren’t is ludicrous.

For me, I think I will always have loose skin on my lower belly.
I've had 2 children. I weigh the same and my body looks the same (on the outside!). I did put on weight with each child, but lost it naturally very quickly, which is just my body type I think. I have always had a flat stomach, but you can tell I've had children.

I'm 54 now, post menopause and my skin is less elastic, but that's not something OP needs to think about yet.

I have small abs - I'm a runner and do some strength, not to gain abs, but to keep strong etc. I'm very slim and don't think I could get rid of the slightly ripply skin w/o some sort of skin stretching surgery (not happening!).

Hello! I'm very similar in that I was competing in sport as an amateur before pregnancy,

It definitely can be done and I'd say of the women in my gym who've had kids more have gone back to normal than haven't. I suspect your timeframe is what's wrong here lol.
How old is your baby?

When chatting to other Mums in our sport they reckon approx 2 years to start to look exactly like you used to and then by 3/4 it's completely back.

Also depends on things like stretch marks etc

I don't know why people post things as absolute fact. I can't think of any one thing that is true of all* women post pregnancy.

This might be the case for op and it might not.

🍿

@Sammie1990 I was like you pre pregnancy. Post preggers managed to get back down to a reasonable weight + 0.5 stone. My body shape had changed though despite the exercise and nutrition. Hips wider, more likely to put weight on etc. It never goes back exactly the same as it isn't just muscle and weight that changes it is the ligaments and tendons loosening off too. You need to work out how you feel about your new shape and then worry about the fitness and weight.

Am now in peri menopause, which combined with more wfh due the pandemic means I have popped more weight on again. But I care less. So all good.

Welcome to parenthood. It is worth it, but the loss of your pre pregnancy levels of fitness and tone is real and I can understand you asking the questions. It takes a while to adjust. A good PT and nutritionist should know this though and be able to help.

My stomach was smooth and slightly curved before getting pregnant and slimmer, but covered in red stretch marks about 5 months post partum. I'm now 16 years post partum and have a belly that looks like the first rising of a white bread dough.
The main difference that isn't down to being a bit of a lazy piggy is probably the stretch marks.

I was 8 stone and had a 9lb baby, pretty much pinged back as I was doing a lot of swimming and eating the way I always do through pregnancy so the weight was pretty much all baby. If I looked at my stomach in very bright day light in the mirror I could see there was a tiny bit of stretching and loosening but good enough to wear a crop top if I wanted too (I didn't/don't!). I'm 50 now and still the same, maybe a bit better over time but I don't do a ton of exercise or anything targeted, just walking and am naturally slim.

I'd say improve your diet and work on your stomach muscles and it might well improve some more - but it sounds like you did put on a large amount of weight quite quickly so it might be difficult to make that look like it never happened. You got a baby out of it though so who cares?

Sure. Not guaranteed but I know several mums who got back their bikini bod. Having a good body in the first place and not gaining too much seems key. Probably more likely the younger you are too.

It is an absolute fact in that if your abdomen grows exponentially, the skin has to stretch to accomodate it. As to whether or not it bounces back, that depends to a great deal on how much weight you gained and how much collagen you have in your skin. As I'm not sure about either of those factors for the OP, I offered that as a possible explanation.
To reiterate; skin stretching= true in 100% of cases and unavoidable.
Skin remaining stretched out= possibly avoidable.

I gained 3 stone when I was pregnant with my second (my first was premmie so only gained about 1.5 stone) and I'm was tiny to start with about 7st. My stomach is completely flat and toned. I do work out 3-4 times a week at the gym but genetics definitely help. I naturally don't really gain weight on my stomach it goes to my hip thigh area. So although I do work hard in the gym I feel like I see results quicker because of my genes. I don't really have much loose skin either, but I feel like I had some but it tightened as I started working out. I swear by chloe Ting Abs works. I usually do 2 of her 10 min work outs 3-4 times a week.

Appreciate I sound like a knob ... but after my first I would say yes my stomach went back to normal.

after my 2nd (c section and 8 years older ) it definitely hasn't .

Well done getting back to exercising regularly! I’ve found it so hard to maintain a routine; i have a BF baby who sleeps terribly and a toddler who likes to join in the night time antics too sometimes 😩 Snyway, as the saying goes; abs are made in the kitchen. If your tummy is wobbly it’s probably because you’re still carrying a bit of extra fat. I have found my skin is looser after 2 babies but my stomach muscles seem the same. I don’t have loads of definition because I don’t do any strength work but my stomach is flat. I’m the same weight as I was pre pregnancy although much less fit!

I don't think you sound like a knob, you are simply sharing your experience of pregnancy/birth on your body

Let us know how you get on, OP?

I couldn't tell you if my stomach is any different now (late 50s) then when I was 20yo (long before kids) or 30yo (just before kids) or different now from when I was late 30s (mostly after kids). I'm not invested in body shape so I never noticed, but age has its own power over body shape, anyway.

I was enormous when pregnant, I’m short and my stomach looked comical. I was almost 42 when I gave birth via c section.
I didn’t do any exercise apart from walking with the pram. I keep busy & active in my day to day life. Didn’t diet & didn’t breastfeed. I ate what I wanted when I could, my baby was a terrible sleeper for almost a year and I was nackered so didn’t eat as well as I could have done.
I still looked pregnant at 4 months pp. At 8 months post partum I was convinced I had been left with a c section “shelf” and was a bit gutted that I couldn’t fit in my pre pregnancy skinny jeans. At 12 months pp I started to notice an improvement in how my clothes looked & felt. I’m now 17 months pp and I feel back to normal. My stomach is flat with no hint of c section shelf, no stretch marks, bra size is back to pre pregnancy size.
I think a lot of it is due to genetics.

We are talking millimetres- The only way I noticed is because I went back to a size 8, lower weight than before I was pregnant.

but I put on a ( always very tight) dress I worse pre pregnancy and couldn’t get the side zip up- everything else fitted.’

women also get bigger feet- I know a few people who’ve gone up a shoe size and had to get rid of favourite old shoes

people do not comment on my giant rib cage anymore than my friend’s giant feet!

when people talk about post pregnancy, they usually mean saggy tits/ fat belly and it’s not the case at all

So your point is that your rib cage grew, people’s feet get larger but none of that “counts”? OPs question was particularly focused on her stomach and if it could return to it’s pre pregnancy form, my answer was “no” because in my experience of many many women’s bodies they don’t look exactly the same as someone who hasn’t had a baby. Some people don’t get stretch marks, some peoples abs are less effected by separation, but they’re not the same. I’m honestly struggling to see why anyone would believe they could be. If you grew a 7lb tumour anywhere else in your body would you expect it to leave not the slightest sign of its presence once removed? Pregnancy is much more all encompassing than that.

Women get told ‘they’ll never get back to pre pregnancy body’ after childbirth…as if they will never quite look that ‘good’ again. It’s all bullshit. I think it’s said by people who’ve put on a bit of weight and don’t want to put in the hours at the gym to get rid of it. Easier to blame it on pregnancy.

ribcages and bigger feet don’t make me or my friend less attractive, which is basically what we are talking about here.
Loads of women look amazing post pregnancy. Saying women will ‘lose’ their figure just depresses lots of women and it really isn’t that bad.

my stomach went straight back to being completely flat. I didn’t have a stretch mark either. I can wear a bikini and you’d never know I’d had a baby. But I couldn’t have said that until about a year after giving birth.

@Rubixcoobe I think that’s you bringing baggage to the conversation. Different is not “less attractive” it doesn’t mean worse it means different.

I think you’re the one bringing baggage and furiously back pedalling with your ‘different doesn’t mean less attractive’ BS…because people famously talk about how much hotter women look after they’ve had a baby 🙄

I’m being open about the experience of many I know…as you yourself have said the OP is talking about her stomach and her question is based on what she looks like ( so logical to assume attractiveness)

she hasn’t asked about physical fitness ( many athletes obtain PBs after childbirth) for example.

OP- it is definitely possible for your body to go back to its olds settings …it just takes a while.