tell me honestly... After you're pregnant, give birth, lose weight...

[Hedgehead]

Is your waist/hip ratio never the same again?

[MightilyOats]

I was a different shape when I got back to pre-preg weight (still 2st overweight) and despaired of finding clothes to suit me - became more pear shaped.

BUT: I lost that couple of stone and my ribs went down to a 30/32 (bizarrely I had never been that size), though boobs stayed larger (was 34B when got pg, was 32FF when I lost the weight) and am now able to wear most things. Never quite got rid of the tummy (though I never had a flat tummy even as a teen), but at least people stopped asking me if I was pg when I wasn't!

Now 21 weeks with #2 so we will see what happens this time round! I think starting from a smaller weight will hopefully help though.

[grobagsforever]

My body is different, I have lower boobs and stretch marks. But I LOVE it. Because my body did exactly what it was meant to do- grew my beautiful daughter. This is what my body is for, not conforming to some societal ideal of how women's bodies should look. Reject the endless misogynistic crap about 'losing the post birth wobble' and love the changes that gave you your DC.

[stopgap]

First child at 34, second child a few weeks ago at 36 and back to how I looked age 22 (5'7 and size 8).

The being "in shape" thing is easy for me, but we all have our struggles (mine being bloody jawline spots at various stages of my life).

[GuybrushThreepwoodMP]

Took me months, but I lost the weight and got my abs back so everything is the same apart from my tits

[Thurlow]

I'm an odd shape post-pregnancy, not in the way I expected. My boobs are about the same, I think they changed in the first few weeks of pg but haven't changed since (didn't bf). My waist seems smaller, but I suspect that might be because my ribcage hasn't shrunk back to what it was before - I'm little, so I suspect my ribcage spread a hell of a lot. I certainly have pre-pregnancy dresses that happily fit over my tummy and waist but won't do up around my ribcage. My tummy is a little saggier now but it reckon it could be nearly flat if I just did some exercise Apparently my bum is slightly bigger now too, as are my feet by half a size.

Overall I'm pretty much the same weight as I was before I was pregnant but just with a slightly altered shape.

[Bunbaker]

I am the same size and shape as before I had DD. Nothing feels different at all. My waist is still 12" smaller than my hips, and I am still in size 12 jeans. (DD born 13 years ago when I was 41)

[KatherinaMinola]

Oh, and I carry more weight on my thighs than I ever used to - and have developed a bit of cellulite. That might be age though. Can still fit into my old clothes.

[KatherinaMinola]

Nope, my waist and hips pinged back to the same size. Within two weeks I was only half a stone off my pre-preg size (took a few months to shift that half stone though).

My breasts are another matter - gone up a couple of sizes - but I'm still bf so who knows what will happen when I stop...

[MomentForLife]

My waist has stayed small but i have a flabby tummy and more fat on my hips that doesn't seem to go.

[FruitSaladIsNotPudding]

First time, yes, second time, no.

I am losing weight and think my waist/hip ratio will probably return to what it was before, but the skin on my stomach is never going to recover from baby number 2.

I wore a bikini after dd1 and felt quite smug. I think this is my punishment!

[Pixielady83]

I did get back to pre pregnancy weight and a pretty flat stomach after DD, it did take me a year though, and I went through a pretty stressful time when I lost quite a bit of weight around DD's first birthday so that probably helped

I only bf for 8 weeks, wonder if it would have come off sooner if I'd managed that for longer. Although I did loads of buggy walking the weight really didn't come off until I was back at work (40min walking commute 2-3 times a week and less opportunity for coffee and cake!).

Keeping my fingers crossed I can get figure back again this time!

[squizita]

Keeps FX that she's like Weebairn.

Actually not too bothered as others have said, so long as me and kid end up healthy and don't look like a raggedy harridan and scare everyone when I go to Tesco!

Actually all my friends who have had kids (averaging 2 each) look pretty fine in their swimmies (e.g. one saying she was 'saggy' with perfectly in-place bosomage in a triangle bikini I couldn't have worn in my early 20s!) , I wonder if as usual women are harsher on themselves than the rest of the world?

[weebairn]

I went back pretty much exactly to how I was before though my stomach muscles don't feel as strong. It was not quick though, I was certainly not one of these people who were in pre-preg jeans 2 weeks after birth. It took about 7 months to be fitting in my normal clothes and by about 14 months I was just the same all over really, same measurements as pre-preg. My boobs were the last thing to return to their normal size, around 14 months. I was lucky to escape stretch marks and I had a smallish bump and a smallish baby. I'm a size 8/10, and short and curvy. I put on around 2.5 stone.

Pregnant again now so we'll see what happens this time!

I breastfed (well I still am) and did quite a lot of exercise in the early days when DD slept well; I keep generally active; I eat reasonably healthily but never dieted. I exercised throughout pregnancy. I think lots of it is genetic.

[balenciaga]

after my first 2 dcs I went pretty much back to normal, in fact after dc1 I was thinner than I had ever been for some reason

I was 26 and 29 when I had them though.....I am now 32 weeks preg with dc3 and now aged 34 (eek) so am not expecting such miracles this time.....

although tbh my hotpants and crop tops days are over so tbh as long as I look ok in clothes and dh stil fancies me I don't care :)

[Nocturne123]

I went completely back to pre pregnancy weight within a couple of weeks . But in saying that I didn't put on much extra weight during pregnancy and seemed to lose my appetite after the birth .

My boobs however are a different , sadder story . Dd sucked the life out of them . Expecting dc2 and hoping it doesn't wreak havoc on my body !

[Nocturne123]

I went completely back to pre pregnancy weight within a couple of weeks . But in saying that I didn't put on much extra weight during pregnancy and seemed to lose my appetite after the birth .

My boobs however are a different , sadder story . Dd sucked the life out of them . Expecting dc2 and hoping it doesn't wreak havoc on my body !

[magentastardust]

Ah yes my shoe size went up 1 size after dc1. Luckily they didn't do the same again with dc2 and 3 or they would be ridiculous but they are definitely wider-I found a load of high heels that I used to wear for work and going out pre dc's and could hardly get my feet in any of them!

[imisssleepandwine]

I went back to the same weight pretty fast but was a less perky version of my old self! The boobs looked like deflated balloons after breast feeding and the bum migrated a few inches south but with exercise my tummy went back to normal. On pregnancy number two now and less concerned about my changing appearance this time.

[KiwiBanana]

I'm pretty much the same as before but bigger. Never got back to the skinny size 6-8 as I learned to enjoy food too much to bother with that again! I'm a 10-12 now with bigger hips and boobs.

It's weird ya first but once you've finished grieving for your old body you soon get over it.

[SomethingOnce]

Looking good, Showy.

It was quite a bump

[Showy]

Actually, if you look at my profile, the pictures of me pregnant are when I was 8 months with DC2. The purple dress pictures are me when DC2 was a little over 1. I had a mahoosive bump (it got bigger than in those pictures). My stomach had gone back to normal by 8 weeks post cs. Exercise and breastfeeding mostly.

[Showy]

I look better than before I think in terms of waist to hip ratio and muscle tone. I exercise more than before I had the dc though as it gives me space/time to myself. I had a 28 inch waist before having dc. I have a 25 inch waist now. Other measurements are the same as before except by breasts are a cup size bigger and my feet are a size bigger too.

This is all with clothes on though. Clothes off, I am like a roadmap. I have many, many stretchmarks from my breasts down to my knees, back and front. Not bothered by them though.

[PenguinsEatSpinach]

Oh yes, my feet are wider too. and a bit bigger.

[PenguinsEatSpinach]

I probably looked 'back to normal' to most people. But in fact my ribcage is bigger (and I can't move bones!), my hips are wider (ditto) and my stomach muscles, despite many crunches early on, never quite recovered.

[BuggedByJake]

I'm the same weight but different shape. I used to have a small waist, its now 29-30 inches & my tummy sticks out starting from under my bust rather than under my belly button.My also look smaller even though im still the same size. Depressing but true