Tips to Get Your Tummy Back in Shape After Baby

Chiomah Momah

No matter how how dreary it may seem, it’s possible to get your tummy back to it’s pre-pregnancy state or close to, at least. I must add that it’s a gradual process and nothing is going happen overnight. This leads us to the first tip:

Patience
Except you had a well exercised and muscle toned tummy before pregnancy, don’t expect your tummy to deflate like a balloon as soon as baby pops out. Your uterus takes about 4 to 6 weeks to return to pre-pregnancy size. Whichever exercise regime you choose, don’t expect instant results.  Also, if you didn’t have abs of steel before pregnancy, then, having them after delivery means you have to work extra hard doing the right exercises.

Breastfeeding
Don’t buy into that fallacy that breastfeeding requires you to eat double portions. You will only end up moving up the scale. In actual sense, breastfeeding helps burn calories. Therefore, a mum who chooses to breastfeed will lose more than one who doesn’t. Also, the nursing process releases hormones that help shrink the uterus.

Exercise
Physical activity will do wonders for your stomach muscles and help you burn calories. Start slowly and with easy exercises that your body can handle. Take baby steps. Walking, jogging and running, planks and breathing exercises are great. See exercises for a flat post-baby ab here.

You are what you eat
There’s no point doing all the ab exercises in the world when you’re eating the wrong foods or over eating. You’ll just end up with a muscular flabby tummy. You have to start eating responsibly. It’s important you eat meals that will help burn the fat not pile it on. Greatly minimize your carbohydrates intake from foods like white bread, rice, yam, garri, and pasta. Rather eat a balanced diet with more protein and vegetables on your plate.

Belly Binding
Celebrities like the Kardashian sisters have sworn it works.  Belly binding involves tightly wrapping your stomach with a girdle. Just like wearing a corset, some women say tightly wrapping one’s stomach has helped them return to their pre-pregnancy jeans in no time! Though there’s actually no research that shows stomach tying actually works, many generations of Nigerian mums swear by it so there is no harm in trying.

Get more tips from Banke Olade, mum to Tamilore (5) & Justin (4)

Keeping in mind that having my children within such a short period I ran the risk of adding new fat upon old pregnancy fat, I decided early on in pregnancy to work out. In order to be safe, during my pregnancies, I hired a licensed personal trainer. We trained from about the 3rd month to the 9th month.

This helped a lot with my overall body weight.
 The tummy was still a bit of a challenge though. After birth, I worked hard on the sit-ups, wore tight elastic bands/girdles around my tummy but it was not getting reduced fast enough. Then I heard about Acai Berry diet herbs and started taking them.
 My tummy seemed to respond well to it. However, I have to add that my life/work got really hectic and busy, so it’s hard for me to determine if all the credit goes to this herb or if life’s stress and my food choices and portions added some input in making my tummy flat.

Good luck in whatever approaches you choose.

Mums, how did you get your tummy back post-baby? Share tips with other mums below.