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That Post-Baby Line of Fat?
What do you tell women who are trying to lose that post-baby line of fat around the belly button? Does it sometimes not go away? (And if that’s the case, what do you say?) This question came to me in an email from Jenn Sinkler of Experience Life magazine, and here’s how I answered it in my email back to her 😉
It really is worth a full article, this question you’ve posed about that last troublesome line of fat on a mother’s belly. What I often ask the mother is “Why? Why are you so worried about it?”
If the mother is still nursing, she shouldn’t try to lose all her fat, because she needs it to lactate and to restart her period.
If the mother has young ones, they need a soft belly to rest on, to relax against… and so many mothers OBSESS about it when they should either…
a. Accept it if their overall bodyfat is within normal, healthy ranges
b. Determine what the culprit really is…
Most moms don’t really want abs of steel – we just want our core back – but we feel driven to “keep up” by a society that obsesses about six packs! Our husbands are perfectly happy with a softer body with a few extra curves. BUT IF A MOM REALLY WANTS TO GET RID OF that extra line of fat for healthy reasons (not just because she’s tied her self image or body image to have fat-less abs) then – again – the real culprit must be located. Is it…
a. Diastasis –this is always what I look at first because a distended transverse abdominusthat has never been reactivated after having been stretched to its limits is often the culprit behind the “extra tire.” If it’s a client of yours, perform the check yourself – not at a full crunch, but just as the head lifts off the floor. CLICK HERE to watch our video showing how to check yourself for diastasis. This image is from Tupler‘s super awesome campaign!
b. Extra skin – The epidermis has a HUGE job during pregnancy, and if the woman genetically has dry or inelastic skin, then she will have more stretch marks, and her skin may never truly totally bounce back, resulting in that extra flap. Surgery can fix it, but again, what have we done as a society to make mothers feel so ugly for their residual battle scars from pregnancy? They should wear those reminders with pride! (I myself have a bit of “extra skin” under my navel.) Hyrdration is a huge player in getting skin tone back, so drink water, mamas!
Now I ask my readers, what do you think about that “extra line of fat” and how it affects your mental and physical outlook? Please comment!
Im still unhappy with my extraness I’ve been slowly working on it. And have lost another 10 pounds after my initial drop after birth. Id ideally like to lose another 40-50 pounds though. Just to be back at my PP weight. Which was by no means six pack material. i just don’t like having a gut hanging over my pants.
I feel the same, Maya. I honestly don’t feel like I’m “fat”. But I have this belly that drives me crazy. I literally look like I’m 4 months pregnant all of the time, and my youngest is 2. It’s not fun. I feel like I never sit still during the day, but I’m not great about remembering to do my workouts. I eat well, and have been limiting my sweets intake a ton. It just won’t go away!
I have quite the overhang under my belly button. My biggest issue with it is that it makes it uncomfortable to wear structured pants. I only wear stretchy yoga pants or maternity shorts because they don’t hurt. I desperately want to be able to wear jeans again. I’m 80 lbs overweight, which doesn’t help the problem, but even if I’m overweight I’d like to at least not have SO much extra in the middle. I didn’t realize that dry skin could contribute to the problem. I have horribly dry skin. I guess I’ll start moisturizing more.
I was so small before I got pregnant that I have a ridiculous amount of skin. I just had my third baby and I’m excited to start Fit2B again but I know my skin won’t go away. It makes it really hard to decide whether or not surgery is appropriate. Surgery makes me feel very vain but I also hate tucking the skin away.