Losing the mummy tummy

I would love to hear from anyone who has managed to loose their excess tummy weight after the birth of their baby. What did you do that you believe made this possible? I have a 3 year old and a 14 month old and today look like I am still five months pregnant. I really hope I can get into an excercise program in the new year. DS1 will be in preschool which will give me more time to exercise I have found it hard this year with two small children at home with me. I have a slim build and would really really love to look good in my clothes again.

My body is certainly feeling the effects of 3 children in 4 years. Do you know what sort of exercise your body reacts to well? With mine, it's walking. If I walk 30 min - 60 min a day 3-5 days a week, the weight drops off me. And to tone up, I do laps in my pool, or sit ups (althought I don't like that very much lol). Just be gentle on yourself to begin with.

Subscribing!! I have only had one baby and am not liking this belly that is left over!

Sue x

I hear ya..I still look like I'm about 6 months pregnant too :wall: slowly working on it, but I really should have started way before now!
i can't remember what it was, but there are certain foods you can eat that help to burn the fat around your waist/tummy area (might have been dark chocolate?) of course in moderation though..lol.

Do exercises that work your abs, such as sit ups/push ups, pilates movements are great too. A good tip I was given is to walk everywhere (even around your house) with your tummy muscles tightened. The more muscles you can work the more calories you will burn. Cardio workouts are good for burning calories too, maybe see if your local library has any exercise dvd's you can borrow?
Walking pushing a pram (especially if it's uphill) is a good workout too, even more so if you remember those tummy muscles!

Been there, done it, got the t-shirt (and will probably be doing it again next year after I have number #3!). 36KGS lost in 5 mths.

The excess weight on your belly is more likely a combination of excess fat and loose tummy muscles. Best thing to do is cardio exercise to shed the excess, depends on your fitness level as to how full on you go. Brisk walking at the lower end of the scale, or high impact running at the higher end of the scale (or of course, somewhere inbetween).

Also, start bracing your ab's (if you aren't already) whenever you're awake. If you are walking, BRACE, picking up a toddler, BRACE, doing the washing, BRACE etc etc. It'll aid muscle memory and you'll be doing it without thinking before you know it (it'll help those ab's regain their shape).

Once you start losing the excess weight, then I'd focus a bit more on those ab focussed moves - in any case there is usually only one I'd waste my time with....the plank! If you want, look up Fat Chic Slim on FB and you'll find a video I put together if you want to see the technique ;).

HTH!

My seriously pregnant looking tummy has finally begun to shrink in the last month... since I gave up sugar!

I was getting so depressed, not fitting into any of my clothes, feeling very unattractive and provoking the question "is she pregnant again??" (Luckily not to me, but not so luckily to my DH :doh:)
I also have little time to exercise so have looked at working on my diet. I tried picking healthy options, reducing portion size etc but as I am still bf I didn't want to do anything too drastic. I found the "sweet poison quit plan" at the library and was blown away by the information in it so decided to give it a go. I stopped eating sugar (As in the obvious cakes, biscuits, sugar in tea/coffee etc and the less obvious, sugar in jam, conserves, condiments, drinks, juice etc) at the end of October and by the end of November I was pulling out all of my pre-pregnancy clothes! I feel so much better both physically and emotionally. It has actually been quite easy and has had good flow on effects for DD as I now understand in a whole new way how bad sugar is for us.

I recommend checking it out!

Such wonderful advice. Thankyou so much everyone.