Pregnancy and childbirth are, of course, always pleasant events, but for the female body it is stressful. Many women complain that after childbirth, the stomach has lost its elasticity, and extra pounds have been added. This is due to the fact that in the second half of pregnancy the fetus actively grows, and the abdominal muscles relax and then separate, losing their former elasticity. Of course, a young mother wants to regain her thin waist and flat, toned tummy. And this is quite real. It is enough to regularly devote a little time to yourself, performing simple abdominal exercises after childbirth that will help you get in shape quickly.
How to quickly lose belly fat after childbirth
Before learning how to get rid of excess waist size, you need to immediately learn about the types of fat found in the body. The subcutaneous fat layer that a person feels and sees does not pose any particular danger. Visceral fat, which surrounds the internal organs, is the real enemy, making the tummy look big. When there is too much of it, it pushes out subcutaneous fat, which visually increases the volume of the body.
To quickly lose belly fat after childbirth and lose weight, you should fight both types of fat, focusing on adjusting your diet and specialized physical activity (morning exercises, yoga, jumping rope, cycling). Exercises for tummy tuck should begin after 3-4 weeks. These include crunches, pelvic and back raises, squats and planks. As for nutrition, its adjustment can be made only after the end of lactation. High-calorie foods are excluded from the menu: smoked meats, sweets, baked goods and others.
Features of performing exercises after childbirth
Many people are wondering when they can start doing exercises to lose belly fat after giving birth. Experts generally advise starting them no earlier than 4-6 weeks later if you gave birth naturally, and no earlier than a couple of months if you had to have a caesarean section. There are other opinions: if the birth was natural and passed without complications, you can begin exercises after childbirth to tighten the abdomen in a couple of weeks. But these are all approximate dates; it is advisable to consult with a specialist who will tell you when you can start practicing specifically in your case.
In order for abdominal exercises after childbirth to quickly achieve a beautiful waist, flat stomach and tighten muscles, it is recommended to train every day, preferably 2-3 times a day . When the desired results are achieved, it will be enough to perform exercises 3-4 times a week .
How effective exercises will be to remove belly fat after childbirth or diastasis will depend on the frequency of their implementation and the number of repetitions. Experts advise performing them 1-4 times a day at a maximum, at a fast pace, with the maximum duration of the first approach. There is no need to exhaust yourself with training if you have recently given birth. Otherwise, lactic acid may accumulate in the muscles, which, when it enters breast milk through the blood, worsens its taste and reduces its quantity, causing hypogalactia. Because of this, the child may refuse to breastfeed, which will cause serious problems. Therefore, while you are breastfeeding your baby, try to do abdominal exercises after childbirth in a more gentle manner. Maintain an average pace, start repeating each exercise 2-3 times, gradually increasing this number to 20.
After 1.5-2 months of regular exercise, you will notice that your tummy has become firm and toned.
You can improve your results by supplementing your exercises with race walking, breathing exercises, dancing, swimming and various types of fitness. It is also worth paying attention to exercises for the legs and buttocks, which also involve tensing the abdominal muscles.
Remove belly fat after childbirth at home
You can begin postpartum recovery a month after the baby is born. The following common exercises will help you quickly get rid of your belly after childbirth at home and get your body in order:
- Press tension . This exercise for the abdomen is done while standing, sitting while swaddling a baby or washing dishes. Pull your tummy in and hold it for 20 seconds. Increase the time a little each day.
- Pelvic lift . Lie on your back, press it firmly to the floor. Bend your knees and lift your pelvis as high as possible. Hold for 20 seconds at first, gradually increasing the tension time.
- Wall squats . Stand with your back to the wall, press your shoulders. Slide smoothly down until your feet form a right angle with the floor. Walk back slowly.
- Plank . Lie face down, then support your arms, creating a right angle with the floor. Tear off your chest and waist, stretch into a string and hold for 30 seconds. Increase the fixation time each time.
Effective workout
To easily remove belly fat you will need not only gymnastics after childbirth, but also proper nutrition. You will have to give up fast foods, snacks and carbonated drinks. First of all, these products negatively affect the composition of milk, as well as the quality of the body.
diastasis after childbirth, then she will have to give up some of the physical exercises on the list.
Exercises for losing weight in the abdomen are an adequate load with which you can strengthen the muscles of the anterior abdominal wall. This is what you need to remove a sagging belly. Of course, going to the gym is the best option to achieve the desired success. But not every young mother can afford such pleasure. You can replace the gym with exercises at home. The child will not interfere with such activities.
Effective exercises for tummy tuck include:
1. Exercises for the rectus abdominis muscle
From school, everyone knows how to pump up the press. It is done lying on your back with your hands behind your head, legs bent at the knees. We climb up intensively, but we need to follow the technique and not fuss.
Exercises for the rectus abdominis muscle
2. Ab exercise with emphasis on the bottom
Lying on your back, legs up, keep them straight. They slowly lower themselves down using their abdominals, with their backs on the floor. The execution time increases if the muscles are accustomed to the previous load.
Abdominal exercise with emphasis on the bottom
3. Side bends
Stand with your feet apart, arms to the sides, back straight. We bend to the right and left sides alternately, you need to try to touch the floor with your hand. We don’t relax the abdomen.
Side bends
4. "Shoulder bridge"
Lying on your back, legs bent. Exhale, lift your pelvis up, tensing your abdominal muscles and hold the position for up to twenty seconds.
Shoulder bridge
5. Plank
The exercise is one of the hardest, but it brings the most benefits. It works the deep abdominal muscles and easily replaces a set of exercises. First you need to lie face down, stand on your forearms and lift your body up. We stand only on our toes and forearms. We don’t lift our buttocks up, we twist our pelvis. We hold the bar for half a minute, gradually increasing the load.
Plank
6. Static wall squats
We lean our shoulder blades and head against the wall. The distance from the wall is one step, feet shoulder-width apart. Slowly we sit down, pressing our backs against the wall. There is an angle of 90 degrees between the shin and thigh. The knees are above the heels. We try to sit like this for as long as possible. Until a tremor appears in the legs. It will be more effective if, in addition, you take dumbbells in your hands.
Static wall squats
7. Leg raise
Exercise helps to form a beautiful waist and achieve the desired result. Lie on your side and raise your legs one at a time until an angle of 90 degrees is formed with respect to the floor. First we perform on the right side, then the same number of repetitions on the left. The position of the hips is perpendicular to the floor.
Leg Raise
8. Cross crunches
Similar movements to the very first one on the list, but there is one difference. It is necessary not only to lift the body from the floor, but to pull the right hand towards the left leg bent to the chest. We do the same on the other side. You can do it alternately on each leg, or you can do it first on the right leg, then on the left leg.
Cross crunches
If a woman has diastasis after childbirth, then she will have to give up some of the physical exercises on the list. All abdominal exercises after childbirth are performed with care.
Vacuum
A vacuum exercise after childbirth will help you get rid of a hanging belly. To minimize the load on the internal organs and pelvic muscles, training is performed while lying down. A vacuum is created by expanding the chest. How to do a vacuum exercise for the abdomen after childbirth:
- lie down on a hard surface, bend your knees;
- the next step is to spread your arms, rest your feet on the floor;
- take a few exhalations and inhalations, listen to your breathing;
- when inhaling, the ribs should diverge, and when exhaling, they should return back;
- task: take a deep breath, but when exhaling, do not let the ribs return, but spread them wider;
- in this case, the tummy will be sucked under the ribs.
Why is it necessary to tighten your skin after losing weight?
Skin is more than just the surface layer of the epidermis. It is a special organ consisting of several layers associated with the underlying structures and with the entire organism as a whole. Each of these layers performs strictly predefined functions.
Any changes in the body lead to corresponding histological and functional changes in the structural components.
For example, metabolic disorders, endocrine disorders, a gradual or rapid increase in the volume of subcutaneous fat tissue followed by a rapid decrease, pregnancy, age-related processes lead to stretching of the skin, damage to collagen and elastin structures, the appearance of sagging, the formation of atrophic scars, etc. d.
Rapid weight loss especially affects your figure. Stretched, flabby, sagging excess skin after losing weight, which has lost its elasticity and tone, does not have time to shrink to the required extent, especially in places of greatest stretching - in the chest, front and side surfaces of the abdomen, buttocks, back of the shoulder, hips, subscapular areas.
In addition, with rapid weight loss, body fat decreases unevenly. In the listed areas they remain in significant quantities. The most problematic area in terms of reducing fat tissue is the abdomen. The skin in this area is subject to significant stretching, and stretched skin on the abdomen contracts especially slowly. The remaining adipose tissue leads to even more sagging and the formation of the so-called “apron”.
The resulting folds are not only an aesthetic problem, but also a hygienic problem, since they lead to maceration, weeping and redness of the surfaces touching in the folds, the appearance of an unpleasant odor, etc. How to tighten your skin after losing weight or giving birth and giving your figure the correct proportions and desired shapes and contours?
There are two ways to solve this issue:
- Radical surgical methods.
- Conservative non-invasive or minimally invasive techniques of aesthetic medicine and cosmetology.
Exercises for diastasis
Diastasis abdominis is the separation of the rectus muscles relative to the linea alba. Many women encounter this medical term after pregnancy. Treatment of diastasis is carried out conservatively or surgically, depending on its severity. Special exercises for diastasis of the abdominal muscles after childbirth will help restore the discrepancy of the abdominal wall at home. Each should be performed 10 times daily:
- Get on all fours, arch your back in an arc (crampon). Inhale slowly, gently drawing in your tummy. As you exhale, straighten your back.
- Bend your legs while lying on your back. As you inhale, lift your buttocks up, placing your feet on the floor. Lower them back as you exhale.
- Lying position on your back. Slowly raise your head, pressing your chin to your chest. Stretch your arms forward to help lift your shoulders.
- Lie on your back, bend your knees. Squeeze a children's ball between them. Inhale and release it.
General recommendations
Before moving on to descriptions of exercises for different abdominal muscles after childbirth, the site supermams.ru advises paying attention to general recommendations:
- The abdomen after a cesarean section has a scar. Only after it has healed can you begin abdominal exercises after childbirth.
- Gradually increase the load.
- Remember! It is better to do 2–5 times correctly than 10 times incorrectly.
- Each lesson should begin with a short general warm-up: dance a little to music, jump just like that or with a jump rope.
- When doing the exercises, follow the diaphragmatic breathing described above (inhale - exhale - hold - inhale again)
Exercises for a saggy belly
Effective postpartum recovery depends on regular exercise. Work out your abs from 3 times a week to 7. Start any workout for a hanging tummy with a general warm-up without using weights, so as not to create unnecessary relief. When performing flat press movements, practice proper breathing. Start with one approach, gradually increasing the number of repetitions. A set of exercises for a sagging belly after childbirth:
- While sitting on the bed, place your hands behind your head. Lower your back and pull your legs towards your chest. Slowly straighten your legs, simultaneously stretching your entire torso along the bed.
- Lie face up on the floor. Straighten your arms along your body and lift your legs up. Lift your pelvis up, then hold for 30 seconds.
- Stand straight, place your hands on your hips, and bring your legs together. Squat down, leaning your torso forward. As you exhale, straighten up, drawing in your abs, then inhale slowly through your nose and pull your stomach forward. Then exhale slowly and pull your abdominal muscles towards your spine.
- Lie half-turn on your side, legs slightly bent. Lift your knees and shoulder off the floor, and stretch your fingers towards your heels. There is no need to bend your legs. Hold for half a minute. Then move your legs in one direction and your arms in the opposite direction.
Simple exercises
- Cat. While performing the exercise, imagine how the cat arches its back. Standing on all fours, round your back. Perform 2 breathing cycles in a row. Straighten your back and pull in your stomach. Again 2 breathing cycles. Perform 10 times.
- Plank. You will resemble a smooth board. Stand on your elbows and toes, straightening your back. In this position, perform 10 breathing cycles correctly.
- We raise our legs on a chair. Sit on the edge of a chair. Straighten your back. Bend your legs at the knees and lift them up, feeling the tension in your abs. Record and perform a breathing cycle. Repeat 10 times.
Supplement these exercises with those described above for different abdominal groups, and the first results will become noticeable not only to you.
For the stomach and sides
Stretching, a postpartum bandage and hula hoop help to recover after bearing a child. As for exercises after childbirth for the abdomen and sides, working the torso with static legs will help strengthen these parts of the body and reduce stretched skin. Circular turns of the torso, raising and lowering the torso will strengthen the lower abdominals and remove folds on the sides. No less effective are exercises for the abdomen, in which the torso and legs work together:
- Lie on your back, raise your bent legs up, crossing your arms behind your head. Lift your shoulders off the floor so that the weight moves down onto your back. Imitating riding a bicycle, cross your elbows to your knees.
- Sit on a chair. Grasp the seat with both hands, pulling both bent legs towards your stomach.
First lessons
During pregnancy, the fat layer increases, which protects the fetus from external factors. If you had trained abs before pregnancy, muscle elasticity will be restored quickly, but the layer will still remain. If you have not trained your muscles before, then you will have to strengthen your abdominal muscles and remove your stomach itself.
Until you start full-fledged abdominal exercises after childbirth, let's master diaphragmatic breathing. The most interesting thing is that the visual aid is always in front of you. This is about your baby.
Have you ever noticed how a baby breathes? His stomach rises up and down, whereas in adults the chest works. The child has correct diaphragmatic breathing. It is also called kapalabhati.
The first thing you will do is learn to breathe correctly. You need this for your classes.
- Lie on your back and pull your stomach in tightly. It may seem like it is stuck to your back.
- Inhale as deeply as you can through your nose. If you learn to do this correctly, your stomach will round and rise like a ball.
- Exhale forcefully through your mouth.
- Hold your breath for 10 seconds, while making sure that your stomach is pulled towards your back.
- Breathe in.
Over time, you will learn to do this correctly, but at first you will feel dizzy and have dark vision.
This breathing is the basis of bodyflex - a 15-minute set of exercises based on breathing exercises. Regular daily exercise will help you easily lose weight and saturate your body cells with oxygen.
So, the first months are needed to get back to normal and learn to breathe correctly. A little later, supplement the breathing exercises with abdominal exercises.
Fitball exercises
You can quickly get rid of waist fat with the help of a gymnastic ball - a fitball. Take 15 minutes every day to practice with him. Exercises on a fitball for the abdomen after childbirth:
- Plank on toes . Lying emphasis. Place your feet on the ball, leave your hands on the floor.
- Tilts . Stand up straight. Hold the ball at the top in straight arms, lower it slowly towards the floor by bending the hip joint.
- Twisting . Lie on the fitball with your back, forcefully pull your lower ribs towards your pelvis. Stay stable by opening your legs.
Mother's nutrition after childbirth while breastfeeding
Note! Eating fatty foods will not affect the fat content of milk. Therefore, there is no point in eating fatty cottage cheese, bread and butter, or condensed milk.
- This is the main reason for weight gain in young mothers. Honey is generally considered an allergen and it is advisable not to be consumed by a young mother; it contributes to the development of diathesis in the baby
- Eat a balanced diet, replace fatty meat with lean meat. Remove the skin from chicken before eating it.
- Never fry, steam or bake food. This way, you won’t put a strain on your and your child’s liver. Pediatricians say fried foods can cause rashes and indigestion in children
- Immediately after childbirth, limit your consumption of fresh fruits; they often cause diathesis and colic. Introduce new products gradually, no more than one product per week. Keep a food diary and observe your baby's reaction
- The most difficult thing is that for 3 months after giving birth you have to adhere to a very strict diet, which is prescribed in the maternity hospital. The menu is based on porridge, lean meat and boiled vegetables. Dry cookies and crackers are allowed. It is bread and flour products that contribute to weight gain. Try to eat apples baked with cottage cheese or natural yogurt for dessert. Minimize your consumption of flour products. Try to eat rice very rarely, these are empty carbohydrates
Five best abdominal exercises after childbirth on video
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How to get your breasts in shape after childbirth?
It is worth considering that breast sagging is not caused by feeding, but by improperly organized lactation. Breasts sag due to excessive filling, which stretches the skin and stretches the muscle fibers. After breastfeeding ends, the milk disappears, and the muscles and skin remain stretched.
Recommendations for getting your breasts in order after childbirth:
- Avoid stretching your chest. Feed your baby frequently, alternating between one breast and then the other.
- Don't take long breaks between feedings
- Constantly rub vegetable oils or creams into the skin of your breasts
- Train your chest muscles. Do special exercises
From 6 months after birth
By this time, the body has already recovered enough to try something more serious.
Run
Do running workouts three times a week. Run at a “conversational pace,” where you can easily carry on a conversation during the activity.
If you have a heart rate monitor, you can use your heart rate (HR) as a guide. The scientific article Exercise in the postpartum period: Practical applications by Michelle F. Mottola from the University of Western Ontario recommends running at 70–85% of your maximum heart rate. Use these formulas to calculate.
To avoid sudden increases in heart rate, start your workout with a warm-up and end with a cool-down. Your lesson will look like this:
- 5–10 minutes of brisk walking;
- 15 minutes of running at a “conversational pace” or in a heart rate zone that suits you;
- 5-10 minutes of walking as a cool down.
There are several important points:
- Invest in good running shoes to protect your knee joints from impact. You should choose sneakers with good cushioning and arch support. Read about running technique: it is very important.
- If you are breastfeeding, do not wear tight sports bras. This can lead to stagnation of milk. Instead, choose a comfortable bra with good support and wide straps.
- Maintain adequate fluid levels in the body. Take water with you and drink and don't ignore your thirst.
Strength training in the gym
To avoid overdoing it and harming yourself, be sure to study with an instructor.
The intensity of the training is set by the trainer, so classes must be carried out under his supervision.
Tatiana Fedina
Before choosing a trainer, ask about professional training and experience working with postnatal women.
It is also important for breastfeeding women to keep their workout intensity low and stay hydrated. Be sure to take a water bottle with you to your workout and drink as soon as you feel thirsty.
Are abdominal exercises contraindicated for women who have had a caesarean section?
A woman who has undergone surgery (caesarean section) can perform simple exercises for the abdominal muscles, thanks to which these muscles will recover more quickly after surgery. Of course, the advisability of classes and a set of exercises should be discussed with your doctor in advance .
Women after surgery may experience slight discomfort during exercise:
- The seam may be pulled, but there is no pain;
- After a cesarean section, a feeling of rapid fatigue appears, which is a natural process of the postoperative period.
What else will help?
Girls, we can begin to restore our figure already in the maternity hospital, we discussed in more detail about the methods that can be used in the first 2 months earlier in this article, so I will not dwell on all the methods - we will focus specifically on eliminating the belly.
Fitball exercises
A very useful and, by the way, fun ball exercise that you can do with your child. Read more about this here.
Massage, rubbing and contrast shower
It is clear that the exercises are aimed primarily at restoring muscle tone. By the way, we discussed which sport is optimal for breastfeeding here. What about stretched and sagging skin?
Massage will save you. You can take a rehabilitation course in a massage room, and if this is not possible, then do it at home. To do this, just buy a hard sponge (preferably natural) or a silicone washcloth, and while taking a shower, massage your stomach, waist and thighs with it for 5-10 minutes.
To enhance the effect, it is good to use various scrubs that make the skin smoother and more elastic. And finally, don’t forget to take a contrast shower.
Another option is to rub your stomach with a silicone washcloth, applying oils high in vitamin A and E to the skin (by the way, I really like oils from iHerb):
- there is a lot of vitamin A in palm and sea buckthorn oil, as well as fish oil;
- vitamin E – in cottonseed, corn, peanut and sunflower oil.
Rubbing with oils will also help restore breasts after childbirth (read about other methods in this post).
You can also do dry rubbing with a stiff brush every morning. Precisely in the morning, because the procedure is so invigorating that you may have problems sleeping if you do it at night. All you need for the procedure is a good brush with natural bristles. You don’t even have to set aside special time, because you can perform this lymphatic drainage massage, for example, while standing in the kitchen and preparing breakfast for your husband or child.
Bandage
Wearing a postpartum corset will also help tighten your abdominal muscles faster. True, it only works in combination - with proper nutrition, exercise, massage, and rubbing.
And for wearing a bandage to really bring benefits, be sure to consult with a gynecologist (he should help you choose the right model), and listen to your own feelings. If severe pain, malaise, or suffocation occur, then you will have to discard the postpartum corset (or check whether the size and model are chosen correctly).
And yes, you cannot wear it if the seams (internal and external) are not fused, as well as if you have chronic pathologies of the internal organs that will be under the bandage.
Nutrition
We pay special attention to nutrition. The main goal is that during exercise we must burn more calories than we consume in food. Of course, we remember about the baby’s health and the fact that our milk should not go to waste, so in no case do we exhaust ourselves with diets.
Read about what weight loss should be like while breastfeeding here.
It's time to say goodbye. I am sure that you will find the strength and opportunity to devote time to yourself and your health. I would be very grateful for reposting the article on social networks. I will also be happy to answer your comments and read stories about your methods of quickly losing weight, restoring your stomach and waist after childbirth.
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