I hate my belly!

[kemile]

Hi, my son is 12 months old and I STILL haven't lost the weight I put on when I was pregnant. I was around 135 before, gained 40 pounds during the pregnancy, and lost 20 right afterwards. I have not lost any more but I run 4x week and do crunches. My belly is huge and it is squishy and hangs over my waistband. When I eat I look pregnant again. I just hate my body and feel so unattractive. I used to have a flat belly and that was the last place I would gain weight. Everyone says nursing makes you lose weight but it didn't help me at all. Right after I had my son I did eat a lot because I was starving all the time but now I watch what I eat but i don't seem to lose any weight. I am still doing it so I wonder if when I stop the weight will come off?

Anyway, what should I do about my belly? Should I do pilates? I have a Windsor Pilates DVD but I don't think it is that great. I am so frustrated. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

[jerseygirl07067]

Three words for you...challenging weight training. I found that to be my savior. Make sure you're using enough weight to really fatigue your muscles to the point where you can barely do another rep in your set. Then try to do a different exercise targeting the same muscle group. I've had extremely good results with this.

I got a recommendation here from JulieL to check out cathe.com. I really enjoy the Lower Body and Upper Body pyramid workouts. I find I work harder than I would on my own following her workouts.

Good luck, let us know if you need more info. I personally think weight training combined with cardio is key for reshaping the body. :)

Marcy

[kemile]

Thanks, Marcy. I will try the weights. I have to admit I don't like doing weights but I know I am going to have to do something new.

I will check out cathe.com too. Thanks for the tip!

[clc053103]

Have you considered weight watchers? I find that I can exercise till the cows come home, but until WW, didn't lose anything. It took me 12 weeks to lose the last 20 lbs, with minimal exercise.

As for the belly- when you find the answer, let me know. Mine is still misshappen and awful after 6 months.

[michlyn]

I can totally relate. I lost about 20 lbs the first few weeks postpartum, and then by about 4 months pp I was back down to my pre-preg weight but my stomach still looked preggo. With the holidays/winter I've gained over 10 lbs again and now look like I"m still pregnant. I hate it and need to do something about it. I also have the windsor pilates DVD, and have no motivation.

I went to target and got a kickboxing dvd that has 10 minute workouts. There is a killer one for the abs.

Next, I need to work on my diet.

[ataylor]

I just got a cool book and DVD "How to Lose Your Mummy Tummy". Read more about it at www.maternalfitness.com

It explains the concept of diastasis and outlines a program to correct your diastasis and flatten your tummy!

I have found the recommended "Tupler splint" to be annoying as it rides/bunches up, so I'm going to try a couple different postpartum supports (the big kind with velcro or zippers) to try and push things back together.

(apparently regular stomach crunches and pilates are not good for diastasis/mummy tummy)