c-section "flab"

hotjacki85

I had a c-section with my son over 2 years ago.... i have met other women since then that had c-sections and have that "pouch" that seems to never go away.... my younger sister had a c-section and doesnt have that "pouch" (about 120 at 5'8) but my friend does and is only like 110 lbs... i just trying to see an average

Ive been told by some that the pouch will never go away... and that if i lose weight it will be a flap of skin.... then others have told me i should be fine and weight loss will completely diminish it


any other girls out there who had c-section and have lost 10-20 lbs.... willing to tell me if yours went away???? or if it is just really loose skin now ????


thanks

edorice

I had a c-section. The best thing to do is get in a lot of cardio. Jogging helped my abs and I can actually see my obliques now. I did a program called Insanity that is high cardio and has a lot of ab workouts in the program. High knee lifts and scissor kicks are great for the lower abs. You may be able to Google lower ab workout to get more ideas. Bottom line, you have to go beyond doing just crunches.

It's not only about what weight you are, it's also about getting your body fat down.

nehtaeh

I still have more to lose til at my goal, but I still have the pooch. It has diminished some with the weight I have lost. I wouldn't be surprised if didn't completely go away but it should go down enough to not really be noticeable - even in a bathing suit. I would still know and see it naked. At least those are my thoughts through my progress so far.

I think it would depend on your body type, where you hold fat, how you lose the weight...a lot of things.

AmandaR910

I'm 5'10". Weighed 168lbs before kids.

With DD I gained 40lbs, didn't get the flap (lost all the weight).
With DS I gained 52lbs, didn't get the flap (lost 30lbs before conceiving again).

ProTFitness

Never say never look at my pics I think i have one with my abs. It is about eating the right foods and training those muscles. You can not Spot reduce an area but you can train it. PS I had a C section 12 yrs ago. It is possible to loose that!

Kristi26

I think it's different for each woman. It depends where your problem areas tend to be, I think. I've had 4 c-sections and am a completely healthy weight for my height. I still have the pooch. It isn't horrible, but it doesn't exactly look awesome either. Lol. Does that help?

goal30Lori

I've had two sections, and have lost 50 pounds, and I still have a pouch, but I don't think it has anything to do with my C-Section, because that incision is much lower. I think now that I am almost at my goal, I just need to focus more on strengthening my core!

Jennplus2

Now I have the belly shelf as I like to call it (pouch) but when I was a lower weight it was just a flap of ugly skin. I heard that the way the Dr cut it matters. The better the Dr the better the healing and less of the pouch. But I was told that by a friend, who knows if it is true.
My skin was very stretched and I have had two kids so that didn't help anything. But when I get down to around my goal it starts to hang loose and IMO I like that fat on the pouch better than the loose skin.

Kath712

I had two C-sections, last one 4 years ago. As I've lost weight (by working out and eating well), my flab has definitely gone down, but not yet disappeared. It now feels like loose skin.

I'm encouraged by ProTFitness's pictures - maybe there is hope for me too!

mamacremers

I've had two also, the last one was 9/09. I have a lot of loose skin on my lower belly. You can see how much i've lost so far and it's much smaller, but I'm not sure if it will completely go away. It's more just skin now and not any fat in it. I also have enough stretch marks for three women! I think if I want to look perfect again I'm going to need some plastic surgery (which I probably won't get because I can't afford it) to get a bunch of stuff lifted from all this extra skin I have now.

ivyjbres

I think it has a lot to do with a combination of genetics and the quality of your surgery. As we all know, to perform a C-section , the surgeon has to cut through everything, blood vessels, nerves, muscle, fat, everything. Now nerve cells do regenerate, only slowly, the speed of regeneration depends on genetics, as well as how much initial damage was done to the nerve cells. But all nerve slicing damage is not created equal. Very often, scheduled C-sections (usually 2nd or 3rd C-sections) cause less damage because the procedure is pre-planned and time has been taken to be very exact, also, the situation is not dire and doesn't require the surgeon rushing things. Emergency C-sections are different. Not only does the surgeon have to rush the procedure, but most likely, the woman's body is already dealing with other stressors that will make recovering harder and longer, and more damage may be done to the muscles and nerves (especially the muscles that control those nerves!).

Also, a lot will have to do with how much that skin was stretched during the pregnancy. I gained 65 lbs (about 30 of which was water weight) and my skin was pretty stretched out (I still have extra skin on my ankles, I was that swollen). Another factor will be how elastic the skin is, another genetic factor. My grandmother had an eye lift in her 60's because the skin in her face had lost elasticity and she could not keep her eyes open because of the extra skin. This same thing can happen anywhere on your body. So if members of your family have had a similar issue, you might be in the same situation yourself.

My guess would be that if most of the women in your family still have pouches, you're won't go away. There's a lot that can be done to help- diet, exercise, lotioning like there's no tomorrow, body wraps. But if after a year to a year and a half of taking all those measures, if its not reduced, you only have one option left. I would just make sure that you're done having kids so you don't have to do it twice.