pregnant bellies

qtbabe459
qtbabe459 Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have tried different exercises for toning up my belly and legs after my pregnancy. Any more tips or things that I can do to lose my belly pouch and thin out my thighs? Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks :)

Replies

  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    You aren't going to be able to spot reduce, so your best best is to just continue to eat healthy and work out. Making sure that you doing some strength training in your workouts will help with muscle tone, which will help you to look leaner after you've lost more of the fat covering the muscles. Also, if it's from post-pregnancy, there may be some skin elasticity issues, so it may never go away completely even with the weight loss and exercise.

    But your best bet is to just keep working hard at what you're already doing and eventually the stubborn areas will start to go as well. :)
  • chulie
    chulie Posts: 282
    Cardio.......like the person above said...you cannot spot reduce so the only way to lose the belly is to burn it off with cardio! Once you shed weight you can tone up and because there isn't fat covering the muscle you will see it......
  • missprincessgina
    missprincessgina Posts: 446 Member
    I'm not a Mom so I have a flat stomach BUT I did have cosmetic surgery (breast augmentation) 2 years ago and my surgeon said the "Mommy Makeover" is his most popular special. I guess its a tummy tuck and one other surgery of choice (lipo, breast lift, etc.) that they do at the same time and for a discounted price. When going to my follow-up appointments, I saw some women post-surgery who looked great and had kids. Just FYI. Surgery is a personal choice and often looked down upon on MFP. Good luck. I just wanted to share my experience.
  • staciec89
    staciec89 Posts: 1
    qtbabe459, I have the same problem! I am a young mom of two and recently in the past nine months i have gained 23 pounds and my stomach is less toned now than ever before. So i have started using fitness pal and excercising atleast 3 times a week, I started Bikram Hot yoga about a week and a half ago and it has helped ALOT already! I have noticed a diffrence in my stomach from just 3 classes. It targets almost every muscle you have (especially your abdomen) it is alot of balancing and using your abs. Just a suggestion i also run and do crunches twice a week. Also drink ALOT ALOT ALOT of water that helps to loose weight too. Hope this helps
  • a1schwei
    a1schwei Posts: 617 Member
    i have an 8 month old and though i have lost most of my pregnancy weight, i am still carrying a bit more than i'd like in my belly as well...running really helped me to slim my legs back to pre-baby shape and it also helped get rid of a lot of the belly pudge...i am part-way through the 30 day shred and i have noticed a change in my stomach when i do it consistently :) paired with eating well you can get back into pre-baby shape!!! good luck! :)
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    Cardio.......like the person above said...you cannot spot reduce so the only way to lose the belly is to burn it off with cardio! Once you shed weight you can tone up and because there isn't fat covering the muscle you will see it......

    This isn't true. Cardio isn't a good as weight training at lowering body fat. In fact, cardio more frequently causes muscle loss which make's it harder to have definition. The more lean body mass you have, the less you have to lose. The best way to lose fat is a small calorie deficit (20% less than TDEE) and heavy weight training. For most women this is around 1700-2000 calories and aiming for less than 10 reps (anything less than 15 reps is good but 10 or less is optimal for strength gains). Additionally, you want to eat around .8-1g of protein per lb of lean body mass in order to support muscle repair and catabolization of lean body mass. And the largest component, is time.
  • Rum_Runner
    Rum_Runner Posts: 617 Member
    Its really hard to target train, but cardio works and incorporate any exercise that engages the core!!

    Don't wait to start strength training - do it with cardio - you'll get much better results.

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