Tone Up Stomach After Pregnancy

During pregnancy, it is perfectly natural to gain weight, but after pregnancy is over you may wish to return to your pre-pregnancy body and fitness level. However, exercise is only one piece of the puzzle: diet and lifestyle changes also play a crucial role in post-pregnancy toning. It can help to maintain realistic expectations, and remember that drastic fat loss can be unhealthy. Here, you will find details about exercise, diet, and lifestyle that will help you tone up your stomach after pregnancy.

Steps

Exercising the Stomach

1. Do pelvic tilts. Exercising right after pregnancy can be daunting, but as long as you increase intensity slowly, it is completely safe and healthful. Pelvic tilts are a great way to strengthen your abdominal muscles without overworking them.
   • Lie on your back with your knees bent.
   • Flatten your back against the floor, tighten your abdominal muscles, and bend your pelvis up slightly.
   • Hold for up to 10 seconds.
   • Repeat five times and work up to 10 to 20 repetitions.
2. Do crunches. As you build confidence in your post-pregnancy strength, crunches can be a good transition between pelvic tilts and the more difficult sit-ups.
   • Lie on your back, feet down, knees up and arms in front of your chest or hands lightly touching your temples.
   • Using only your abdominal muscles, raise your shoulders (upper torso) towards your knees. As you lift, exhale.
   • Pause, and then lower yourself to your original position while inhaling, making sure to keep your head off the ground.
   • Repeat.
3. Do sit ups. Once you feel that crunches have become too easy, you are ready to graduate to sit ups.
   • Lie on your back, feet down, knees up and hands crossed over your chest.
   • Make sure your feet are secured under something firm, such as the lip of a couch or piece of furniture.
   • From a reclined position, sit all the way up, lifting your entire back off the floor. Maintain good posture and keep a straight back.
   • Lower yourself down.
   • Repeat.
     • Start with three sets of ten repetitions, increasing the amount of repetitions per set each workout.
4. Do static holds (planks). Because crunches and sit ups focus mostly on the outer layer of abdominal muscles, it is important to also train the interior muscles critical to posture and stability.
   • Lie on your stomach, with your forearms flat on the floor, creating a right angle at your hands.
   • Rise off the ground, lifting your chest and midsection off the ground. Your only points of contact with the ground should be your forearms and toes.
   • Maintain a straight back, neither allowing your rear to dip down, nor to stick into the air.
   • This position is also known as the plank, and it trains your core (including your abs) to hold the body in place. Hold this position for as long as possible.
   • Beginners should start with multiple sets of about 30 seconds.
5. Train your entire core. During pregnancy, it is easy to become sedentary due to the physical and mental burden placed on you. However, once you have achieved a solid base of abdominal strength, it is a great time to move on to full body fitness with a continued focus on the core. Try compound exercises that train your abs in conjunction with the rest of your body. Some of the best compound exercises for abs are ones that force your entire core to support your spine. Some exercises that do this are squats and deadlifts.

Dieting to Lose Weight

1. Use more calories than you consume. In order to lose weight, you must expend more calories than you consume. When you have a caloric deficit, your body consumes energy stored in fat cells, reducing their size. Over time, this results in weight loss. Conversely, even if you are working out intensively, overeating and poor nutrition could still prevent you from toning up or losing any weight, due to the amount of calories you are taking in outnumbering the amount you are expending.
2. Be realistic. It took nine months to gain the 25-35 pounds recommended by doctors during your pregnancy, and it will take about that long to lose it. Don't fall for the hype of instant weight loss plans, instead use moderate exercise and healthy eating to ensure that you are on the road to fitness.
3. Be careful not to diet too early. Wait at least until your six-week postpartum checkup before actively trying to slim down. If you are breastfeeding, it is recommended that you wait two months before actively dieting. You want to make sure you have the energy to care for your new baby, and if you begin dieting too quickly, it can stunt your recovery.
   • Losing weight at a healthy pace and waiting two months establishes a good milk supply for the baby.
   • Breastfeeding can also help you lose weight. Milk production expends calories, and the act of breastfeeding itself also burns calories.
4. Avoid empty calories. Empty calories, including many types of sugars, simple carbohydrates, and unhealthy fats, contribute to weight gain. Although these may include some of your favorite comfort foods, steer clear of ice cream, soda, pastries, and most other desert items and processed foods in order maximize your chances of achieving a toned stomach.
   • If you crave sweets, consider swapping cake and ice cream for fruit and berries. Fruit is naturally sweet and has a variety of nutritional benefits, ranging from vitamin content to antioxidant support.
   • Avoid "white" products, such as white bread and white rice, that have been bleached and robbed of their nutritional benefit. Instead, opt for whole-grain bread, brown rice, quinoa, and unbleached oats.
   • Shop from the edges of the supermarket, instead of from the center. Since many un-processed fresh foods are kept refrigerated, or are regularly replenished, they are often stocked around the perimeter of the grocery store. By shopping from these areas, you will avoid the refined sugars and fats found in many packaged goods in the aisles.
5. Consider a plant-based diet. Diets high in vegetable protein and low in animal fats have been linked to weight loss, reduced risk of heart disease, and many other health benefits. Switching to a plant-based diet can help you slim down, as well as keep you healthy after your pregnancy.
   • Go green. Leafy greens, such as kale, collards, spinach, and chard are full of healthy fiber, vitamins, and micronutrients.
   • Eat fruit. Fruit can satisfy your sweet tooth, as well as provide a variety of underconsumed vitamins and nutrients, including potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin C, and folate.
   • Experiment with new recipes. Many regions around the world eat mostly vegetarian diets. Turn to some of these regions for exciting new dishes that are both delicious and nutritious.
6. Pay attention to portion size. Especially after pregnancy, it is important to recognize that eating smaller portions can help increase weight loss. You are no longer eating "for two", and must adjust your diet to reflect this change.
7. Eat smaller meals late at night. By eating large meals earlier in the day, the likelihood of overeating late at night decreases. Additionally, late at night you are more likely to eat unhealthy snack items high in sugar, fats, and simple carbohydrates.
8. Eat breakfast. Eating breakfast jumpstarts your metabolism, allowing you to more effectively process food and preventing you from becoming extra hungry throughout the day. This reduces your chances of overeating, and negating any progress you may have made through exercise.
9. Drink more water. Drinking water will not only help you remain hydrated and aid in your recovery from pregnancy, it will also allow you to more accurately determine whether or not you are actually hungry, or just craving food. Additionally, drinking cold water may burn more calories than drinking room temperature water, because of the energy expended to heat the water to body temperature.

Changing Lifestyle to Improve Health

1. Get enough sleep. Although it may be hard to sleep the recommended eight hours per night with a newborn in the house, you should still try to get as much sleep as possible. Having a baby is hard work, and you need to allow your mind and body the appropriate amount of time to recover. Sleep allows the body to properly recover from exercise and gain the maximal benefits from a workout, as well as digest food effectively.
2. Control stress. Controlling your stress levels after pregnancy may seem like a daunting task, but is crucial to increased overall health. Excessive stress has also been shown to encourage storage of fat in the abdominal region, hampering your goal of a toned stomach. Low stress levels have been linked to overall weight loss, among a variety of other health benefits. Managing stress will allow you to focus on your exercise and diet goals, while making it easier to keep off fat.
3. Divide responsibility. When you have a new baby, it can be difficult to effectively divide parenting duties and responsibilities. However, doing everything alone can lead you to neglect your own health. Enlist the help of your significant other, family, or a hired professional to share the burden of caring for your child. Divide duties such as diaper-changing, cooking, recreation, doctor's appointments, and the like between you and whoever is willing to help. This will allow you to get the time you need to focus on your physical and mental health.
4. Quit drinking. In addition to many other negative health effects, alcohol consumption can significantly chip away at any weight loss gains you make through dieting and working out. It is easy to forget how many calories can be consumed in alcoholic beverages, and drink away all your progress towards a toned stomach. In addition, alcohol stimulates your appetite, driving you to eat when you may otherwise not be hungry.

Tips

• Eating foods high in fiber, such as beans, brown rice, bran foods, and oats can aid in digestion and may help in weight loss.
• Planning out a diet and counting calories can be helpful, but remember to always eat enough to be healthy. This is especially crucial if you are breastfeeding, but should never be neglected.
• Start off with a slow trek. After a few days, do a faster trek for 30 minutes and, do a moderate exercise in addition. Don't put pressure on yourself.

Warnings

• Be realistic in your expectations, and do not hurt yourself by exercising too intensely or eating too little.
• Don't overdo it. When you begin working out and dieting, it is easy to go all in and forget to do things in moderation.

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Sources and Citations

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