Ten months after I had my first baby, I hired a new colleague on my team. Years later she admitted that when I interviewed her, she thought I was pregnant.
The problem was that by this point I have lost most of the pregnancy weight, but my stomach was still looking constantly bloated.
I did things differently with my second baby and could see abs showing much before the 10-month mark. Here are my most effective tips for getting rid of bulging stomach after pregnancy.
1.Core strengthening exercises
When I say Core I mean Core, not abs. What is the difference? Ab exercises only impact the top, most superficial layer. Core exercises are much deeper, they help to control our posture and keep everything in the mid area where it should be.
Chances are you have some level of Diastasis recti after pregnancy. Among other functional problems, this also appears in the form of a bulging stomach after pregnancy. I saw a woman’s health specialist after I delivered. She evaluated the damage and gave me exercises to rebuild my core strength.
If you can’t afford the time or money for such visit, that’s alright. There are plenty of good free sources on the Internet too. Ourfitfamilylife account on Instagram is what I followed mostly for very effective and quick workouts. I also found the Pregnancy and Postpartum TV YT channel very useful.
2.Anti-inflammatory, gut friendly foods
The 3 main groups of foods that make my body feel light and my stomach flat are: fibers, prebiotics and probiotics.
Some examples of what I eat on daily basis in each group:
Probiotics: Kefir, yoghurt, apple vinegar
Prebiotics: Berries, cocoa, asparagus, bananas, dark chocolate
Fibers: veggies, chia seeds, legumes
3.Listen to your body
It will tell you what you need to know. When I started observing how my body feels, I realized there are foods that made me so bloated. Cow’s milk was one of them. It didn’t help that I was having two large lattes every single day. This is a lot of cow’s milk right there. Just by removing this one problematic food from my menu I saw a huge difference.
Growing a baby for 9 months is a big job. Everything in our mid area moves and expands. So naturally, bulging stomach after pregnancy is the most problematic body part to change. But with regular deep core exercises, gut friendly foods and listening to your body, flat stomach post-partum can be a dream come true.
