One change that accompanies pregnancy is an increase in body and belly fat and most women struggle to get back their bodies after pregnancy using various tips for flat tummy after pregnancy.
To birth a new life brings marked changes that most of us wear as an honor badge for being a mother. It is easier for some women to accept the changes more than others.
And while some of these changes are pleasant, some are not so pleasant as they can change a woman’s body shape and image.
It is often difficult to get back the pre-pregnancy body because we often do not know what to do or are not using the correct methods.
In this post, I discuss some frequently asked questions about flat tummy and tips for flat tummy after pregnancy. Let’s get started.
What Causes Big Tummy After Delivery?
Women develop a big tummy after delivery because of overstretching and, sometimes, separation of the abdominal muscle called the “Rectus Abdominus.”
It happens because the extra weight and pressure of the baby bump cause the abdominal muscles to stretch and separate, making the belly bump stick out.
A bigger belly bump is noticed more in women with more than one child, multiple, or a huge baby.
Is Tying Your Tummy After Pregnancy Healthy?
If you want a flat tummy after giving birth, you may wonder if it is necessary to tie or cinch your belly after delivery.
Of course, tying the belly after delivery is essential, but how soon you tie your tummy after delivery depends on how you give birth.
For example, if you gave birth vaginally without any complications, you could start tying your stomach immediately to compress your abdominal muscles as your body heals.
However, if you had a C-section, you should wait till the incision site heals and the scar dries before wrapping the belly, or you can opt for modern postpartum binders that will not scratch the incision scar.
How To Tie My Stomach After Delivery?
So, you want to try belly wraps, and you may ask: how should I tie my stomach after delivery? Well, know that there are several kinds of belly wraps, elastic, cotton, etc.
There are also different techniques used for wrapping the stomach after giving birth. Get a pro who can do this, or check them out on YouTube and learn any method that suits you.
How Long Should I Tie My Stomach After Delivery?
Experts recommend using belly wraps for 2 to 12 weeks because extended use of belly wraps can cause harm rather than good.
As always, you should talk to your doctor or midwife before using belly wraps, especially if you have complications in pregnancy. Also, remember that your comfort is essential as you use belly wraps.
Whatever wraps you use (the traditional or modern belly wraps), ensure that they do not cause pains, marks, or difficulty breathing while you use them.
Flat Tummy After Delivery Home Remedies
Several home remedies can be helpful tips for flat tummy after delivery and most of them are healthy and inexpensive. Let’s see some of them that you can try out:
- Breastfeeding: complementary breastfeeding helps stimulate the continual release of oxytocin. This helps with involution (contraction of the uterus to its previous size).
- Drink warm water and lime: Taking hot water soaked in some wedges of lime first thing in the morning helps detoxify the body and speeds up the metabolic rate. This helps to burn fat.
- Plain Old Water: Just drinking water regularly can help do the trick. Water helps flush toxins from the body. It also brings about fluid balance in the body. It allows a normal metabolic rate.
- Apples: apples contains lots of fibers that help detoxify the body and aid metabolism.
- Garlic: Take garlic soaked in hot water and drink. Or, if you can manage the smell, chew it directly. It can help burn belly fat.
Other home remedies for a flat tummy that you can try are:
- Cinnamon water
- Use curry leaf for cooking
- Add fresh tomatoes to your diet
- Cucumber and watermelon Juice
- Green tea
- Cayenne Pepper and lots more.
Try any of these home remedies you feel comfortable trying out. Ensure to take note of your allergies and health conditions before trying any of the above.
Tips For Flat Tummy After Pregnancy Without Exercise
Finding how to reduce belly fat after pregnancy without exercise? Let’s see some methods you can try out.
- Breastfeeding: Breastfeeding works wonders, and it’s a natural way to tone the tummy after pregnancy. The hormone oxytocin released during breastfeeding helps in involution. The body uses nutrients to produce milk for the baby, so you burn more fat.
- Portion control: It would be best if you did not starve or diet because you aim to lose belly fat, but practice portion control by eating smaller portions of food at frequent intervals to use up what you have produced and store lesser fats.
- Try Home Remedies: There are a couple of flat tummy home remedies you can try out to tone tummy fat without exercising. Much has been discussed above.
- Practice Deep Breathing: Deep breathing helps tone and strengthen the abdominal muscles.
- Keep Active: While it is expected that you rest to recuperate after delivery, do not aim to be a couch potato. Gradually regain back your active life. It helps you keep fit and burns up unnecessary fat. If you do not want to exercise, take outdoor walks with the baby, go for outdoor picnics, and engage in simple chores to keep yourself active.
What To Eat To Have A Flat Tummy After Delivery.
What a woman eats is one of the most essential tips for flat tummy after delivery as there are a couple of foods to eat to reduce belly fat after delivery.
We’ll be taking a look at some of them below:
- Ginger: It is known to contain that helps burn belly fat. You can add it too spicy dishes and take it raw or roasted.
- Apples cinnamon and oats combo: This meal is packed full of fiber, and cinnamon is a natural fat burner.
- Avocado: An excellent fat, rich in Monounsaturated Fatty acids. You can use this as spreads instead of butter or magazine.
- Beans: A great source of plant protein that contains lots of fibers, so you won’t have to eat much.
- Banana and almond shake: It is a perfect drink that satisfies your sweet tooth.
- Water: Pure drinking water helps reduce hunger and thirst and detoxifies the body.
10 Essential Tips For Flat Tummy After Delivery
Let’s go into the deeper details of what you need to do to achieve your body goals after delivery. While, we’ve listed some of them, let’s discuss the following tips for a flat tummy after pregnancy below.
1. Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is one of the best tips for a flat tummy after pregnancy. It is a great way to reduce the belly after pregnancy without exercise.
Especially in the first few months postpartum, consistent breastfeeding helps burn the extra fat stores stored during pregnancy.
You may lose up to 300 calories by making breast milk daily if you are into exclusive breastfeeding. Also, breastfeeding helps trigger contractions in the uterus, gradually returning the womb to almost its original size.
As a result, there will be a noticeable decrease in your belly, and you will have a more flat tummy. So you may want to consider breastfeeding your baby if you’re going to go for baby formula feeding.
Yes, breastfeeding does help lose body and belly fat, but if you eat sweets, Junk, or overeat, you may have a bigger tummy rather than losing it.
2. An Adequate Diet
The food we eat fuels our body; any excess nutrients are stored in the arms, abdominal area, or thigh.
So if you want to get your flat tummy back after pregnancy, you have to watch what you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat.
It would be best to eat a healthy and nutritious meal containing all the necessary nutrients like carbs, proteins, good fats, etc. It would help if you had adequate nutrients to help your system after blood loss and fluid.
When and what amount of food should you eat? It would be best if you regularly ate. About 4 – 6 times daily. When you eat daily, remember portion control.
Eat only in small portions so that the body does not store excess, and your metabolic rate is faster.
Do not skip veggies and fruits from your diet as they would aid more rapid digestion, and you should take water liberally, especially if you breastfeed.
3. Reduce Stress
It may seem impossible to avoid stress, especially when you are trying to get yourself back after pregnancy and are saddled with new responsibilities.
But you have to be determined to minimize stress because stress will take a toll on your general health, body function, and capacity.
For some persons, much stress can make them overeat or starve, and this unhealthy eating habit can affect their overall metabolism.
It may increase or decrease metabolic rate, causing an increase in belly fat. New moms, please take time to prioritize your duties.
Do not overwhelm yourself with too much, ask for assistance when overwhelmed, rest when the baby is resting.
4. Determination
Determination is a valuable tip to help you have a flat and achieve that pre-pregnancy tummy you so desire. Like most things in life, our plans become goals when we take steps to achieve them.
So many women dream of having their flat tummy back and pre-pregnancy body back after pregnancy, but the truth is this, only a few are determined to achieve it.
It won’t be easy to exercise or go for walks when all you feel like doing is lying on the couch after a long day of “mummy duties.” Or eating veggies when you feel like eating doughnuts and soda.
Only determination can push you far to achieve your goal. Now I don’t mean that you should do extreme excises or be on a rigorous diet or feel guilty when you eat one or two bars of chocolates.
Since you have a set goal to lose belly fat after pregnancy, I mean this is to set up action plans and strategies to achieve this goal and see that you carry out your plans.
You could join a team of women on Facebook who also has postpartum weight loss goals for motivation.
There are also tons of apps you can download to keep track of your activities while achieving your goal.
5. Eat Fibre-Rich Diet
Consider fiber as part of an important tip for a flat tummy after pregnancy. Fiber-rich diets can help you feel full so that you wouldn’t overeat.
Since most fiber foods form the bulk of our diet, they are undigested and aid metabolism excretion. Green leafy veggies like spinach, kale, chard, and collards are loaded in healthy fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
In place of soda and other sugary drinks, you can take fruit like apples, mangos, watermelon, bananas, and oranges to satisfy your sweet tooth. These are full of nutrients like fibers, potassium, folate, other micronutrients, etc.
Try to prepare recipes that include veggies, salads, and fruit with pasta, rice, and stew. This way, you are assured of eating a balanced diet packed full of fibers. So, you eat healthily and still lose weight.
6. Tummy Binders
It is also a very useful tip for a flat tummy after pregnancy. The practice of tummy binding has been used in ancient African and Chinese cultures.
Tummy binders are elastic wraps or folds of cloth used to wrap the stomach. The tight pressure helps shrink the uterus and bring it back to the pre-labor size.
It will also help support your back gluing back after tying. There are different types of tummy binders like postpartum belly wraps, waist anchors, corsets, etc.
Postpartum belly wraps are the best pick as they do not compress the belly so much that it becomes too tight.
C-section moms should use belly wraps to help the incision site heal faster and reduce pressure and pain.
If your doctor recommends, you may use belly wraps for ten to twelve hours a day in eight weeks to reduce the pregnancy belly pouch, but you will notice better results with exercise
7. Belly Massaged With Lotion
Massaging the belly with lotions is another tip for a flat tummy after pregnancy that you can try out. Like abdominal binders, you can also use lotions to massage the belly.
This helps reduce stretch marks and naturally tighten the belly muscles. Please talk to with doctor before starting massage therapy, and if your doctor approves, please use a certified massager who knows the right thing to do.
Several natural oils you can use for massaging oils like jojoba oil, coconut oil, shea butter, and other mineral oils that you can purchase.
They help lubricate the skin during massaging and help soften the collagen layer opening the skin pores. C-section mums are not advised to tie the belly immediately after delivery, and this method may not work for you.
8. Exercise
It is also one of the best tips for a flat tummy after pregnancy. It is expected that you talk to your doctor before you start up an exercise program for a flat belly as your doctor will give you clearance when it is best to start and tops on how to go about it.
After pregnancy, the abdominal walls expand, which can cause stretch marks, and the abdominal pouch is noticed after pregnancy.
Because you want to get back your pre-pregnancy body does not mean you have to start exercising immediately after delivery.
Give yourself time to recover after pregnancy for a few weeks, and when you can feel ready, you may do a flat tummy exercise program.
Start with simple exercises like balancing on an exercise ball to engage your core. Then continue with minor sit-ups, Kegels, crunches, planks, etc.
All these exercises will help strengthen your core, tummy, back, and abdominal muscles if done consistently.
You can check out exercise apps or see a physical therapist monitor your exercise giving you the best results.
9. Cook With Healthy Fat
Butter, cheese, and lard are make-up ingredients in our daily recipes. Baked food tastes nice but contains a high amount of saturated fats and bad fats.
Instead of loading up the belly with unhealthy fats, cook with healthy fat options that contain omega – 3 – acids.
You can use avocado or peanut butter for your sandwiches rather than regular butter or margarine for lesser fat.
10. Set Realistic Goals
Do not expect to burn out all your belly fat in two or three weeks. It took some time to gain them.
It will also take some time for you to lose them, so do not put yourself under unnecessary pressure and extreme exercises because of adverts for weight loss in 1 – 2 weeks that you see online.
Start small and gradually increase your pace. Do not choose exercising and diet over other things like taking off your baby, yourself, and your family. Eat well & rest.
These tips on tips for a flat tummy after pregnancy are tested and trusted. Get motivated, and start up on your weight loss journey by trying g them out.
With baby steps, some dedication, and efforts you will achieve your desired goal.
Conclusion
Having a strong support system like friends and family can help to take off the pressure. The goal is to lose the belly fat healthily not by all means necessary.
As a new mom, your priority at all time should be you and your new baby. Try not to engage in harmful practices like extreme dieting as this will affect both you and the child.
it’s also perfectly normal to not return to the state you were in before pregnancy, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I am rooting for you as you do your best.
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