Flat Stomach After Pregnancy

Email from Anonymous:

I have a big stomach left from having a cesaerian delivery of my baby. Many people still think that I am still pregnant. I exercise often, doing ab crunches, leg lifts, oblique crunches and twist. I do cardio workouts about 3 times a week. I workout on my Total Gym Machine. I drink about 6 to 8 glasses of water a day. I've positively changed most (90%) of my eating habits, but I'm still not really able to lose my stomach. I feel like an egg with legs. Do you have any ideas of new things to try.

Lisa's Response:

Hi

If your "deep" abdominal muscles are weak and stretched from childbirth your stomach can bulge even if you do not have much abdominal body fat.

The key to flattening your stomach is strengthening these "deep" muscles. The most important of these are the Transverse Abdominis and your Internal Obliques. They hold your internal organs and stabilize your body for movement. When you exercise these muscles, they increase their tone and help pull your stomach in.

View this article for exercises that work these parts of the body.

Can Walking Tone Your Stomach?

Email from Anonymous:

Just wondering how to get a toner stomach that does not involve too much tonal exercise as I walk 6 miles every morning but still need to get stomach toned, especially lower stomach.

Lisa's Response:

In order to get a toned stomach you must do some kind of strength training exercises. You can slim your stomach fat down by walking and doing cardio, but if you want that toned look you must do the following types of exercises:

- Forward flexion exercises (ab crunches)

- Side flexion exercises (side bends, side crunches, etc.)

- Rotational exercises (standing trunk twists)

That's the only way to get that "toned" look. Cardio exercise alone won't do it.

Stomach Crunches Are Not Enough

Email from Anonymous:

I have had three kids and contribute my huge stomach to just that. But I would not mind it so much if the bottom of my stomach as big instead of the top. But both the bottom and top and always bulging out no matter what I wear. I try to hold it in as much as I could but that is normally uncomfortable. I am 5ft 3 and 170 pounds. I always thought crunches alone would do the trick. Should I work first on toning dowm the top part first and both?

Lisa's Response:

If you're doing crunches alone without changing your diet then your stomach
will get bigger. That's what happened to me.

This is because you are building muscle with the crunches but you're not
losing any body fat. Losing your stomach means losing weight ALL OVER. You can't just spot tone and slim your stomach by itself.

So you need to start eating lots of protein (fish, eggs, nuts) and cutting
down on sugars and fatty foods. Also not eating late at night is another
big thing because a lot of people have more of a bloating problem than they
realize.

You can't choose what part of your stomach to lose. It all goes together
and it won't start reducing until you exercise (full body not just crunches)
and lower your fat intake.

If you remember nothing else, just remember that a flatter stomach comes
with an overall weight loss program, not just crunching.

Hope that helps!