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I had my son 7 yrs ago and I still have the extra skin.If anyone has any idae what we can do let me know.

I had a c-section 3 weeks ago today. When is it ok to start doing situps and excersizes and stuff?? I dont want my incision to bust open!

In my case my abdominal muscles WERE cut according to my OBs...I am so narrow hip-to-hip and pubis-to-sacrum they didn't have enough room to only push the muscles aside. Needless to say, a very painful way to have a baby and I had the same cutting with the rest of my kids. I am an ex-level 10 gymnast and I was very fortunate in literally sinking in stomach-wise on the delivery tables. My babies were 7' 8, 7' 5, 5' 9, 6' 10 so they weren't huge but too big for me. My advice is to go slowly, eat small hi-protein meals several times a day to stimulate your metabolism, cut out fats and sugars and eat plenty of fruit and veggies. Get rid of the sugar sodas if you drink them and subst_tute water. If you knock off 200 cals a day of junk (you'll hardly miss that) and do NOTHING else you will lose 2 lbs. in 35 days, and that's doing nothing else...imagine if you put your mind to it. When your doctor says it's okay try crunches instead of full sit-ups, sit-ups just give you a hard pot-belly. You ladies who carried two babies are to be especially admired!

I had my aby 5 months ago. I gained 60 pounds. I am now at 148, and was at 183 when I gave birth by c-section. I hate how I look. Fat! I have always been a small frame gal, but not anymore. I was at about 120 when I got pregnant. I do walk about 3 times a week for 2 hours, but they are slow walks. I have had such awful back pain, and foot pain since my c-section, working out hard, I haven't yet. I feel like I will never be back to normal again. I have felt very down about myself. Like I should have been more careful when I was pregnant, and watched my weight gain? My tummy was very extended and huge. They said it was due to my fiberiods. It looked as if I was having twins. I never saw my b___t, but if I did. I would have freaked out. I reallly didn't realize how big I was, until after the fact. Please if anyone has any good tips? Will I ever have my body back? Will this depressed feeling go away. I have always been thin, now it's freaking me out to be heavy. I am also almost 40, so I'm scared I will never lose it. Help! I need a good diet plan.

To Kat-What kind of depression are you having? Weird thoughts? Afraid you will hurt yourself or your baby? If so, get to your doctor immediately, ok? If you are just depressed because you are heavier than you have ever been...then we can help you a bit. I recently had a hysterectomy due to adverse conditions related to c-sections and I had some firbroids as well. The fibroids do account for abdominal bloat and if they are large enough can weigh many pounds. Have they ultrasounded the fibroids to see if they have continued to grow? I suggest you have a v____al ultrasound to monitor their gowth for if they are getting larger, you won't be able to lose your stomach and the pounds. Try finding areas of you diet that you can immediately cut out or switch to sugar-free or diet...no matter how much we hate it, if we take in more calories than we burn, we will keep or gain weight...(a few medical conditions aside) You really MUST try Pilates!!!! It is the greatest at-home work-out and any mom can do it while her baby takes a nap...in 30 minutes or less. Get a DVD and get started with your doctors ok. Good Luck, and write again if you are still depressed, people care here.

To djh. Thanks for the advise. You are very kind. It feels good to be able to write about what I am feeling, and to read how everyone else feels. I wished I found this site sooner. I am depressed, but I do not want to hurt myself or my baby. I just want to be thin again, and look like me. Today was a good day. My housekeeper who hasn't seem me in 2 months said I looked good, she never lies. When I was pregnant she kept reminding me how large I was getting, everywhere. This month I go in for another ultrasound to see what's going on? I keep you posted. Thank you for the workout tips. My back hurts a lot, so I will take it slow. I'm not sure if it is the weight gain, or the fiberiods? Thank you again, you are very sweet. You have really made me feel better.

I was wondering how long would it take to lose the weight after an c section? My baby is now an toddler and my stomach is there. I really don't know how much i weigh now, but I was an double zero. Is there anything that I can do?

Hi I had my second C-section 9-1-05 and I lost a LOT of weight this time out. It just melted off, no clue as to why this time and not the first time. The first time (12 yrs ago) it was months and months and I never totally lost all the weight I gained w/ that pregnancy. I had about 11 extra lbs on and never went away. I lost that about 4 yrs ago by walking 3.9 miles every morning and cutting out the occasional cookie snacks. But with that said, I still never got back into a size five jeans. My hips were wider from childbirth and there's no way to change THAT. And I had a flat tummy by working my a** for it. HOWEVER, that being said, I always had a little bulge above the incision scar that just never went away no matter what I did. And

Well I have the same problem, except I had my daughter 2 1/5 years ago!! It took me about a year to lose most of the weight that i had gained with her, probably about 42lbs. But my problem now is my belly, I am guessing most of it is fat, but some may be extra skin I don't know? I am 115lbs but my belly protrudes and I am a stick everywhere else! I don't know what to do. I heard nothing but sit-ups will get rid of it but I have a feeling I am stuck with my three rolls of belly now:(

I do not think it is harder to loose weight after a c-section,I'm not sure mind,all I can say is when my mother had my older brother,naturally,she said she ended up lighter than when she got married,when she had me,again naturally,she could not get rid of the weight.With my two,I had such a tough time naturally,I found it hard to loose the weight,mind you that was the least of my worries!My 2nd by section was easier all round,although I accept that I will never be as I was,part of it to do with age,the other because either way I accept your boby stretches so much,that it generally is harder,but you get there.I have a sister-in-law,who is very tiny,but she told me that even though she is small,after 4 children she is not like she was,they were all born naturally,also when she got pregnant the last couple of times it showed very early,she told me it was because her muscles has been stretched,and weakened that it shows earlier.

I delivered October 21st and have lost all of my weight (I gained 24 lbs). I still look pregnant. I have no stomach muscles. I cannot even suck in my stomach. I go for my 6 week check this week. After that I am going to have to excercise my a__s off (literally). I cannot fit into any of my clothes except sweats. So depressing!

I must counter what a poster said a while back, sometimes the abdominal muscles are indeed cut, if the surgeon needs more room, if the position of the baby is off, if the mother is very narrow hip-to-hip, etc. the muscles sometimes require actual cutting. I know as this happened to me and I work in labor and delivery. So if you did have your muscles cut, it WILL be harder to get them back and if your scar adheres to the underlying fascia (gets stuck to it) you will quite possibly have an overhang of the tissue above it permanently. Even a pound or two of extra belly weight can cause this lip to form. If you had twins (God Bless you!) Your abdominal muscles were stretched beyond what the human tummy was meant to go to and sometimes the muscles can't recover. If that is the case they must be tightened surgically. Hope this helps some. I had my ab muscles cut due to my hip width and a total lack of room in my pelvic area and I got my flat tummy back within a couple weeks...just lucky with good genes. Don't despair, you will recover some!

It just takes time due to those muscles being cut. Just keep up with what you are doing, also you may want to add wieghts to your routine, this helps strengthen quicker than just cardio alone. I have notice a quick improvement with pilates. You may want to try that to. Good luck. Oh yeah, & a lot of water :)

I dont think it's harder to lose weight after a c-section but I do think it is harder to get your stomach back for sure. I am lighter than I was before the C-section but my stomach isn't the same - Will wait for baby #2 then decide what to do with the stomach!

Hey Kat...you out there? I hope things are going well for you. I bet you are on track to losing all your weight and I bet you look beautiful by now. Write back and let us know how the fibroids are, they are awful and can cause all kinds of referred pain. I know, I had them too, and due to scar tissue from c's and those buggers I had a hysterectomy while still young. My lower back pain was partially due to the fibroids, the other stuff was due to c-sections. Hope all you ladies are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

There's a book called "Mummy Tummy" or something like that. It talks about the muscle separation during pregnancy. See if your library has it. Also, you might want to see if your thyroid is out of wack because that could also be the problem. It's a simple blood test. Sometimes it happens during pregnancy.