What to do About Loose Belly Skin
After Having a Baby

Having a baby can seriously wreak your body. Not only have you been subject to 6 months worth of kicks and jabs, but now that everything is over, you still can't get your body back because of the loose, stretched skin puddling around your tummy.

Whether you've given birth naturally or via C-section, this is a dilemma that plagues most women after having a baby, especially those that gain significant amounts of weight with their pregnancy.

But the good news is there are some definite solutions to loose belly skin.

Of course the most obvious solution is plastic surgery. Having a tummy tuck is the solution that most women find when searching for a solution to loose skin. Unfortunately this procedure is expensive, can be very painful, and takes a long time to recover from.

Personally the idea of having surgery just for cosmetic reasons is inconceivable. Why waste so much money and time on a totally unnecessary procedure? What about the potential risks of infection, anesthesia, and getting sick from staying in the hospital with so many sick people?

There is another option that many women don't want to hear about.

It's called exercise.

You might think that your loose skin is a permanent fixture, that once your growing baby stretched your skin out, that was it, there was no going back. Most mainstream media wants you to believe this and pay thousands of dollars to cut and tuck that problematic skin away.

The truth is, the skin is elastic! Your skin is constantly growing and dying, constantly shedding cells and fitting to your skin as tightly as it can.

But what about all your loose, hanging skin?

If this was all just skin, it would be very, very thin. It wouldn't hang in just one big puddle around your waistline, it would sit in tiny folds, like your eyelid does with it folds up.

So this means that there is something else in your loose hanging skin that's stopping it from tightly fitting to your tummy as you like.

It's called body fat.

Along with your baby, you probably also gained a significant amount of body fat. After giving birth, this body fat is left just under the surface of your skin. This excess fat causes your skin to pool and puddle around your waste line, arms and even breasts if you loose significant amounts of weight in a short amount of time.

So an alternative solution to cinch up your loose skin, is to tone, tighten, and firm your body, lose your excess body fat, and be patient as your skin shrinks back into place.

After my son was born in February 2007, I had a small amount of loose skin resting around my belly. I had not gained a significant amount of body fat, so I very easily toned and firmed this skin back into place by the time my son was 6 months old.

You don't have to go crazy exerting yourself to loose your excess skin. Take it easy - you just had a baby after all!

Start with just taking a daily walk with your new baby. I liked to stroll with my son down the street and back twice a day. Gradually we started walking farther until we were walking about 30 minutes each day.

As you find more energy in your day, start doing 20 crunches when you wake up and in the evening before bath time. Gradually build up to 100 crunches a day. Make sure when you do crunches you're pulling yourself up entirely by your stomach muscles, not by your arms.

Your goal here is not to lose pounds because most women return to their natural pre-baby weight naturally. You do not want to become underweight, especially if your breastfeeding. Make sure you're eating a healthy, balanced diet that will support your activities and your energy level.

To encourage your skin to fit back into shape, regularly massage your belly in the shower. Using an gentle exfoliating scrub, exfoliate the skin around your belly. This will stimulate more skin cells to divide, encouraging your skin to repair itself and shrink back into shape.

Be patient with your body and persistent in your work to firm and tighten your loose skin. Take your time and enjoy your new baby!

© Leah Day Online: What to do About Loose Belly Skin After Having a Baby