How I escaped looking permanently pregnant

As it turns out, if you are 4'11", and of average weight, and you've been pregnant twice, you might have this happen too. My abs after Changa were so shot out, that I looked 3 months pregnant. Forever. I did not consider this a nice party favor from birthing Chispa and Changa. Because I was extremely fit, (working out 5 days a week, biking 50 miles or so once a week etc.), clerks at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods were most confident, and asked me WHEN I was due with my next little one. Being asked that daily for two years got very very very old. I alternated between hurt feelings and vitriolic anger. Mostly it depressed me. My mother in law thought I was exaggerating, till she witnessed it on a trip to Trader Joe's with me. Yes, it really was happening every time I walked in to a store, or anywhere, really.

Changa snapped this lovely photo in late June of 2007. I don't have much of the "before" tummy in photos, I seem to have oddly deleted them all as they appeared on my camera. Somehow this one, which wasn't as horrifying as some, escaped the ax.


I thought I was doing everything I could, but I also knew I had a diastasis recti, where the "crunch-abs", the rectus abodminus separates along the midline of your body from pregnancy. I also knew I could rip that sucker open further if I was so imprudent as to do the wrong exercises, and had done some amount of research online. I asked every trainer at my gym, at the time, right after Changa was born, and nobody really knew how to help me. So I soldiered on, hoping it would improve with my general workout regime. It did not.

Upon meeting with a new Ob/Gyn, she declared I'd need surgery to correct the whole saggy tummy mess. This sent me into a tailspin of despair and worry. My good friend google came to the rescue this time, and I found www.befitmom.com. Since she was in driving distance, I wrote her a long email, asking her to take me as a client, explaining both the details of my fitness regime, that I was a dedicated fitness sort, but needed help, and explained the problem. She no longer was taking a lot of personal clients, yet agreed. We met once a month for 3 months, and she told me what I needed to do. I've faithfully done the exercises ever since.

People at first, were stopping me, they were so amazed how much better I looked in a few months. Such sweet elixer, the words "Have you lost weight?" Each one helped to fade the hurt feelings of all the innocent comments of the last 2 years. And I loved answering. "NO. I haven't lost a pound. I found a trainer who helped me fix my abs!!!!" As it turns out, my transverse abs had decided they were no longer needed and had stopped participating in my life. This is BAD, as these are the corset abs beneath one's belly button that holds one's body in. My organs were hanging out there flapping in the breeze, hence my looking pregnant. Lovely, thought, no? The beauty is, it was fixable.

So now for the visual. Last July, I had a bridesmaid dress custom tailored and resewn to fit me for J and H's wedding. The tummy was here, in hiding.



I went to the trainer in August/Sept/Oct. By December, for Mr. H's formal holiday parthy, the skirt of the dress was falling off me!!! My nanny had to pin me in! I wore it again for a gala thing last month (May 2008) for Chispa's school next year, and now I have pictorial proof.






Yes, it is possible to repair one's abs with nothing more than doing some concentrated well-thought-out exercises. No surgery need apply.
THANK YOU HELENE!!!!!!!!! Thank you for enabling me to get my body back.

N.B. I do still have the fingertip-width diastasis, but my savior-trainer is confident it isn't a problem, from a safety standpoint. I'm OK with that.