Does your tummy still look pregnant, even though
you had your baby months ago? Is your post
pregnancy belly not squidgy, or jelly-belly like, but
rather hard + protruding, as if you were 5 months
pregnant again?
This could be due to a condition known as diastasis
recti. But other factors could also be causing it…
This can be more confusing when the rest of your
body is relatively lean or slim, but the mummy tummy
hasn’t gone away. It doesn’t *feel* like excess fat,
because it’s firm + sticks out, literally like when you
were pregnant.
Sometimes it gets worse throughout the day, getting
bigger at the end of the day or after a big meal.
Bottom line, you’re fed up with being asked when
the next one’s due, + can’t understand why the rest
of your body has pretty much ‘gone back’, but the
belly is still a BIG problem.
OK, well there are a few factors which could be
contributing:
FOOD
Firstly, + this applies especially if your belly seems to
get bigger throughout the day, or if you feel bloated
or uncomfortable after eating: there could be excess
sugar in your diet, +/or you could have developed an
intolerance to certain foods. All of these will cause
swelling + bloating, as undigested food in your
intestine is literally ‘pushing’ your stomach outwards.
Cut out processed foods, including sugar, + try cutting
out wheat + dairy as well for a few weeks. None of
these foods are necessary for healthy diet so you
won’t come to any harm by removing them for a
while! And try to monitor when it feels worse. Very
often women complain of bloating which varies
throughout the day – if this is the case for you, then
your muscles are not to blame, this is a food and/or
digestive issue
Clean up your diet as much as you can, drink plenty of
water + herbal teas to encourage digestion + eat
plenty of fibre in the form of whole fruits +
vegetables, high quality protein with every meal +
limited carbs, such as wholegrain rice, quinoa, rye,
oats + spelt (Note: the last 3 grains on this list contain
gluten… you may be intolerant to all gluten containing
foods, so if the problems persist, you may need to go
totally gluten free).
But sugar is the place to start… it may well be all you
need to cut out, to see a dramatic difference + to
make you feel a whole lot more comfortable.
ALIGNMENT
Second possible cause is your posture, or more
correctly, your alignment. The posture of pregnancy +
mothering doesn’t do the profile of our tummies any
favours! Imagine your pelvis is a bowl of water, which
you have to keep upright to stop the water spilling… If
you are over-arching your back OR tucking your
tailbone underneath you, then your pelvis is not
optimally aligned, + the outward pressure on the
rectus muscle (the one that splits with a diastasis) as
well as the downward pressure on your pelvic floor, is
increased. It also further weakens your transverse
muscle, the important one to strengthen to get a flat
tummy.
INCORRECT CORE EXERCISES
Thirdly, you may be ‘exercising your core’, but it is
possible to go through the motions of these exercises
without engaging the transverse muscle correctly.
The key is what your lower abdomen looks like as you
do them. Does it bulge out at all? If so, you are
unknowingly increasing intra-abdominal pressure +
training the muscles to push outward still further. You
may be ‘bearing down’ or pushing (yes, this relates to
your pelvic floor muscles too!) when you want to be
achieving the opposite. When you engage your
transverse muscles correctly, the lower abdomen
should hollow inwards as the muscle contracts.
DIASTASIS RECTI
And the fourth factor is of course, diastasis recti…
plenty more on diastasis recti here.
LASTLY…
A bloated, painful + swollen abdomen CAN be a sign of
something very serious like ovarian cancer – this is not
to scare you, but simply to say that there’s no harm in
getting checked out if you’re really concerned.
Remember this is much less likely, + the above are
much more likely causes.
I hope this helps! Are YOU fed up with being asked
when the next one’s due?



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