Big Belly--Separated Abs

I was told the same thing by my gyn and worse, that my "thin" abdominal muscle could lead to lower back problems. Occasionally I get a horrible charly horse in my lower left abdominals and my gyn told me that this was my bladder getting caught in my ab muscles. She told me no amount of situps or abwork would help - only an abdominoplasty. I would love to have more information as well - I have searched on the net and not been able to find anything. And admominoplasty is not much of a choice right now as I am still constantly lifting both of my children (which you are not supposed to do for up to 10 weeks after the surgery)!

hi S.. i am new to this site but i can tell you the only way to lose the pooch is by aerobic exercise, like rollerblading, dancing, etc. or you can even try yoga which stretches your muscles. you have probably built up a very good six pack with your crunches but you can't see it because of the layer of fat over it. i promise , aerobic exercise will take it away, give it a try. jesi

I know you may not be comfortable with how you look. I'm not real happy about still looking 6-7 months pregant & my daughter is nearly 2. CONGRATULATIONS you have achieved something of which I'm still dreaming. Thankfully, my husband seems to really like how I look (just a plumper figure of what I was).
Lots of luck. Sounds like you're on the right track.

I'm assuming that you have a pooch - like when you were about 5 months pregnant.... It can be tough to get your abs back. I had three kids in three years, and was 29 when I had my first. I bounced back after the first two, but the third (who is now almost a year and a half) has given my body some trouble. I too have been working my abs a lot, and have now found that I really need to add more aerobic activity in order to get that last little layer of fat off. Everyones abs seperate during pregnancy and whereas, it may never return to exactly the same, you still should be able to loose the pooch. Good luck...

i have the same problem let me know if anything works!! ive asked alot of people and my doctor no solutions isnt that wonderful?good luck

well my son is 1 and the way i lost my belly is that i did weight watchers for awhile now i just exercise an i have lost alot of my belly good luck with everything

Hi Selena,
Your ob is absolutely wrong that plastic surgery is your only option. Separated abs usually occur when a belly gets big really fast or when one has weak abdominal muscles before a pregnancy. They haven't actually separated from the bones, they just thinned out. They need to be strengthened with ab exercises. For future reference, it's best to start these once your doctor gives you the okay to exercise again (usually at 6 weeks). My midwife always recommended crunches. I found some other exercises at pregnancy-info.net (search separated muscles). Frankly, if your ob/gyn couldn't give you that basic information, it would make me wonder what other basic information he doesn't know. I'd be looking for a new one. Good luck.

I completely agree...your doctor is just trying to get more money out of you. Plastic surgery is NOT needed. Your abs will strength through exercise. However, I gained ALOT of weight with my son. I was 135 lbs when I found out I was pregnant and when I had him...I was 192 lbs. Thats a huge weight gain. But my son was only a 7lb 10oz baby. Now, Im back down to 123lbs. Its really all about exercise. I wish you luck. I hope everything goes well

FYI to those of you who have NO CLUE what separated abs are...The abs are NOT separated from the BONE they are actually separated from each other. The abdominal muscles are two separate muscles and during most pregnancies the muscles can stretch and NOT separate. In cases where the muscles are not strong enough to handle a large baby, the muscles actually separate. In some cases, the muscles NEVER grow back together and this is what you are talking about. All of my children were over 9lbs and cause my abdominal muscles to separate and to never grow back together. No exercise, including the Firm, will EVER grow these muscles back together! I have had second and third opinions from OBGYN's, regular docs and plastic surgeons. It's human nature. Now, you can tone it up to where it doesn't LOOK so bad, but you will NEVER get the muscles to grow back together. (Straight from a board certified medical doctor. NOT a plastic surgeon!)

My suggestion is that if you are planning on having more babies, wait on the plastic surgery because it is painful. They actually have to pull the muscles together and then sew them together. I have not had it done...yet...because I have chickened out twice now. I am not big on pain. I am 30 years young and have done a TON of research on this. My tummy is far from looking like I am preggo, but I KNOW my muscles are separated and when I try to do a sit-up, I can see the separation and anyone that I LET see it can see it. It's a vanity thing. Good Luck!!

Hi S., I am not sure if advice is what I am giving, but I am at least in touch with your emotion. During pregnancy the abdominal wall is supposed to "give and open" to allow the baby/uterus to be cradled during gestation. Although this is supposed to happen, it doesn't always go the way god intended I believe.

My abdominal wall seperated as well, but I believe if I remember correctly, after I had my twins (3rd pregnancy, all big babies, natural birth to 4 kids..what the heck is my body thinking about me?LOL!!) I had an exam post delivery and my OB told me that he believed that my abdominal wall seperated, like they should, but rather than cross ways which is I believe the "correct" direction, mine seperated long ways, like when you try to open a banana and it just splits open down from the stem. So I understand what you are going through.

I am also tall and "built", 5'8" and about 165 right now, my oldest is 14 (8lbs. 1 oz.), then the 12 yr. old (9lb. 1 oz.) and the twins are now 7 (he was 8lbs. 3 oz. and she was 6 lb. 12 oz.)so that was about 15 pounds of just baby, whew and no, no bed rest and an induction at 38 weeks I am actually made of kevlar! LOL!. I think my poor little abs said "Oh forget about it" and they gave up. I am 32 and have yet to get my tummy back like it should be, but little by little it does seem to improve. You can try cross directional crunch type exercises as well as swaying in a circular motion while sitting to work your entire abdominal region or do what I did and join Curves, which was wonderful, just ladies of all shapes and sizes and I lost over 20 inches over all, but this was also after the significant weight loss I had as well!

I am not a work-out-a-holic by any stretch of the imagination and I have lost a significant amount of weight since back in the day, about 60 pounds, so between the seperated abs and the flabby skin, I so feel your pain. Just keep at it and keep trying and maybe one day, you can get it fixed. I hope to.

I have never considered any type of vanity surgery before, well except for bringing my boobs back above sea level, they look great while I am laying down, but forget that standing up without a bra thing, LOL! However, this would be a surgery that I would seriously consider. I hate bending over in the shower to wash my feet or something and find my poor tummy dangling there so haphazardly with the big split down the center. Makes me feel bad and detest my ex-husband even more for what he did to me...cause you know it's always the ex's fault, LOL!

At any rate, keep your chin up and know that I understand and hope nothing but the best for you! Take care, Kat