hi guys welcome back to my channel so in
today's highly requested video I'm gonna
be sharing the 10 things that I did to
help get my stomach flat and tight post
baby keep watching so that the video is
especially helpful if you're someone
that did not leave the hospital and lose
a ton of weight or still has a soft
stomach because that was me so a little
background for you guys if you're new
here during pregnancy I gained about 48
pounds pre pregnancy I was 156 pounds
post or the day not post the day I
delivered I was around 204 pounds yes
curl 204 and then now currently I'm
about 138 pounds so that kind of gives
you some understanding of how much
weight I gained especially in my stomach
moving on to now and that's important
because I want you to understand that I
gained a lot of weight in my stomach my
muscles were extremely loose this side
of my ABS is like who is she and the
other side of my ABS was like who said
that and I had to bring them together
girl I had to bring them together and it
was a long time coming but if you're
someone that has a very soft stomach
maybe you're suffering from diastasis
recti you have a mummy tummy or your
stomach is just hanging down low girl
I'm here to tell you it's gonna be
alright I promise you I never thought my
stomach would look the way it does now
the first tip I want to give you for how
to make your stomach both flat and tight
post-baby is going to be focused on your
TV aids your TV aids are your transverse
abdominus and some people often call
them the corset of your belly so think
about that part of your abs that is the
part that cinches it all together honey
when you see people wearing waist
trainers they essentially want their abs
to be cinched together so don't get me
wrong I'm not suggesting a waist trainer
but I'm just trying to give you a visual
of what TVA's are you can focus on your
TV aids by doing things like side planks
as well as glute bridges and I'm gonna
put a link here of one of the videos
I've already done which outlines basic
intermediate and advanced workouts you
can do that focus just on your TVA's by
focusing on your TVAAS and avoiding any
regular crunches or anything that's
going to cause
your stomach to bulge or dome you're
really focusing on bringing the size of
your abdomen together versus like a
crunch which is really think of your abs
are like this they used to know each
other but now they're like this post
baby and you do a crunch you're really
just gonna squish your abs down and
protrude what you have what mummy tell
me you have more verses a TV a like a
side plank imagine this is your abs on
the side when you squeeze and do your
hip dips or bring your hips up it's
gonna bring your abdomen together so in
short focus on your TVA's and avoid
doing regular crunches or any regular
moves so one thing that I definitely
suggest is doing your research on
diastasis recti but my stomach was
extremely soft and at my 6-week
appointment my doctor was like you're
clear to work out girl you don't have dr
and i was just like are you sure because
she's really soft down there and she's
really squishy in the middle and she was
like just do Pilates listen I'm gonna
tell you right now if I was you what I
would do is I would still train as if I
had diastasis recti even if I did it or
even if the doctor said I did it because
by doing that my waist and my core is
more snatched now after having this big
baby than before and I hundred thousand
percent believe it's because I had been
focusing on my TDA's for the first 10
months postpartum I didn't even do a
regular crunch till the day before I was
ten months postpartum and even now I've
offloaded I didn't like the way the
crunches were making me feel so I still
only do workouts that are friendly to my
TVA's and again I'm gonna put it in the
description box below so you can watch
my step-by-step video where I'm sharing
just really easy moves with you that are
friendly to diastasis recti to snatch
that mummy some meat honey and are
really good for your core so number one
TVA's number two girl wah
and i'll walk it out now lock it out
what's that walk it up walk because
walking is an amazing form of low impact
cardio it doesn't cost stress on your
body it's
one of the only things most of us can do
postpartum so I started walking at about
three weeks but that girl I was barely
even getting to the mailbox and back
okay six weeks is really when I started
walking one mile two miles three miles
when I tell you walking I was going so
slow like the elderly people that live
in our community girl they were lapping
me at the lake and I was just like I
knew baby you know pushing the stroller
but it was really me since I I just
really couldn't move but while walking
is gonna do is it's actually one of the
top forms of weight loss and we know
that we can't just spot reduce one
section like we can't say we want to be
slim thick and we want to leave the baby
weight everywhere except in our stomach
and by walking you're gonna increase
your metabolism in a low-impact way
that's going to encourage you to lose a
lot of that weight around your belly and
one thing that I will say is that you
really want to be gentle when you're
easing into working out because your
pelvic floor your booty girl there's a
lot of things that just need care okay
three eliminate and by eliminate I'm
talking about out of your body girl like
are you going to the bathroom girl and
not just when you're on the stool
softener the one thing I would suggest
is investing in a squatty potty it's
supposed to make you go to the bathroom
and in the way that like I hate sink
cave people the cavemen cave women would
and basically let me say our
predecessors the people that came before
us the way they would use the toilet
before there was functioning water and
functioning toilets okay so a squatty
potty also another way to help with your
elimination is making sure you're
getting both soluble and insoluble fiber
in your day the basically soluble and
insoluble fiber one of them helps bulk
up your poop and the other one helps get
it out girl so I get it out of there and
you really need both because that's
gonna help it be just easy breezy lemon
squeezy okay girl you're gonna be able
to go to the bathroom
minimal pushy you're gonna have a
squatty potty it's gonna be a whole
self-care extravaganza another thing
that can help you eliminate to help with
your flat tummy progress is going to be
digestive and
I'm gonna put the one I get from Amazon
here and I just take one at night with
whatever meal I have and that also is
just going to encourage that your body
is absorbing but it needs to absorb and
letting go of what she needs to let go
of now I know it sounds crazy because
we're used to doing like legs one day
and arms the next day and then full-body
and then but girl core like they don't
know each other and you need to like
resurrect that relationship with the
right side of your abs in the left side
of your abs and I'm not seeing gold
balls to the wall I'm just saying with
caution and doing those really gentle
moves if it's five minutes a day girl I
promise you like there was two weeks
where I took off from doing that five
minutes a day and I noticed my core
noticed it was a dramatic difference but
just doing five minutes a day maybe you
want to do side planks maybe you just
want to do a hold maybe you want to do
glute bridges whatever move it is that's
at the stage you're at specifically the
moves that are going to help with your
transverse abdominus those are the ones
you want to do five minutes a day the
next thing that I'm going to tell you is
to reduce processed food now I know she
doesn't want to hear this because
believe me when you're a new mom and
you're going through all of the heck
tossa T that is motherhood and the
newborn days you're like I deserve
because yes you are a queen and you do
deserve everything that you desire in
this life but we also desire to have a
flat tummy and by eliminating wine
eliminating candy specifically in all
those really starchy processed foods
that really just sit on your stomach
that is going to help reveal these
beautiful ABS that you're building by
doing your transverse abdominus workouts
so I'm not saying don't treat yourself
but I'm just saying treat yourself a
moderation like I realized I was saying
I deserve every night and it was like 10
p.m. girl and I was like I deserve a
Twix bar but do you know but do you
deserve twigs because you're kind of
conflicting with your goals though and
so what I started doing was I was
okay I do deserve so maybe I'm gonna do
this instead maybe I'm gonna have a
piece of dark chocolate but instead of
doing it at 10 p.m. I'm gonna do it at 4
or 5 p.m. and maybe I do deserve so I'm
gonna make myself a hot honey latte with
collagen instead of saying I deserve let
me go to Starbucks let me add on that
turkey cheddar bacon let me you know
what I'm saying which leads me to number
6 try out intermittent fasting
now when I say ciao intermittent fasting
I'm saying this with love because I am
someone that does not like drastic
regimens and things that don't feel like
a lifestyle so I was given people to
side-eye because I'm like girl you know
how hard it is for me too fast for the
Lord you think I'm about to fast for
this stomach lake and what I did was I
just stopped eating after 8 p.m. and
didn't eat again to the morning and I
never thought oh that was considered an
intermittent fasting but it is you're
allowing your body to take time to rest
your digestive system to rest and
process all the stuff you've been given
an all-day girl but I would say consult
your doctor and if your doctor gives you
the green light you don't have to eat
after 8 p.m. you will be fine and that
actually that minor shift at about the 4
month mark was one of the things that
brought the most dramatic results and
changes for me which is amazing I didn't
even think I was eating that much at
night I would have like an avocado at
1:00 in the morning because I'm like my
baby needs her nutrients and she's
breastfeeding on demand sis listen our
baby was in the 90th and 99th percentile
for height and weight
her whole newborn stage even now she's
she's never had a problem with weight
even when I stopped eating my avocados
at 1:00 in the morning and I stopped
eating my toast at 3:00 a.m. so I
research even besides what I'm telling
you now like do your own research and
really dig in to find your intuitive
eating style how much do you actually
have to eat but for me the girl didn't
need Alva kados at 1:00 in the morning
okay like she did not the next tip I'm
gonna give you tip number seven is keep
your core engaged all day if you can
make it a little game with yourself girl
no one has to know you're in line and
cyst is snatched and she's ready no one
needs to know okay but actually keeping
your core engaged and not sucking your
stomach in there's a different
difference keeping your core engaged and
just flexing and keeping everything
tight together even when you have a soft
stomach still is really gonna help your
core get to know each other again those
sides of your abdomen like I said we
need to rebuild that relationship and
just by doing that keeping my core
engaged here of the day maybe I was
washing the bottles also being mindful
of my posture when I was breastfeeding
the baby when I was laying down and was
going to get up just keeping everything
really tight that helped me and it
helped me to be mindful of what my core
was doing throughout the day and not
just when I was working out now I have
been a cardio queen for most of my life
as a former cheerleader and dancer I
just feel like you can snatch edges and
slay in with your hair for God's and
that's a workout but really in the last
few years I've been shifting to more
strength training but the most has been
postpartum I shifted from doing 20%
strength training and 80% cardio to 80%
strength training and 20% cardio so
still walking so making sure I'm doing
low-impact things to help get my
metabolism going and to get rid of some
of that body fat a strength training has
been one of the most impactful things
for getting my core tree established
postpartum most of my strength training
was full-body was my lower body my arms
like doing compound movements that was
getting my metabolism going but not
necessarily just focused on my core I
would be engaging my core but the moves
themselves weren't specific to core
movements but what that was doing was it
was building the muscle in all of my
body parts and it was helping to speed
up my metabolism and reduce my belly fat
which leads me to my next thing which is
number 9 and that's expect your skin to
look a little different now I'm sure
you're like what are you saying because
you may be at the beating of your
and you don't really see it yet I still
have skin that is just not as snatched
it's kind of serving up raisin goodness
you know what I'm saying
it's just wrinkly and at the end of the
day I have peace with that because I
never even thought that my stomach would
get this flat so like she's fine with it
but I just want you to know in case
you're at the beginning of your journey
like your stomach skin may look
different and so you have to be able to
distinguish between what's extra skin
and what's actually body fat you know
your stomach might already be flat but
it might just be extra skin and so
that's something I would give to you on
your journey is just being able to self
distinguish that what's skin and what's
body back ok the last thing I'm going to
tell you tip number 10 to help you
snatch that stomach get it flat and
tight postpartum is going to be mix of
your workouts if you are doing the same
thing every single day you will hit a
plateau you're gonna start losing fat on
your belly your metabolism is going to
slow down think about how easy it is to
be on the elliptical and not even
remember you were on the elliptical or
you can be walking on the treadmill and
be like oh I've been checking my emails
responding to Instagram checking my
YouTube like you can do all those things
and I think it's really important to
take a step back and identify low-impact
workouts that you can do that really
force you to be engaged write things
that aren't gonna allow you to just zone
out and not even be engaged with your
body so mix up what you're doing for me
that's why I like classpass you guys saw
it when I shared my weight loss journey
how I dropped 66 pounds post partum
video I talked about class pass how I
started trying pull classes and I even
did like a hammock fitness class which
is like at an aerial studio and those I
did a little bit later once I felt like
my core was starting to get a little bit
stronger probably not about like to the
9 or 10 month point but there are other
forms of cardio working out you can do
that are low impact and that you can
kind of tweak to work for you wherever
you are in your journey so like dance
classes hello girl those are amazing you
know with Zumba you can take it at your
with a lot of these hip-hop classes and
hip-hop cardio classes you don't have to
be trying to be doing the most being in
the Super Bowl at JLo you can be taking
it at your pace and chillin in the cut
but you're also going to be working out
in a way that your body was not
expecting so I do encourage doing things
that are different barre class is a
really good option they have tons of
modifications that are for people that
are pregnant early on postpartum and
just your regular shoe mangler girls
okay the thing I love about bar is that
they do a lot of TVA work they're
constantly focusing on making sure that
you're bringing your abdomen together so
at the beginning of the class you can
just pop by and be like hey sis just
won't let you know how to baby X amount
of months ago or years ago so be honest
I still do this sometimes like if I'm
new to a studio the instructor will
usually come up and be like hi so nice
to meet you do you have any injuries I'm
like well I don't have any injuries but
I just want to make you aware that I did
have a baby X amount of time ago and
they're always like okay great
did you have a c-section which is
another thing to add I didn't I had a
vaginal birth but people always are
surprised that I'm so cautious on my
core being that I didn't have a
c-section and I don't think you have to
have a c-section to be cautious on your
core I'm so glad I took things as slowly
as I did because my abs wouldn't be
wouldn't know each other at this point
and she didn't eat her way into it so
don't be afraid to take things as slow
as you need like I know a lot of people
just think I'm out here going ham doing
all kind of jumping from the monkey bars
and doing pull-ups no I still to this
day I'm doing the moves that I was doing
back at 2 or 3 months postpartum and I
want to encourage you like don't give up
and so I would just say keep going even
if you had your baby 3 years ago 5 years
ago like these things I mentioned they
can be so helpful for you they are
things that are going to help bring your
core together it's going to make your
stomach flatter that's going to help
your overall heart health your cardio
your metabolism your circulation in your
blood so just don't give up I think the
most pivotal things if I had to take 3
of the top things from these
and that really helped me ooh how can I
take three well number one is definitely
the TVA working out like doing these
moves were the best thing and I know
this is I still want to use this as my
one but like doing them daily next thing
I would say it was definitely the
intermittent fasting like even if you
don't make a drastic change in your
eating habits just giving your time your
body time to breathe at night and like
rejuvenate and actually process what I
had already been putting in was major so
TVA's intermittent fasting and
definitely strength training number
three would be strength training because
just overall my entire body composition
is different now like my waist is
tighter I never used to have like okay
well it doesn't look like that big of a
deal but like I actually have super soft
I've always had those like really juicy
arms and my husband will like come up
behind me he loves to squeeze my juicy
arms and now I'm like squeeze them and
I've earned this so wherever you are in
your journey I just really want to
encourage you like nobody's journey is
like yours you are so unique and you are
perfectly wonderfully made there's no
one else like you and girl you still got
the juice don't let this little belly or
whatever situation you're dealing with
make you feel less than because there is
nobody like you'd be encouraged if
you're new here I would love you to
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thanks for watching
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