15 Ways to Get Rid of Belly Fat After C-Section Delivery

1. Breastfeeding

No need to wait to start breastfeeding. As soon as your precious bundle of joy is born, you can start breastfeeding.

Believe it or not, breastfeeding can actually help flatten your belly. Not only does breastfeeding burn about 500 extra calories per day, but it also releases a hormone called oxytocin that stimulates uterine contractions, speeding up your uterus’s return journey to its pelvic home.

How does breastfeeding burn so many calories? Well, the American Pregnancy Association says a breastfeeding mom will secrete between 425 and 700 calories into breast milk per day.

Because the body does not normally produce this highly specialized milk for baby, it has to work super hard to do so.

To burn roughly the same number of calories through exercise, a 140-pound woman would have to run a 10-minute mile pace for 45 to 60 minutes every day. Breastfeed to tighten up and lose weight!

2. Use a Postpartum Support Belt

Generally, within 12 hours of surgery, doctors encourage new moms to get up and move around. Some women find that not having any pressure on the site of the incision is uncomfortable.

Others find their abs feel loose and unsupported. To combat this discomfort, some OBs actually recommend wearing a postpartum support belt or girdle.

The jury is out in the medical community. While some OBs swear they help with postpartum discomfort and to compress the uterus, thereby helping it shrink, others think these waist trainers are nothing more than a gimmick.

Whether or not it helps shrink your waistline, doctors have been recommending similar belts for people with back pain due to weakened abdominal muscles (1).

Since your muscles have recently undergone trauma, it’s worthwhile to give yourself the extra support. In the process, you may even help your uterus shrink and find its normal spot, speeding up the process of reducing your tummy and getting rid of that c-section overhang.

3. Minimize Stretch Marks

While stretch marks don’t directly contribute to a loose tummy after a C-section, they can make you feel like the problem is magnified.

While there is no way to totally get stretch marks to disappear, using anti-stretch mark cream does show benefits on new and existing stretch marks (2). Plus, the act of massaging the lotion onto your belly can help with circulation in the abdominal region.

4. Get Enough Sleep

With a newborn, you won’t be getting 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night, but do try to make sleep a priority.

If your baby takes a nap, you take a nap! Sleep is not only good for getting rid of that baby weight, but also helps improve your emotional health, which is closely linked to your physical health.

Did you know that new moms who sleep less than 5 hours per night have a harder time getting rid of excess weight than those who sleep 7 hours?

This is likely because lack of sleep can cause systemic inflammation and a cortisol release. This hormone, known as the stress hormone, is often associated with weight gain, however, current research is inconclusive (5).

Regardless, do your best to get those zzz’s, even if it means you let some other areas slide such as cleaning or making elaborate meals.

When possible, ask your friend, neighbor, or loved one to help you with some of the other chores you need to get done. Keep in mind that you cannot and do not need to do everything by yourself. You have an infant to take care of.

5 Diet Tips for the Tummy

1. Keep a Food (and Exercise) Log

Write down everything you eat and drink including your portion sizes. Keeping a journal makes you more accountable with your dietary goals. You can also clearly see what you are eating and what easy dietary changes you can make to lose weight.

There is a plethora of food logging apps you can check out. Two of the most popular:

• My Fitness Pal – a popular calorie counting app that has an exercise logger and food diary in one. It also gives daily calorie intake recommendation and makes it easy to see at a glance how close you are to your limit, as well as how many calories you’ve burned exercising.
• Lose It! – also combines an exercise log and food diary, with extra convenient features like the option to connect it to a pedometer or scan the barcode for packaged foods so you don’t have to enter their info manually.

You don’t need to go high-tech with it, though. The old school pen and paper can work just as well. Choose a method that is easy for you and one you will stick to.

2. Hydrate Yourself

Not only do breastfeeding moms need extra water to make milk, but drinking enough water and eating enough fruits and veggies with a high-water content may help you lose weight.

Water fills up your belly so you are less likely to mindlessly snack when you aren’t hungry.

Plus, studies show a correlation between hydration and weight loss (6). If water isn’t your favorite beverage, try jazzing it up by adding some citrus or fresh mint.

Cucumber water is another delicious option. You can also nosh on snacks with a high-water content like watermelon, cucumber, celery, and lettuce.

3. Try a Smart Cleanse

This simply means decrease the overall amount of junk food you are eating and fill up on fresh fruits and vegetables.

Use your new mom lifestyle as motivation for changing your eating habits. Eating a diet rich in fiber and nutrients while drinking plenty of water will get your digestive system moving to promote regularity and feeling lighter.

Here are some simple tips you can do today:

• Cut out sugar sweetened beverages (i.e. regular soda, sports drinks, loaded coffee and tea drinks)
• Limit caffeinated beverages to 2-3 cups per day
• Make all your grains and pastas whole grain
• Make half of your plate fruit and vegetables
• Do not skip meals

4. Choose to Snack Healthier

Aside from not skipping meals, new moms should also choose healthy snacks to curb hunger and get adequate nutrition.

When you hit the grocery store, remember to stock up on healthy, nutritious snacks rather than fatty and sugary items.

Snack sensibly by choosing some of these options:

• 1/4 cup of nuts
• 1 cup veggies (i.e. baby carrots) with hummus
• 1 cup whole milk dairy
• Apples and bananas
• Whole grain crackers and nut butter
• Air-popped popcorn
• String cheese

With these healthy snacks on hand, you’ll have healthy options when the hunger bug bites. Keeping such snacks in your home can help you fight the temptations that make the tummy struggle even harder.

5. Optimize Your Milk Production (For Baby and Belly)

As we mentioned earlier, breastfeeding and milk production burns calories. In order to optimize your milk production abilities, here are some specific foods that may increase milk supply according to La Leche League. Do it for the baby and for yourself!

• Barely
• Oatmeal
• Fennel
• Coriander
• Dill
• Anise
• Brewer’s yeast
• Chickpeas

5 Exercise Tips for the Tummy

1. Include Baby

Many new moms struggle to find the time to work out while tending to their new baby. Instead of trying to cram a workout in while your little one sleeps, do a workout you can do with baby.

Go on a walk with your baby, use your baby as resistance for weight training, or check out your local gym. Many gyms offer programs like Stroller Strides designed to get new moms back in tip top shape while including baby in the workout.

You can also check out some at-home workouts you can do with baby here.

2. Do Planks

While your abdominal muscles may be weak postpartum, try some planks! Unlike crunching exercises that repeatedly cause the split abdominal muscles to contract, planks offer constant resistance with minimal movement.

Planks are great for stabilizing the core and led to closure of diastasis recti in one study. Start out with 2 plank sets at 30 seconds each and work up from there.

3. Do Kegels

Kegels are a type of exercise that helps strengthen your pelvic floor.  Pregnancy puts a lot of pressure on this muscle due to the added weight you were carrying around.

In this exercise, you tighten your pelvic floor for 5-10 seconds as you breath in and release as you breath out. Never done Kegels? Don’t worry.

All you have to do is tighten your muscles like you would if you were trying to hold in your pee.

4. Do Postpartum Exercises

Pelvic Tilts

For this exercise, lie on your back, with your knees bent. Slowly engage your deep core muscles to tilt your pelvis slightly up and back.

To pull in, you’ll flatten your back against the floor, tightening your abdominals and slightly raising your rear as you pull your pelvis up. Hold for 10 seconds. Then relax again.

Heel Slides

A heel slide is simple. You lie on your back with your knees bent, feet on the floor. Leave about a hand’s length between your butt and the heel of your foot.

While pulling your belly button down towards your spine, slowly slide one heel down, so that your leg lies flat and then pull it back in slowly. Then do the other side. Repeat up to 10 times to start.

Remember to perform these exercises with proper posture and always keep the belly pulled in. Activating the core will build strength and pull your waistline in, beating the baby bulge.

You can make a routine out of these exercises by doing them in the morning when you get up, while your baby’s napping or even during TV commercials when you’re taking a bit of a break.

5. Get More Active When Not Working Out

While you won’t be cleared for heavier exercise until 8 weeks after your C-section, you can start by doing some light walking each day.

Don’t push yourself too hard, especially in the beginning. After the initial recovery period, you can begin to do some other exercises. Abs exercises after c section are a great way to target your abdomen, but be sure to take it easy.

Burn through that lingering belly fat by going on at least 3 brisk walks per week. Art Weltman, PhD, director of exercise physiology at the University of Virginia tells Health, “Fast-paced walking, when combined with healthy eating, is hugely effective for weight loss.”

Don’t forget the baby! You can carry your baby in a sling or push them in a stroller to increase the resistance and burn more calories. Overall, exercise after c section to reduce your tummy is very helpful.