The amount of loose skin on your abdomen after a pregnancy is determined by a few factors; some being age, amount of weight gained, nutrition, and elasticity of the skin. I, myself, was careful not to gain more than 35# with any of my pregnancies (not that I dieted, but I tried to eat healthy and stayed as active as I could). Yet in my eighth month with my first the skin across my abdomen just seemed to rip one day. Even though I had stretchmarks after I gave birth, they did fade and the skin did snap back and my abdomen (though void of a sixpack) was as it was before. After the second I got more stretchmarks and my abdomen was still ok. The third destroyed my abs and the fourth was just the icing on the cake.
I was a size 00. Yes, DOUBLE ZERO. I was 5'3" and weighed in at a whopping 105 - 108#. Yet I never exposed my abdomen because the amount of loose skin was just, well, ICKY. I had to wear bodysuits and lowrise pants to hide it. I swear to God that I folded it up and tucked it in! In a bathing suit however, it could not be concealed. The skin would bulge out from underneath the most concervative of one piece bathing suits. I was so miserable.
So I had an abdominoplasty (tummy tuck). And the results were remarkable. Because I had a very strong abdominal wall (I had worked so hard to get a flat stomach, which would have been IMPOSSIBLE without surgery.) from countless hours of ab work in the gym and had very low body fat the results blew even my surgeon away. She presented my case at a symposium to her colleagues and there was literally a hush that fell over the audience when they saw my before and after pics.
Yes, I did have an ENTIRE FOOT of loose skin (and along with it most of my stretchmarks) removed from my abs and had permanent sutures put in the abdominal wall to hold the abs together which had been seperated from the fascia (tissue that muscles are attached to) because of pregnancy. But there was no need for liposuction (which is commonly done during this procedure) because I had such low bodyfat already.
After one child your abs should still snap back. I have seen women who have had twins - no stretchmarks and not so much loose skin, but then again they were on the chubby side (ie something to fill the skin out). Even after two your skin may be a littles loose, but nothing major. From all of the women that I have talked to (not a scientific study here) it seems that it is the third that destroys ya!
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....beauty knows no pain.
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