Finding abs after a big bump!!!

As someone who was always petite, but fairly round, I thought I’d never have a flat tummy. Even at my most active in my teens, I would never have shown my midriff in public. I just sat back and accepted that it was my body shape, and was happy that I liked my arms and legs. Then I changed my body shape through changes in my diet and by adding high intensity and strength training into my exercise routine. Suddenly I had a flat tummy; not visible abs, but a flat tummy that I never imagined was possible. This was a revelation for me, and I was pretty gutted that I hadn’t done this before having children, because now my problem is that I have pretty good abs….yes, me who wouldn’t show her midriff, has good abs, but now they’re hidden behind a saggy pouch of loose skin :o(.

6 weeks ago was the beginning of my quest to gain more visible, defined abs. This was not really for myself, but to experiment and show the mammies I work with, that if you eat right and do the right exercise, you can get the body you want. Although I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I’d love to feel totally confident with my body on my holidays in 3 weeks!! Here are my pre-ab focus pictures.

And here’s what I’ve been doing: –

*A mix of high intensity workout (sprints, interval training, HIIT workouts) , strength work (lifting weights, body weight exercises) and isolated abdominal work (including exercises specifically aimed at working the abdominals). I have been continuously improving by lifting more weight, doing sprint drills for longer and at a quicker pace each week, and increasing resistance in my body weight exercises, such as leg raises with a small dumbbell.

*Changing my usual diet, which is clean and easy to live by, for a higher protein nutrition plan, which involved significantly reducing my carbohydrate intake.

So what’s the verdict?

Well, my abdominal muscles are definitely more defined and visible, as are the muscles all over my body. Has the loose skin gone? No, but when your skin has stretched like mine has through pregnancy that’s no surprise. Yes, that really is me; my bump was so big, the skin covering my stomach has probably lost it’s elasticity forever…. I naively thought I could build enough muscle to fill it out….Not so :o(.  Below is me after 6 weeks of a focused workout plan and a strict eating plan, and although my abs are much more defined, they are still not what I’d call ripped. In fact they are not even close, although my tummy is flatter than before.

So what next?………well I do believe that I am retaining some water and with a few tweaks to my diet over the next couple of weeks, I think there could be further improvements.

Here is a comparison photo, which I will add more of when I next post about this….

Is it worth it? I don’t know yet……I will tell you in 2 weeks when I post my final results.