Can You Get A Flat Stomach After Having Children?

Pregnancy affects the appearance of your stomach by stretching your abdominal muscles, skin and connective tissue, and increasing the amount of fat stored around your midsection. Flattening your stomach after a baby can take months, but it is not impossible. Diet and exercise are essential in burning fat, but you can also promote flattening of your stomach in a few other ways.

Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is not only the most natural way to feed your newborn, it also helps burn fat and get you to your pre-pregnancy weight faster. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, your body burns about 300 to 500 calories every day to provide milk for your baby. In fact, your body stores fat during pregnancy to prepare for breastfeeding. Breastfeed at least the first six months, and you can burn most or all of the excess fat off.

Diet

Your body won't burn stored fat, unless you are eating fewer calories than your metabolism requires. Eating a balanced low calorie diet will force your body to start burning stored fat for energy. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, when you eat 500 calories below your energy need every day, you will lose about 1 lb. of fat every week.

Cardio

Regular exercise burns calories and helps flatten your stomach by increasing your metabolism and muscle strength. Besides doing traditional exercises such as jogging, bicycling and aerobics, any activity that increases your heart rate and makes your muscles work will do. Walking with a stroller, yoga, gardening, housework and playing with your children will boost your energy use and burns fat all around your body, including from your belly.

Abdominal Exercises

Pregnancy causes a toll on your abdominal muscles, leaving them stretched and weak. Besides burning fat around your belly with cardio, you need to tone and strengthen your abdominal muscles to flatten your stomach. Do abdominal crunches, situps, leg raises and other exercises that target the muscles in your stomach every day.

Metabolic Boosters

Boost your metabolism with foods that increase your fat burning. Catechins in green, white and oolong tea, caffeine and the capsaicin found in many chili peppers help increase your metabolism and aid in fat loss. According to an article published in "International Journal of Obesity" in 2010, consumption of these substances can increase your metabolism by 4 to 5 percent and fat burning by 10 to 16 percent. However, if you are breastfeeding and your baby is sensitive to these ingredients, you may need to avoid them until you are done breastfeeding. In this case, stick with ice water. Drinking eight glasses of ice water every day will burn 70 calories.

Tummy Tuck

If nothing else works, you can consider flattening your stomach surgically. According to MayoClinic.com, tummy tuck surgery helps remove loose and excess skin and stomach fat after pregnancy. In addition, tummy tuck helps tighten stretched connective tissue, called fascia, that functions to hold organs in place and is responsible for the appearance of your belly.