Recovery Time
Recovery time is very individualized. It depends on what kind of shape you were in before and during pregnancy, in addition to how much effort, effort, time, and planning you are now willing to give to your body. If your abdominals were strong and if you exercised them regularly before and throughout pregnancy, one to two months-at the most, three months-should see you back to normal.
On the other hand, if your abdominals were not strong and you did not exercise them regularly, then it will probably take between six and twelve months of regular exercise to become a better you. [These time frames assume that you are performing abdominal exercises four to six days a week.
What if you took up regular exercise for the first time in your life during pregnancy? This does give you something of a head start. However, the advancing growth of the baby did not allow as adequate workout of the abdominals as if you had also exercised before pregnancy. In this case, the return of strong, firm abdominals should take between three and six months [which is still much faster than someone who neglected to exercise in pregnancy].
If you never put into action your resolve to re-strengthen your abdominal wall, there is no telling how long the process will take. In fact, some women’s abdominals never return to their original shape. The truth is that it takes action on your part to improve your figure. A slack set of abdominals will probably mean you will have a lot of backache and fatigue.
The abdominals do forty percent of the work involved in supporting the trunk of your body as you move through your daily activities. If they are doing only ten percent, the back muscles will pick up the food-or attempt to anyway. The back muscles are responsible for sixty percent of the work of keeping the body upright and helping to lift, move and bend. Increase that workload by ten to thirty percent and the muscles respond by fatiguing faster [”tired back”], and by having painful spasms, especially in the lower back. Sometimes the back muscles become so tight that the angle of the normal pelvic tilt is changed. These tight muscles squeeze or press on the nerves coming off the spine in the lower back area. These nerves, in turn, divide and branch out to each leg. Pain may be felt in the lower back, one or both buttocks, and one or both legs, [upper or full length]. Don’t allow this problem to decrease the joy of those first beautiful months with your new baby.
Other factors to consider is estimating recovery time and how much weight you gained and how much your abdominal wall expanded [partially due to the size of the baby and how you carried the child]. Diet, the amount of rest you are currently getting, and the types of activities you’re involved in must also be considered.