M'Pants don't fit

I'm pretty sure my tailor is about to love me.  I have about 10 pairs of pants that need altering in one way or another.  I'm considering it a nice Christmas present for her, a few months early.

Now, trust me.  I am SOOO excited that m'pants don't fit.  Usually I'm crying because I can barely button them, or my muffin top is to the extreme, but hooray - not the case!  I'm just slightly annoyed because 1.  I'm cheap and I don't want to spend MORE money altering Target pants and 2. That I'm still not losing my baby gut area.  Not to be an Eeyore for much longer, I am finding that my legs are looking pretty damn good if I say so myself.

My friend sent me an article yesterday, and it could possible change my life.  Back story on me:  When I was pregnant with Sawyer (my first), I didn't gain any weight until around the fifth month.  I didn't need maternity clothes, I looked generally the same except I had some sweet big boobies that I'd never had before.  Literally, overnight, I "popped" and promptly gained around 18 pounds in the matter of two weeks.  If this sounds at all painful, let me assure you that it was.  It felt like I was being ripped in half, which turns out I was.  Thanks to my sweet, crazy baby(ies - E is not exempt from causing damage) I now have a gap between my abdominal muscles, which has left my stomach in shambles.  It is not pretty.  I have cried many a time over it, too.  I have been told that my only hope is a tummy tuck.  Losing around 18 pounds has helped some, which I knew it would, but it's still awful.  This is called Diastasis Recti, and until yesterday I did not know it could be healed by proper exercises.

Most women I know try and get a flat(ter) tummy as soon as they possibly can after giving birth.  I know I did.  We all do crunches and ab workouts and wonder why things aren't going back down.  Turns out that doing all of those exercises actually makes things worse.  Helene Byrne of BeFit-Mom says: 

In sports and fitness training, what you practice is what you get, i.e., muscle specificity theory. If you allow the abs to balloon during exercise, that is what you are unintentionally training your abs to do. (Yikes!) More importantly, expansion of the abdominal wall worsens abdominal separation and contributes to many postpartum problems, such as lower back pain, pelvic instability, postural problems, and urinary stress incontinence.

Lack of strength and functional control in the TvA is the most common pitfall for all new moms. Most women, who have tried to recondition their abs the traditional way, with lots of crunches, end up with unsatisfactory results. Their abs grow stronger, but never flatten. Their bellies, particularly below the waist, protrude and stay round. 

Man...I do NOT want this eff'ed up tummy anymore.  I am planning on meeting with a few trainers and my doctor to see what their thoughts are on this plan, but I really feel like this might be a way to avoid surgery and help things.  It's worth a shot, right?  

So, in other ground breaking news:  YESTERDAY I RAN A WHOLE MILE WITHOUT STOPPING!  This is such a huge accomplishment for me, I almost started crying when I was done.  I honestly thought it would never happen.  I was slow, it was painful, but I did it.  I feel like some of this hard work is finally paying off!

Here is my first ever mile run in full: