The One Week Detox

 Hello again!  I am happy to report that we finished our one week 'ramped up' detox plan as of yesterday!  I am still continuing with no sugar, and there are a number of things we started last week I will continue to do (like the workouts, the lemon water, and the organic peanut butter), but now at least I can have corn again, and noodles.  I'm making chicken noodle soup tonight using the broth from the roosters we butchered last fall.  They make REALLY good soup... but there has to be noodles!

Anyway, I took my measurements and I am actually down another 2lbs (4lbs total)!  I still have about 6lbs until my goal weight, but I'm very happy about that!  I measured my diastasis and it's about 2 fingers wide now!  After only 1 week!  YAY!  As for my waist, it is down to 30 inches at the narrowest standing up, but my natural waist is at 31.5 inches (and I'd like for that measurement to hit 30).  My husband is down another 1.5 inches (so 2 inches total) and 2lbs as of about 4 days ago (he was happy because it was just after eating that he weighed himself, so he didn't expect to see any difference).  

One of the major health issues I was having seems to be resolved!  I will give it a few more days to be certain, and I won't go into too many details here, but I am very pleased with how the last two days has been for me and I expect that I will continue in this health journey for some time, if only for that one benefit alone!  That said, I have been dealing with headaches and cravings again yesterday and today.  The cravings might be related in part to the magnesium.  I don't have cravings for chocolate if I remembered to take Mg the night before.  I need to try to remember to take the magnesium tonight.  (note added March 27 - The issue is not totally resolved, but it is definitely improved, so that's good).

I asked my husband if he noticed any health differences in himself lately, and he has said he only noticed the weight.  I am hoping to see him fall asleep less in random areas, as that will prove his sleep has improved at night.  That is one of the biggest things I hope to see.  I'm not sure I will be able to see a measured improvement in his liver health myself, but it seems that weight, liver health, and sleep apnea all kind of feed off each other.  That said, we will continue to monitor the things that we can in the next two weeks as we continue in this journey towards our better health.

It's Day 28 of No Sugar...

 Hello, everyone!  Welcome to my craziness, where I decided in the last month to make my life more crazy of my own free will!  

As you can tell by the title, it is day 28 of no sugar.  Yes, I voluntarily decided to undergo an experiment on myself by removing all processed sugar from my diet, and mostly have done so for 28 days.  I did break a bit on day 3 as my mom made homemade pudding that I just did NOT want to say no to.  But considering the amount of sugar I had daily before I started, I still count it a win!

Why would I decide to remove sugar from my diet when sugar was giving me so much happiness in the hectic and crazy house that I live in?  Well... because it was the one thing I was reaching for before anything else, and that isn't good.  Also, I was noticing some not-so-good effects in my body aside from the normal expectations that eating an abundance of sugar might give.  My health was on the decline, and all the things I was looking at was suggesting my liver might just need some help.  What was the biggest thing I could change that would benefit my liver?  Cutting out sugar.  I also realized it was the day after the start of Lent, which is a time where one would traditionally cut something out of one's life to focus on preparing for the death and resurrection of Christ.  I don't usually observe Lent as I'm not Catholic, but I like the idea of preparing for one of the biggest events in human history, and so I decided to take the plunge.

So what does 28 days with no sugar look like?  Right now, it's actually not so bad!  I will admit I really miss dark chocolate.  I see it every time I open the cabinet to get something for the kids.  I also just quit snacking altogether as it is a lot more work to make all the food for myself from scratch, and I just can't bring myself to do it.  I have been avoiding a lot more this last week as well (white flour, tortilla chips, noodles, basically anything with flour that isn't my homemade sourdough, corn), starting day 25, so that has made things a bit more difficult, but cravings are practically gone, and I have noticed many other positives that I don't even mind!  However, it wasn't always this way.

Day 3 - I caved.  That pudding just looked and smelled so good, so I had a little bit.  And then I took a little bit more.  And then I stopped, because I figured even though I'm cheating, I shouldn't cheat THAT much.

Day 4 - Why does the chocolate smell SO GOOD?!  The kids asking for cookies and not being able to have any myself was torture!

Day 5 - The muscle aches and headaches started.  I couldn't figure out what was going on.  Why was I so sore?  I hadn't exercised at all, and going for walks in the morning never bothered me.  Why was my head hurting?  I was taking ibuprofen to deal with it because I couldn't sleep.

Day 7 - Still had headaches, but after looking things up I recognized what was happening as sugar withdrawal!  I knew that was a thing, but I didn't have that the last time I cut sugar as far as I could remember... then again, I'm also cutting out sweeteners like honey and maple syrup, which I did NOT do last time, so that might be it.  I do still eat fruit!  Also, M (who is practically an adult already) found a recipe for chia seed pudding that she made me (it uses half a banana, a cup of milk, 2 tsp cocoa powder, and 3 tbsp chia seeds and lasts me a couple of days).  It really helped with my chocolate cravings!

Day 9 - No more headaches and body aches today!  That's nice!  

Day 10 - Potluck at church.  I got some desserts for my little kids, but avoided them myself.  I did NOT want to undo everything by eating treats now that I was over that hump!

Day 11 - Measured and weighed myself and found I lost 2 lbs and 1 inch (from about a month ago, but still)!  I was SO excited, I started bugging my husband to join me.  He didn't seem enthused.

Day 14 - I finally convinced my husband to join me!  Yay!  We're in this together!  Took his measurements before hand (he's starting on my day 15) so we can track his progress properly, as I just jumped in myself without doing that.  Oops.  He's not thrilled, but since he was actually diagnosed with having fatty liver, I am desperately hoping he will see some improvements from this.  We are going to do this until Easter.  Seeing that end date helped him to say yes, because he does love Easter goodies.  Who am I kidding, so do I.

Day 17 - I'm not struggling with this much anymore at all!  I'm finding that I have an easier time getting up in the morning, and my motivation is improving!  It's fantastic!  My husband is happy to find out that coffee is still ok for him, and actually even considered good for the liver if it is a good quality and not filled with sugar.  He cut out the hot chocolate powder he always added to it and is having his daily 2 cups with milk only.  Honestly, it smells so good!  I wish I liked coffee.

Day 21 - I felt rather depressed today.  I took my measurements again and found that nothing has changed.  Poo.  Hubby lost 1/2 inch, so that's good!  Forgot to scale him, though.  I've been learning the differences in visceral and subcutaneous fat.  Weirdly, I've been measuring myself in 2 ways due to my diastasis (it makes it difficult to get a proper measurement standing as all my organs push everything forward).  

Day 24 - I figured I wanted to ramp up our detoxing of the liver, so for the next week, starting day 25, I wanted to do MORE (it kinda helps that I have a 1 week detox on my 101 in 1001 list to do with my husband, so why not turn this into something).  Using my research, I wanted us to do the following: drink 16 oz of water first thing in the morning with 2 Tbsp lemon juice at least 30 minutes before eating anything (also trying to drink more water during the day than I have been); cut out all white flour, corn, and peanut butter (unless the peanut butter was organic, which my husband promptly went to purchase when in town the next day); decrease the highly sugary fruit; NO fried or prepackaged foods (which meant no more tortilla chips); and we were going to do 20 minute walks plus 10 minutes of strength training daily.  I think I just like challenges or something.

Day 25 - We started our more rigorous plan.  I measured my diastasis at 4 fingers wide, and found a 10 minute daily workout that is meant to help fix it in about 3 weeks.  We'll see.  I started doing it along with walking 10 minutes each morning right after my lemon water, and 10 minutes at some other time of day.  Also, weirdly, I'm getting rather itchy legs in the evening.  I haven't had this in years.  

Day 26 - I am a grumpy pants.  Really grumpy.  I've not been having the chia pudding as I was trying to eliminate bananas for myself due to their higher sugar content (and it takes a couple of hours before you can eat it), but I am REALLY grumpy.  I started taking my magnesium powder in the evenings so I don't really crave the chocolate anymore, but still.  After supper I felt so gross.  I still don't understand why.  I think it's because I'm not getting much for quick carbs anymore.  I ended up eating a single date as a kind of 'dessert' with a bit of peanut butter on top.  That helped immediately, but dates have a high sugar content, so I don't want to make this into a habit!  Oh, and my itchy legs got even worse.  I have been using lotion, but during the night I had to resort to putting a cold pack on them to help relieve the itch.  Oh, and it seems I have a bit of swelling in my ankles, too.  Why?!

Day 27 - I took my measurements again.  My standing waist measurement didn't change.  Not a bit.  My weight decreased by maybe 1/2 lb, which isn't really much so I didn't think much of it.  Now the kicker for me was my laying down measurement... it was 2 inches lower than day 11!  That is a substantial difference!  I looked up why I would have such a strange difference in my waist numbers, and it turns out that my diastasis is definitely affecting things when I stand up, so fixing it should really help, but also it is likely that the 2 inches I lost is in visceral fat.  Subcutaneous fat tends to move about and settle depending on if laying down or standing up, so my 1 inch lost initially might have been there, but the visceral fat is pretty settled in among the organs and feels pretty solid.  To me, this is kind of a big deal!  After all, that is the unhealthy fat I wanted to get rid of!  I'm also thinking the itchy legs might be a detox effect.  I scratched my legs a bit much this evening and made them bleed.  Oops.  Really trying to ramp up my water to help that.

And so that brings me to today!  I have chia pudding in the fridge for later (because I'll likely need some kind of pick-me-up this evening).  Today is 4H for M, so my husband takes her and they are gone all evening until 9:30.  This week has been a struggle due to so many evenings where someone needs to be somewhere by 7, which is our normal supper time, so I've been trying to get supper ready for 5:30 three days of the week which is really odd.  And tomorrow I'll need to make the sourdough pizza crust again so all three of us can eat it (M is gluten free, except she can eat whole wheat sourdough which I've been making for years now, so that's nice).  I've been really struggling in the evenings alone with all the younger kids.  My patience is low, I'm irritable, and the noise level is reaching deafening levels some days.  It's a lot.

Anyway, that has been my 4 week experience with no sugar so far!  I've got 2 weeks to go!  I'll need to see how this diastasis workout does, and how well things work for my husband as well.  Honestly, if you can get past the first week, it's not nearly as hard after that.  And my motivation is much improved!  As an example, my 'to do' list usually has at least half a dozen overdue items on it that I just don't want to be bothered with, and I am down to one item as of yesterday!  Yay!

We'll see if I continue after Easter... my plan is to do so on weekdays, but allow myself freedoms on the weekends.

Ta Ta For Now!

Diastasis and Labor

So, I mentioned in my last post about the Diastasis Recti and how I've been measuring incorrectly and it was actually worse than I thought.  I also said I found out a few things about it that I would blog about.  This is that blog.

First, I want to say to all you ladies out there who are pregnant/getting pregnant/have kids, to please try to do what you can to prevent Diastasis Recti.  Strengthen your transverse abdominals... these are the inner abdominal muscles.  There are a lot of youtube videos that show how to engage them and strengthen them (here is one).  These exercises are also used to help try to heal Diastasis.  Once you get this condition, it is very difficult to heal, and it will not be completely healed without hard work to keep things together.  Also, some people require surgery with how bad it is.  There are varying degrees.  And if you have this condition, stay away from any exercises involving twisting with weight, crunches, etc.

Anyway, I learned that I had a very slight Diastasis after my son was born (measured 1 finger width at 1 week post partum... so it likely healed completely within the first month after birth which is completely normal).  His labor was the simplest.  I didn't have to try to work at second stage... my muscles did everything on their own.  It was so fast it was scary, actually.  My third child, Baby A, I found much more difficult.  Labor was quick enough, but stage two I actually had to work at.  I remember looking huge with her, showing quickly.  I figured it was because she was my third, my body was used to this and just 'expanded'.  I never bothered checking for Diastasis after her birth, but I likely had some separation.  I do remember my tummy being more 'floppy' and loose after her birth, and finding it more difficult to do simple tasks like standing, or even walking.  My back hurt a lot in the last stages of pregnancy, and for a little while post partum, but it wasn't terrible.  A lot of that I attributed to the extreme pph I had (which, I found out, was more severe due to me actively pushing harder than I should have, and during times I wasn't actively contracting because I wanted her out NOW).

After my fourth, it was very different.

I could hardly stand after she was born.  I had the energy, that wasn't the issue... the problem was I had zero core strength.  I literally had to hold my stomach in order to walk to the bathroom.  I had no idea the problem was diastasis... once again I attributed it to giving birth to a baby... cause hey, that is no small task!  What I didn't understand was WHY that labor didn't stabilize (mine usually only lasted 2 hours, but this one was 5 and contractions were unpredictable).  I had INCREDIBLE back pain in the last month or so of pregnancy.  It was horrible.  And I had false labor from my due date until the day she was born... 13 days overdue. 

Most of that was actually due to Diastasis.

You see, I am guessing that sometime during the last bit of my third pregnancy, I got further separation... and since I didn't know it, I didn't actively try to heal it.  I didn't weigh much, my waist was 'normal' and while I had that little belly, it wasn't a huge deal to me at the time.  When I got pregnant with my fourth, my muscles were already separated, so things showed much sooner.  Also, when you have a muscle gap, your internal organs push out through that gap.  I didn't have any symptoms of pregnancy with my fourth... while my third was horrible in the first trimester.  A lot of symptoms have to do with internal pressure.  Need to get up during the night to use the washroom?  Yeah... I never had that with my last pregnancy, and sometime during my third trimester I didn't have it anymore with my third, either.  Can't eat much due to squished stomach?  Didn't have that problem either.  Back pain and burning upper abdomen?  Those are things associated with muscle separation AND pregnancy, and I had them in spades!

Oh... and here is a pic of my pregnant belly when I went in.

Basically, it looks like my entire uterus is outside my abdominal cavity... something that makes sense now when I look back on it.  It also explains my strange labor.  The contractions ranged from 2 minutes apart to 6 minutes apart to 1 minute apart while in active labor.  And baby wouldn't engage properly.  She was rotating while I was in labor... one minute her back was over here on my left... then it was on my right, then she was kicking the Doppler.  It was insane.  When I stood up, things got going again, and then I had to try to lean over to help her move into the proper position with her back to my stomach.  I wanted to attempt pushing in a position NOT on my back, but the contractions wouldn't do anything... until I was on my back.  Why?  Because the muscle gap meant that the uterus was not receiving the pressure it needed to help engage everything.  My pushing did very little until I was on my back and didn't have the added pressure of the organs and uterus stretching the muscles further. 

These findings just blow me away! 

And so... I'm really hoping to rejoin my muscles.  I'm really hoping to heal.  However, this seems to be something that will never actually fully heal.  I will always need to try to remember to engage my transverse abdominals.  Retrain myself.  And I will need to be careful about lifting heavy things for fear of reversing the work I've already done.

Fitness Update

So, I haven't posted the last two weeks of updates.  Mainly because I was discouraged.  June 4 I saw some improvement everywhere except my waist. 

Weight down 1kg
Chest (ribcage) down 1.5 inches
Hips down 3/4 inches
Thigh, no change
Waist up half inch

I had been doing my Turbo Jam and Turbo Sculpt exercises.  I didn't realize that my ab separation would get worse from it.  The Turbo Sculpt is great... lots of squats and lunges and such.  Really works the glutes and brings in a lot more muscle tone.  However, I guess there was too much twisting.  My muscle separation went back to 3-4 finger widths. 

I could cry.

I've stopped doing the exercises that I know would help me with my fat loss because they are no good for my muscle separation.  I hate it.  So, I've been trying to find more things to do to help heal that separation.  I worked at that a bit this week, and tried mostly to walk, as that is supposed to help as well.

June 11 saw this

Weight down 0.4kgs
Chest up 1/2 inch
Hips down 1/2 inch
Thigh no change
Waist down 1 inch

So, somehow, things are still going down.  However my muscle gap hasn't changed.  It is still sitting at 3-4 finger widths.  However, I also figure I'm measuring properly now, and that previously my 'one finger width' wasn't actually that small.  Would explain why it separated again.  It wasn't truly down to 1.  I need to figure out how to bring that muscle back together.  I may even think of getting a proper binding to support and help heal those muscles.

Has anyone else had this before?  I looked into videos of various people talking about their diastasis, however nobody actually showed what it looked like.  I saw pictures showing their bellies and how they look pregnant, but nothing showing what it looks like when you lay down.  What is a shallow and a deep diastasis, and how do they differ?  How do they look in comparison?  How does it look when you are healing? 

Since I haven't really seen progress videos or photos like that, I'm thinking of doing something myself.  Would that help anyone?  Is that something that anyone would even want to see?  Honestly, I cannot even see it for myself (it is my belly after all... and raising my head uses the muscles so they draw together). 

We'll see.  I need to find a time where I can enlist the help of my husband for videoing though, as I'm not sure I can do so myself.

Until next week!  Hopefully my waist will go down further.  I have another inch and a half I want to lose there, and 4kgs to lose to get back to my weight/size prior to pregnancy.

Oh, look forward to a Diastisis Recti post on something I discovered recently, and my musings as to how that affected my pregnancies and deliveries.  ;)

Thursday's Update... on Tuesday

I forgot to update my fitness journey on Thursday.  Oops.

I was very disappointed with the previous week.  I have been doing Turbo jam and walking/jogging daily.  I have also been drinking lots of water and trying to eat healthier snacks.  I went up 1/2 inch on my chest, but lost 1/2 inch on my waist and 1/4 inch on my hips.  My weight is up a pound though.  Sigh.  So three weeks has me only down 1/2 pound.  I could cry.

I am still very exhausted.  I napped twice yesterday, although didn't actually sleep much.  The kids love to bug me when I lay down.

One plus is that when I measured my muscle gap, it was down to 1-2 fingers wide from 2-3 the previous week!  So, that is a plus!

And today I'm hoping to do some actual strength training exercises to, hopefully, help me burn the fat around my midsection.

Fitness Update

Two weeks ago I mentioned wanting to start a vlog or something on fitness.  I haven't done a video, but I have been keeping track of my food, water, vitamins, and exercise, as well as actually measuring and weighing myself each week.

Two weeks ago I started measuring, and I'm happy to say that even without changing my diet too much, just increasing water and exercise, I'm down two inches on my chest (just below the chest, I don't measure the breast itself due to nursing... wouldn't be accurate), and two inches on my waist!  I'm really happy about that.  I'm down 3/4 inch on my hips as well.  Arms and legs have no change, but I wasn't really expecting any there anyway.  My weight is down 1 1/4lb.  Seriously.  That's it.  In two weeks.

Only one problem... I always feel exhausted and half starved.  It doesn't seem to matter what I do.  I could eat all day and nap all day.  Today, for example, I made and ate a big breakfast, but only two hours later it was hard for me to not want to eat my kids snack at the preschool... my stomach was rumbling.  Once I got home I devoured a hardboiled egg, cheese, crackers, peanuts, and even grabbed a bit of cake (no icing).  It is crazy.  And then I had to nap today as well... before I ever exercised.  I tend to be at my best on Mondays and Tuesdays, but by Thursday I'm so spent!  I do not wish to limit my calories (since I have to feed my 3 month old).  However, this exhaustion is annoying... and I SO want to fit back into my regular clothes again.  Tired of maternity pants.

I did go shopping yesterday and bought myself a few dresses as they will work fine with my belly the way it is now, and when it shrinks back (hopefully) to what it used to be.  I still have Diastasis Recti... it is three fingers wide above my belly button to my chest.  It isn't really there much below my belly button, strangely.  Usually, it works the opposite, at least from what I've seen online.  That is one of the reasons I look pregnant (yes... I still get comments).  I would be thrilled if I could lose an inch each week from my waist.  I've gone back down to my usual on the chest, and my hips are only 3/4 inch from what they used to be as well.  My waist needs to lose another 3-4 inches.  As for my weight... ugh.  I still have 10lbs to lose.  Ah well.  I'd love to lose a lb a week. 

Now if only I could get my energy up enough to exercise the extra weight away and fit into my clothes again.

Vlog

Recently, I've been watching a lot of youtube videos, and one youtuber caught my eye.  Her name is Jennifer, and she was a Disney Princess years ago.  She started, back in October, a Fitness Weekly Vlog.  I have been having so much trouble keeping motivated to exercise, and while I'm not sure about a vlog, I do think that I might be more motivated if I was to go more public with my goals.

First, I have the diastasis recti, which means I cannot do certain exercises.  However, I haven't even been doing the light exercises that are supposed to help fix the problem (time is my biggest problem here... I'd rather do so many other things).  Also, I've been so focused on finishing the year end for the farm, the GST, doing our personal bookwork, trying to get other things done that exercise has taken a back seat.  Sad, I know.  Also, since I'm nursing, I just want to eat everything.  Still.  It's really bad.  And I haven't measured myself or weighed myself in a while, but last I checked I was still 15lbs heavier than when I got pregnant.  Usually by the time the baby is three months old, I'm within a pound or two of my pre pregnancy weight.  I have been feeling really down about this (because I haven't really had to work at it before, and I was expecting the weight to drop more than it has).  So, I really want to do something more about this.  Like eating healthier, and exercising.  But with any goal, I need to actually define it a little better so I can actually meet it.

I've been thinking of writing down all the foods I'm eating as it has been difficult for me to remember to eat healthy things, and if I write them down it may help.  Also, water.  I need to up my usual 6 cups back to 8.  As for exercise, I want to walk daily.  I'll start with 10 minutes, but I'd love to go up to 20 as I can find more time.  Also would like to do my workout videos again.  20 minutes a day.  Or my dance game for 20 minutes.  That would bring my total time to 30 minutes.  Since I cannot do certain exercises, I'll have to watch out for that.  My core is still really bad... my upper abdominal area is extremely loose and floppy.  I tried on a pair of my old jeans, and while I can button them up (yay!), there is so much loose stuff on top that I get a horrible muffin top (so I refuse to wear them right now until I can loose that muffin top. 

So, I'm wondering.  Should I attempt to do a vlog?  It would better show my physical progress (as long as I remember to wear similar clothing each time).  And I should really start to track my measurements and food.  Any suggestions?  Perhaps a notebook near the table?  Or does anyone have chart ideas that are easily printable?  I'm not sure how to do this.  I've done a chart before (can't track food easily on that as it is not large enough).  What do you do to keep and track your fitness goals?

Post Partum Tummy Tales

So... I found something out yesterday.  I have diastasis recti.  And not just a little bit.

Now, how did I find this out?  It is no secret that I love to research things.  Well, in my research on Monday, I found out about diastasis recti.  I remember learning about it after having my son almost 5 years ago.  Two weeks after having him, I measured myself and had only one finger width gap.  Well, in my research I read that still looking pregnant after birth can be attributed to this issue.  After dealing with some depression due to looking 6 months pregnant still, I decided to measure myself Tuesday morning. 

I got all four fingers in between mu muscle ridges.  I kind of felt like freaking out!

It all makes sense now.  The huge amount of back pain I was having in my last trimester was probably due to my muscles separating to the point of me having no more core to support it.  And the continued back pain after birth... also due to that same fact as the muscles did not come back together again.  After she was born, I remember getting up (finally) to go to the bathroom, and being hardly able to walk.  I actually had to hold my stomach in with my arms in order to make it over there.  I remembered things feeling weird each time after birth, but this was even stranger than I expected.  And it makes sense. 

10 days after I had baby B, I was in church and an older gentleman came up to me and said 'Oh, you're still pretty big, eh?', to which I replied 'just keeping it roomy in there for the next one', all the while trying not to get too upset.  This last weekend was B's baby dedication (which would be more aptly termed 'parent dedication', but I digress).  After the service, I had an older lady come up to me and sweetly ask when I was due.  I quickly brought her attention to the baby my husband was buckling into the car seat.  I know... I am still pretty big.  My stomach sticks out, I am still in maternity clothes 4 weeks after giving birth (and expect to be for awhile still), and now I don't have a baby in there to 'blame it on'.  Plus, most of the babies born this last year in our church were all first time moms who went back to no bellies within the first couple of weeks.  Yes, I know things will take a lot longer after #4.  But with everything that happens after birth, with all the healing I have to do, and with all the wonders of newborn babies (meaning lack of personal hygiene to a degree), I feel gross.  I do not feel pretty.  I have limited wardrobe, cannot wear jewelry for many reasons (a 2 year old being one of those), and it's all 'shower and go'... sometimes without the shower.  All sorts of women around me are dressed so pretty, smell wonderful with their perfume (I cannot wear perfume as I react to the stuff.  Makes me sad), makeup and hair done nicely, or even these women with beautiful baby bellies (I love pregnant bellies... they are so cute), or those who have lost weight recently and look fantastic, and it's hard to not sit and cry.  I hide in my house more than I'd like to admit, and even girls night is hard for me to go to, although I love it every time I do go. 

I know... it's only skin deep.  I have a beautiful baby to be thankful for (and I am!), and my body went through something huge (ha!  Pardon the pun)!  Power to me!  However, it is still hard.  Even with learning why my stomach is not returning to normal (I was back in most of my usual clothes by 2 weeks post partum after my first), it still bothers me.  And the work I'll have to go through in order to fix these muscles is going to take a long time, and a lot of dedication.

I just wonder if I have the dedication to do it right now?

Currently, I'm sitting here, typing away, watching my middle two children play/fight (I'm not sure which half the time), and my baby napping on the floor (thankfully, far from the action), as I wear my Curves belly band (bought the thing years ago with 'curves points' when I worked out there.  It's supposed to help you 'sweat' away extra pounds on your abdomen.  It is working well as a transverse abdominal muscle helper right now).  I am trying to do my walking exercises daily while sucking in my gut.  I am doing some of the other recommended exercises to reverse the ab separation.  And this is only day two.  With a small separation (two fingers), usually 6 weeks will see some good reversal.  Otherwise, it can take up to a year.  A year.  Of trying to remember to sit up properly, lay down correctly, suck in my gut using my transverse abs, and other small exercises (when I'd rather lay down for a nap or eat whatever item I can find in my fridge because I'm always feeling half starved).  And 4 fingers is pretty severe.

As for the fat comments... I think I am now forever afraid to ask anyone when they are due.