February 7, 2025 • 26 mins
Still dealing with that stubborn mommy pooch, no matter how much you work out? It might not be just extra weight—it could be a sign of pelvic floor dysfunction! The good news? Pelvic floor therapy can help! In this video, we dive into: ✨ Why the mommy pooch happens (Hint: It's not just about belly fat!) ✨ How pregnancy & postpartum impacts your core & pelvic floor ✨ Signs you might need pelvic floor therapy ✨ When to seek professional help 💡 If traditional ab workouts aren't working, it's time to try a smarter approach to healing from the inside out! 👶 Perfect for new moms, postpartum recovery, and even moms years after giving birth! 🔔 Subscribe for more postpartum & women’s health tips! 💬 Got questions or want to share your journey? Drop a comment below! LINKS MENTIONED IN VIDEO: AF Wellness Coaching Sign Up: https://keap.page/zr443/wellness-coaching-inquiry.html Hypopressives: https://youtu.be/-L08ThrnWW4?si=k3FX7FOGLCTyzv5y Diastasis Recti: How To Safely Get Back To Exercise: https://youtu.be/zrdtNjPy7Ts?si=X8XlCgezIKAJuKEy #MommyPooch #PelvicFloorTherapy #PostpartumFitness #DiastasisRecti #CoreHealing #Women’sHealth
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another episode of the Edmund Bomster Room podcast.
(00:02):
I'm doctor Allison Felt, your host, mom of three, owner
of Body Motion, physical Therapy, and entrepreneur. I am so
happy to be here with you today and we are
going to jump into what I have been getting the
most questions about. And ironically, at the coffee shop on
my way in here, the barista asked me how. She's like, you,
(00:24):
I know you're like in this field and like you're
into fitness. She's like, can you just tell me how
to get rid of this like mommy pooch I have.
She's like, I've lost forty pounds and I just have
this residual mommy pooch.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
And do we not all feel that right?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Like it is such a real thing, and like yes,
we want to honor and love our bodies and be
like this is amazing, Like we have these kids and
we love our mommy pooches and in the same vein,
can you shrink.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Up a little bit?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
And you know we feel that way. So and that's okay,
there's nothing wrong with it. I've been on a mission
to try to reduce my mommy pouch as well, and
so I want to share with you all the things
to consider when we're talking about mommy pooch, because it
is a really loaded topic and we're not just talking
about the esthetic parts of that lower abdominal belly that
(01:17):
hangs over.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
We are talking.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Also about function and so but we're going to dive
into both because a lot of people care that they
have that mommy pooch, and you want to be able
to wear jeans and not feel like you have a
muffin top or not have the pooch over your underwear line.
That's why we all enjoy the high rise era that
we are currently in. And that's why the yoga pants
(01:40):
are so good, right because they kind of suck us
in right at the point of our pooches. But in
all reality, in order to shrink at the pooch, it's
a whole combination of a bunch of things. So the
mommy pooch itself can be a pocket of fat, it
can be a pocket of loose skin. It can be
that you don't have any lower abdominal muscle tone.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
It could be.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
That you have a really tight and restricted pelvic floor,
and you might even feel like your pelvic floor is
completely blown out from having kids and it's super weak.
But the reality is is that your pelvic floor. If
you haven't had pelvic floor work done after you had kids,
it doesn't matter how blown out you feel, most likely
you have restriction and scar tissue within that muscle. And
(02:26):
so that muscle becomes rigid, tight and cemented and doesn't
have a lot of dynamic movement to contract and relax,
and so then it loses blood flow and it kind
of turns to the texture of beef jerky and it
gets really tight. And so when it starts to get
tight like that, then that increases the intra abdominal pressure.
(02:47):
It increases the pressure in the belly. When you have
increased pressure in the belly, that can lead to having
more constipation, It can lead to not being able to
use your lower abdominal muscles, and it can lead to having.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
A lot of core weakness.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
And so when we talk about the mommy pooch, we
have to talk about, Okay, do you still are you
carrying a bunch of fat there and do you have
a lot of fat to lose in order to completely
reduce the pouch? Do you have a C section scar
that is like indenting your body? And that's the reason
that you're having the pooch, and so do we have
to dissolve the scarring in order to get rid of
(03:26):
the pooch, or do we need to learn how to
open up the pelvic floor decrease the pressure in the
lower abdomen in order to decrease the pooch, Or do
we need to tighten the lower abdominals by learning how
to activate your deep core, which is your transverse abnominous muscle.
So bear with me. This is fully loaded and there
(03:48):
are so many things that you can do. But a
lot of the reasons, like the online programs for like
losing your Mommy Pooch don't actually even work, is because
of the fact that they are maybe us like targeting
with exercise and doing a lot of strengthening where you
might need more opening of the pelvic floor, you might
need some regenerative technology.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
You can have your skin.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Your skin can have lost a lot of the elasticity.
And that's personally what I'm dealing with right now is
I'm working on getting my skin to recoil a little
bit more, and so I want to share with you
how we do that from a holistic perspective, and we
kind of blend our protocols in order to really help
people reduce their mommy tummy.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
And again, I don't even love the.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Word mommy tummy or mommy pouch, Like it's just ugly,
Like who wants to say that? But I don't know
how else to convey how to get rid of this
without saying those words. So here we are, so yes, obviously,
like if you carry a lot of abdominal fat, that
is going to play into carrying fat there, no problem.
(04:56):
But if you carry fat there, that's fine. It's protective
of your uterus and you organs, and we carry fat
in our lower belly sometimes. But if you're looking to
you know you've had the weight loss or you're looking
to further melt the melt the fat, then you can
work with a you know, a diet coach, or you
can join our af wellness coaching program and that which
(05:17):
is a side note currently open for enrollment right now,
so you can't.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Maybe we'll have a link at it in.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
The show notes of this episode to get you to
if you want to apply to be in that program.
And that's where we do a lot of the fueling
and learning how to fuel our bodies, giving you a
workout program, and there's coaching calls associated with that and
check ins and adjustments as well, and it's a really,
really amazing community. But if you have not worked with
(05:45):
a pelvic expert physical therapist to help restore your core
after kids, and you are really concerned about the mommy pooch,
or even if you have worked with a PT, I
would highly recommend having a pelvic person or a pelvic
expert working with you to help restore your core because
if you have the mummi pooch, most likely you're not
(06:05):
getting good core control and activation in your daily life.
So what is good core control? And how do I
know if I'm doing it right? These are a lot
of the questions I get asked. So good core control
is number one. Can you relax your palic floor? Can
your pelvic floor all three layers of your pelvic floor?
Because the palvit floor is muscle, it's fascia, it is
(06:28):
lymphatic system, it is blood vessels, it is nerves, it's
a whole bunch of stuff, right, and so all of
that stuff quote unquote, if you're watching on YouTube, you'll
see my quotes, my air quotes. All of that stuff
needs to be able to open and move dynamically, and
then it needs to be able to contract and close
and elevate, and so we have to get that range
(06:50):
of motion to get true core control. Once you can
get that core control, then we work on contracting our
lower abdominals and getting our low abdominal muscle, which is
called the transverse abdominance muscle, to activate and to drive
all of the movement that we do in our daily
life and all of the movement that we do in
(07:12):
the gym.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
So if you're doing a squat.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Or you're picking your kid up off the floor, you
want your transverseub dominance muscle to activate and to be
the thing that drives them, that drives the movement, along
with your glutes and of course your laps as well.
And then what should also be happening is then then
your pelvic floor can pick up and come along for
the ride. You don't want to do a key goal
(07:36):
first and then do the movement because that is going
to put a lot more pressure on the bladder and
the pelic organs and the pelvis itself. And so we
really talk about wanting to drive movements with our glutes
and with our lower abdominal muscles, and so really getting
your core back and learning how to tighten your core
(07:56):
or your lower abdominal area to get rid of the
mom pooch requires you to get really good connection to
what's called your transverse abdominant muscle. We have tons of
videos on YouTube about how to find this muscle, how
to contrack this muscle. We can link some in the
show notes as well, But this is a really important
(08:18):
revelation that you want to be doing correctly. And if
you have scar tissue in your abdominal wall or your
newly postpartum, or you've just recently lost a bunch of
weight or recently gained a bunch of weight, it's hard
to keep that lower abdominal transverse abdominant muscle strong after
those types of changes. And so if you have had
(08:38):
weight changes, you are newly postpartum, or you have scar
tissues say from a hysterectomy, an appendectomy, an endometriosis surgery,
or from a C section, you want to make sure
that you are working to dissolve that scarring so that
you can continue to get really good activation of that
muscle and then retrain that muscle to make sure it's
(09:01):
working and contracting for you. This is the muscle of
that if you learn how to work it like, you'll
feel like this is the muscle that keeps you free
of back pain.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
This is the muscle that's going to keep your hips healthy.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
You have to learn how to really truly activate and
control this muscle, and honestly, I would I would say
that one of the secret sauces to having continent, so
not peeing your pants is having really good core activation
and having really good activation of this lower abdominal muscle.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
There is a ligament that.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Goes from your navel to your bladder, and when you
activate your transverse to dominant muscle, that ligament gives a
little elevation to your bladder, which is a beautiful thing
to help keep you continent.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
It's a good thing to help prevent the prolapses.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
But it's so mechanically speaking, we want the movement to
be driven by that lower abdominal muscle, and so people
ask me all the time, but I was taught to
keepel and then do the movement. Honestly, most people's organs
are hanging out below the level of the pelvic floor.
So what that means is that if your pelvic floor contracts,
(10:07):
and it can't fully contract because your bladder's hanging down
or the back wall of your vagina is coming down.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Then it can't fully contract because it's contracting around those organs,
and that becomes maladaptive. And that's how we can make
things worse sometimes with the movement patterns that we do
so to I know this is a fully loaded episode
of kind of a lot of anatomy. I'm trying and
I want to make this as digestible as possible, and
(10:35):
so what I hope you're getting across is that in
order to get rid of that mammy pooch, we have
to work the lower of dominal muscles. But that lower
abdominal muscle will work better if you can learn to
isolate it without squeezing your pelvic floor. Now, this might
be people might not agree with this at all, and
(10:57):
that's okay, because what we see in the clinic is
that if you can isolate your transverse to dominance, then
you're going to have really good core control and be
like kind of preventative.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Right, That's where you're that's where.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
The core and core work is really preventative for these
lifelong issues. But most of the time people get their
lower abdominal control.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Through their palvic floor.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
So when we're doing an internal assessment and we have
someone tests their abdominal strength, their pelvic floor is the
one doing all the work, all the heavy lifting, and
a lot of times that's the reason why they have
all this palvic floor issue, the incontinence, the back pain,
the hip pain, the painful intercourse, the inability to orgasm
or climax, and so these So it's really really important
(11:44):
that yes, you can activate your lower abdominal muscles, and equally,
can you activate just your lower abdominal muscles and not
your palvic floor at the same time.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
So that's a.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Little trick that you could literally practice as you're listening
to this episode. Can I contract my lower abdominal muscles
while opening and flaring open my anus my vagina, imagining
that it is opening at the same time my lower
abs are pulling.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Up and in towards my spine.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Now, that's a really good coordination exercise for you.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
To do and play with.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Now, these lower abdominal muscles, I said that they get
kind of they get really stretched out during pregnancy, right,
and so a really good thing to do is to
keep them active, keep them moving during your pregnancy. So
the more that you work on contracting them so, the
easier it's going to be for your abdominal wall to
recoil postpartum. Now go and do this three times. And
(12:37):
I worked on my ta. My transfer is the dominance
every single pregnancy. But I was so I was a
lot heavier. I was one hundred pounds heavier away for
my third pregnancy, and so my skin lost a lot
of its elasticity. Now I've lost a lot of that weight,
and I've been working on my core control the whole
time and working on those lower abdominal muscles, but now
(12:58):
I have a problem with the skin. So the skin
is just it's lost some of its collagen and elastin.
And so now what we're using in clinic to help
repair that is what we're using red LIGHTE therapy. And
then we're also using regenerative tools as in shockwave radial
pressure shockwave therapy Abdominantly, shock wave is amazing for healing
(13:19):
the lower abdominal muscles. So getting them to activate it
causes tissue regeneration and it is beautiful, but it also
causes skin tightening. So it's used in the esthetic space
for things like wrinkles, cellulite skin tightening, skin tightening, and
body sculpting, and so it has a cool aesthetic purpose,
(13:40):
but we mainly use it for the functional purpose of
getting the lower abs to turn back on. But I'd
be lying if I didn't tell you that I'm absolutely
using this for skin tightening and definitely seeing great results.
And now I'm pairing that skin tightening with also being
proactive on my weight loss journey that I've been on
that I've been very open about. You don't have to
be on a weight lodge journey to want to use
(14:02):
these skin tightening regenerative tools, because the reality is if
you are working on skin tightening and core tightening, then
you're working on getting your functional deep core really really
working for you. And that's what's going to be protective.
That's what's going to be pro protective for wearing out
your joints. That's what's going to be protective from the
(14:22):
low back pain, from the incontinence. That's what's going to
keep you nice and tall as you age instead of
becoming more hunched over and so the stronger that we
can keep your core, the tighter we can keep your
lower abdominals the better that they're going to function as far.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
As deep core strength.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So I hope that's coming across clearly in this episode.
But that's why talking about like mommy tummy is so convoluted,
because it really is.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
It can be that you have you.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Need to lose weight because you're just storing fat there
and you don't need to lose weight. Of course, you
never need to lose weight, but if you if that's
the goal is to reduce the mommy tummy, then that
might be where some of the residual fat is being stored.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
It might be that you don't have that lower abdominal
core control.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
It might be that your pelvic floor is way too
rigid and tight and doesn't move enough, and so therefore
we have to get that movement going in order to
get your lower abdominals to fire. It could be that
you have constipation in bloating, and if that's the case,
then you absolutely have to work on the pelvic floor
as well, because a lot of times, if you're constipated
(15:30):
and bloated, your pelvic floor isn't able to open enough
to fully empty during bowel movements, and so we have
to work on both ends of the spectrum. We work
on the bowels themselves abdominantly, and then we work internationally
to help heal the pelvic floor muscles so that everything
can fully open and relax, so all the stool can
get out, and that you can feel like you're getting
(15:53):
these productive bow movements, hopefully at least once a day,
and that will help your ability to control the lower abdomen.
If you've ever been bloated or had constipation or feel
like you have gas, you know, it's like you don't
want to go do an ab workout that day, right,
Like that's not comfortable for anyone, and so it's really
(16:16):
important that you you manage that on that on that front,
So we work a lot with constipation and bloating and
just gasiness and or and once we get that under control,
then we have a lot better core control, and so
our core is working much better for us. Another aspect
that I haven't mentioned yet is sometimes when people have
(16:38):
a mommy pouch, they also have diastasis rect eye. So
a diastasis rec DYE is a separation of the abdominal
wall where the rectus abdominus is up and down right.
So it's like the six pack ab muscles and if
you and then it's connected through what's called.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
The linear alba.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
As pregnancy progresses, it's guaranteed there's going to be some
degree of separation by the thirty ninth or I believe
it's a thirty eighth week during the pregnancy, and your
goal to decrease the amount of separation is to really
be able to generate good tension in the linear album.
And that's how we determine like how healthy your separation
(17:19):
is and how really how.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Functional your core is.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Now, if you have a diastasis that is wide open
in the lower belly, then that can also contribute to
mommy pooch and that can contribute to not having good
lower abdominal control.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
But you don't need surgery to fix that.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
You can absolutely fix that by just working on the
muscles themselves, and a lot of times working on the muscles. Again,
just like doing some core exercises on an online program
isn't enough, because you have to work on the deepest
level of the core, which is that pelvic floor muscle group.
And working with that muscle group, opening up those muscles
is going to allow there to be a lot less
(18:01):
pressure abdominantly, which is going to allow those abdominal muscles
to work and do their job. So, you know, I
don't love that. I'm really talking a little bit about
esthetics as far as because I'm like so much more
of a functional person and I'm really, you know, I
believe in that. But in the same vein, I have
to own that I do care that I have a
mommy pouch too, and I like to wear swimsuits and
(18:23):
jeans and not feel like I have this fupa right,
And that's what most our clients say, and so I'm
leaning into it because if that's the need for our
community and like that's what we want to feel good.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Then we are. You know, I'm not going to deny
that working.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
With a pelvic expert physical therapist can't help that, right,
They absolutely can, And honestly, that would be my first
line of defense is using our regenerative tools in regards
to the red lighte therapy and the shockwave therapy to
help heal the mommy pooch and then working also from
a pelvic chlor physical therapy standpoint to really truly heal
(18:59):
the like the actual deepest core and get the deep
core functioning because then yes, esthetic improvements, but down the line,
you keep this going, you are going to have a
much healthier and active life because your core is actually
working for you. Now I've said it time and time again,
I'm going to repeat it here again today. But a
(19:19):
lot of the times what we see is, you know,
women in their fifties and sixties, when they start to
get that knee pain, that hit pain and they have
in continence, sex doesn't feel that good. It's like it
really goes back to they don't have a good core basis,
and they and if you don't have a good core,
it's really hard for your core to absorb the shocks
(19:40):
from your joints, and therefore your joints start to wear out.
Hence they get a lot more aches and pains and
arthritis and they just have more breakdown and because the
muscles can't support the forces that are going through those
joints as much. And so that's why we really need
to work on using good core mechanics, retraining our cores
(20:03):
to help that long term effect of having to deal
with that arthritis, having to get an injection in the joint,
and then that doesn't really fix the root cause.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Of the problem in the first place.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
So eventually that joint's going to wear out and eventually
that joint's going to need a replacement, right, And then
all the while we had these bladder issues and yeah,
you might get a sling for your bladder, but that's
not healing the root cause of it. And those surgeries
the last stat I saw were forty percent failure rates,
so needing to get them done again. And so if
(20:33):
we're not healing like the root cause and really dealing
with the core, then we're gonna end up with these
other issues. So here I am to tell you it's
okay to give a crap about your esthetics of your
lower phenomenal muscles, because if you give a crap to
fix it holistically, truly fix it, not get like a
surgery to fix it, not do you know, like really
(20:54):
truly heal the deepest level of the core, then yes,
you're helping your self esthetically, but you're one hundred percent
helping yourself functionally for your future self. And I think
that's what's most important to take home from this message.
So I've been tracking my results using shockwave therapy and
(21:15):
then I do you know, I work my lower abdominal
muscles at least four days a week and I do
you know a lifting routine four to five days a
week where I'm using my lower abdominal muscles as well.
And this is and that's what we do in the
af wellness coaching program as well. Is everybody is on
you know, a program that really fosters keeping the core
(21:40):
really really strong.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
And we do that by working our glutes.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
We do that by keeping our lower abdominals functioning and coordinated.
We do that by keeping our backs and our laps
really strong and keeping our diaphragms and our pelic floors
moving because the diaphragm and.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
The pelvic floor need to be able to move. And
that's how we keep those muscles strong.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
And so it's not through kegels, right, and it's not
through a bunch of crunches. But once you learn how
to truly work your deep core muscles.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
You will have all the tightening in the world.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
And then once we get that working, and you might
if you still have issues. That's really where the regenerative
technology comes in to help us get more turnover. Cellular turnover,
improve collagen synthesis, which lays collagen lays down elastin, and
so the elastin is what we want to get that
cellular recoil, get the skin to tighten, get the muscles
(22:38):
to tighten back up, and nutrition does play a big
role in this, right, So and then again, like if
you carry your fat in your lower abdominal area, which
I absolutely do it, you know that's fine. Like I
might not lose the remaining of my adominal pooch until
I'm very, very lean, and maybe that's not my goal, right,
(23:01):
And so it's like there's some degree of like I
have to be okay that my fat cells just tend
to fill up a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
In that area.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
And if I want to get rid of that area,
I have to be leaner and lose more body fat.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
So it doesn't mean I'm actually lighter.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I could just have more muscle, right, but I have
to have I have to be leaner in order to
lose that area. So that actually is personally my goal.
I would love to be a level of leanness that
my mommy pouch is gone. And so I'm kind of
just playing with what that number looks like. I'm at
a really good spot and I have been maintaining my
weight and really focusing on building muscles. Since October tenth
(23:39):
has been when my last diet phase ended. And again,
that diet phase was hardly a cut, Like I still
was on a really decent amount of fuel and with
the you know, the focus being a lot of protein.
But now I'm ramped up to what some people might
think is a very hefty diet at like three hundred calories.
(24:01):
And you know, I'm very fueled right now, and so
in order to maybe get a little bit leaner, I
would have to decrease some of my fuel source. And
that might be something I choose to do. It just
depends on how strong my goal is, right and like
I said, that actually is my goal and that is
what I'm leaning into for my next ten weeks of
(24:23):
locking into decreasing fuel a little bit just to tweak
with some body fat ratios. And I know this isn't
a cup of tea for everyone. And I fully believe
in health at every size, and I believe that you
can have a strong core at every size. That's why
this topic of talking about mommy tummy is annoying, and
(24:44):
that's why I hate the word.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
But it's so real, and.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
So to ignore it and pretend like we all just like, yeah,
we love our fubas, Like, yeah, I can get down
with that because I do, like I honestly like fully
honor it, Like I'm like, oh, this gave me my babies,
this is where my uterus, Like it's a beautiful area.
And in the same vein, I'm like, I like when
my core is nice and tight, and I like when
I can see some of my ams, and I like
(25:09):
when I, you know, feel like I can wear a
skirt or some jeans and not be so folded over
on top of them. Right, So I don't know, it's
all It's all good, right, Like you can have goals
and equally have full on love.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
And body acceptance.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
So I am not shaming anyone for any of it,
and I think it's all beautiful. And as long as
you love yourself on this journey, even when you got the.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Fupa, then we're all good.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Like if you can learn to love it, then you
can learn to also melt it and love it at
the same time.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Like it's just like that.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
So I'm tatra Elison felt. I hope you have some
good takeaways from this episode. It's been my complete pleasure
to share this with you today, and if you are
joining us on decreasing that mommy pouch decreasing the FUPA area,
then I highly recommend you check out some of our
you too videos and you will link them in the
show notes about how to start getting that lower abdominal control,
(26:04):
how to improve your organ mobility so that you can
get better abdominal control, and then also to really work
on getting that pelvit floor control so that your lower
apps can work even better and pull things in even
tighter so you don't have increased intra abdominal pressure because
of the pelvic floor restrictions and tightness. And to top
(26:25):
it all off, throw some regenerative tools on there with
some red light therapy and some shockwave therapy and you
are going to be good to go from an aesthetic
standpoint and from a functional standpoint.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
I'm doctor Allison Pelt.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Thank you so much for joining us, Like and subscribe
to this episode and share this with all your mom
friends
Welcome to another episode of the Edmund Bomster Room podcast.
(00:02):
I'm doctor Allison Felt, your host, mom of three, owner
of Body Motion, physical Therapy, and entrepreneur. I am so
happy to be here with you today and we are
going to jump into what I have been getting the
most questions about. And ironically, at the coffee shop on
my way in here, the barista asked me how. She's like, you,
(00:24):
I know you're like in this field and like you're
into fitness. She's like, can you just tell me how
to get rid of this like mommy pooch I have.
She's like, I've lost forty pounds and I just have
this residual mommy pooch.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
And do we not all feel that right?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Like it is such a real thing, and like yes,
we want to honor and love our bodies and be
like this is amazing, Like we have these kids and
we love our mommy pooches and in the same vein,
can you shrink.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Up a little bit?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
And you know we feel that way. So and that's okay,
there's nothing wrong with it. I've been on a mission
to try to reduce my mommy pouch as well, and
so I want to share with you all the things
to consider when we're talking about mommy pooch, because it
is a really loaded topic and we're not just talking
about the esthetic parts of that lower abdominal belly that
(01:17):
hangs over.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
We are talking.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Also about function and so but we're going to dive
into both because a lot of people care that they
have that mommy pooch, and you want to be able
to wear jeans and not feel like you have a
muffin top or not have the pooch over your underwear line.
That's why we all enjoy the high rise era that
we are currently in. And that's why the yoga pants
(01:40):
are so good, right because they kind of suck us
in right at the point of our pooches. But in
all reality, in order to shrink at the pooch, it's
a whole combination of a bunch of things. So the
mommy pooch itself can be a pocket of fat, it
can be a pocket of loose skin. It can be
that you don't have any lower abdominal muscle tone.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
It could be.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
That you have a really tight and restricted pelvic floor,
and you might even feel like your pelvic floor is
completely blown out from having kids and it's super weak.
But the reality is is that your pelvic floor. If
you haven't had pelvic floor work done after you had kids,
it doesn't matter how blown out you feel, most likely
you have restriction and scar tissue within that muscle. And
(02:26):
so that muscle becomes rigid, tight and cemented and doesn't
have a lot of dynamic movement to contract and relax,
and so then it loses blood flow and it kind
of turns to the texture of beef jerky and it
gets really tight. And so when it starts to get
tight like that, then that increases the intra abdominal pressure.
(02:47):
It increases the pressure in the belly. When you have
increased pressure in the belly, that can lead to having
more constipation, It can lead to not being able to
use your lower abdominal muscles, and it can lead to having.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
A lot of core weakness.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
And so when we talk about the mommy pooch, we
have to talk about, Okay, do you still are you
carrying a bunch of fat there and do you have
a lot of fat to lose in order to completely
reduce the pouch? Do you have a C section scar
that is like indenting your body? And that's the reason
that you're having the pooch, and so do we have
to dissolve the scarring in order to get rid of
(03:26):
the pooch, or do we need to learn how to
open up the pelvic floor decrease the pressure in the
lower abdomen in order to decrease the pooch, Or do
we need to tighten the lower abdominals by learning how
to activate your deep core, which is your transverse abnominous muscle.
So bear with me. This is fully loaded and there
(03:48):
are so many things that you can do. But a
lot of the reasons, like the online programs for like
losing your Mommy Pooch don't actually even work, is because
of the fact that they are maybe us like targeting
with exercise and doing a lot of strengthening where you
might need more opening of the pelvic floor, you might
need some regenerative technology.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
You can have your skin.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Your skin can have lost a lot of the elasticity.
And that's personally what I'm dealing with right now is
I'm working on getting my skin to recoil a little
bit more, and so I want to share with you
how we do that from a holistic perspective, and we
kind of blend our protocols in order to really help
people reduce their mommy tummy.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
And again, I don't even love the.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Word mommy tummy or mommy pouch, Like it's just ugly,
Like who wants to say that? But I don't know
how else to convey how to get rid of this
without saying those words. So here we are, so yes, obviously,
like if you carry a lot of abdominal fat, that
is going to play into carrying fat there, no problem.
(04:56):
But if you carry fat there, that's fine. It's protective
of your uterus and you organs, and we carry fat
in our lower belly sometimes. But if you're looking to
you know you've had the weight loss or you're looking
to further melt the melt the fat, then you can
work with a you know, a diet coach, or you
can join our af wellness coaching program and that which
(05:17):
is a side note currently open for enrollment right now,
so you can't.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Maybe we'll have a link at it in.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
The show notes of this episode to get you to
if you want to apply to be in that program.
And that's where we do a lot of the fueling
and learning how to fuel our bodies, giving you a
workout program, and there's coaching calls associated with that and
check ins and adjustments as well, and it's a really,
really amazing community. But if you have not worked with
(05:45):
a pelvic expert physical therapist to help restore your core
after kids, and you are really concerned about the mommy pooch,
or even if you have worked with a PT, I
would highly recommend having a pelvic person or a pelvic
expert working with you to help restore your core because
if you have the mummi pooch, most likely you're not
(06:05):
getting good core control and activation in your daily life.
So what is good core control? And how do I
know if I'm doing it right? These are a lot
of the questions I get asked. So good core control
is number one. Can you relax your palic floor? Can
your pelvic floor all three layers of your pelvic floor?
Because the palvit floor is muscle, it's fascia, it is
(06:28):
lymphatic system, it is blood vessels, it is nerves, it's
a whole bunch of stuff, right, and so all of
that stuff quote unquote, if you're watching on YouTube, you'll
see my quotes, my air quotes. All of that stuff
needs to be able to open and move dynamically, and
then it needs to be able to contract and close
and elevate, and so we have to get that range
(06:50):
of motion to get true core control. Once you can
get that core control, then we work on contracting our
lower abdominals and getting our low abdominal muscle, which is
called the transverse abdominance muscle, to activate and to drive
all of the movement that we do in our daily
life and all of the movement that we do in
(07:12):
the gym.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
So if you're doing a squat.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Or you're picking your kid up off the floor, you
want your transverseub dominance muscle to activate and to be
the thing that drives them, that drives the movement, along
with your glutes and of course your laps as well.
And then what should also be happening is then then
your pelvic floor can pick up and come along for
the ride. You don't want to do a key goal
(07:36):
first and then do the movement because that is going
to put a lot more pressure on the bladder and
the pelic organs and the pelvis itself. And so we
really talk about wanting to drive movements with our glutes
and with our lower abdominal muscles, and so really getting
your core back and learning how to tighten your core
(07:56):
or your lower abdominal area to get rid of the
mom pooch requires you to get really good connection to
what's called your transverse abdominant muscle. We have tons of
videos on YouTube about how to find this muscle, how
to contrack this muscle. We can link some in the
show notes as well, But this is a really important
(08:18):
revelation that you want to be doing correctly. And if
you have scar tissue in your abdominal wall or your
newly postpartum, or you've just recently lost a bunch of
weight or recently gained a bunch of weight, it's hard
to keep that lower abdominal transverse abdominant muscle strong after
those types of changes. And so if you have had
(08:38):
weight changes, you are newly postpartum, or you have scar
tissues say from a hysterectomy, an appendectomy, an endometriosis surgery,
or from a C section, you want to make sure
that you are working to dissolve that scarring so that
you can continue to get really good activation of that
muscle and then retrain that muscle to make sure it's
(09:01):
working and contracting for you. This is the muscle of
that if you learn how to work it like, you'll
feel like this is the muscle that keeps you free
of back pain.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
This is the muscle that's going to keep your hips healthy.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
You have to learn how to really truly activate and
control this muscle, and honestly, I would I would say
that one of the secret sauces to having continent, so
not peeing your pants is having really good core activation
and having really good activation of this lower abdominal muscle.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
There is a ligament that.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Goes from your navel to your bladder, and when you
activate your transverse to dominant muscle, that ligament gives a
little elevation to your bladder, which is a beautiful thing
to help keep you continent.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
It's a good thing to help prevent the prolapses.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
But it's so mechanically speaking, we want the movement to
be driven by that lower abdominal muscle, and so people
ask me all the time, but I was taught to
keepel and then do the movement. Honestly, most people's organs
are hanging out below the level of the pelvic floor.
So what that means is that if your pelvic floor contracts,
(10:07):
and it can't fully contract because your bladder's hanging down
or the back wall of your vagina is coming down.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Then it can't fully contract because it's contracting around those organs,
and that becomes maladaptive. And that's how we can make
things worse sometimes with the movement patterns that we do
so to I know this is a fully loaded episode
of kind of a lot of anatomy. I'm trying and
I want to make this as digestible as possible, and
(10:35):
so what I hope you're getting across is that in
order to get rid of that mammy pooch, we have
to work the lower of dominal muscles. But that lower
abdominal muscle will work better if you can learn to
isolate it without squeezing your pelvic floor. Now, this might
be people might not agree with this at all, and
(10:57):
that's okay, because what we see in the clinic is
that if you can isolate your transverse to dominance, then
you're going to have really good core control and be
like kind of preventative.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Right, That's where you're that's where.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
The core and core work is really preventative for these
lifelong issues. But most of the time people get their
lower abdominal control.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Through their palvic floor.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
So when we're doing an internal assessment and we have
someone tests their abdominal strength, their pelvic floor is the
one doing all the work, all the heavy lifting, and
a lot of times that's the reason why they have
all this palvic floor issue, the incontinence, the back pain,
the hip pain, the painful intercourse, the inability to orgasm
or climax, and so these So it's really really important
(11:44):
that yes, you can activate your lower abdominal muscles, and equally,
can you activate just your lower abdominal muscles and not
your palvic floor at the same time.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
So that's a.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Little trick that you could literally practice as you're listening
to this episode. Can I contract my lower abdominal muscles
while opening and flaring open my anus my vagina, imagining
that it is opening at the same time my lower
abs are pulling.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Up and in towards my spine.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Now, that's a really good coordination exercise for you.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
To do and play with.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Now, these lower abdominal muscles, I said that they get
kind of they get really stretched out during pregnancy, right,
and so a really good thing to do is to
keep them active, keep them moving during your pregnancy. So
the more that you work on contracting them so, the
easier it's going to be for your abdominal wall to
recoil postpartum. Now go and do this three times. And
(12:37):
I worked on my ta. My transfer is the dominance
every single pregnancy. But I was so I was a
lot heavier. I was one hundred pounds heavier away for
my third pregnancy, and so my skin lost a lot
of its elasticity. Now I've lost a lot of that weight,
and I've been working on my core control the whole
time and working on those lower abdominal muscles, but now
(12:58):
I have a problem with the skin. So the skin
is just it's lost some of its collagen and elastin.
And so now what we're using in clinic to help
repair that is what we're using red LIGHTE therapy. And
then we're also using regenerative tools as in shockwave radial
pressure shockwave therapy Abdominantly, shock wave is amazing for healing
(13:19):
the lower abdominal muscles. So getting them to activate it
causes tissue regeneration and it is beautiful, but it also
causes skin tightening. So it's used in the esthetic space
for things like wrinkles, cellulite skin tightening, skin tightening, and
body sculpting, and so it has a cool aesthetic purpose,
(13:40):
but we mainly use it for the functional purpose of
getting the lower abs to turn back on. But I'd
be lying if I didn't tell you that I'm absolutely
using this for skin tightening and definitely seeing great results.
And now I'm pairing that skin tightening with also being
proactive on my weight loss journey that I've been on
that I've been very open about. You don't have to
be on a weight lodge journey to want to use
(14:02):
these skin tightening regenerative tools, because the reality is if
you are working on skin tightening and core tightening, then
you're working on getting your functional deep core really really
working for you. And that's what's going to be protective.
That's what's going to be pro protective for wearing out
your joints. That's what's going to be protective from the
(14:22):
low back pain, from the incontinence. That's what's going to
keep you nice and tall as you age instead of
becoming more hunched over and so the stronger that we
can keep your core, the tighter we can keep your
lower abdominals the better that they're going to function as far.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
As deep core strength.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So I hope that's coming across clearly in this episode.
But that's why talking about like mommy tummy is so convoluted,
because it really is.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
It can be that you have you.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Need to lose weight because you're just storing fat there
and you don't need to lose weight. Of course, you
never need to lose weight, but if you if that's
the goal is to reduce the mommy tummy, then that
might be where some of the residual fat is being stored.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
It might be that you don't have that lower abdominal
core control.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
It might be that your pelvic floor is way too
rigid and tight and doesn't move enough, and so therefore
we have to get that movement going in order to
get your lower abdominals to fire. It could be that
you have constipation in bloating, and if that's the case,
then you absolutely have to work on the pelvic floor
as well, because a lot of times, if you're constipated
(15:30):
and bloated, your pelvic floor isn't able to open enough
to fully empty during bowel movements, and so we have
to work on both ends of the spectrum. We work
on the bowels themselves abdominantly, and then we work internationally
to help heal the pelvic floor muscles so that everything
can fully open and relax, so all the stool can
get out, and that you can feel like you're getting
(15:53):
these productive bow movements, hopefully at least once a day,
and that will help your ability to control the lower abdomen.
If you've ever been bloated or had constipation or feel
like you have gas, you know, it's like you don't
want to go do an ab workout that day, right,
Like that's not comfortable for anyone, and so it's really
(16:16):
important that you you manage that on that on that front,
So we work a lot with constipation and bloating and
just gasiness and or and once we get that under control,
then we have a lot better core control, and so
our core is working much better for us. Another aspect
that I haven't mentioned yet is sometimes when people have
(16:38):
a mommy pouch, they also have diastasis rect eye. So
a diastasis rec DYE is a separation of the abdominal
wall where the rectus abdominus is up and down right.
So it's like the six pack ab muscles and if
you and then it's connected through what's called.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
The linear alba.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
As pregnancy progresses, it's guaranteed there's going to be some
degree of separation by the thirty ninth or I believe
it's a thirty eighth week during the pregnancy, and your
goal to decrease the amount of separation is to really
be able to generate good tension in the linear album.
And that's how we determine like how healthy your separation
(17:19):
is and how really how.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Functional your core is.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Now, if you have a diastasis that is wide open
in the lower belly, then that can also contribute to
mommy pooch and that can contribute to not having good
lower abdominal control.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
But you don't need surgery to fix that.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
You can absolutely fix that by just working on the
muscles themselves, and a lot of times working on the muscles. Again,
just like doing some core exercises on an online program
isn't enough, because you have to work on the deepest
level of the core, which is that pelvic floor muscle group.
And working with that muscle group, opening up those muscles
is going to allow there to be a lot less
(18:01):
pressure abdominantly, which is going to allow those abdominal muscles
to work and do their job. So, you know, I
don't love that. I'm really talking a little bit about
esthetics as far as because I'm like so much more
of a functional person and I'm really, you know, I
believe in that. But in the same vein, I have
to own that I do care that I have a
mommy pouch too, and I like to wear swimsuits and
(18:23):
jeans and not feel like I have this fupa right,
And that's what most our clients say, and so I'm
leaning into it because if that's the need for our
community and like that's what we want to feel good.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Then we are. You know, I'm not going to deny
that working.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
With a pelvic expert physical therapist can't help that, right,
They absolutely can, And honestly, that would be my first
line of defense is using our regenerative tools in regards
to the red lighte therapy and the shockwave therapy to
help heal the mommy pooch and then working also from
a pelvic chlor physical therapy standpoint to really truly heal
(18:59):
the like the actual deepest core and get the deep
core functioning because then yes, esthetic improvements, but down the line,
you keep this going, you are going to have a
much healthier and active life because your core is actually
working for you. Now I've said it time and time again,
I'm going to repeat it here again today. But a
(19:19):
lot of the times what we see is, you know,
women in their fifties and sixties, when they start to
get that knee pain, that hit pain and they have
in continence, sex doesn't feel that good. It's like it
really goes back to they don't have a good core basis,
and they and if you don't have a good core,
it's really hard for your core to absorb the shocks
(19:40):
from your joints, and therefore your joints start to wear out.
Hence they get a lot more aches and pains and
arthritis and they just have more breakdown and because the
muscles can't support the forces that are going through those
joints as much. And so that's why we really need
to work on using good core mechanics, retraining our cores
(20:03):
to help that long term effect of having to deal
with that arthritis, having to get an injection in the joint,
and then that doesn't really fix the root cause.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Of the problem in the first place.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
So eventually that joint's going to wear out and eventually
that joint's going to need a replacement, right, And then
all the while we had these bladder issues and yeah,
you might get a sling for your bladder, but that's
not healing the root cause of it. And those surgeries
the last stat I saw were forty percent failure rates,
so needing to get them done again. And so if
(20:33):
we're not healing like the root cause and really dealing
with the core, then we're gonna end up with these
other issues. So here I am to tell you it's
okay to give a crap about your esthetics of your
lower phenomenal muscles, because if you give a crap to
fix it holistically, truly fix it, not get like a
surgery to fix it, not do you know, like really
(20:54):
truly heal the deepest level of the core, then yes,
you're helping your self esthetically, but you're one hundred percent
helping yourself functionally for your future self. And I think
that's what's most important to take home from this message.
So I've been tracking my results using shockwave therapy and
(21:15):
then I do you know, I work my lower abdominal
muscles at least four days a week and I do
you know a lifting routine four to five days a
week where I'm using my lower abdominal muscles as well.
And this is and that's what we do in the
af wellness coaching program as well. Is everybody is on
you know, a program that really fosters keeping the core
(21:40):
really really strong.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
And we do that by working our glutes.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
We do that by keeping our lower abdominals functioning and coordinated.
We do that by keeping our backs and our laps
really strong and keeping our diaphragms and our pelic floors
moving because the diaphragm and.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
The pelvic floor need to be able to move. And
that's how we keep those muscles strong.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
And so it's not through kegels, right, and it's not
through a bunch of crunches. But once you learn how
to truly work your deep core muscles.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
You will have all the tightening in the world.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
And then once we get that working, and you might
if you still have issues. That's really where the regenerative
technology comes in to help us get more turnover. Cellular turnover,
improve collagen synthesis, which lays collagen lays down elastin, and
so the elastin is what we want to get that
cellular recoil, get the skin to tighten, get the muscles
(22:38):
to tighten back up, and nutrition does play a big
role in this, right, So and then again, like if
you carry your fat in your lower abdominal area, which
I absolutely do it, you know that's fine. Like I
might not lose the remaining of my adominal pooch until
I'm very, very lean, and maybe that's not my goal, right,
(23:01):
And so it's like there's some degree of like I
have to be okay that my fat cells just tend
to fill up a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
In that area.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
And if I want to get rid of that area,
I have to be leaner and lose more body fat.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
So it doesn't mean I'm actually lighter.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I could just have more muscle, right, but I have
to have I have to be leaner in order to
lose that area. So that actually is personally my goal.
I would love to be a level of leanness that
my mommy pouch is gone. And so I'm kind of
just playing with what that number looks like. I'm at
a really good spot and I have been maintaining my
weight and really focusing on building muscles. Since October tenth
(23:39):
has been when my last diet phase ended. And again,
that diet phase was hardly a cut, Like I still
was on a really decent amount of fuel and with
the you know, the focus being a lot of protein.
But now I'm ramped up to what some people might
think is a very hefty diet at like three hundred calories.
(24:01):
And you know, I'm very fueled right now, and so
in order to maybe get a little bit leaner, I
would have to decrease some of my fuel source. And
that might be something I choose to do. It just
depends on how strong my goal is, right and like
I said, that actually is my goal and that is
what I'm leaning into for my next ten weeks of
(24:23):
locking into decreasing fuel a little bit just to tweak
with some body fat ratios. And I know this isn't
a cup of tea for everyone. And I fully believe
in health at every size, and I believe that you
can have a strong core at every size. That's why
this topic of talking about mommy tummy is annoying, and
(24:44):
that's why I hate the word.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
But it's so real, and.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
So to ignore it and pretend like we all just like, yeah,
we love our fubas, Like, yeah, I can get down
with that because I do, like I honestly like fully
honor it, Like I'm like, oh, this gave me my babies,
this is where my uterus, Like it's a beautiful area.
And in the same vein, I'm like, I like when
my core is nice and tight, and I like when
I can see some of my ams, and I like
(25:09):
when I, you know, feel like I can wear a
skirt or some jeans and not be so folded over
on top of them. Right, So I don't know, it's
all It's all good, right, Like you can have goals
and equally have full on love.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
And body acceptance.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
So I am not shaming anyone for any of it,
and I think it's all beautiful. And as long as
you love yourself on this journey, even when you got the.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Fupa, then we're all good.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Like if you can learn to love it, then you
can learn to also melt it and love it at
the same time.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Like it's just like that.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
So I'm tatra Elison felt. I hope you have some
good takeaways from this episode. It's been my complete pleasure
to share this with you today, and if you are
joining us on decreasing that mommy pouch decreasing the FUPA area,
then I highly recommend you check out some of our
you too videos and you will link them in the
show notes about how to start getting that lower abdominal control,
(26:04):
how to improve your organ mobility so that you can
get better abdominal control, and then also to really work
on getting that pelvit floor control so that your lower
apps can work even better and pull things in even
tighter so you don't have increased intra abdominal pressure because
of the pelvic floor restrictions and tightness. And to top
(26:25):
it all off, throw some regenerative tools on there with
some red light therapy and some shockwave therapy and you
are going to be good to go from an aesthetic
standpoint and from a functional standpoint.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
I'm doctor Allison Pelt.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Thank you so much for joining us, Like and subscribe
to this episode and share this with all your mom
friends
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!