I have now completed the full 8 weeks of The Tummy Team’s Core Foundations course! I am so excited that I not only finished it but finished it with results! In the first article in this series, I gave you a background of my history with Diastasis Recti and why I’m doing The Tummy Team program. You can read that here.
Weeks seven and eight were all about maintenance and learning how to incorporate what I’ve learned into my new norm. There were also a few exercise techniques introduced from an online “tummy safe” program called Fit2B. These exercises are designed with Diastasis Recti in mind and will not hinder what has been done with The Tummy Team.
On this eight week update, I’m also going to show you more pictures and what Diastasis Recti really looks like.
Before I get into the pictures, let’s take a look at what was going on prior to starting the program:
Initial Symptoms:
Abdominal pain, sore to touch abdomen, lower back pain, incontinence, poor posture, intestines bulging from my abdomen, pain during intimacy, and constipation.
Initial Measurements:
Inches:
Belly Button: 34”
Waist: 34”
Lower Belly: 35”
Separation Width & Depth:
At the navel: 8 fingers wide, about 2” deep and pulsating (meaning I could FEEL my pulse!)
3 inches above the navel: 6+ fingers wide, 1-2” deep
3 inches below the navel: 4-5 fingers wide, 1-2” deep
**Note, that I did not measure my separation width and depth this week.
You can use Kelly’s guide to self-test yourself for Diastasis Recti too!
This ladies is what my tummy looks like laying down. As you can see that the skin from my abdomen is falling into the crevices of my diastasis recti. You can’t even see my belly button!
And this is what my tummy looks like from the frontal view. You can see that my belly button is now flat as well as a flat area below my belly button where everything just droops.
And if I were to show you a video of my abdomen as I was laying down, rolling from side to side, you’d be able to see my organs rolling around like a bowl full of jello. With that said, my Diastasis Recti is significant and I needed help!
Week By Week Recap:
To see my Week One and Week Two recap, click HERE!
To see my Week Three and Week Four recap, click HERE!
To see my Week Five and Week Six recap, click HERE!
Weeks Seven & Eight:
Like I stated before, weeks seven and eight were primarily about making a habit out of what I have learned and incorporating “tummy safe” exercises with Fit2B.
Something else awesome happened too.
The Tummy Team’s founder, Kelly Dean, reached out to me and offered me a free eSession! An eSession is a one-on-one virtual video session on a platform similar to Skype that lasts between 45-to-60 minutes. During the session, Kelly personalizes and tailors a therapy plan that is best suited for you. She gave me some amazing pointers and detailed instructions to help me on my continued journey. Kelly is such a nice lady and she is someone who you can relate to since she herself had diastasis recti.
I highly recommend adding an eSession to any Tummy Team course. It’s one thing to watch and learn from videos and handouts, which with my experience with The Tummy Team has been fantastic, and it’s another thing to get custom instruction from the founder, a physical therapist, which for me, added more value because it will help me in the long run.
Results:
After eight weeks, I continue to see small and steady results!
My measurements after eight weeks of the program:
Inches:
Belly Button: 31.5”
Waist: 32”
Lower Belly: 31.7”
Upper Belly: 29.5”
Let’s calculate!
At first glance, I could be sad because only one number has slightly changed from Week 6 and Week 8. But I’m not because I know that the process of healing my Diastasis Recti will be slow and steady.
I also did not measure my separation width and depth this week because I don’t want to get caught up in what hasn’t changed. I will, however, continue to measure it as the weeks and months go by.
I’ve compiled a group of photos from start to finish of my results with The Tummy Team. As you can see, week by week there are small results in my tummy’s appearance.
My Symptoms After 8 Weeks:
Here’s what hasn’t changed: I continue to have some abdominal pain, and there are places that is still sore to touch. This week, the pain was prominent and Kelly gave me some exercises to do to help relieve the pain. It remains evident that my intestines are still bulging from my abdomen as well.
Here’s what HAS changed: My lower back pain, incontinence, constipation, and posture have all continued to improve week by week. I also have decreased pain during intimacy.
Although I have completed The Tummy Team’s 8-week Core Foundations Course, my healing process will be ongoing for months. In all honesty, it may take up to a year for my Diastasis Recti to close to at least 2 fingers wide.
I feel confident that using what I have learned from The Tummy Team will greatly improve my chances of continued results and to eventually see my Diastasis Recti closed to 2 or fewer fingers.
My journey is not over friends, and I will continue to post updates as I go. So be sure to follow along with me!
Don’t forget, The Tummy Team was gracious enough to offer 15% off of their Online Core Training Programs to my readers! All you need to do is enter promo code mominthegolane at check out for your discount!
If you have Diastasis Recti, you will definitely want to give this a try! I highly recommend The Tummy Team, the Core Foundations program, as well as an eSession!
Until next time, friends!
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