The Tummy Team

Well, it is surprising that I have not posted anything about this until now. My stomach is not something that I would willingly bring up in conversation until the last 6 months. But now it seems to be consuming some of my time and now amazingly has even brought me into a whole new direction in my career. I, like most moms of many, now have a tummy that does not resemble my pre baby tummy in anyway! My stomach seemed to be even more of an issue after I lost Caleb last spring. As most of you know, I show almost the second I conceive. I was very big with Caleb and we only made it to 5 months. Well when we knew we were done having anymore kiddo's I really started to focus on getting back into shape. I started running and working out pretty regularly. I lost some of my preggo body but my tummy still looked pregnant.

Well, I realized why at Thanksgiving of last year. I was diagnosed with Diastasis Recti. What? Well that is the medical term for when the connective tissue in the front of your tummy is stretched so much the your outer abdominal wall separates. Essentially you have nothing holding your organs in and nothing supporting your back when this happens. It makes you look pregnant when you are not. It is the cause of that all too common and very much despised "mommy tummy".

I was then told by many doctors and therapists that my only real fix was plastic surgery and that all my exercise was actually making things worse. The surgery is rarely covered by insurance and is not even very successful in the long run. This was super depressing.

Well, I complained to my girlfriends (because that is what we do). As I complained, I realized that some of my girlfriends had this same issue. They had not been diagnosed either. Long story short. One girlfriend shared with another and another until someone shared that there was a lady named Julie Tupler that does a program for Diastasis Recti. My one friend said she was going to try it, I was skeptical. I am a physical therapist and I had several other physical therapists tell me surgery was the only answer. But I reluctantly looked at her website and I figured I had to give it a try. I could not afford the surgery yet anyway so what did I have to lose?

Well, it was amazing. I lost 2 inches off my waist in the first 4 days and in the first week my back pain was totally gone! I did the 6 week program and lost 5.5 inches total! I feel strong and cannot believe the difference. The best part was, I did it without exercise consuming my life. It is all about rehabilitating your abdominals! Right up my alley with my rehab background. I started talking to everyone about it. I realized this was something that could help so many women!

Then my friend Michelle (thanks again) told me I should go get trained to teach this here in Clark County. I prayed about it and had Brad pray about it and God has said yes, over and over again. So I just got back from NYC where I was personally trained by Julie Tupler, and I have started The Tummy Team! I teach individual classes and group workshops on abdominal rehab to get your body back. It is so fun, so rewarding and such a blessing to be able to help people as I personally know how much this can negatively affect your life.

Look at my new site to get some more information. http://www.thetummyteam.com/ I am setting up community classes that hopefully will start the first week of June! It is funny to think how God can use anything. My stomach was such a sensitive and discouraging issue for me and I can see how clearly God is using that experience for me to reach out and help women with total compassion and encouragement. It is so much more than having a flat tummy, it helps get your life back, your energy, intimacy, confidence and health is all restored. I will keep you all posted on how God uses it.