Have you ever stood in front of the mirror naked and just looked at your skin? Not for moles, pimples, or stretch marks – just looked at the skin itself? When I was pregnant, I wanted to constantly look at my body to see how it was changing. Then, when I breastfed my son, I wanted to see what I looked like after the pregnancy.

Well, it has been a bit over 13 months since my son was born. I am no longer breastfeeding, and my skin seems to just hang in places. I even talked to the doctor about it at my physical and she said that (gasp) plastic surgery might be the answer to pull my skin back and make it look taut. Horrendous. Isn’t there another option?

Trolling the Internet for an answer, I did realize that I am not alone. And, I did find some beneficial information:

1) Toning the underlying muscles can help firm up some of the looseness. So, sit-ups/crunches, push-ups, pilates, weight lifting, and other exercise can help improve the situation.

2) During pregnancy, a woman may actually gain fat cells. It was originally believed that this happened only during infancy and puberty, but is now believed that fat cells are also added during the last trimester. This may account for why I (and others) have a few extra pounds (I’ve got around 5 extra pounds I could lose).
3) Creams may be able to help make some of the stretch marks less visible, but they are not going to do much for the actual loose skin.
4) Vitamin C was suggested to me by my doctor: Reading some articles online, I see that it has been known to be beneficial in fighting wrinkles. So, I’ll be eating my oranges and other citric fruits!