Exercise, eat right, and that baby weight will come off…eventually.
That’s the common wisdom anyway. But I’m impatient, so in addition to
bike rides and bowls of broccoli, I went looking for a little extra
help and found two interesting options: the Belly Bandit and the HipSlimmer.
The Belly Bandit (left) is an abdominal compression binder; or in human terms basically a
wide, elasticized wrap for your postpartum gut. We first spotted it at one of of the new mom sites we really like, The Cradle. Out of the box, it looked a bit bulky, but
it’s virtually invisible under clothes once it’s on. It’s got props from a Beverly Hills
OB/GYN (of course) and it’s made the rounds among celebs like Jessica Alba and Poppy
Montgomery.
Now the HipSlimmer is a post-pregnancy hip-slimming corset that looks
like it’s straight out of the Victorian era. The idea here is to take
advantage of those elevated hormone levels – relaxin and progesterone –
that allowed your hips to widen enough during delivery to let that baby
out. Wear the HipSlimmer a couple hours a day in the first couple
months after delivery to squeeze those hips back in place.
Obviously neither of these gadgets will take the place of running
stairs and abstaining from ice cream, and they both include the
standard “seek advice of a physician before use” disclaimer. Do they
work? I can’t say for sure. But with
three kids and a serious addiction to Reese’s cups, I’ll give just
about anything a try. –Julie
Congratulations to Belly Bandit and Hip Slimmer winner, Brooke E!
