Category: before and after pics

February 22, 2011

MORE BEFORE AND AFTER PICS of diastasis recti and bellies!! CHECK THEM OUT!

So I know tons of you want to see before and after pics!!!  The www.diastasisrehab.com website went live a couple of days ago (the headquarters site for Tupler Technique®) and you can go to link


http://www.diastasisrehab.com/before-after.html


to check out the before pictures and after pictures.  

Notice that you can also see what the diastasis was before and after and also see the waist size before and after.  PREPARE TO BE AMAZED – most of the clients would have been immediately referred to a surgeon and look what they were able to do through the Tupler Technique®.  I know I have been asked – why doesn’t EVERYONE KNOW ABOUT THIS!?!? 

Its so true – but YOU DO – so spread the word!!!

July 29, 2010

ALL NEW BEFORE AND AFTER PICS & STORY – Diastasis Recti

I am a mid 30’s mother of an almost 2 and just turned 3 year old. Both kids were over 9 pounds, and I gained over 60 pounds, (depsite walking 5 miles a day) with each of them. I developed an umbilical hernia after child no. 1, but thought it was just a cosmetic consequence of pregnancy. My ob/gyn had ok’d me to do crunches during pregnancy no. 1 for as long as I could physically do them. Birth resulted in a c-section, and I lost all of the weight in the first 6 months post-birth and did many many crunches in this time period. I then became pregnant with child no. 2.
I changed ob/gyn for child no. 2 and asked about the diastasis recti at my first pregnancy appointment. She did not catch the hernia, but said that the diastatis recti could only be fixed with surgery. I inquired about stitching it during the second planned c-section, to which she informed me that I then could not hold my baby for several weeks while I healed. I opted against further pursuit of surgery and did not look into a fix until baby no. 2 was 18 months old. I acheived prepregnancy weight rather quickly with both children, but still looked 4-5 months pregnant.
I went to an osteopath who specializes in natural remedies, and he too confirmed that I could only repair my abdominals with surgery, with no mention of the hernia.

A family member of mine saw my belly button when my 2nd child was 18 months old and informed me that I had a hernia and should seek medical attention. I returned to my ob/gyn who confirmed the hernia and suggested I see a general surgeon.


At this point I found Bonnie and the Tupler technique and had already made the decision to try and close the diastasis without surgery. I saw a general surgeon only to confirm that the hernia was not dangerous and there was no immediate need for hernia surgery. The surgeon informed me that the diastasis was only 2 fingers wide, and I really did not even need the surgery. He was shocked that I even knew what a diastasis was. He also said that he could repair the diastatis as well, but that the recovery time would be long. He could repair the hernia, but that there was no immediate need for it as it was not particularly dangerous. I informed him that I was going to attempt to fix it with exercise, to which he responded he had never heard of such a thing. This particular surgeon is not a “cutter” and was supportive of my alternative choice. Further, he said he’d love to see the results, and to come back in six months.

I saw Bonnie just before memorial day, and took before pictures. The surgeon had measured me wrong and the diastasis was MUCH larger than the surgeon had measured.

(After two weeks of Tupler Technique with Bonnie’s instruction (and a bit of a tan):

I’m finding that my biggest problem now is how to get my skin to contract as quickly as my stomach has!

(MY NOTES:  This client was a 5 in the middle, 4 on the bottom, and 3 on the top.  She is now totally closed – in about 6 weeks!   You can see her support in her midsection is much firmer – as the muscles are now holding in the organs very nicely.  You will also notice a big change in the belly button area – its much  more inconspicuous and has gone flat.  From the side views especially, you notice a much more defined waistline, and you will also notice how her waist went in about 3 inches – possibly more since I didn’t measure her during the first session.  GREAT WORK!)

June 14, 2010

The latest results on closing the diastasis recti!!

So the bad news is I don’t have any pics this round, just stats.    The good news is the stats are pretty darn great!  However I am posting my own “after” for the first time.   Scroll down to see!

CLIENT A:  I have a pregnant client in her 30s right now that at 28 weeks first pregnancy measured 5 fingerwidths in the middle, 4 1/2 on the top, and 3 on the bottom.  You can imagine what that would have been POSTPARTUM as her bellly continued to expand, especially if that was combined with jacknifing in and out of bed, and incorrect abs.  Lucky for her, she started rehabbing her diastasis mid pregnancy.

TWO AND A HALF WEEKS LATER:  At 30 1/2 weeks (her belly growing), she measured 3 in the middle, 2 3/4 at the top and 2 fingerwidths at the bottom.  For an expanding belly, these are EXCELLENT results!  They would be fantastic WITHOUT the belly expanding in the equation!  What did she do?  Seated Tuplers while relaxing the pelvic floor, elevators, pelvic tilts primarily.

CLIENT B:  I have a client with 3 young kids, she is in her late 20s/early 30s.  She has a excellent fitness background – runs 15 miles a day no problem, does yoga, and is a very healthy eater.  However, she noticed her midsection still did not look right.  She was right – she was 7 1/4 fingerwidths in the middle of her diastasis, 7 at the top, and 4 at the bottom.  A surgeon would have looked at this case and recommended surgery right away.

FOUR WEEKS LATER:  This client returned with fantastic results.  Her diastasis decreased to 2 3/4 Shallow (meaning the the bottom was together but opened slightly at the top. ) She measured just a 3 at the top and a 2 at the bottom.  This is FANTASTIC progress.  Usually when I have someone wider than a 6, they have trouble getting the mind-body connection of the muscle at first.  So these results averaged faster than 1 fingerwidth per week per two of the areas.  Unfortunately I didn’t suggest she do before and after pics.  I really wish I would have!!  Her waist went from a 28 to a 27 inches.  So there is still left to close, but it is nearly “clinically closed” – meaning 2 fingerwidths or smaller all the way down.  But it is easy just to close it the rest of the way.  I am guessing her waist will go down another inch to 2 inches when she is finished in a few weeks.

WHAT DID SHE DO?  She wore a splint everyday, all day.  She did 5 sets of 100 seated tuplers per day at least, did headlifts, and stopped doing the abs in her yoga video that would compromise her results.

CLIENT C:  I have another client who is in her late 20s. She is a mom of 2 very young kids.  She herself is actually VERY slender, very skinny person.  She got everything super trim, except for her darn midsection.  After reading about diastasis, she thought this is what she might have.  She had been so diligent with crunches and typical gym rat obliques.  The results for the diligent crunches?  She was a 7 on the bottom, 7 in the middle, and a 5 at the top.  So that DEFINITELY was what was causing her funky midsection.  Any surgeon would have wanted to whisk her away to surgically and artifically fix this problem.

2 WEEKS LATER:  She measured a 4 in the middle, a 5 on the bottom, and a 3 1/2 on the top.  So she went in about 1 fingerwidth per section of her diastasis per week.  FANTASTIC start!!  She wore her splint and did the seated tupler “consistently the first week” and “not as consistently the 2nd week.”  So imagine how much further she might have progressed had she been diligent the 2nd week.  But still great results to begin.

WHAT DID SHE DO?  Wore the splint consistently night and day.  She also STOPPED her crunches and gym rat obliques.  She did 5 + sets of 100 seated tuplers (the first week) and did 2-3 sets of 100 seated tuplers the 2nd week.

CLIENT D:  This client will be posting pics later and is very excited.  She is a mom in her early 30s and has 2 very young kids -both under 3.  She spent hours and hours researching what was going on on the internet with her belly.  She knew she had a little hernia, and felt that she possibly had a diastasis after all her research.  Her last C section was 18 months ago.  She measured a 5 in the middle, 4 on the bottom, and 3 on the top. 

TWO WEEKS LATER:  This client brought in her measurements fantastically.  She brought the middle in by 2 fingerwidths to measure now at a 3.  Her top measures 2 shallow, and her bottom measures 1 1/2 shallow. Her pants are fitting looser and she can tell a huge difference.  Still room to go, but its fun to look to see what is possible by doing these exercises.

WHAT DID SHE DO?  She did her 5+ sets of 100 seated tuplers per day, pelvic tilts and wore her Splint  night and day “except when she went swimming.” 

So to come?  PICTURES – SOON!  I am exciting to encourage more of my clients to take pictures because they can be so powerful!

Here is my OWN “after” taken just the other night.  Just know I was a 32 inch waist after my 3rd baby, and I did 10 sets a day of seated tuplers until I became a 25 inch waist again.  I also closed a 3 fingerwidths diastasis in all three places.

May 12, 2010

PICTURES! FINALLY – SOME BEFORE AND AFTER – diastasis/TUPLER TECHNIQUE PICS!!

Many of you have asked me to post pictures of people – before and after – with diastasis rehab and the tupler technique.  I have been slow to acquiesce because I don’t feel comfortable meeting a client and asking them if I can take pictures of an area they are very sensative about.  So I generally post stats – and several stats I have posted are very impressive, if I do say so myself.  The women I work with have had OUTSTANDING results.

However, those of you that are thinking about surgery to correct your abdominals LIKE the fact that a surgeon can show you some warm fuzzy pictures of pre and post surgery – tens of thousands of dollars between pictures, not to mention hours and hours of pain, and potential infection in between the warm fuzzy – pre and post surgery pictures.

One of my clients mentioned to me after her 3rd visit – that she had taken pictures of herself, as well as some video footage.  I asked permission to post these, and she has kindly agreed.

Here is a brief history – which I will replace with her own words once she emails me with her story.  In a nutshell.  D.P. (we will call her)  comes from a dancing background.  She danced with various dance companies in her past.  After pregnancy, she was left with severely split recti.  She was told immediatly by her OB GYN after the birth that she would need surgery to correct it, but that it would be very painful.  She was also told that because of the nature of her split – the netting needed to basically  paste and sew to the muscles would have a high risk of getting infected.  She saw two SURGEONS who gave her the same scenarios.  The first pictures you can see the organs are protruding out the abdominal walls – there are no muscles holding them in, so client felt like her belly looked several months pregnant, when she was not.

I began to work with D.P. 8 weeks ago.  Her total background was unbeknownst to me until our 3rd session.  We went through the normal session – measuring her diastasis (5 fingerwidths on top, 6 in the middle, and 4 on the bottom), going over the exercises – seated tuplers, elevators, pelvic tilts, kegels, headlifts (our version of the crunch which does NOT bulge out the recti) and showed which exercises not to do (CRUNCHES, JACKNIVES, etc).  WAIST MEASURES 32 3/4 INCHES.

We met a 2nd time – 2 weeks later, going over the advanced variations and isolating different parts of the diastasis, along with obliques, and postural correction stretches and exercises.  Her diastasis was a 2 deep on top, 4 deep in the middle, and a 3 deep on the bottom.

We met a 3rd time – 4 weeks later (during the past 6 weeks, client does 5 sets of 100 seated tuplers daily, and other exercises as directed).  Client measured shallow 2 on top, 3 in the middle, and shallow 3 on the bottom.  It was at this time D.P. took these photos.  A couple days before our 3rd session, her OB looked at her and told her her abdominals “looked pretty good – maybe she DIDN’T need any surgery.”  She then told him she was seeing me – and that she was doing exercises to correct the diastasis.  Waist measured 30 INCHES.

HIS RESPONSE?  “I’VE NEVER HEARD OF THAT!”  (classic!)  

You will notice the belly button was an “outie”- and is now and “innie” and you will notice the organs protrude FAR LESS, and her belly looks supported.  The muscle tone is MUCH better, and the waist is noticably smaller.  This is all without any dietary changes – its JUST the exercises.

There is still room to go – approx 3 fingerwidths all the way down – but a MARKED improvement.  And her status has gone from IMMINENT SURGERY to NOT NEEDING SURGERY – in 6 weeks.