Behind every public figure's appearance lies a personal health and beauty regimen. This series examines the diets, workouts, procedures, and fashion and lifestyle choices of people in the spotlight.

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Actor Lee Si-young has shared that after giving birth to her first child, her belly refused to flatten despite returning to her pre-pregnancy weight — an experience that led her to seek specialized body care. Stepping on the scale and seeing the original number does not mean the abdomen has snapped back to its pre-pregnancy shape. The uterus, abdominal muscles and skin all stretch significantly during pregnancy, and each needs time to recover.

Lee recently introduced a body-care studio she has visited for nearly a decade on her YouTube channel, "Ppusiyeong," recalling what she went through after her first delivery.

"I had an advertising shoot scheduled right after giving birth," she said. "I managed to lose the weight and get back to my pre-pregnancy figure pretty quickly. But my stomach just wouldn't go in. No matter what I did, it wouldn't go in."

She added that because it was her first birth, she asked around and was told it can take several months for the uterus to shrink back down. The fitted costumes required for the shoot made the situation all the more stressful, she said.

Lee said that after receiving body-care treatments on the recommendation of a fellow actor, she felt her belly flattened relatively quickly. However, postpartum abdominal changes cannot be explained by body fat alone — the process of uterine involution and the recovery of the abdominal wall must also be considered.

Weight returns, but the belly lingers — the expanded uterus needs time to shrink back

During pregnancy, the uterus expands significantly to accommodate the growing baby. Before pregnancy it is roughly the size of a fist or a small pear, but by late pregnancy it fills most of the abdominal cavity.

After delivery, the uterus begins the process of involution — contracting back toward its pre-pregnancy size. Contractions start immediately after the placenta is expelled, and the uterus generally approaches its former size over about six weeks. Right after birth it can weigh around 1 kilogram, but that figure drops rapidly with time.

This is why the belly can still look rounded shortly after delivery even when much of the pregnancy weight has already been shed — the uterus is still occupying considerable space inside the body.

Breastfeeding can speed the process: it triggers the release of oxytocin, which promotes uterine contractions. The cramping some women feel while nursing — known as afterpains — results from this. Recovery speed varies from person to person, however, and there is no reason to expect the body to look exactly as it did before pregnancy within just a few weeks of giving birth.

It's not just the uterus — separated abdominal muscles also cause the belly to protrude

Another reason the belly may not flatten after childbirth is the abdominal muscles.

As the uterus grows during pregnancy, the two vertical rectus abdominis muscles running down the front of the abdomen can separate and spread apart — a condition called diastasis recti. According to the UK's National Health Service, this separation is common during pregnancy, and in many cases the gap narrows again by around eight weeks postpartum.

When a wide gap between the rectus abdominis muscles persists, the center of the abdomen can protrude forward even after weight loss, or bulge outward when pressure is applied.

Add to that the stretched skin and subcutaneous tissue from pregnancy, residual body fat and postpartum swelling, and the body can feel noticeably different from before — even after the scale returns to its pre-pregnancy reading.

So if a new mother finds herself thinking, "I've lost all the weight — why is my belly still there?", she should not automatically conclude that fat is to blame.

Does abdominal massage shrink the uterus? Beauty treatments and uterine involution are not the same thing

Lee said she felt her belly flattened faster after receiving body-care treatments. Massage and similar therapies can produce visible changes — reducing swelling or altering the tone of the abdominal skin and muscles — that make the abdomen look different.

Uterine involution, however, is a natural physiological process that begins on its own immediately after delivery. It should not be conflated with the cosmetic effects of abdominal body care — the two are separate phenomena.

After giving birth, it is important to gradually increase activity in step with the body's recovery. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says exercise can be resumed progressively once it is medically safe to do so, depending on the type of delivery and whether any complications occurred. Exercises that strengthen the abdominal and lower-back muscles can support core recovery postpartum, and pelvic floor exercises can generally be started early in the recovery period.

Women who delivered by cesarean section or experienced complications during childbirth should consult their medical team before beginning any exercise program.

Pushing too hard to 'get your body back' right after delivery can do more harm than good

Postpartum recovery is not simply a matter of losing the weight gained during pregnancy. The first six to eight weeks after birth are a period of whole-body recovery — not only for the uterus and abdominal tissue, but also for hormones and the pelvic floor. Some changes unfold slowly over several months.

Particularly in the immediate postpartum period, drastically cutting food intake and launching into intense exercise — whether for a photo shoot or another pressing commitment — can leave the body short of the energy and nutrients it needs to heal.

Even if the belly still looks prominent, the body needs adequate time for uterine involution and rectus abdominis recovery to run their course. If the gap between the abdominal muscles remains wide more than two months after delivery, or if back pain, pelvic discomfort or urinary incontinence persists, it may be worth consulting an obstetrician-gynecologist, a rehabilitation medicine specialist or a pelvic floor physical therapist.

A postpartum belly is not simply the result of not losing enough weight. The scale may return to its old number first, but the uterus, abdominal muscles and skin each follow their own recovery timeline. After giving birth, the body needs time to heal fully — and that matters more than rushing back to the way it looked before pregnancy.


rainbow@heraldcorp.com