Getting Your Pre-Baby Figure Back with the Belly Bandit and HipSlimmer. Or So We Hope. (And Pray.)

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!

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