A mum who piled on six stone while pregnant revealed how she lost her "mum tum" in just 13 weeks - after giving birth to an 11lb baby.<br /><br />Emma Scott, 28, piled on the pounds while pregnant with her second child, now four months old - which she put down to "comfort eating and barely exercising".<br /><br />Emma felt her body confidence plummet as strangers pointed out "how big" she was - even asking if she was expecting twins.<br /><br />After giving birth for the second time in January 2023, Emma was determined to get her confidence back.<br /><br />She took up yoga, walked a total of 43 miles a week and swapped takeaway pizza for porridge.<br /><br />In just 13 weeks, she went from 16st and a size 16 to 11st 7lbs and a size eight - after losing four stone and seven lbs. <br /><br />Mum-of-two Emma now feels “better than ever” - and says she “wears her stretch marks like a badge of honour” to show new mums it’s “normal for your body to change” during pregnancy.<br /><br />Emma, a yoga teacher, from Carlisle, Cumbria, said: “My postpartum body felt alien to me - but it’s important not to hide or feel embarrassed by it.<br /><br />"I feel like I’ve overcome so much, and I feel better than ever.<br /><br />“Mums just can’t talk about the healing process after giving birth.<br /><br />"We go through so much - our periods stop, we’re sore and breastfeeding, we’re even recovering from things like ab separation.<br /><br />“Losing weight was important to me, but I also knew I had to get active to keep my body safe and strong.<br /><br />"It was so hard for me, mentally, to look in a mirror.<br /><br />"My body didn’t feel like my own.<br /><br />"Now I feel like I’ve finally got my confidence back.”<br /><br />Emma had her first child - a daughter - in May 2020. Her tot weighed 9lbs 7oz at birth, and it took Emma 10 months to lose her baby weight.<br /><br />She gave birth to her son in January 2023 - and he weighed almost 12lbs.<br /><br />“He’s a big baby, and people used to ask all the time whether I was pregnant with twins,” she said.<br /><br />“It did affect me, and I’d love for people to know they can’t just say whatever they like to pregnant women.<br /><br />“As a new mum, I was shocked at how much my body changed.<br /><br />"I struggled to adapt to my postpartum body - your belly doesn’t just snap back straight away, and I had a lot of loose skin.” <br /><br />This was amplified by the changes to her tattoo of an ornamental elephant on her stomach.<br /><br />In the 13 weeks since giving birth, Emma made the decision to get her strength back and try and slim down.<br /><br />“I wanted to be able to pick my baby up and not feel like I was straining,” she said.<br /><br />“It’s hard work picking up an 11lb baby lots of times in a day."<br /><br />Thanks to the support of her husband, yoga teacher Martin, 44, Emma found time during the day to exercise, make meals for herself and get back into yoga.<br /><br />She said: “People say all the time that new mums miss out on hot meals - and I’ve got two children under two.
