NEWSRed Carpet Confidential: How Camila Alves Got Her Body Back After Baby #3
March 29 2013, Published 2:19 p.m. ET
Since giving birth to her third child, Livingston, in December, Camila Alves has been unable to exercise due to medical complications.
Still, the wife of Matthew McConaughey has bounced back beautifully.
Not only does she watch her diet, but she also adheres to the Brazilian tradition of “wrapping” her abdomen, which is a practice she also followed after giving birth to Levi, 4, and Vida, 3.
“In Brazil, you leave the hospital wrapped,” the model/reality star, 31, tells me during the Macy’s INC Spring Collection event at Crosby Street Hotel in NYC. “They wrap you. It’s something my mother told me to do. It’s uncomfortable, but it does help to get your waist and your belly, everything back into shape.”
She continues, “This is the thing, though. It’s hard to find a wrap that holds your stomach—all the wraps that they have out there, that I tried, were too short, so it doesn’t get your full waist.”
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She explains her routine.
“I usually do a thick gauze, and you wrap. You have to have somebody to help you wrap around. You can lay down so that it’s flat, and you can wrap it really good, or you get a medical one. It has to be something that gets your whole waist.”
Hm, for how long did she wrap?
“As long as I could take it, I would do it,” she confesses. “Sometimes I would sleep with it. It depends on the day. If I was comfortable, I’d have it on all day. If I was not, just two minutes.”
Still, it hasn’t been belly band alone for the self-confessed sweet addict.
“Diet has been a big thing,” she says. “This recovery has been tough. I had other health issues taken care of at the same time of delivering the baby, so I’ve been pretty much all stitched up inside. I’ve got a long time to recover now, so no exercise.”
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She continues, “It’s just been diet. Finding the right things to eat; eating often—every three hours, four hours; lots of water. I also used this thing called BioMat that’s an infra-red mat, and you sleep on it, you can lay on it. It supposedly helps you to recover, but it also helps you lose weight, too.”
Hm, what are the staples of her diet?
“I’m having lean proteins with a chili with spinach, and I’ll do a small amount of carbs,” she says. “Just a handful because with the breastfeeding, I have to have some. Usually we do that at dinner, and then at daytime, I’ll have a salad, and then I’ll add carbs into that. Maybe I’ll throw brown rice into it. In the morning, I’ll do three egg whites with some fruit, or I’ll mix and match. It’s everything lean.”
What’s your best post-baby body secret? Tweet us @okmagazine.
