Your body needs protein to perform essential functions, like cell building. If you don’t have enough protein, your body will essentially eat itself to make more by way of breaking down your own tissues, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. There’s no exact science to determine how much protein you need per day, but a good estimate is about 8 g for every 20 lbs. you weigh. You can get this protein from many more food sources than just meat.

There seems to be a cream for everything, so it makes perfect sense that you’d reach for one to try to tackle pregnancy stretch marks. Unfortunately, doing so may be like throwing your money out with your baby’s diaper (unless you use cloth, of course). Creams can moisturize your skin, but they can’t prevent or erase stretch marks.

Pregnancy stretches your skin to its limits. If you’re battling a pouch of flabby skin around your midsection, you know firsthand what having a baby can do to your body. Even women who don’t gain more than the recommended amount of weight during pregnancy sometimes battle post-pregnancy loose skin. You’ve acknowledged it’s there. You’ve accepted that it’s gone down as much as it’s going to on its own. Now it’s time to make a plan to shave off as much as much of that flabby skin as you can.