Thin but with "mom tummy"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a similar body type OP and similar issue. I have had success in the last year in sort of "smoothing out" my mom tummy. I am still thicker around the midsection than I was pre kids and I dont' think there is any way to change that without surgery -- I think literally my bones and organs have moved around in a way that makes my old narrow waist and totally flat belly impossible.

However my belly is no longer round. I look better in a bathing suit and I a feel like my clothes fit better. It wasn't about losing weight. I had to really focus on core exercises and start lifting heavier weights. I do a combination of barre and strength classes with a focus on using heavier weights whenever I can. Also I make sure to work every aspect of my core -- upper and lower abdominals and obliques and all core stabilizer muscles.

Here is a tough but very effective core workout that helped me: https://youtu.be/1WIah0t1Bzw?si=HPsoBj1c-3-uk2kr

It's a really tough workout and I still can't do every single thing she does but I push to get through it. There's also a 10 minute version I do when I am doing something else for a workout but feel like I need a core focus. Even just adding some of these exercises to another workout (I find the leg raises when lying on the floor to be easy to offer a lot of bang for their buck) helps.

I'm never going to get a tummy tuck or other surgical procedure to address this so I've been pretty happy to discover I can make it a lot better with just targeted exercise.

Oh I wish I was you! I’ve done that workout - have been following Caroline for years now. I can hold a plank for 2+ minutes, can get through most of her ab workouts, can even do pushups now (real ones, not on my knees). I’m the strongest I’ve ever been in my life. But my stomach pooch remains 😕

[Anonymous]

Sadly, after 3 kids, the loose skin did not contract back. Looks normal standing but when I bend over or plank you can see that it’s loose. I hate it but am not ready for surgery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a similar body type OP and similar issue. I have had success in the last year in sort of "smoothing out" my mom tummy. I am still thicker around the midsection than I was pre kids and I dont' think there is any way to change that without surgery -- I think literally my bones and organs have moved around in a way that makes my old narrow waist and totally flat belly impossible.

However my belly is no longer round. I look better in a bathing suit and I a feel like my clothes fit better. It wasn't about losing weight. I had to really focus on core exercises and start lifting heavier weights. I do a combination of barre and strength classes with a focus on using heavier weights whenever I can. Also I make sure to work every aspect of my core -- upper and lower abdominals and obliques and all core stabilizer muscles.

Here is a tough but very effective core workout that helped me: https://youtu.be/1WIah0t1Bzw?si=HPsoBj1c-3-uk2kr

It's a really tough workout and I still can't do every single thing she does but I push to get through it. There's also a 10 minute version I do when I am doing something else for a workout but feel like I need a core focus. Even just adding some of these exercises to another workout (I find the leg raises when lying on the floor to be easy to offer a lot of bang for their buck) helps.

I'm never going to get a tummy tuck or other surgical procedure to address this so I've been pretty happy to discover I can make it a lot better with just targeted exercise.

Oh I wish I was you! I’ve done that workout - have been following Caroline for years now. I can hold a plank for 2+ minutes, can get through most of her ab workouts, can even do pushups now (real ones, not on my knees). I’m the strongest I’ve ever been in my life. But my stomach pooch remains 😕

What was your fitness and especially your core strength like pre-kids? One thing I think has helped me is that I was a gymnast when I was younger and then taught gymnastics for years prior to having kids and had super all around core strength. I think this helped enable me to recondition my core post pregnancies because it's like my body remembered how it used to be and started reverting to that once I started working it out with more focus.

[Anonymous]

Probably can't fully get rid of it, but Pilates helped reduce mine a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have lost the baby weight and more and am down to 110 lbs. With my height, if I lose any more weight I'll be underweight, so continuing to lose weight is not an option as it just wouldn't be healthy. Yet the "mommy tummy" shape remains. Even though I'm thinner than before the three kids, the flat tummy of my pre-baby self is elusive. Is it just never coming back? Or are there exercises that might help bring it back? I've been doing ones recommended for diastasis recti because I think I have that... Maybe I just need to give it more time? Or do I need to let it go and accept this is my shape now? Not interested in surgery.

When your disinterest eventually wanes (and it will), go get a consult with Erica Anderson at the Naderi Center.

[Anonymous]

I found emsculpt helped some. Like you I’m small but with a “tummy” that probably truly only bothers me. I didn’t walk away with a 6 pack after emsculpt but felt my mom tummy was less noticeable and pants fit better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have lost the baby weight and more and am down to 110 lbs. With my height, if I lose any more weight I'll be underweight, so continuing to lose weight is not an option as it just wouldn't be healthy. Yet the "mommy tummy" shape remains. Even though I'm thinner than before the three kids, the flat tummy of my pre-baby self is elusive. Is it just never coming back? Or are there exercises that might help bring it back? I've been doing ones recommended for diastasis recti because I think I have that... Maybe I just need to give it more time? Or do I need to let it go and accept this is my shape now? Not interested in surgery.

When your disinterest eventually wanes (and it will), go get a consult with Erica Anderson at the Naderi Center.

She started her own practice in McLean a year or so ago. Agree she’s great.

[Anonymous]

Tummy tuck. I am on a slow journey to losing the weight after my third kid (who’s one) and it’s evident my never-flat tummy will be extra-not flat. Planning one for myself. It is what it is!

[Anonymous]

You are still beautiful 😍 with your "mom tummy". DW gave me 3 beautiful kids and "mom tummy" is just a side effect.

[Anonymous]

You know that Tay Swift song … we are mever, ever getting back together…. That’s me and my old flat tummy.

[Anonymous]

I am down to my pre-kid college weight. It is a normal weight, 5'8 135, but while I looked amazing in college I have the c-section hang and like fat in places that I gained during pregnancy, like my under arm "bat wing" area, which is super stubborn and I am way more flabby jiggly than I used to me. I still look good in clothes, I am a size 4, but embarrassed when in a bathing suit.

[Anonymous]

Do you have a more apple shape? With narrower hips?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am down to my pre-kid college weight. It is a normal weight, 5'8 135, but while I looked amazing in college I have the c-section hang and like fat in places that I gained during pregnancy, like my under arm "bat wing" area, which is super stubborn and I am way more flabby jiggly than I used to me. I still look good in clothes, I am a size 4, but embarrassed when in a bathing suit.

Please don't be. You look better than 90% of women out there, and that 10% are women in their 20s. Make peace with all of your body, you are beautiful.

[Anonymous]

I'm 44 and had two kids in my thirties. They destroyed my abs- I have hypermobility and had a 10 cm gap and my connective tissue was essentially destroyed. I had abdominal repair surgery and now have mesh from my sternum to pelvis. I also work out a lot including heavy weights, Pilates, and cardio.

All this to say, I have a pooch and I am just living with it- I have no desire to go through an abdominal surgery again (although it would have been great to get the whole thing fixed at once, but it wasn't an option). At this point, I think it's more important to be strong and a healthy weight than go for a particular stomach shape. I just wear a one piece so I don't have to show my stomach (which is a mess with stretch marks and loose skin).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a more apple shape? With narrower hips?

Not OP but that’s me. 30” waist and 35” hips. I don’t have jiggle or extra skin. My tummy is just rounded.