all of you who've had babies 5-plus years ago...

[evilqueen]

...do you find that your waistline is still thicker than it was pre-pregnancy, no matter what you do?

Mine is stuck at 27 inches, regardless of my clean diet and daily amounts of cardio and weights. (When I was reallll skinny last summer, it might have been 26.) I'd really like to get it down to 25 inches. My body fat is below average for the typical woman.

the thing I'm not sure of is if the small amount that I can pinch is fat or loose skin left over from having Wyeth. It's all on my lower abs, below my navel. When I bend over, it's kind of (ugh) wrinkly. It's not a lot by any means, but it pisses me off.

Has any other woman on the board had this problem? If so, what did you do? Is it a matter of accepting it, or is there anything you can do about it? (Besides, of course, a good diet and working out...maybe there's something extra I'm missing out on.)

I'd love any woman BB who's had a child 5-plus years ago reveal (if she would) her waist measurement, along with whatever she did to tighten it up...

Thanks!

 

[evilqueen]

Is there a reason no one replied to this? Gee, I didn't THINK this was a stupid question, but I guess it was.

 

[Temple]

EQ - not a stupid question, just got lost in the shuffle around here. I went back and read up on you a bit and the answers you recieved previously apply here. I'm going to bitch at ya a bit about those calories again. There is a difference between getting skinny and getting lean.
We have a term on here that is callked skinny/fat. When someone does a ton of cardio on low calories the body gives up equal amounts of muscle along with the fat, then end up being smaller but instead of being hard they are jiggly for lack of a better word.
In women it really clings to certain areas, lower abs, butt , thighs and triceps as these areas are high in A2 receptors. It is estrogen related fat. Use of birth control pills make it extremely difficult to get the body to give up this fat.
I suspect this is what has happened to you. The solution is to up the calories so that your body does not think it is starving. Focus on weight training and add some lean mass which will help your body give up it's fat stores in the long run. Topical yohimbine hcl will also assist with getting rid of the estrogen related fat.

 

[evilqueen]

Thanks you guys....actually, I AM taking your advice and eating more. I'm taking it on faith...it feels so weird to eat like this.

Temple, interesting about the birth-control topic you brought up...TWO WEEKS AGO I gave up Depo-Provera. I should have gotten my shot 2 weeks ago and didn't. And would you believe it...my breasts hurt like crazy, I'm retaining water, and I'm a bit moody. Damn, I thought I'd start feeling BETTER, or at least not worse than I did on the Depo!

You got me thinking about birth control again...I'm going to search on the pill...I know there are several low-dose pills out there now but I suspect they all suck.

What the hell do all those 110-pound, 10-percent bodyfat fitness models do? Oh yeah...under 17 percent, you don't menstruate, or so I've read.

Damn, we have it tough.

And I AM going to eat more. It damn sure will get me into the gym and lifting heavy...I don't DARE not!

Thanks again for your continued help.

J

 

[Temple]

EQ - don't believe everything you read. Think we talked about this on here not too long ago and came to the consensus that fitness models lie like a bunch of dogs about their weight in the mags. It has to do with their marketablility. To give you an idea check out
http://www.bikinimom.com

What are you weighing in at these days B???? 130 what????
She has 4 girls. She has had surgery - they removed a foot of extra skin off of her stomach and did some suturing of the muscle but the did NOT lipo off any fat. The boobs ain't her either but the rest of that body is FOOD AND HARD TRAINING! She doesn't do any cardio unless she is getting ready for a contest.

That depo provera stuff is just pure evil IMO. Made me gain fat like you would not believe and I felt like hell. It took a good bit of time for me to get back to normal. I dropped 5# when I went off the pill. I am in a bit of a different situation as my kids are 20 and 8 so we're done. We did permanent BC. Several of the gals here have IUD's and like them. My Gyn was recommending either that or a vasectomy for us - we went with the latter and I must say it was very painless (for me that is).

There is a lot to learn and it will feel a bit overwhelming at times. It was very difficult for me at first because everything these ladies and guys were telling me went against everything I had ever thought I needed to do to get lean. I really believed that it may work for them but there was no way in hell it would work for me and I half assed did what they told me for a long time. When I really started doing as I was taught is when my body started to respond in the ways that I wanted it to. What they are telling you will give you long term permanent results not just get you skinny only to gain it back and then some. Keep reading and learning and you will do fine.

 

[new@gettinbig]

Yep Spatts is correct I have a lil 4 yr old runnin around....I lost my weight right after I had her....gained about 25 lbs with my pregnancy...my stomach is really no different then before I had her...when I get lean i get my abs and do not have loose skin...I did do walking my entire pregnancy and kept in decent shape...I was not weight training of course but I started that when she was about 1. I have had friends that have a little stomach..but when they get lean enough...it is no where to be found...so I think a lot of it is genetics...how many kids you have had..how old you are...and what your physical shape history is...lots of variables...hard work and training do resolve most of it..but then like bmom.....procedures like that also help

 

[Arioch]

My wife weighed all of 100 lbs. before she became pregnant, and it was quickly obvious that our son got his size from my side of the family. He was 10 lbs even at birth, and my wife swelled to 145 lbs. during pregnancy. This was eighteen years ago. Her waist is all of about 23", and much of this size is due to exceptional erector development. She had a C-section (bikini cut).

I may be overstating her waist measurement as she wears a size 0 when it comes to her waist, or something close to it. Getting something to fit the legs is another story.