Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do you suck your tummy in?

130 replies

FurForksSake · 13/03/2022 20:35

After reading this www.mamamia.com.au/jamie-lee-curtis-body-image/?fbclid=IwAR1RS1njwbsfb4gLx3mf3pf1kptnEQ4M9ylPnBmJleMqsYeMFfcKX1TO5SE

and seeing some things on TikTok it seems like people regularly clench their tummy muscles or suck in their tummy. I have never even considered doing this, a midwife told me after I had my first son I should pull my tummy in, but I thought she was just being odd (she then milked me so it was an odd exchange).

So AIBU to ask if you suck in?

YABU - Yes, I clench / suck in / however you want to put it
YANBU - No, I don't do this

OP posts:
AuntFlorence · 13/03/2022 20:54

I was taught to hold my head up high, shoulders back, chest slightly raised, tummy in. That was in dance classes as a kid, to look confident and poised. It does really help my neck and back pain when I remember to do it. People will often ask if I was a dancer or a gymnast, it's muscle memory mostly though I do something slouch and have to correct myself.

dudsville · 13/03/2022 20:54

Well I just found one physio who advised against it, saying "Does a lion pull its belly button in before it jumps on a gazelle? It’s not natural; it’s not how our musculoskeletal system works." I wonder if the gazelle though might well have a tight core!

Off to Google vacuuming...

MermaidEyes · 13/03/2022 20:57

You don't sit down? Do people stand?! I feel like I'm having the same revelation here in reverse!

Same here 😮

Original poster
FurForksSake · 13/03/2022 20:58

@XenoBitch

Wait, you stand up to wipe your arse?
Yes.... apparently me and me alone...

I feel like I wasn't brought up proper Grin

OP posts:
FindingMeno · 13/03/2022 20:58

No, I don't suck in.
I also wear elasticated waists.
Life is way to short to fight against the softness of our bodies.

MermaidEyes · 13/03/2022 21:01

Well now you can practice two new things at once - stomach vacuuming while sitting down to wipe your arse 😁

PiesNotGuys · 13/03/2022 21:02

I pull my stomach in constantly, only time I don’t is sleeping.

No one ever taught me it, no dance no Pilates, it is pure vanity and vanity alone.

It’s now such habit I even do it when I’m alone to make myself feel better about how it looks. I also did it when pregnant and didn’t show much until late on.

However I’ve never had back or neck problems of any type so maybe that’s why

I stand to wipe too.

itssquidstella · 13/03/2022 21:02

I have done since I was nine or ten. My mum drummed it into me because I used to slouch and she had to train me out of it!

That said, I am now pregnant and definitely letting it all hang out. My poor abs are going to have a shock when I start sucking them back in again after I give birth!

HalfBrick · 13/03/2022 21:03

Have done this since I was a child for some reason, it's always made my stomach look great in tight tops but 2 years of not wearing tight tops or being out in public and I've let it go! Need to remedy.

intheblightgarden · 13/03/2022 21:04

@FurForksSake

I finish on the loo, I stand, I tear off paper, I wipe... honestly wasn't until I was an adult I realised people sat.
Yep that's what I do unless I'm very ill and struggling to stand in which case ill do t sitting. There's something really gross to me about wiping when sitting!! 😂

Regards the tummy I am interested in this because I have a naturally large curve in my lower spine and I naturally stand with my pelvis tipped forward and tummy poking out. I find it extremely difficult to stand with my tummy in and core tight because it fights so much against my physiology. However when I do it it makes an absolutely enormous difference to how my tummy looks. I hold my tummy in when I remember but the problem is I rarely remember and I wear loose clothes so I don't have to be as self conscious. I wonder whether working on my core muscles would genuinely make a difference for me because I can't change my skeleton (my mum is the same). But I'm going to Google stomach vacuuming anyway 😆

ofwarren · 13/03/2022 21:05

Do men suck their stomachs in I wonder?

TheMoth · 13/03/2022 21:05

I thought you meant sulking it in in photos or on a night out, before you stop caring.

But I did get trained to do this in pilates, as a way of strengthening my core and posture. I think I must do it when I run too.i know I'm conscious of the way it all kind of holds me together.

UserLibra78 · 13/03/2022 21:05

It was drummed into me from years of yoga to protect you from hurting your back, especially when you are doing any postures that involved the back.

XenoBitch · 13/03/2022 21:06

@ofwarren

Do men suck their stomachs in I wonder?
When an attractive woman walks past.
TheMoth · 13/03/2022 21:06

Dh does if I comment on how round it's looking, or he catches himself in the mirror.

AngelinaFibres · 13/03/2022 21:08

@FurForksSake

I have quite a bad back and am wondering whether this would help.

I honestly didn't realise that people held themselves in this way, perhaps I missed the lesson at school or just haven't done the exercise classed that extol the virtues of it.

Standing up straight and pulling your tummy in may well help your back.
Cavagirl · 13/03/2022 21:09

What? Standing to wipe? What?

Flexitarian · 13/03/2022 21:10

Well, I had never heard of stomach vacuuming but I’m going to start doing it. My belly is awful and my core is nowhere near as strong as it should be.
Thanks for starting this thread OP!!

Momicrone · 13/03/2022 21:11

No, but I keep fit so it doesn't really stick out

dudsville · 13/03/2022 21:12

OK, I have a terrible back and I'm wondering about this vacuuming. Anyone have a link to an example they think is good? I've just looked at 2 but I did worry about hurting my back trying to mimic the action.

intheblightgarden · 13/03/2022 21:12

To clarify, if you wipe whilst sitting, do you:

A) wipe back to front, which is grim and puts you in danger of all sorts of infections or
B) wipe front to back in which case you've got to get your hand round the back and surely end up touching the loo seat/even the rim of the loo with your wrist?

VampireMoney · 13/03/2022 21:12

Yup I started doing this in my teens and it comes as second nature to me now.

doadeer · 13/03/2022 21:13

I have done my whole life. I mean not all day long but many times through the day.

I do pilates too so I'm happy with my abs, you can feel the muscle.

intheblightgarden · 13/03/2022 21:13

ALSO I found out recently from a physio friend that your deep abs are not the same as your normal abs. I've always worked on the latter and they're reasonable but apparently my deep abs are terrible. I think this is what the vacuum is for

XenoBitch · 13/03/2022 21:14

@intheblightgarden

To clarify, if you wipe whilst sitting, do you:

A) wipe back to front, which is grim and puts you in danger of all sorts of infections or
B) wipe front to back in which case you've got to get your hand round the back and surely end up touching the loo seat/even the rim of the loo with your wrist?

Er, front to back. I wash my hands so touching the loo seat is no problem. Actually, I don't think I have ever touched it when wiping my bum.
Swipe left for the next trending thread