Jillian michaels - will it get rid of my mummy tummy? Success stories please!

[crazy88]

Been doing NMTZ, KB&T and a little bit of shred level2 for 5 weeks now and can't honestly say it is making much difference! I feel much better and my skin is great but my tummy still baggy looking. I am not overweight - 5'7 and 9st 6lbs so quite skinny but I can't seem to shift fat off my belly or bottom! If I stick with it will I ever see results or am I doomed to wearing one piece swimsuits forever??

I eat pretty healthily now btw, v little processed food and hardly any alcohol.

marking my place as i am very interested to on how other got rid of theirs, or else it will be plastic surgery!

How old is your mummy tummy? If DC is under say 1 year then I think it is very difficult to lose the flab completely.

Shred made a noticeable difference for me, must get started again.

Have 3 dcs, youngest is 16 months and have stopped bf now. It is not that noticeable standing up but horrid when sitting, like a little pouch! I had 3 natural births so presumably the muscle still reasonably intact, I just can't shift what's on top of it!

me either crazy Its bloody awful,

Even when I'm dead skinny (not often but I fluctuate a lot) I have a noticeable pouch when sat down. That's after only one DC too but he was big & I wasn't!

The shred helped pull it in a little but obviously nothing can shift skin but time & possibly surgery (which I'm personally not fussed enough about, as most people don't see me naked so don't know how bad it actually is)

Worth a shot!

I have this too and it's horrible. After DS1 it wasn't too bad, but after DS2 it's like my skin just gave up the ghost and waved goodbye to it's elasticity. I'm fairly resigned at this point to having a tummy tuck.

crazy88 I'd be careful with Jillian Michaels until you've sorted out your mummy tummy. There are many reasons you may still have a belly - main one being that the muscles have not come back together yet (the Transverse Abdominis muscles are the ones on either side that part in the middle when you are pregnant). You should check to see if you have Diastasis Recti (DR - the parting of the TVA muscles which run from your diaphragm down to your pelvic floor), diastasis recti means you have a big gap between them, and a weak midline which is the tissue holding them together). A big gap of more than about 1 to 1.5 fingers will mean the appearance of your tummy is saggy and poochy. It's quite common for those muscles to separate during pregnancy, and after pregnancy they don't always come back together. Makes no difference if you have c-section or natural birth, the muscles are weakened by pregnancy and you need specific exercises to strengthen and restore your core/pelvic floor - it's all connected. You may think it's just skin - especially if you are slim all over apart from there - but it could quite possibly be down to lack of support in your abdominal area due to a big DR, so everything that your TVA muscles normally "hold in" is all hanging out. If you address the DR with the right exercises, and you improve the gap, you may still have some saggy skin which is just a fact of life after having children! But improving the DR and the strength of the midline (the connective tissue, which can also be helped with the right exercises) may improve the appearance of the whole tummy area too.

Until you know if you have DR or not, absolutely do not do any crunches, sit ups, planks or straight leg exercises (eg straight leg lifts or scissors). Those will make the DR worse, therefore you will never get rid of the mummy tummy. Lots of so-called ante-natal exercise programmes will advocate doing those sorts of exercises, I'd steer clear to be honest (eg pilates, yoga, buggyfit even had me doing crunches a few years ago until I found this all out !). Or do them but modify.