Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Weight loss chat

A space to talk openly about weight loss journeys and challenges. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

I am declaring WAR.....on my midriff/tummy!!!

77 replies

CountessDracula · 19/04/2004 16:49

Right, it is so flabby and vile that something has to be done. Feeling well enough to start doing situps etc now.

Who wants to join me?

And who knows some good pilates style exercises that I can do?

OP posts:

Nutcracker · 19/04/2004 20:40

Count me in too please. Will probably need a kick up the arse some days though

jessicarabbit · 19/04/2004 20:47

I'm going on holiday in 5 weeks too! On 21st May. And want to be half a stone slimmer by then.(am down to only 1 pair of wearable trousers now!) As my youngest is 6 my only excuse is laziness and GREED !! Well it was just Easter and also it was my birthday yesterday (more yummies)

So I will definately join the tummy war. Has anyone got a swiss ball? They are good...if you can motivate yourself to use it!!

sarochka · 19/04/2004 22:51

I had a birthing ball is that the same sort of think. I just used it for lolling and rolling around on. Perhaps I should have thought of exercise in the first place:0

Heathcliffscathy · 19/04/2004 22:56

i'm in, and i'm going to do them now and then go to bed feeling virtuous

Original poster

CountessDracula · 19/04/2004 23:21

Maisystar I have a similar problem. We are what is called Apple shaped (as opposed to pear) and yeah it's very unhealthy, means you are more predisposed to heart disease etc. However it is genetic so all we can do is try and be thinner. God how dull

OP posts:

Browbeaten · 20/04/2004 10:27

Right, I've done 40+ sit ups this morning and am reporting in - can't promise to be this enthusiastic tomorrow

Original poster

CountessDracula · 20/04/2004 10:43

Well done Browbeaten! I am off to do mine now - did them yesterday too

OP posts:

motherinferior · 20/04/2004 10:56

I've been weedily trying to practise various pilates exercises from my class. My midriff is too horrible to contemplate. Can I be a spin-off member?

lydialemon · 20/04/2004 11:06

OK done it, now going to expire noisily on the carpet.

motherinferior · 20/04/2004 11:08

Exercise I got from my pilates teacher when I was writing about '21 ways to lose half a stone' (DON'T ASK):

?Breathe in, and then breathe out ? you do this exercise on the out-breath. The first thing you?re thinking of is drawing your navel back towards the spine, to pull your abdominals in. Then think of pulling your sitting-bones together by squeezing your lower gluteus muscles ? this will automatically lift the pelvic floor. This will strengthen two of your core stability muscle groups.?

You can do this while you?re waiting for the bus, sitting at your office chair, doing the washing-up and so on.

kiwisbird · 20/04/2004 11:10

and typing on mumsnet of course
but not while staring at that last bar of green and blacks with alomond milk chocolate..
dammit

kiwisbird · 20/04/2004 11:14

wow Mother Inf... can feel it working, lots of bits!
Assuming I am doing it right that is
Another pilates style exercise was to lie on side on floor arms out ahead of you and to raise the both legs and then both arms like a side arc, as you breathe out...
This really does work, only thing is as aI found, you actually have to do it...
God I am so lazy I don't deserve to be thin again...

aloha · 20/04/2004 11:19

Ha, I think the war against tummies is like the war against terror. Never ending and ultimately doomed to failure

motherinferior · 20/04/2004 11:20

PS that one works on lower abdomen, sadly not on the vast flabby upper tum that still looks faintly pregnant. I swear it did get the lower abdomen back into its jeans after dd2, but having said that my tummy is still a horrid wrinkly wobbly thing.

kiwisbird · 20/04/2004 11:26

I feel I should try to minimise it (the belly that is), but as we are planning another baby, is it really worth it, would it prevent a worse sag after no 3?
After DS 10 yrs ago, had no aftermath, but then was poor, had no car and he ran me off my feet and fed like a starving baby elephant, whereas dd isn't walking at 18 mths, fed delciately for minutes at a time and not through the night, I have a car and can afford M+S and Waitrose everyday, plus we live near takeaways...
No self discipline either...

Sonnet · 20/04/2004 11:32

Would love to join - need the motivatiom that you lot will give me...
am at work at the mo, so if no-one minds I'll do 40 tonight!! and report in in the evening..

sykes · 20/04/2004 11:32

Kiwisbird yes it is SO important to minimise your tummy after number one - because it's harder with number two even if you've managed to get your figure back to a state you're happy with. The fitter, more toned you are before you start any pregnancy and the more you exercise to keep yourself fit, healthy and as toned as is humanly possibe during a pregnancy the easier it is afterwards. But as you may have guessed I'm verging on obsessive, some would say ....

granarybeck · 21/04/2004 09:58

would love to join in. 40 didn't sound too many but i have just done them and am knackered!

granarybeck · 21/04/2004 10:00

anyone got any tips for doing the sit ups properly, after about 20 my back hurt and i don't have a bad back. maybe i am just unfit...

Tex111 · 21/04/2004 10:04

DS woke up at 2am with a leaky nappy (yuck). As I was sorting him out I suddenly thought 'bugger, didn't do my sit-ups!'. Plan is to do 40 this morning for yesterday and 40 before bed tonight. We're going to Texas in May and my Mom has been thrilled that she wears a smaller size than me since I had DS. Will hopefully at least be the same size by then. I'm doing the South Beach diet too. Anyone else tried it?

cuppy · 21/04/2004 10:14

Is it to late to join in? My tum still wobbles when I laugh which is highly embarrassing if I've got a tight top on!
Tex - whats the south beach diet all about then?

Tex111 · 21/04/2004 10:19

South Beach is a bit Atkins-esque. Low carb but much kinder. It was developed by a cardiologist and, since we have a lot of heart disease in my family, I thought it might be interesting. There's a two week beginning that's a bit tough but after that it gets easier. You can still have a glass of wine, some dark chocolate, complex carbs, etc. Just all in moderation. DH has lost a stone in three weeks and I've lost 4lbs in a week so far. I'm sure a lot of that's water but I've felt more energetic too which is always welcome. Fingers crossed I can keep it going. I got the book at Waterstones after a friend in the States recommended it. It really concentrates on belly fat too so perfect for me!

Spod · 21/04/2004 10:25

did my 40 sit ups past 2 days... gonna do 50 2nite... will try and type up pilates.... motherinferior's one above is the central part of all pilates exercises, so you do that plus any additional movements. one basic one is to lay on floor, legs bent up, arms on floor by your sidethen slowly raise your bum of the floor and then lift you back of the floor one section at a time as if you're 'peeling' yourself off the floor, then slowly lower again and repeat... make sure you clench lower abs and pelvic floor or its pointless.... i'll try and post another later

hatter · 21/04/2004 10:30

I'm on for the sit-ups. been extremely bad recently and haven't done any exercise for ages. I need other people to crack the whip...

bun · 21/04/2004 12:50

Do you need to do any warm up or can you just lie down and start? Also - can anyone tell me how to incorporate my birthing ball?

Flip

1 2 3 4