Is it at all possible to get a flatish stomach after 3 sections ????

[nutcracker]

I was really quite lucky and never put on piles of weight with any of my pregnancies and always quite quickly regained my figure, even my stomach wasn't that bad.

However in the last year or so my stomach seems to have gone all flabby and is basically just horrible. I have rolls on rolls.
I can still just about squeeze into my size 10's but i am feeling uncomfortable in them.

Am trying to diet a bit and do a bit of exercise but it doesn't seem to be making any difference.

So is it possible to get a flattish stomach again or am i living in cloud cuckoo land ??

Loads and loads of sit ups will make a difference but you have to keep doing them or otherwise stomach returns to normal.

Should i have my legs flat or knees up when doing sit ups, can never remember ?

There are different types for the different muscle ranges - lower abd higher - don't know the technical terms. The standard sit-up I think you can do with knees bent, then there'e the twist variation, left elbow to right knee, then there's the legs pointing up in the air and lifting your bottom up as you reach with your arms - that's hard and target the bottom stomach muscles I think. God I have to get back to the gym where someone can help me. Can you et to a gym class as then your technique can be checked and corrected?

Hmm no can't really afford the gym. My brother goes to one though and has done a fitness course, might get him to show me whats best.

Yeah, that's a great idea. If he could give you some sets to last for about 5 minutes you could do them daily. I used to do a body pump class that targetted the stomach muscles for about 5 mins per lesson and they made a difference. When I had done sit ups on my own I hadn't noticed a big difference because I think my technique was wrong and I was concentrating on only the upper area of muscle.

Ah right ok, will ask him. Thanks

I saw a programme that said you can do sit-ups after sit-up but actually the exercise that will be effective is pulling in your tummy button and lower tummy as though you were trying to make it reach your spine .. you can do it lying on your back or sitting up

I can see the rationale actually

Twiglett, that's probably why I hadn't noticed too much difference when I did sit-ups on my own. The personal triner will tell you to pull your stomach in as you described before you do the lifts. Just being aware of keeping your stomach pulled in as you walk about and also standing up straight (something I forget to do) will help tone the stomach and give a flatter appearance. I walk round like a hunchback half the time and when I catch sight of myself in a mirror it's a shock

Hmm that sounds less strenuous

Dp said that i should lie on my back with my bum as close to the skirting board as poss with my legs up the wall.

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VB must spend most the day with her legs up the wall I think

Pinotmum

It's my neck that i have trouble with when doing sit ups, so hopefully just raising my top half slightly off the ground will help.

Yuk .. Victoria Beckham is nothing to aspire to in my view, she looks kind ohf haggard and much too thin

she's also obviously had surgery

Of course it's possible - it's called a tummy tuck.

Strengthening your core abdominals will help, but remeber that those muscles have been stretched and then sliced through 3 times, so will not be in prime condition. I think that without surgery it is impossible for yoru tummy to be as flat as it was before.

Nutcracker, imagine there is an orange under your chin and don't tuck your chin onto your chest. This should put less strain on the neck. Also keep tips of fingers at temples (elbows bent) not behind head as this makes you pull on the head /neck as you lift.

I've been told (in my bellydancing class, that the best way is to pull in your belly muscles, the same as you would for your pelvic floor exercises. It's also the technique used in Pilates. Apparantly far more effective than cruches, and less likely to put strain on your back.