My Waist = Giant Tire!

[cydj21]

OK, everyone...in an effort to try and inspire everyone to keep posting as we all seem to want activity to increase around here, I thought I'd toss out a question that has been floating around in my brain. I would LOVE to hear your thoughts and get your feedback, however little or much you have to offer.

As I have lost weight I had lost it primarily in the arms, chest, face, neck, and legs from mid-thigh down. My sticking point is my waist. I have a certified tire hanging right around my midsection! As I continue to lose weight I would love to find a way to start actively targeting my midsection and losing inches. Ultimately, inches are more important to me than the number on the scale. Anyone who has suggestions as to a great ab workout or other great ways to lose inches, I would be really grateful for your suggestions. Everyone's input is certainly welcome, but if you're lurking out there and have had success yourself with actively targeting your waistline, please chime in with how you do it - I promise I'll return the favor as applicable.

Thanks in advance for your feedback. It really is a pleasure to get advice from everyone here and I look forward to seeing what great suggestions you may have.

[DogMa]

Mine is around the lower abs. But I'm afraid there's no such thing as spot reduction. You can do ab exercises for hours ... and you'll get strong abs (and because you'll be building up those muscles under the skin and fat, you might even get a LARGER midsection). The only thing you can do is lose fat and hope things tighten up.

Some who have reached goal have gotten surgery to fix things like this; some of us have chosen to just live with it and/or try to lose a bit more fat (rather than weight).

Sorry I'm not more helpful, but I've been working out for nearly two years now, and I STILL have a midsection that's larger than I'd like it to be (even though I'm at a healthy weight and fit into size 4 and 6 pants).

One thing some trainers suggest is building up your upper body (shoulders, mostly) some, to give the illusion of a smaller waistline.

[cydj21]

Thanks for the input, Robin. I think I am pretty much at peace with the fact that I will never have the waistline of a swimsuit model, but I do wish I was a bit more proportionate instead of quite so pear-shaped. I've been hoping that in time with more weight loss it would even out, but so far I've had no luck. I got measured for a bridemaid dress a couple of weeks ago and my top measured in THREE sizes smaller than my lower. That's no fair!

[Lauren]

Hey, Cyd!

Robin brings up an interesting point about spot reduction not working - frustrating, but true. However, I am curious if you're sure the area around the waist is indeed fat or if it's excess skin/tissue from the weight loss.

I had lost pretty much all that I was going to lose from a pounds/fat perspective, but had a stomache/abdomen "tire" of plain old loose skin, which is why I had the surgery. I don't think people have surgery to remove a spare tire of fat (except lipo, I guess, but I didn't, so I wouldn't know). Anyway, if it's fat, then Robin is right, continue pressing on the MF front, keep losing the weight, keep exercising, and it will definitely diminish some. But if what you're left with is truly skin, then no amount of weight loss is going to improve it, some will improve with time, the rest would require surgery.

Good times, right? :-)

Lauren

[cydj21]

At this point there is definitely still a good amount of fat to lose, although I can tell there will be some skin left later on. I am debating about when I will take care of that - I imagine I will wait until after kids and be all flat and nice without having to worry about pregnancy undoing the work.

[katieb920]

I keep telling myself that after I lose all the weight I am going to get the surgery. But you know what I have been noticing I am losing the weight and noticing that my stomach does not have the tire as much. Before I make any decisions I am going to take one day at a time. Once I hit my goal, my husband said to me if I can keep the weight off for 1 year he will support me if I want to get the surgery.

Lauren if I do get the surgery, I am really going to want to talk to you.....

Well that was just my 2 cents.

[cydj21]

I agree with you, Katie. If for some reason things don't end up as bad as I think they may, I will likely opt out. I've never been flat and svelte so I have no reason to sneer at some puckered skin when I did it to myself! With that said, if it is excessive it then becomes a different story and I'll look to have it taken care of I imagine. Again, with getting married next summer and figuring kids are only a few years out, it is definitely not something I would do until post-kids and solid maintenance to see how it all balances out.

I guess I consider myself one of the lucky ones for stopping myself and getting on track before things got really crazy. My best friend's sister had gastric about five weeks ago after topping out at 410lbs. She is already down nearly 50lbs, and I can only imagine how many surgeries will be involved to get her back to semi-normal when all is said and done. Lucky for her she's a great spirit with an incredible family to support her so she'll be ok, but the road ahead for her over the next couple of years isn't going to pleasant a lot of the time.

[DogMa]

I feel fortunate, too, that I never got quite so big. So what I have is probably excess skin (at least partly), but not so much as some people and so it doesn't bother me quite as much. I still remember the photos of Christy way back when, and her stomach monster or whatever she called it (still in the Studio, I believe). I'm lucky mine's not nearly as bad.

And definitely wait till you've reached goal and maintained awhile and have had any kids you plan to have.