· The 3 questions you should ask yourself before you do your next 1000 crunches?
· The 5 types of tummies and how to distinguish your own?
Tammy, 31 years old, is a dedicated mother and stylish lady. She and her husband have two children; a daughter 12 and a son who just turned 10. She is 5' 5" tall and weighs 140 lbs. She was a stay-at-home mom until 4 years ago when she entered the workforce. She loves her family, her job in an orthodontist's office and her compact, muscular body.
However, one thing that she doesn't love is her "pouch."
Her pouch appeared after the birth of her daughter. It grew even more after her son was born. During the second pregnancy, Tammy was convinced she would burst she was so big. Now, when she looks at it - which she tries not to do - she's totally depressed about her "baby bottom pouch". To begin with, she patiently waited the recommended 12 months after delivery for her tummy to flatten. It didn't.She tried everything on the market to get rid of it: online skin-tightening creams, tummy-tightening exercise equipment and other unconventional remedies. All were guaranteed to work, but none helped.
The "baby bottom pouch" persisted. Her friends told her it was just fat, that diet would take care of it. She conscientiously tried three different diets over the next 5 years. No change. Two years ago she hired a personal trainer. With her usual persistence, she did 250 sit-ups morning and evening for nine months.Not only was there no improvement, but the "pouch" had actually gotten worse with all those sit-ups.Trying to flatten her tummy was one of the most frustrating and lonely undertakings in the world. Last year one of her cousins even asked if she was pregnant. Ouch. That really hurt after all that work.
She couldn't count the number of times she wanted to give up and just accept it. Yet every time she got out of the shower and looked in the mirror, she felt disgusted with her body. Plus she had to stuff her pouch into her pants and quickly zip them up. Her feelings would fluctuate back and forth; from frustration to apathy and apathy to frustration. There were days she didn't want to get out of bed because she was so depressed.
But Tammy was a determined woman who valued her appearance. It occurred to her quite suddenly one day that perhaps she was a candidate for a tummy tuck. After calling a local cosmetic surgeon and making an appointment, she waited anxiously for the day to arrive.
The doctor asked her three very important questions; questions she wished she'd known years before.
1. Did she have a lot of deep white fat? No, almost none.
2. Did she have a lot of yellow fat? No, hardly any.
3. Did she have stretched skin she could grab with her hand? Yes, most definitely.
Tammy had her tummy tuck. The deepest layer of stretched skin was tightened and the pouch removed. She has her flat tummy back and she looks fabulous. She is ecstatic with her transformation, and both relieved and overjoyed that she could actually do something about her pouch.
As a result of Tammy's experience she learned about the 5 types of post-baby tummies.
They are as follows.
The least amount of change to the abdomen is associated with minimal stretched skin or bulging.In the next case, the skin is mildly stretched and bulges beneath the belly button.This is where Tammy was... lots of stretched skin and a bulge extending from very low to the area above the belly button.A bulge that has a hanging skin apron.Finally, a thick layer of fat accompanies the stretching and bulging. The key to determining your tummy type is to measure the thickness of fat in the abdomen. If it measures less than 3 cm (1.18 inches), this generally indicates that stretched skin, not fat, is the culprit. In Tammy?s case she had very little fat, stretched skin and a significant bulge to her abdomen.
She was a good candidate for a tummy tuck. Are you?
