Has anyone successfully lost the dreaded double belly?

random1234

I'm 5'7" and 125 lbs, and don't have much more weight I can afford to lose before I get in to underweight territory. As long as I can remember, I've had a double belly that looks like the image I've attached. It's gotten smaller as I've lost weight, obviously, but it's still there - for crying out loud, I'm 125 lbs with a 20 BMI and I can't see my belly button! It's incredibly frustrating because this was the main reason I started losing weight in the first place.

Has anyone successfully lost their double belly? Any tips/tricks? Surgery will never be an option, nor will losing enough weight to venture in to the underweight BMI category. I've only got another 5 pounds or so before that happens.

facetocallhome

I have the same problem, but I still have a lot of weight to lose. Hopefully people can help us with tips and tricks!

nowine4me

Nope. Still have a top belly and bottom belly -- but not as bad as that picture thank goodness

rhtexasgal

Mine's a lot smaller after weight loss BUT I also have the same problem. While I am always within my calorie each day, I have a feeling that too much sugar and grains are my problem. My youngest son bakes and of course, I have to try his creations AND with the perimenopause, I sometimes crave donuts so much that if I don't indulge at least once a week (still keeping to calorie goal though) I will bug out. In every other way, I like to think my diet is ok.

betterwhenimdancin

From what I've read you might need to do a recomp. Recompostion is when you lose fat and gain muscle while maintaining your current weight. There are tons of MFP threads dedicated to the subject.

Ruatine

I believe @middlehaitch has seen some success reducing her "B" belly with recomping. (Although, you must be tired of people tagging you for that. ) I believe the idea is to build up muscle to get an overall "tighter" look while losing fat but not weight.

DX2JX2

To add to the echo chamber...strength training is your best bet.

middlehaitch

Ruatine wrote: »

I believe @middlehaitch has seen some success reducing her "B" belly with recomping. (Although, you must be tired of people tagging you for that. ) I believe the idea is to build up muscle to get an overall "tighter" look while losing fat but not weight.

I have had reasonable success running a recomp and really minimizing my B belly. I don't think it ever goes completely, my belly button still gets lost when I sit down, and belts are swallowed whole, but I am quite happy with what I have now.

If I was a more dedicated lifter, and didn't get detoured by the hedonistic side of life, I am sure I could get better results. I honestly doubt I could ever get a 6 pack though.

Most of my life, I saw a pic at my mum's of when I was 15 that confirms this. the top, above my belly button, has stuck out much further than the bottom. When I was at my heaviest it stuck out as far as my breasts (they have never been very big).

I have no idea, except genetics, why we have this different torso, but it does seem to occurred with an apple shape, though not all apples have the B.

I think it has something to do with weaker upper abs, as once I started a recomp, lifting heavy things etc, I really felt the uppers start to engage, more so than when I was doing cardio which included resistance work like Pilates, and would quite often get upper DOMS, but not lower (it hurt to laugh).

Learning how to do a stomach vacuum, and practicing it at strange times, driving being my favourite, helped with awareness, as did belly dancing, I really, really, got to know all my abs and obliques doing that. Good posture really helps with those upper abs too.

Anyway, that is my experience with my B belly.

Does anyone else feel their stomach is sat right up front between their ribs and when they eat it sticks out further?

Here are the pics.

Me at my heaviest and when I was well into maintenance.



Me during my recomp, probably 3 years.
I was the same weight ~1lbs in each pic.

As you can see my belly has not deterred me from wearing bikinis on holidays.



I will note I have almost no hips, small breasts, slender arms and legs.
Started age 54, 5'1, 130 lbs never having exercised in my life.

Now, 64 (in 9 days) 5'1, 101.4 lbs (this morning), maintain at 100-105lbs.

Get an hour of exercise in 6 days a week, 3 of those doing AllPro, or bodyweight if life is more fun than the gym.

Cheers, h.

@nowine4me, I would never have guessed you were a B. Also a funny thing going with B's and blue bikinis-WendyLeigh wears one too.

usmcmp

@middlehaitch You rock!

ijsantos2005

I hear it's called a FUPA.

middlehaitch

Fatty Upper Pubic Area is something quite different.
It is referring to the fat pad in front of the pubic bone which can be quite thick for some people, men and women alike.

Cheers, h.

middlehaitch

Me again, I thought I would include this pic, but had to get my old phone to find it and post it.

Before and after side view.
NB: Elbows raised to get a side view of my abdomen did flatten it a bit.



Cheers, h.

Muscleflex79

at 5'7" and 125lbs I can't imagine it is anywhere as bad as this photo?? are you sure you are not thinking it is worse than it is??

sheezup2sumtin

I'm the only one from my 5 siblings to have this B belly. I always thought the indention was made from wearing my undies high up around my waist causing the B belly to appear. Now, I don't feel alone anymore.

AnnPT77

Recomposition (maintain weight, strength train hard to add muscle)?

Any chance that posture issues are part of the situation? The rounded forward upper body we get from computer use (among other things) and/or a rotation of the pelvis can contribute to this in some people.

Try rolling your shoulders down & back, pulling your chin back, elongating your ribcage and spine to stand tall, and experimenting with rotating your pelvis forward or back. If any of this makes a difference, working on your postural muscles & core might be helpful.

kshama2001

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

at 5'7" and 125lbs I can't imagine it is anywhere as bad as this photo?? are you sure you are not thinking it is worse than it is??

Ya, I'm 5'6.5" and I'd be closer to 185 pounds than 125 like this. (I do have a large frame.)

random1234

Thanks to everyone for the tips! It sounds like body recomp is the way to go. I've always been a cardio bunny and really disliked strength training - I'll run 10 miles like it's nothing, but I go to extreme lengths to avoid the weight room. Guess I'm going to have to change that. Great to see that some people have had success with getting rid of it - @middlehaitch, you look fantastic!

aaronjonn84

if you have the opportunity gain some help from a personal trainer, they can help you with routines and weights, maybe ab workouts might be an idea too? i do know that when losing weight the belly is always the last to go

eatforpeace

I just want to say that I really, really appreciate that @middlehaitch rocks those bikinis with aplomb. That is too damn cool and so inspiring. Thanks for sharing your strategy and results!!

debodom1962

@middlehaitch you are my new role model. You are rocking it at almost 64!

Kullerva

I have 10 lbs to go and a visible belly button. (Also, visible ribs--all the weight's around my hips now.) I plank 3 minutes a day (including side planks/obliques) and do sets of bird dogs, because my back is awful and my PT says so. So even though there's fat on my abdomen, I have my four pack when I suck it in.

SundropEclipse

I still have a long way to go in terms of weight loss, but I've noticed the upper belly is shrinking faster than anything else and has a much nicer shape than it used to. It may be as simple as focusing on abdominal exercises to replace the fat with muscle. I know a while back someone posted a before and after photo, and when they gained about 15 lbs of muscle they actually looked slimmer than they did at the lower weight.

csec6pak

Awhile back I did a 100-burpees-a-day challenge for 30 days. At the end of 30 days, both my rolls were smaller. My belly button and c-section scar were both visible, although I weighed quite a bit more than I do now. So strength training will help; it didn't totally flatten my belly but it helped a lot.

Javagal2778

@middlehaitch you are inspiring!

HRHJoDee

Obviously your BMI is low and so is your weight, so this isn't about losing weight. It's about building muscle in that area. I'd start doing 10 sets of 25 lower and upper abdominal crunches a day, and do that every single day for six months. There should be several ways to do crunches properly to support your back and not strain your neck. The double belly will go away, and stay away while you keep doing the abdominal crunches with your BMI at 20.

tabletop_joe

I lost some weight, yeah. Mostly I just dropped the dread. My body shape is typical of my background and I refuse to hate it.

minniestar55

debodom1962 wrote: »

@middlehaitch you are my new role model. You are rocking it at almost 64!

Ditto! You look amazing!