Is a flat stomach always attainable for a woman?
elizabethdzenitis
Posts: 63 Member
So I used to be 115 pounds and I still had a protruding tum tum so I'm just wondering if ever dreaming of a flat stomach with eating a normal, healthy diet is possible for me? Do some people just naturally have bodies that can't be flat?
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Replies
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I know I'll never have a flat stomach.3
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Up until I had my son my stomach was naturally very flat and I carried no extra weight there, it was always my butt and thighs that gained. My body has changed now so I'm not sure that's possible anymore but I'm still gonna try2
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TeacupsAndToning wrote: »I definitely think that achieving a stomach that's flat all the time is near impossible.
If you look at my profile pic - that's how I look when I wake up in the morning but by the end of the day I normally look like I'm three months pregnant. Basically everyone has ups and downs when it comes to their midsection.
However, what's made the biggest difference is strength training and working my core. My body looks, I think, so much better than it did earlier this year before I started focusing more of following a strength training program.
Ah my tum was never that flat lol I wish .0 -
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I think it's possible to have a flat stomach when your toughening you stomach muscles. But everyone's will protrude at least a little when relaxed. I wouldn't worry too much about it honestly.6
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I did in my 20's and 30's, but now in my 40's it's highly doubtful for me.2
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TeacupsAndToning wrote: »I definitely think that achieving a stomach that's flat all the time is near impossible.
If you look at my profile pic - that's how I look when I wake up in the morning but by the end of the day I normally look like I'm three months pregnant. Basically everyone has ups and downs when it comes to their midsection.
However, what's made the biggest difference is strength training and working my core. My body looks, I think, so much better than it did earlier this year before I started focusing more of following a strength training program.
Agreed here. Sometimes I have a flat tummy. But, not after eating a big plate of vegetables and a carbonated beverage.1 -
It usually isn't. The flat stomach is just the thigh gap with more staying power - it's only possible (at least healthily) if you're lucky enough to be built a certain way, but treated as an ideal for everyone.
Here's the thing. Most women have uteruses. Uteruses are big, powerful muscles - the strongest in the human body, pound for pound. And they sit right up against the abdominal wall and cause a little bit of rounding - and you may also experience even more rounding when you build up your abdominal muscles. That little bit of rounding gets exaggerated in most women with a healthy amount of body fat, just due to the way your body is made to move in that region. Thus, if you're healthy, you probably get that little bump because that's just the way bodies work. Some people do have bodies that will allow for flatness, sure - but they're the exception, not the rule.
But, most women can come close enough to learn to pose for photos so as to make their stomachs look flat for just that moment.19 -
I love this thread I don't feel so alone. I've never had a flat stomach and I feel like no matter how much weight I lose I'll never have one! I got a little saggy pouch!3
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One flat stomach trick is flexing your abs. Whatever you look like flexed is your real ab/stomach look. Preferably not after a meal.
Its like the thigh gap trick: tilt pelvis so that your butt is pointing out a bit, in slim fit jeans or tights. You will have more of a chance at thigh gap that way.1 -
One flat stomach trick is flexing your abs. Whatever you look like flexed is your real ab/stomach look. Preferably not after a meal.
Its like the thigh gap trick: tilt pelvis so that your butt is pointing out a bit, in slim fit jeans or tights. You will have more of a chance at thigh gap that way.
I like Samantha Bee but it seems like on her show she's always standing so as to have a thigh gap and that's so incongruous I find it very distracting.
(I'd forgotten all about thigh gaps since I was a teenager until hitting the MFP forums a few years ago.)0 -
TeacupsAndToning wrote: »I definitely think that achieving a stomach that's flat all the time is near impossible.
If you look at my profile pic - that's how I look when I wake up in the morning but by the end of the day I normally look like I'm three months pregnant. Basically everyone has ups and downs when it comes to their midsection.
However, what's made the biggest difference is strength training and working my core. My body looks, I think, so much better than it did earlier this year before I started focusing more of following a strength training program.
This is me. Thanks to heavy lifting, I wake up with a relatively flat tummy, with a few deliberate curves and valleys. Then I eat and it looks like I had a balloon for breakfast.
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How are your core muscles? When standing you contract them just a bit? It's not really "sucking in" but part of good posture.2
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One flat stomach trick is flexing your abs. Whatever you look like flexed is your real ab/stomach look. Preferably not after a meal.
Its like the thigh gap trick: tilt pelvis so that your butt is pointing out a bit, in slim fit jeans or tights. You will have more of a chance at thigh gap that way.
Wow these are excellent posing tips. Any more?0 -
When I was 22, was running 4 miles a day, doing crunches, and was down to 112, I had a 6 pack ( not lifting any weights). It was great, but not sustainable. Heavy weight lifters seem to have good, muscular bellies, at the right weight.1
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I know I'll never have a flat stomach. I'm excited to be a certian weight, let alone picking on parts of my body.
I think if I knew what I know now, in my 20's I could have. But I'm going to be 39 in a few months and my body has changed significantly. I know I weigh less than I did then, but I don't look like I do. Because I'm not as active as I was. Life stages change and things go on.2 -
I honestly don't think it's possible now that I've seen pictures of women with flat bellies or with a 6 pack show themselves unflexed. However, I don't use that as an excuse not to try to get to that flat belly area
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After 5 kids my upper stomach is flat with abs but my lower stomach is not. I wake up with a relatively flat stomach but after eating anything it balloons out... I agree if I had known now at 35 what I did at 25 before kids I would've of loved to see what my stomach could've done 6 pack wise!
Posing tip- stand with your hand on your hip instead of flat by your side.2 -
As a woman who has had 4 full term pregnancies, and also has a VERY short torso, I'm honestly not sure it's even possible for me to get the "perfect flat stomach". I'm learning to be ok with that. I'm at a healthy weight, I'm getting stronger, my muffin top is gone, a little stomach pooch is a small price for 4 awesome kiddos.3
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I never have and I doubt I ever will.
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There's a difference between having a flat stomach and having no fat on your stomach. I have abs and cant grab any fat on my stomach but I do not have a flat stomach as it always sticks out lol.3
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I've only ever had a flat stomach when I've been quite underweight. But I don't have much muscle - I reckon if I did I would maybe be able to achieve one towards the lower end of the healthy bmi.0
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Never had a flat stomach and never will. Was overweight as a teen, then had 3 babies within 3 years in my 20's so I've come to terms with the extra skin/fat there. 1
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I don't think I will ever have nice abs, not as much because of fat, but because of C-section pouch and skin.
Then again in the morning I'm like "hell yeah", by noon I look pregnant2 -
Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever have a nice stomach again after 2 kids and 1 c-section and I'm really okay w/ that.0
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sure, but you do not want it too flat or you look sickly looking!0
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alondrakayy wrote: »I honestly don't think it's possible now that I've seen pictures of women with flat bellies or with a 6 pack show themselves unflexed. However, I don't use that as an excuse not to try to get to that flat belly area
But, that's just the reality. Having a flat all the time tummy isn't reality. We sit down, breath deeply in a moment, eat food, slouch sometimes, have a fertility cycle. Then other times we are dancing, moving in ways that activate the muscles. So, the goal should be realistic. I say this for myself too.6 -
Some people can and some people can't. Those who probably can't are the apple shapes specifically. It just varies from person to person where you store your fat. And I've learned that those fat storage patterns can change with age. I used to never store fat on my stomach, but now that I'm over 40 I tend to store some there. However, since it's not my main fat storage I can get rid of it without too much effort. Many people can't.2
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In the winter of 2016 I was dead center of my recommended bmi. Strong abs like crazy, you could see the 6 pack when I flexed even under my fat layer and crazy stretch marks. But, the lower belly was always rounded. I have gained 15-20lbs and am working on losing again but have found there are many reasons some women may never get the perfectly flat belly. I have been having some minor issues(bloating, digestion, etc) and found out via ultrasound that I have a fibroid the size of a 5 month pregnancy in my uterus. According to my doc(and google agrees) 70% of women over the age of 35 may deal with fibroids of various sizes; some without symptoms. I can keep working my muscles to help hold it in, but unless we get all surgical, my pooch is staying. I would guess this is that case for others as well past a certain age. Our uteruses just want allllll the attention.3
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I don't believe so.....0
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