Does This Uterus Make My Stomach Look Fat?
mom23mangos
Posts: 3,070 Member
It seems there have been a slew of posts lately of slender women thinking there is something wrong with their stomachs because they aren't completely flat. Instagram and photoshop have warped our views of what a normal female body looks like. Not to mention that female body shapes and fat storage patterns change as we transition through puberty, after childbirth and through menopause. We have extra internal organs, hormones affecting water retention, not to mention extra fat is needed to support giving life to another human.
I thought this blog was fantastic.
https://marcird.com/blog/does_uterus_my_make_me_look_fat/
I get it...no one LIKES having extra fat on their tummy, BUT it is perfectly normal. I feel like we need to have a sister companion to the "So you want a nice stomach" thread showing what "normal" nice stomachs look like. I'm not talking about people in competition prep, but what a bodybuilder looks like in the off season. What women with a normal BMI look like. Yes, you can work hard, eat right and have an awesome stomach, but chances are you are still going to have rolls when you bend over, your lower abdomen is going to curve somewhat and if you don't stand up straight, your gut will push out.
I'd love to see women in the normal BMI range post front and side pics along with the following information so people can see the wide range of "normal". I'd also love to see ladies who fall outside the normal range due to above average muscle mass so that people can see that weighing more is not necessarily a bad thing.
Age:
BMI or Height/Weight/Bone Structure:
BF%: If you know
Number of Pregnancies:
Medical Conditions affecting appearance: ex. Diastasis Recti, Retroverted Uterus, Scoliosis, Fibroids, etc.
Primary form of exercise: ex. Weights, Biking, Running, Pilates, etc.
Number of years doing aforementioned exercise:
I thought this blog was fantastic.
https://marcird.com/blog/does_uterus_my_make_me_look_fat/
I get it...no one LIKES having extra fat on their tummy, BUT it is perfectly normal. I feel like we need to have a sister companion to the "So you want a nice stomach" thread showing what "normal" nice stomachs look like. I'm not talking about people in competition prep, but what a bodybuilder looks like in the off season. What women with a normal BMI look like. Yes, you can work hard, eat right and have an awesome stomach, but chances are you are still going to have rolls when you bend over, your lower abdomen is going to curve somewhat and if you don't stand up straight, your gut will push out.
I'd love to see women in the normal BMI range post front and side pics along with the following information so people can see the wide range of "normal". I'd also love to see ladies who fall outside the normal range due to above average muscle mass so that people can see that weighing more is not necessarily a bad thing.
Age:
BMI or Height/Weight/Bone Structure:
BF%: If you know
Number of Pregnancies:
Medical Conditions affecting appearance: ex. Diastasis Recti, Retroverted Uterus, Scoliosis, Fibroids, etc.
Primary form of exercise: ex. Weights, Biking, Running, Pilates, etc.
Number of years doing aforementioned exercise:
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98
Replies
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I'll kick it off:
Age: 43
BMI: 20.7
BF%: ? Guessing 18-20%
Number of Pregnancies: 2
Medical Conditions affecting appearance: Retroverted Uterus - don't know if that affects appearance or not
Primary form of exercise: Progressive Resistance Training - Free weights and gymnastics based body weight
179 -
You know I'm in for this! (These pictures aren't the most recent, but I'm at work currently and may get weird looks if I shuck my shirt and do some selfies. )
Age: 43
BMI: 27.6 (overweight)
BF%: 24-ish, if I had to guess
Number of Pregnancies: One to term, one miscarriage
Medical Conditions affecting appearance: slight scoliosis
Primary form of exercise: Powerlifting
Time frame: 2 years heavy lifting by the time of the picture. 4 years now.
73 -
In it for the uterus!!!
No pics from me as I’m not normal BMI yet, but I want to show my support for this thread.61 -
MsHarryWinston wrote: »In it for the uterus!!!
No pics from me as I’m not normal BMI yet, but I want to show my support for this thread.
Ditto.18 -
The guys gonna love this thread.27
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mom23mangos wrote: »I'll kick it off:
Age: 43
BMI: 20.7
BF%: ? Guessing 18-20%
Number of Pregnancies: 2
Medical Conditions affecting appearance: Retroverted Uterus - don't know if that affects appearance or not
Primary form of exercise: Progressive Resistance Training - Free weights and gymnastics based body weight
Just for a bit of context, would you want to say how long you've been working towards this point? What you've achieved isn't something that most people should reasonably expect to do in 6 months of diet and exercise... even with no pregnancies.15 -
Good point @jjpptt2. I will add number of years exercising to the pertinent information. Over 2 years recomping for me.
Shoot - the edit time has elapsed on the initial post. Ladies, also include number of years doing the aforementioned exercise.
3 -
I have some good ones for you. And I have zero shame so here we go. Posture goes a long way.
5'1"
Five kids
126lbs. (23.9 BMI)
Diastasis recti
Lifting weights since 2015, including through my fifth pregnancy. Currently following a full body program three days a week.
Highest weight ever: 220lbs
I don't know what my body fat % is
*extra context: I had a baby almost 16 months ago. I finished that pregnancy at 195lbs.
189 -
That is a FREAKING AWESOME example @DomesticKat!!!17
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mom23mangos wrote: »That is a FREAKING AWESOME example @DomesticKat!!!
Agreed!!!10 -
I don't have a ton of pictureswith me but here are some from various points.
Age: 32
5'6
Number of Pregnancies: 1
Top pic overweight BMI, bottom lower end healthy
Body Fat 16% via bodpod bottom,upper p
unknown
primary workout progressive lifting with OCR focus and cardio circuits.
124 -
I'm posting even though I technically have an "overweight" BMI. 5'4" and 150 lbs.
Age: 30
BMI: 25.7
BF%: ~27-28%
Number of pregnancies: 1
Medical conditions affecting appearance: none
Primary forms of exercise: CrossFit and running
61 -
oh and verticle vs bending at 150lbs (5'6) 24% body fat, bmi high end healthy.
87 -
@sunflowerhippi - that pic with your daughter copying you in the background is priceless. LOL Thank you for posting.
Thank you also @quicksylver123 and @Cassandraw3 for showing what a slightly overweight BMI with extra muscle mass looks like. I think it's a great distinction for people to see.22 -
No pics of me. Not brave enough.
SW 208
Cw 150
2 kids.
Double hernia repair- umbilical and ventral
Lordosis of lower spine with herniated disks
Tilted uterus with Mirena causing a heck of a lot of bloating
I walk with my abs contracted most of the time to brace my back.
Very aware that female anatomy affects how flat your stomach is, that's just reality. Thanks for this post.17 -
Age: 28 yrs
BMI: 23.2
BF%: somewhere between 25-33% (scale constantly says around 33%....Skulpt scanner says 25-28%)
Pregnancies: 2 both c-section
Exercise: Currently Beachbody on Demand or Jillian Michaels DVD’s. When I can afford the gym I do Strong Curves (lifting program).
86 -
mom23mangos wrote: »Good point @jjpptt2. I will add number of years exercising to the pertinent information. Over 2 years recomping for me.
Shoot - the edit time has elapsed on the initial post. Ladies, also include number of years doing the aforementioned exercise.
You should be able to PM one of the mods and ask them to edit the OP for you.
Great thread idea!4 -
New_Heavens_Earth wrote: »No pics of me. Not brave enough.
SW 208
Cw 150
2 kids.
Double hernia repair- umbilical and ventral
Lordosis of lower spine with herniated disks
Tilted uterus with Mirena causing a heck of a lot of bloating
I walk with my abs contracted most of the time to brace my back.
Very aware that female anatomy affects how flat your stomach is, that's just reality. Thanks for this post.
Sorry didn't include exercise.
Several years of weight training. Currently doing Spinning, running, step aerobics, mostly DVDs, and 80 Day obsession. Thinking of starting Crossfit.5 -
Cassandraw3 wrote: »I'm posting even though I technically have an "overweight" BMI. 5'4" and 150 lbs.
Age: 30
BMI: 25.7
BF%: ~27-28%
Number of pregnancies: 1
Medical conditions affecting appearance: none
Primary forms of exercise: CrossFit and running
Did CrossFit for 8 months prior to being pregnant (August 2014-March 2015). Took some time off balancing work/mom/relationship and started back at it in December 2017. Running, I have done on and off since 2012.
4 -
Just bookmarking.
Great idea for a thread @mom23mangos
I will be back later with some recent pics.
Glad to see some of my most admired women joining in.
Cheers, h.12
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