Discouraged Due to Flabby Tummy LOL

my doctor (who is also a woman with children) recommended rowing for me... I am very slim of build and do not need to lose a pound but have the tummy flab from having 3 kids....
I haven't tried it yet because I do not belong to a gym and do not own a rowing machine or a boat :) but thought I would share that information with you.

Well, fat is fat. You have to fight it to get rid of it. It loves us like magnets.
I just lost 25lbs in one month by adding 4 to 5 cups of hot green tea to my diet every day and my favorite snack and I sometimes make a meal of it is celery with peanut butter on it. Low cal, high fiber and protein. Add those to what you do now, don't drink alcohol (its very fattening), I'm sure you will notice changes in about a week. Be aware of what you are putting in your mouth. Don't allow yourself to get hungry because that's when you start craving something like a cheeseburger or tacobell. Keep lots of celery wrapped in foil in your fridge and eat it all day long to keep you from getting hungry. Drink a full glass of water before a meal and you will fill up faster. Do not eat until you are miserable, eat until you know you've put enough food in your tummy to survive. eat to live, dont live to eat.

You shouldn't have to change the way you are to please anyone. If you like the way you look, that's all that should matter! :) Everyone has a little extra weight in certain places! I teach dance for 8-15 hours a week and it's hard core advanced dance classes (I don't sit down!) and I still have some extra weight in my stomach! No one is perfect. I think we all are beautiful inside and out the way we are. :)

The only advice I would give to someone is maybe take a walk a few times a day. Results take a long time!

As I gave some advice to another Mother...I said...Just regular old weights!! It does wonders! You can use them for your arms and also your abs for specific exercises! I sometimes use the Gilad's Total Body Sculpt DVD's. I ordered my DVD online with Wal-mart and had it shipped to the store. I picked it up and I love it. He is also on the channel, Fit TV. He has awesome workouts. Each workout includes a warm-up/stretch, weight lifting, ab section and cool down/stretch!

Stay away from the diets! They are ridiculous!

HUGS back to you!

P.S. just for the record :P I don't believe in extreme exercising. I teach dance 8 hrs and fitness classes maybe 5 hrs a week also, I don't push myself to exercise at home. Being confident inside and out is most important. Love the body you have! :) If you have a little extra weight in some places, oh well it's not hurting anyone!

Try eating more. Sounds counter intuitive, but if you could eat an apple, a large broth, plain vegetables, etc. every time you are hungry, before you eat your usual meal, it would actually help you feel full and you would end up eating fewer calories on balance.

Good luck

I have a jiggle belly and the only time it bothers me is when I'm going to wear my Star Trek dress, then I put on a little corset to flatten it out. (what, no girls had flab in the 60s?) otherwise, I figure I'm healthy and a little jiggle belly never hurt anyone.

You've gotten some great responses, but I did want to say that sometimes nothing works and you have to be happy with how you are. I agree with all those who say that friend is not so great. I have thyroid problems, and even on my medicine, and exercising, and eating right, the weight doesn't come off. And I'd love to say the fat did and the weight was muscle, but my pants tell me I haven't lost any fat. One thing that has helped me lose 5 lbs (I'm still 60lbs overweight, but with never any progress, 5 was a huge number for me!) was cranberry juice. There are a lot of health benefits, too. If it's not something that's in your diet, I definately recommend adding it!

i would start by finding better friends. you will not be one bit more perfect with a flat belly, and everything that DOES make you perfect you already have.
that being said, i am intimately familiar with the jiggle and know how discouraging it is.
one the best helps to a healthier lifestyle (other than the obvious basics of moving more and eating less/better) is to keep a food diary, with a basic goal in mind. my parameters (which are generous, but which i violate way too often), are 1600 calories and 60 grams of fat. if can get tedious to do all that counting, so keep a handy chart of food you eat frequently so you don't have to tot them up each time. but when you keep track, it keeps awareness hovering there. instead of just sawing off a second slice of homemade honey wheat bread and slathering it with sweet butter, you tend to pause and think 'can i afford this?' and if you can, you can plunge ahead and enjoy it guilt-free. if not, you can evaluate whether or not you're REALLY hungry, and if you are, grab a banana.
but you're probably not.
and sandy? you are beautiful, and perfect, right now.
khairete
S.

I think this depends on you and the way your body works. About 8 months after my first child, I had tried desperately to loose weight with no luck. Exercising actually made me gain weight from a combination of adding muscle to eating more because it made me hungrier. Finally I sprung for 4 months of hard small group training at my gym pool. The trainer was like Jillian and worked us hard. Something about the pool and the exercises we had to do really flattened my tummy. I also was on a very high fiber diet. I switched everything brown for white (brown bread, rice, sugar, cereal etc.) I was probably in the best shape of my life. then came baby #2. This time I didn't have the time or money for the high priced gym workout and 4 years later my tummy is still out. I am just beginning to loose that last 10 pounds, from just not eating as much, and again, high fiber. And my 4 yo asked the other day if there was a baby in there (nope), so I feel your pain. I think I am just trying day by day.

First, your friend's a jerk. Sorry, but "you'd be perfect if you weren't fat" just isn't cool. You may not be able to lose all your belly jiggle, depending on how your elasticity is after having a kid, and how long ago you had children, and how old you are. Elasticity goes away as we age, and like an elastic band, you can stretch your skin too far to ever recover.

Try to set reasonable goals (an inch, 5-10 lbs) and get a friend/partner to motivate you. My sister asks me if I worked out or not, and nags me gently about it. It helps me get off my butt. As you tone, all of your extra will move around, your core muscles will help tighten your tummy, and reverse sit-ups/marine crunches will target the lower abs.

Jillian Michaels has a great book called "Making the Cut". It worked for me! But it's designed to help you lose that last 10-20 lbs over 30 days, not a long term diet. But it gives you the workouts, meals and recipes, and helpful tips about how to be healthy. If you are serious and really stick to her program you will see results. Good luck!

Three words-"South Beach Diet".

You say you are trying to lose, but not that you WANT to lose. I tried to lose weight for years. When I decided that I truly WANTED to lose for ME and not anyone else I finally lost 60 pounds following Weight Watchers. I kept it off for five years until I got pregnant at 39. I was told to stop running while pregnant, because my heart rate elevated too fast and too much to be healthy for the baby. As a result I gained 77 pounds! My "baby" is now three and I've been "trying" to lose the baby weight since I stopped breastfeeding when she was 14 months old. Ten days ago I went back to Weight Watchers and I had lost 2.4 pounds at my first weigh in. I believe in the WW program, because you learn to make healthy choices, not diet. You don't have to follow WW, but you do have to decide you want to lose for YOU and not anyone else. When that happens you will be able to lose the weight!

I feel your pain. After two babies, my stomach also has the jello jiggle. I have been slowly slowly taking it off over the past two years and it is an ongoing battle. I am firm believer in exercise, but I think it has to be something you can stick with for it to work. 30 minutes of walking several times a week - be persistent and you will start to see results, but you have to be patient. I noticed this when I started walking my son to Kindergarten this year. All of a sudden the weight started coming off again and I hadn't changed anything else. I realized that the 15 minutes walking him there and the 15 minutes home were doing the trick! Now I am a believer.

First of all, I agree with everyone who has said it: Your friend is a jerk. If she didn't have that mouth, SHE'D be perfect.
I have been doing Weight Watcher, too. It works. It teaches you to eat healthy food, and to exercise. I walk a lot, but I like to do yoga, too. Also, I belong to Netflix. The DVD I get midweek is usually an exercise DVD just to mix up my exercise routine a little. Good luck!