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Meg -- that is a great article, thanks for posting.

I had to laugh, though, because none of the women pictured in the article are suffering from the common side effect of having low enough body fat that your abs show: Serious Boob Deflation. Some day I'll butch up and post pictures as Exhibit A.

(I was chatting about this with my former midwife and current gyno RN. She quipped that she has three prescriptions for women who are concerned about saggy boobs: don't breastfeed, don't lose weight, and don't get old. So far, I'm oh for three...)

Kim

Me too, Kim ... me too. Bad case of SBD.

What does the lying-down-on-the-railroad-track exercise do?

But Kim & Meg, our babies love us for it!!! That's really what matters.

That's what I need I look like a silicon glove filled with cottage cheese thanks for the article!

So my question is, how do you eat one gram of protein for each pound of bodyweight? I eat more protein than carbs, and I eat protein at each of my mini-meals, but I can't eat 150 grams of protein and stay within my weight-loss calorie range. And if I eat more protein, I can't get enough fiber (natural fiber from food, that is). The most protein I've eaten in one day was 126 grams, which was 41% of my total calories.

Also, could there be a genetic component to "muffin top?" I've reduced my body fat, lost weight, developed muscles, work out a lot, but I still have that darn roll right at my belly button. I'm not sure I'm physically capable of getting down to a weight where I'd be rid of the abdominal fat. Hey, maybe it's now a deflated spare tire from losing 103 lbs., i.e., extra skin? My only consolation is that above and below the belly button, my abs look pretty darn good for my age.

I've pretty much given up trying to eat more than 100 grams of protein a day, even with tons of calories to use up. Getting that much protein requires much more contrivance than even eating a healthy, balanced, whole foodish diet.

I looked at that article and wondered if there's something wrong with me for not caring about my abs. My waist is trim and really, no one ever sees my tummy, so who cares? I'm much more concerned about my arms.

I'm with you in the SBD thing. I've never even been pregnant and I look like I've breastfed 1000 babies. It's depressing. At this point, I can see my stupid pecs as slightly distinct from my actual breasts. But I'd have to gain 20lb to get my boobs to look good again...that's a major sacrifice. (And, if no one sees my abs, even fewer people see my breasts. Thank god for excellent bras!!! I'll keep the world fooled. )

kaw
There was a very good article about how breast feeding does not make the breasts sag. I have to say I agree. I breast feed both of my children and it didn't cause me a problem. The sagging didn't start to happen until I was in my 40's. I think one of the problems is pretty bras instead of bras with support. Pretty does not usually make a good bra.

Sometimes muffin top can be solved by not wearing clothes so darn tight they cut off the circulation lol.

The article was very good and very informative. BUT I have a problem believing everything I read when I see they are trying to sell something or recommending a product.

Does anyone really want to look like those woman yuck.

I managed to eat 114g of protein today (which is close to 1g per pound of body weight for me) and I did it on 1,140 calories. And I think my diet was pretty balanced: 14% of my calories came from fat, 44% came from carbs, and 40% from protein. And I wasn't really even trying to eat a lot of protein--this was a pretty normal day for me (don't worry, there are a few other things that I ate that aren't listed that put my calories above 1200).

If you are interested, here is what I ate:
Breakfast: 1 cup non-fat Greek yogurt, 2 oz raspberries, 1/2 cup Trader Joe's high fiber cereal (22g protein)
Lunch: Butternut-Beef Chili (24g protein)
Snack #1: Fiber One Muffin with non-fat cream cheese (6g protein)
Snack #2: Tortilla Factory whole wheat wrap with Trader Joe's spicy ranchero egg white salad, 1/2 cup Fiber One Cereal (14g protein)
Dinner: 4 oz chicken breast stuffed with a mixture of 1 oz light goat cheese and roasted red pepper and wrapped in slice of turkey bacon and swiss chard; creamed chard (5 oz chard, 1/4 cup non-fat yogurt, 1 tbsp onion soup mix), 8 oz green salad (lettuce, cucumber, radishes, bean sprouts, mushrooms) with low cal dressing. (44g protein)
Snack #3: pumpkin pudding (1 serving fat-free, sugar free instant pudding, 1/4 cup pumpkin puree, 5 tbsp non-fat milk, 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice) and 1/2 serving Trader Joe's Ginger Cats Cookies. (4g protein)

I always have 2-4 oz of lean meat with lunch, and 4-6 oz of lean meat with dinner. I also try to make sure one of my snacks includes protein. My second snack of the day usually involves one or more of the following: eggs, kippered herring, oatmeal (the lowest of all my choices in terms of protein), turkey bacon, yogurt salad with chickpeas, low calorie whole wheat wrap, or low calorie wafer crackers.

But I would be pretty hard pressed to add more protein to my diet without adding more calories. And all this protein doesn't seem to be doing much for my abs because I definitely still have the muffin top. Sigh.

I did find her comments about not doing exercises that target the obliques interesting. I have been thinking about adding more of those exercises to my ab routine, but now I am rethinking that. I probably should be focusing more on my lower abs.

Fabulous article!

I loved the C's!
and this little ditty ... A 30-minute session of moderate cardio and a 10-set weight training workout consisting of squats, bench presses, and rows will both burn the same amount of calories during exercise — about 300 to 350 calories. However, by doing the intense weight training, your metabolism will stay elevated for an entire day afterwards, burning an additional 700 or so calories.

700 calories? I dunno but the thought of using more calories later, after I've worked out ... has always motivated me to lift weights.

Would I like to look like those gals? Heck yes! However ... these are exemplary examples. Most of us are unwilling or unable to do what these gals have done to achieve that look. And I think most authors are aware of this. But what if we do more like they do? Can't we all be more like that than ... well ... what we are now?
Even if we don't want to be cut/defined ... a little bit of what we read there sure would help with a slimmer waist, flatter stomach and that all important core strength.

With the exception of many of the models' fake boobs, I do!

And, I'd like to think I do, at least a leetle.

Update: I had a pic up here for about 10 minutes, but took it down. I didn't realize when I first posted that this was a sticky thread! I'll post it somewhere else.

Yeah I agree, other than the fake boobs, they have awesome bodies.

Great article.

However, I DO agree just a LITTLE bit with Shy Moment:
I do NOT want to look like these women.

PSST: I'm about to mention several times that I have a huge rack. I probably won't mention it so many times in one post ever again.

I want nice abs, yes, but some of them have rock solid 8 pack WHOA... err... yeeeeah.

I enjoy my feminine body with its natural curves; I just want to make sure they stay in the right places (I have a huge rack, seriously, and a round, sculpted bottom). A lot of these bodybuilder women have fake boobs because they have reduced their bodyfat percentage so, so low that they don't even have enough fat for big breasts

What I'm trying to say is... while yes, these ladies DO have great bodies from a fitness standpoint, along with a REALLY low percent body fat, I don't think that I personally want to be THAT lean. I feel like a part of my beloved, soft femininity would be gone if I gained that much muscle mass... am I making any sense here?

Yea, there was a good article by the plastic surgery folks recently debunking that breastfeeding causes sagging breasts. Now, if THOSE guys say it doesn't, I'll believe them, cause they have no particular motivation to support breastfeeding.