[Sherice]

Hello! I am not sure where to post this. I have recently started lifting weights everyday. I have noticed a nice change in my figure. But I have also noticed that right below my breast in the middle of my rib cage the muscles there seem kinda bloated. Especially after I eat to much thats where it bloats and pokes out. Not my lower stomach. I would like to tone that area up a little better...any recs? Or maybe I am doing to much there? It just seems large. Please help.

[shananigans]

Well, any abdominal exercises will help tone up the belly. I’m not sure what you mean about bloated muscles though? Like muscle soreness from working the muscle? You say you’ve been lifting ever day, but have you been working the same muscles every day? If you work any muscle every day, including the rectus abdominis, you are overdoing it and may be prone to injuring the muscle. It is very important to allow a muscle at least 48 hours of rest time before working it again. So you can lift every day if you want to, just make sure you alternate the muscle groups you’re using.

Anyway, if you’re really feeling a food bloat I would say it is probably unrelated to your strength training and has more to do with your diet. Forgive me if this is unwanted advice since you didn’t specifically ask for a critique of your diet, but I looked at your fitday and where are your vegetables!?! For each day you have posted I can find no more than one vegetable serving per day for any of them, and a couple with no vegetables or only starchy vegetables like corn or potatoes. It also looks like you’re eating too much processed food. You could probably find a better cereal choice than Honey Bunches of Oats, something with more fiber and less sugar. I would try cleaning up your food a little bit and see if that doesn’t help? Focus on getting more whole grains instead of processed “white” carbs and eating lots more fruits and veggie. The added fiber will likely help keep your apatite down as well, you should aim to get 25 to 35 grams of fiber from your diet every day. Again, sorry if you weren’t interested in advice about food, but that’s just my $.02 after checking out your fitday journal.

[Get n healthy]

Have you ever been checked for a hernia or muscle diastasis (separation of the abdominal muscles in the middle)? It is very common in women, especially women that have had children or been heavy. If it continues i would have a dr look it over. There is a simple test. Your doc will just have you lay on exam table and have you do a half sit up and she can feel your stomach while you do it and see if the muscles are separated there.

[Sherice]

Thank you for the input! Yes I must admit my eating isn't great. It's just that area of my stomach seems to poke out more.....

[nelie]

I would check with your doctor. It does sound like it could possibly be a hernia. It is better to be safe than sorry.

[buffedstuff]

if you want great abs you have to eat clean. This is the one place that trans fats love to cling. too much sodium, sugar, or transfat will keep you from achieveing the look that you want. Well at least in my case that is true. I wish you well.

[Hale_Mary]

My stomach becomes bloated whenever I eat anything. Some foods make this worse than others, but it seems to be unavoidable for me. By the end of the night I tend to have a little pot belly.

Eating clean is especially important when you're trying to "tone" up your stomach area.

[rebeleagle1965]

Sherice-
have you had a baby? 2 out of 3 pregnant women experience diastasis-I have it, and I have the same kind of bulge you are talking about. I didn't have the bulge (or didn't notice it because I was fatter) before I started lifting/doing abdominal exercise, although I've known about the diastasis since before I had my son about a year ago. I know that infants can be born with it, and that it is common during and after pregnancy, but I'm not sure if it's possible to have it otherwise.
There is a simple self test, and a little more info about it here....
http://www.bacinfo.com/popup/tips/diastasis.htm
If you think you may have it, it's important to see your doctor about it to examine you as a precaution, because there is a higher risk of hernia associated with it. Other than that, it's nothing major and most of the time corrects itself on it's own, and can be helped by a simple exercise. Mine is nearly gone now. I have the okay to go ahead and do normal abdominal exercise, but depending on how far apart the separation is, situps or abdominal machines are not recommended until the condition improves.
Processed foods can definitely cause bloat, but that kind of bloat is usually lower than where you described, at least for me. That may very well be the case for you, but I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here because diastasis is actually a common problem.