Hmmm. I think maybe I understand what those who fess up to a constant, natural "muffin top" are talking about.

At my natural waist line, just above my navel, I've got a fold of flesh that remains there, like a kind of outcrop, even if I'm buck naked. It's the remnant of a roll. Much of it is probably excess skin, just because of the texture, the amount of wrinkling, and its tendency to float when I'm in the tub. There isn't a lot of it, and I've worked very, very hard to reduce it down to this fold, between my daily hour of cardio & my Pilates work, but it stubbornly persists.

I have to admit that, every now & then, when I'm in front of a mirror, I grab my flesh there & pull it up tight, just to see what it would look like if I sprang for plastic surgery. And my stomach instantly becomes much better-looking & more defined. (That's a very private behavior, which just occurs when I am alone with a mirror, and I wouldn't fess up to it anywhere but here.) For it to go away completely, I think that's what it would take: Surgery.

The alternative, which would be further reduction of my body fat, is a project that makes me weary to contemplate. Weary, and wary, also. I got down to a size 6 before, through cultivating an eating disorder. (In today's vanity sizing, that size 6 probably translates to a zero.) I remember how much that cost me, physically & mentally, and I am just not willing to pay that price again in my time & my energy. The expenditure is too high & the benefit does not scale up accordingly -- I was not that much happier with a perfectly flat stomach than I am now, with that slight remaining fold of flesh. As I recall, once my stomach was flat, I simply shifted my obsession to my butt, and felt deeply dissatisfied with that.

If my stomach is flatter than 85% of the women around my age whom I see on the commuter train, can't I settle for that? Notice that I said "my age." Because if I start comparing myself with younger women, I'm pretty much doomed to stewing in a constant state of dissatisfaction, sort of like the Wicked Queen envying Snow White.

The thing is, all those TV & advertising images of flat bellies -- and they are pervasive, because, after all, the stomach has been the dominant female erogenous zone for at least the past 15 years -- have done a mindf*&%^$ on me. If I start comparing myself with actresses & celebrities & fitness models, it's as self-defeating as measuring myself against teenagers.

So I have to accept the fold & the excess skin for now. The $$ for the surgery (which would create its own set of scars) seems better spent right now for paying down my mortgage & for travel & for a Roth IRA.

As long as I wear pants that fit I don't have a muffin top. I've had 3 c-sections and have a small pooch above my bikini area (c-section scar is right there too).

Start taking steps to embrace your body....it's the only one you have :)

Originally Posted by Petite Powerhouse:
I don't think anyone has a muffin top as the expression is generally used these days, provided they wear clothes that actually fit. I never have one, because if I put on a pair of jeans or pants in the store that gives me one, I take them off and try on a larger size or try on a completely different style. I wear clothes that flatter my body, and as is true of everyone, I think, not everything on the rack does. But I think some people put too much emphasis on the number, and thus will wear the smaller size even if it doesn't fit properly. That or they feel they look sexier when the clothes fit very tight. Or maybe getting the right size requires tailoring, and they'd rather not bother with that. Or they have gained a little weight and don't want to buy a larger size because they don't have the money or don't want to give themselves an excuse not to lose the weight.

Regardless of the reason, the muffin top is fabricated: it isn't real. It's just more and more common to see it these days because of the phenomenon of ill-fitting low-rise jeans. Nobody naked has a muffin top—including you. :)

I agree. If you wear bottoms that fit looser around the waist, you won't have one. my waist is 20 inches smaller than my hips and they don't really make jeans for my body type. The result is, it fits around the hips, a little loose around the belt = no muffin top.

I was looking up "muffin tops" and I noticed that alot of those women were wearing low rise. I firmly believe that if you're soft or fleshy around the hips, low rise is not your friend, even if you're skinny,