Muffin Tops.
The good kind of muffin top:
The bad kind of muffin top:
Let’s go over this again.
Good vs. bad:
Good.
Bad.
(Imagine a slide show. That’s the way it’s playing in my mind! Kind of like on the movie “The Emperor’s New Groove.”)
Got it? Good.
Who would have thought that even though someone (meaning me) is at the lowest weight and the best shape they have ever been in their adult life, they would still be dealing with the dreaded muffin top?
Here’s proof:
I know it could be a lot worse, but it’s something that I’m still self conscious of.
There are two reasons why I’m still sporting my own little muffin top.
The first one is frankly, I haven’t been the greatest with my eating. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still eating freaky healthy, but a few snuck pieces of Halloween Candy here and there, several handfuls of Goldfish crackers, way more tortillas than someone should eat in a day. Those add up! It got to where I was cheating every single day. My weight has gone up about 6 pounds from the summer. I felt weighed down and bloated. The three things that contribute to bloating more than any other foods (besides sodium, that’s just a given) are:
- Refined Sugar
- Rice
- WHEAT
That’s right folks, wheat. We are intolerant of wheat because that’s the main grain we eat!
I have decided enough is enough of this muffin top and I’m doing something about it. I’m in the middle of 8 days of perfect eating leading up to Thanksgiving. That means eating absolutely no refined sugar and no wheat. I’ve never gone that long without wheat before. I’ll post a blog recounting every day with my successes, struggles, and findings.
The second reason why I have a muffin top is because I have what is called “Diastasis Recti“, making the mid section ‘hang over’ and appear bigger and wider. What the heck is Diastasis Recti? It is a separation between the left and right side of the rectus abdominis muscle, which covers the front surface of the belly area.
Anyone can have this condition; men, women, and children. The 3 main causes are:
- Improper abdominal exercises
- “Beer” belly, or excessive abdominal weight
- Pregnancy
I have it because of my pregnancies and then also I used to do a lot of Pilates, which only aggravated the condition. It causes a lot of back/hip pain because the abdominal muscles cannot support your core. Thanks to the research of a good friend, she helped discover a natural way to bring the rectus abdominals back together without surgery. It is THIS program called The Tuplar Technique. Last year I bought the splint and did 4 weeks of the 6 week program, bringing my separation down to half of where it was. From there, I became a slacker and only did the exercises and wore the splint every once in a while. The splint is ordered by size, so while I was losing weight, I would alter my split as it became too big, but after a while I couldn’t alter it anymore. It was just plain too big.
I decided enough was enough and decided to order a new splint and start the program over again. I have been doing it for 1 1/2 weeks now and have brought in my separation by another 1/2 finger width. It takes dedication though and living wearing this splint that is plain uncomfortable and painful at times. Here’s a picture of what it looks like after I take off the splint:
And that is why I have a muffin top and what I’m doing about it. What do you want to do about yours, haha!
