What's your tummy type? Haven’t seen your waist since Christmas? Use our unique guide to work out why - and how to get trim
- Think all sagging stomachs are the same? Think again
- Your specific tummy type might be caused by alcohol or stress
Has the season of over-indulgence taken its toll on your tummy?
If so, you’re far from alone. But prominent tums actually come in different shapes and sizes - and appear for all sorts of reasons.
Here’s how to work out your tummy type - and how to target it in 2016.
Think all sagging stomachs are the same? Think again. Your specific tummy type might be caused by alcohol or stress. A tummy caused by wine sticks out mainly at the front while a bloated stomach feels hard to touch
WINE TUMMY
What does it look like?
A pot belly sticks out mainly at the front, while there is less weight gain on your bottom and hips. If you look like you’ve got a cauldron strapped to your front, then you have a pot belly.
What Causes It?
Binge-drinking alcohol - as well as eating too many refined carbohydrates - will create this type of tummy.
According to one recent study, women who drink more than 12 units in a single sitting at least once a month gain an extra 4in around their waists on average compared to those who don’t.
A further analysis of 57,000 people by the Centre for Alcohol Research in Denmark found that heavier drinkers are more likely than those who drink in moderation to develop a rounded, apple-shaped tummy.
The reason this belly develops is down to the way alcohol is processed by the body.
Fat can build up in two forms: it can either add to the subcutaneous fat layer found just under the skin, or it can add to your omentum - a deeper layer of fatty tissue behind the muscular abdominal wall.
Analysis of 57,000 people by the Centre for Alcohol Research in Denmark found drinkers more likely to develop a rounded, apple-shaped tummy, left. A weakened abdominal wall will cause saggy tummies for mothers, middle, and large tummies and ballooning limbs might indicate thyroid problems, right
This apron of fat stretches from your stomach to your pelvis and can also seep between the vital organs in this area, such as the intestines, bowel and liver. This visceral fat is a major cause of a pot belly because it pushes out your abdominal wall.
The reason the fat gathers here is because fat cells in this area are very sensitive to the effects of insulin - the hormone which governs how much fat is stored by the body.
When the sugars which are rapidly released from booze hit the body, a hormone is released that tells the body to store it as fat in this deeper layer, especially if the subcutaneous upper layer is already ‘full up’.
Alcohol also delays fat-burning in the body because the organ governing this process - the liver – needs to rapidly switch from that job to breaking down the toxins in booze.
Bloated stomachs are prominent and sticks out, bulging like a spare tyre or muffin top, and often feels hard
Hormone expert Dr Sara Gottfried, author of The Hormone Reset Diet, says: ‘Alcohol slows down metabolism by up to 70 per cent. The decrease is temporary, but if it’s a habit, it can pack on the pounds, especially at the waist.’
How To Target It
Monitor the calories you drink as much as the ones you eat. It may help you resist that third or fourth tipple if you remember that a large 250ml glass of wine is equivalent to a 228 calorie ice-cream.
Anne Dancey, a consultant plastic surgeon at the Spire Little Aston Hospital, Sutton Coldfield, says: ‘If you have a few drinks that’s the equivalent of three or four Mars Bars, but it may not feel like you’ve been eating, so you’re still hungry.’
‘Alcohol also stimulates appetite so you eat more and that weight gain will be stored deep inside the body.’
BLOATED TUMMY
What Does It Look Like?
Your tummy is prominent and sticks out, bulging like a spare tyre or muffin top. Your skin often feels hard to touch, as if there’s an inflated balloon deep inside.
What Causes It?
This tummy starts out flat at the start of the day and usually expands as time goes on - particularly after meals. No matter how big it gets, you won’t see any change on the scales.
One of the main causes is a build-up of wind. As food gets broken down while it travels through the intestines, the bacteria that feed on it create up to six to eight litres of gas as a by-product.
However, if the bugs in your gut have difficulty breaking down certain foods, it will also start to ferment, creating more wind, which starts to push the abdominal wall outwards.
Slim waists with stubborn rolls of fat around your bikini line and a bigger bottom tend to be caused by hormonal imbalances, left. A stress tummy, middle, sticks out at the front but it is softer and more saggy than a pot belly. Bloated stomachs start out flat at the start of the day and expand - particularly after meals
Obesity surgeon Professor Basil Ammori, of the Salford Royal Hospital, says constipation and eating too much in one go can also create this effect.
He says: ‘Gas and constipation distend the colon (the lower part of the intestines) in particular and this pushes out the muscles of the abdominal wall.
‘Too much food in the stomach can give the feeling of bloating and later the excessive gas leads to even more bloating and distension. Swallowing too much air, such as while chewing gum or drinking through a straw, can also cause bloating.
‘The colon travels across the abdomen and so when it becomes distended it often stretches across the whole area.’
How To Target It
Try sticking to a diet that excludes foods that trigger bloating because they can be harder for the body to digest. For many people, this means avoiding foods that belong to the so-called FODMAP group (it stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides And Polyols) which includes artificial sweeteners, wheat, garlic and onions, as well as some fruit, such as cherries and plums, and some vegetables, including artichokes, beetroot and mushrooms.
Professor Basil Ammori says: ‘Some foods are “gassy” and a low FODMAP diet reduces bloating, especially for sufferers with irritable bowel syndrome.
‘A lactose-free diet can also be helpful to reduce a bloated stomach for people who can’t digest milk and dairy products well.’
In stressful situations, the fight-or-flight hormone cortisol helps release sugar into the bloodstream
STRESS TUMMY
What Does It Look Like?
This tummy sticks out at the front but it is softer and more saggy than a pot belly. It often starts under your bust and forms a soft roll - or a muffin top - which hangs over your waistband.
What Causes It?
Dr Marilyn Glenville, author of Fat Around the Middle says: ‘In stressful situations, the fight-or-flight hormone cortisol helps release sugar into the bloodstream so your body has the energy to escape or defend itself.
‘But unless you do something physical, as your body is expecting you to, all that extra energy has nowhere to go. So it is simply re-deposited as fat.
‘If we are continually stressed,’ Dr Glenville adds, ‘the fat reserves go to the lower abdomen so they can be close to the liver and be quickly converted back into energy in another emergency.’
How To Target It
Reduce your stress levels with relaxation techniques such as deep-breathing and meditation and get more sleep so that your body no longer feels it has to prepare for attack.
Eating little and often helps to stop the roll-coaster fluctuations of hormones, including cortisol, says Dr Glenville.
‘Eat more slow-release carbohydrates like oats and pulses and stop eating in a hurry, as that sends a message to your
body that you are in danger,’ she says.
PEAR TUMMY
What Does It Look Like?
Even if you have a slim waist, you have a stubborn roll of fat around your bikini line along with a bigger bottom and saddle-bags on your hips, creating a pear-shaped look.
What Causes It?
The reason for this weight gain is that some women suffer oestrogen dominance which can be genetic but may also be triggered by a range of complaints which unbalance the female sex hormones.
Oestrogen is responsible for creating curves when women goes through puberty. If the fat cells in these areas continue to be over-stimulated, the weight will continue to pile on, giving a woman a pear-shape
Conditions include endometriosis, in which tissue that normally grows inside the uterus grows outside it and pumps out more oestrogen, and fibroids which are benign tumours of muscular tissue which grow inside the womb.
Endometriosis affects up to one in ten women of childbearing age while three out of four women age 30 to 50 will develop fibroids at some stage.
Women may also be exposed to too much oestrogen because they ingest high levels of the synthetic versions of the hormone in some farmed meats, water or residues from chemicals in plastics and water or from taking the contraceptive pill.
Oestrogen is responsible for laying down the feminine curves of a woman when she goes through puberty and creating more rounded buttocks and thighs and other fat stores ready for when she has a baby.
If the fat cells in these areas, which are very sensitive to female sex hormones, continue to be over-stimulated, the weight will continue to pile on, giving a woman a pear-shape.
After menopause, unless a woman is on hormone replacement therapy, she will tend to lose this fat on her hips and thighs leaving her looking more apple, than pear shaped.
How To Target It
Avoid foods high in saturated fats which have been linked to higher levels of oestrogen.
Eating lots of tough-to-digest fibre, like seeds, and green leafy vegetables like spinach, can also help as it binds itself to extra oestrogen in your digestive tract and helps to remove it from the body.
After birth, the two sides of your six-pack muscles should naturally knit back together. If this does not happen, however, you are left with an unsightly bulge
MUMMY TUMMY
What Does It Look Like?
Three months or more after you’ve given birth, your tummy still looks as if you’ve just had your baby and the area lacks tone, creating a saggy look.
What Causes It?
During pregnancy and birth, the abdominal muscles divide in order to allow your uterus and tummy to expand.
After birth, the two sides of your six-pack muscles should naturally knit back together. If this does not happen, however, you are left with an unsightly bulge. This is caused by the fact your abdominal wall is so weak it can no longer hold the contents of your stomach and intestines in as well.
Christien Bird, a women’s health physiotherapist at the White Hart Clinic, in Barnes, South West London, says half of mothers have this condition, known as Diastasis Recti, straight after birth and while it mostly corrects itself around 30 per cent still have it after five to seven weeks, while others have it permanently unless they seek treatment.
‘The main separation is in the linea alba – the connective tissue – that lies down the middle of your body, between your six-pack muscles. If it does not go back the whole abdominal wall can look saggy.’
How To Target It
If you can feel a gap below your breastplate, into which you can fit the width of three fingers, when you perform a sit-up, see a physiotherapist who can teach you exercises to help knit the muscles back in place.
Pelvic floor exercises to strengthen the muscles from within may also help as well as yoga poses such as ‘the plank’. This involves lying face down, raising your body on your elbows and toes and holding your body in a straight line from your head to your feet for a few minutes at a time and breathing steadily before releasing.
THYROID TUMMY
What Does It Look Like?
It’s not just your tummy that’s fat, although that will be the biggest part of you. Your whole body is big, including your arms and legs, giving you a puffy, marshmallowy look.
What Causes It?
The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the neck which makes a hormone called thyroxine, which controls how fast you process the calories in food.
To target a pear-shaped stomach avoid foods high in saturated fats which have been linked to higher levels of oestrogen. Eating lots of tough-to-digest fibre like green leafy vegetables like spinach, can also help
However about one in 13 women have a condition called hypothyroidism which means they make less of this hormone.
Although the causes are not completely understood, it may be caused by the ageing process or because the gland is attacked by the body’s own immune system.
Endocrinologist Professor Ashley Grossman, of London’s St Bartholomew’s Hospital says: ‘The thyroid is responsible for your overall metabolism. If you have hypothyroidism, you’re not burning up all the calories consumed, so the extra is stored and gets deposited all over the body as fat.’
How To Target It
For many women, the first step is proper diagnosis, because hypothyroidism is often confused with general mid-life weight gain.
Some estimate almost a quarter of women over 60 have inadequate levels of thyroxine - which also causes tiredness, constipation and cold feet - as their metabolism slows down. Yet as many as 60 per cent of people with this condition don’t realise anything is wrong because they haven’t been tested and assume weight gain is a natural part of getting older.
Treatment may include drugs containing a synthetic version of the hormones to top up levels.
Natural approaches include eating foods rich in iodine - which help support the thyroid - like shellfish, seafood and dark leafy green vegetables such as spinach.
