My tummy tuck led to an incredible 8 inches lost from my waist in only three months! But not everyone wants to have plastic surgery. And the good news is there is an excellent exercise for a smaller waist. It’s called isometric contraction and according to BodyBuilding.com it is one of the best exercises we can do.
Fat Loss with My Tummy Tuck
Thanks to the tightening of my loose fascia through plication, the tummy tuck whittled my middle. My sad core looked like a tree trunk with a canker growth following massive weight loss from my gastric bypass.
My tummy tuck tightened my upper abdomen, too, not just my hanging apron of belly fat (see pix). And this restriction prevented me from eating as much as I had been eating prior to the tummy tuck. It was as if my then 10-year-old gastric bypass pouch had been retightened.
The result? I lost 20 pounds! My plastic surgeon removed 6 pounds of redundant skin and fat. Then I lost an additional 14 pounds through increased metabolism with the Paleo Diet and easy sprinting intervals.
Read: My Beginner Sprinting Walking Intervals for Fast Fat Loss
Having this new voluptuous figure drove my desire to make my body even better. I desired a smaller waist, a classic hour-glass figure.
And to be honest, I asked my plastic surgeon to make my waist smaller during my next surgery: my body lift. But he told me that the rest of my abdominal fat would have to come off from exercise. So here is one of waist exercises that I used to whittle my middle. I also used an abdominal binder like these (explained below), the Paleo Diet, and sprinting as previously stated.
Exercise for a Smaller Waist
I will assume that you already are eating healthy and meeting your nutritional supplement and water intake requirements. If not, you’re not likely to see the result of exercise for a smaller waist that you desire. So then you need to dig into the Paleo Diet and sprinting intervals that I wrote about above. First things first!
Transverse Abdominal Muscles, the Corset
There are several layers of muscles in the abdomen. And to achieve the highly coveted tiny waist, we must train our transverse abdominal muscles. These are the deep layer of muscles that wrap our bodies like a corset. In fact, plastic surgeons use abdominal binders like this product on their patients to create a smaller waist.
So, we need an exercise routine that maximizes our internal corset. Try the following with the permission of your doctor:
Learn to Vacuum Your Stomach
BodyBuilding.com recommends using this method of isometric contraction to develop the abdominal muscles. This exercise works best on an empty stomach and for people who have a low to moderate body fat percentage.
- Lie on your back on a firm surface
- Reach your arms over your head and keep your legs flat and straight
- Begin by exhaling your air
- Lift your chest and arch your back
- Draw in your stomach for seconds at a time
- Continue to try and hold your stomach in for longer and longer periods of time with each repetition
A variation can be done standing. Now you have no excuse to avoid abdominal training virtually anywhere you stand.
- Stand upright and place your hands on your hips
- Exhale all the air from your lungs
- Expand your chest and bring your stomach in as much as possible
- Visualize touching your naval to your backbone; flex your groin muscles as if trying to stop the flow of urine
- One isometric contraction of “X” seconds is one repetition
Once mastered, the training can be done in a seated or kneeling position, as well as standing or lying down. Also, once mastered, you may do as many as you feel that you are able to do safely.
How I Got a Smaller Waist
I used the BodyBuilding.com training schedule in the beginning, once my plastic surgeon cleared me safe for this specific type of exercise:
Training days for the stomach vacuum are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Week 1 – do 3 sets of isometric contractions of 20 seconds each
Week 2 – do 3 sets of isometric contractions of 40 seconds each
Week 3 – do 3 sets of isometric contractions of 60 seconds each
As stated earlier, and it bears repeating, BodyBuilding.com says isometric contraction is among the best exercise for a smaller waist in a short amount of time — with results of 2-4 inches lost in as little as three weeks! And it’s a whole lot cheaper to exercise for a smaller waist than to get plastic surgery!
Living larger than ever,
My Bariatric Life
Photo: BodyBuilding.com
