The Truth About A Flat Tummy

As long as I can remember, I have always wanted to have a flat tummy. I will admit, this is something that I started to take keen interest in my early twenties. Okay, I was a chubby girl in my childhood and teenage years, but that did not bother me much as acne was the only battle I chose to fight in those years. Having a rough skin in high school was worse than being a bit overweight.

When my acne finally cleared, and I had escaped the dread of thinking about my face every single day. My focus shifted to my body, in particular my stomach. I don't recall when I started obsessing over it. I guess it was the small sizes of clothing that I had to fit into or the realization that if I wore certain dresses they made me look pregnant. This is when I vowed to get rid of the pot-belly that would not just budge.

I naturally went online and researched what I needed to do. The first thing that came up was doing sit-ups. Of course, I was doing that already. At the time, I was doing about thirty a day, and it just didn't seem to help. Now I had to stop eating some food. This was the hard part.

I knew that in order to lose weight, junk food was supposed to exit the group. I love fries, donuts, cakes and sausages. Likewise, I committed an entire month from not eating anything that would make me gain weight. All the sugary and fried foods were out. After a torturous 31 days, I still could not see any difference with my stomach. It was very frustrating, and I had to do extensive research online. Until I came across an article that changed the way I saw things.

I was clearly on the right path, but the belly fat was more complicated than I thought. I had been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) as early as 21 years old because I used to have my period once a while. It is a condition that according to Mayoclinic is a hormonal disorder that affects mainly women who are of reproductive age. The condition is complicated as it produces excess androgen levels, which is a male hormone. This makes the women affected by it have irregular periods and overweight. The cause is unknown.

I scrolled through the article, and it did mention that women who have this condition are likely to have belly fat, and could find it hard to shift the weight. There was my problem. I was clearly being stressed out by things out of my control. I quickly started searching for the right answers.

Furthermore, I came across tonnes of information about how women like me had to lose that bulging tummy. It dawned on me that it was no easy task, as so much is happening in our bodies that make it difficult to shift the weight. The majority of women with PCOS have insulin resistance, which can cause one to gain weight as the liver can't use the glucose from your blood to make energy. This makes it hard for your body not to store excessive fat.

If there is one thing that I have learned from all this experience is that not all bodies are the same. Two people can embark on the same dieting and exercise journey, but still have completely two different outcomes. One must clearly know their body and what causes it to be the way it is. We are all very different. Years later, I am still on my journey of getting a flat tummy.