“So do you really wear your pants hiked up to your boobs?!” my friend Meghan greeted me when I walked in to TurboKick this morning. (Not to be confused with Gym Buddy Megan – our gym has a lot of Meg(h)ans..)
Momentarily taken aback, I said something super intelligent like… “Wha…?”
“Jeni told me you pull your pants all the way up to your sports bra to hold your tummy in!”
“Well I have had 5 kids so heck yes, I’ll take whatever extra support I can get down there!”
Meghan started pantomiming tucking her pants into her bra. Which shows you that she has not had children – in reality us mummies with non-elastic tummies tuck our skin into our pants, not pull our pants over the skin. It’s a small distinction but critical on the spillage scale. Tuck then pull, that’s my motto.
I’ve
talked about my “apron of skin” before – I’m not ashamed of it nor of any of my mommy scars – but it does not go away no matter how low my body fat gets or how many carbs I cut out. Personal trainers and other fitness professionals love to tell women that if they can just get rid of the extra subcutaneous fat then their abs will look as good as they did before pregnancy. And for some women that’s true (Nasca, I’m looking at you!) but for me it doesn’t work that way. Even when I got down to a body fat percentage that was so low I’d stopped menstruating, I was freezing all the time and my thyroid quit functioning, I still had my tummy. Hey I even put
pictures on my blog and in my book to help other moms not feel bad about their “twin skin” or stretch marks.
But as fun as it was re-enacting my tummy-capades, I had to slightly disillusion Meghan so I pulled up my shirt to show her the top of my pants, which just happened to be my
Champion bootcut pants from their new Shape line. The waistband sits about 1 inch below my belly button. So, not in the I-need-a-bikini-wax-to-wear-
these-shorts zone that you so often see on fitness models but still, not up to my boobs. Sorry to disappoint any onlookers this morning! (And yes, convos like this are quite common in my Turbo classes – we’re a touchy feely group, what can I say?)
These are the pants.
See, this here is the tummy shaping action happening! Also, note to self: this is a super flattering way to pose, do this in all future pictures. I mean it doesn’t look any more awkward than Paris Hilton’s do-adult-diapers-go-with-this-dress signature stance, right? I can just see myself explaining this picture to my grandkids someday, “And THESE are my BABY MAKERS! Say hello to the ovaries from whence you sprung!”
I was reading on another blog a while ago (I’m sorry, I can’t remember which one now or I’d link it! If it’s yours, shout it out in the comments.) about how some people consider athletic shape wear to be “cheating.” The thought is that you’re at the gym to build those great abs so faking them before you’ve earned them is kind of dishonest. I find this funny. Is mascara cheating? Push-up bras? High heels? We women wear a lot of things meant to enhance, cover up or reshape what our mamas gave us. No, cheating is when you arch your back and swing your hips so you can use more weight for your bicep curls. (Not that I’d know anything about that, no….)
The other school of thought is that comfort should be paramount when it comes to gym clothing and glorified corsets seem like they would restrict breathing rather than encourage oxygen to get to all those new muscle fibers. I can understand this issue. When Spanx first came out with their line of athletic shape wear my first thought was, “I can barely wear those under a dress, why on earth would I want to do the 20-minute wiggle routine just to get into my gym duds?” But having tried the Champion Shape line , I can tell you that they’re nothing like a corset. I’d call it more of a “light” control. They’re not aggressively tight but they provide a little more support than your typical yoga pant. They’re especially helpful for keeping the jiggle to a minimum. It’s like wearing compression tights except way cuter.
My only complaint about the Champion pants is that the control is limited to the tummy area. Frankly I’d prefer the compression for my thighs. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about my legs – I’m actually in a really happy place with my bod these days – I’m just saying that if I had to choose where I wanted extra support it would be the upper thigh area. In the end, I’m less worried about what my stomach looks like to other people or pretending that I’m more fit than I am and more interested in comfort. Jiggle is not comfortable. And neither is tucking my pants into my bra.
In other news, this morning the kids helped daddy pick the carrots out of our garden. Son #1 presented them to me like a bouquet of flowers, he was so proud.
While Son #2, pointed them at me like a weapon and yelled, “Don’t mess with my laser blasters!!” Son #3 is going through a serious “no” phase and refused to take any part in either carrot eating or picture taking. And that pretty much sums up my boys’ personalities in a nutshell.
I however was just so overjoyed that we actually got carrots out of the garden this year – what with the rabbits, small children, deer and my black thumb, it’s a Christmas Miracle in September – that carrots will be on the menu for every meal for the next month. Carrot muffins, carrot cake, carrot bisque, carrot salad in green Jell-O with raisins … (What? Never tried it?)
What’s your opinion on athletic shape wear? What’s the strangest Jell-O you’ve ever eaten?
Don’t forget to enter my Champion USA giveaway ! The winner gets to pick an entire outfit – bra, top, pants and jacket! Giveaway closes Tuesday, September 13th at midnight.
FTC disclosure: I got these pants for free and this post is sponsored by Champion. The opinions and tummy skin are all my own however!
“So do you really wear your pants hiked up to your boobs?!” my friend Meghan greeted me when I walked in to TurboKick this morning. (Not to be confused with Gym Buddy Megan – our gym has a lot of Meg(h)ans..)
These are the pants.
See, this here is the tummy shaping action happening! Also, note to self: this is a super flattering way to pose, do this in all future pictures. I mean it doesn’t look any more awkward than Paris Hilton’s do-adult-diapers-go-with-this-dress signature stance, right? I can just see myself explaining this picture to my grandkids someday, “And THESE are my BABY MAKERS! Say hello to the ovaries from whence you sprung!”
I was reading on another blog a while ago (I’m sorry, I can’t remember which one now or I’d link it! If it’s yours, shout it out in the comments.) about how some people consider athletic shape wear to be “cheating.” The thought is that you’re at the gym to build those great abs so faking them before you’ve earned them is kind of dishonest. I find this funny. Is mascara cheating? Push-up bras? High heels? We women wear a lot of things meant to enhance, cover up or reshape what our mamas gave us. No, cheating is when you arch your back and swing your hips so you can use more weight for your bicep curls. (Not that I’d know anything about that, no….)
The other school of thought is that comfort should be paramount when it comes to gym clothing and glorified corsets seem like they would restrict breathing rather than encourage oxygen to get to all those new muscle fibers. I can understand this issue. When Spanx first came out with their line of athletic shape wear my first thought was, “I can barely wear those under a dress, why on earth would I want to do the 20-minute wiggle routine just to get into my gym duds?” But having tried the Champion Shape line , I can tell you that they’re nothing like a corset. I’d call it more of a “light” control. They’re not aggressively tight but they provide a little more support than your typical yoga pant. They’re especially helpful for keeping the jiggle to a minimum. It’s like wearing compression tights except way cuter.
My only complaint about the Champion pants is that the control is limited to the tummy area. Frankly I’d prefer the compression for my thighs. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about my legs – I’m actually in a really happy place with my bod these days – I’m just saying that if I had to choose where I wanted extra support it would be the upper thigh area. In the end, I’m less worried about what my stomach looks like to other people or pretending that I’m more fit than I am and more interested in comfort. Jiggle is not comfortable. And neither is tucking my pants into my bra.
In other news, this morning the kids helped daddy pick the carrots out of our garden. Son #1 presented them to me like a bouquet of flowers, he was so proud.
I however was just so overjoyed that we actually got carrots out of the garden this year – what with the rabbits, small children, deer and my black thumb, it’s a Christmas Miracle in September – that carrots will be on the menu for every meal for the next month. Carrot muffins, carrot cake, carrot bisque, carrot salad in green Jell-O with raisins … (What? Never tried it?)
What’s your opinion on athletic shape wear? What’s the strangest Jell-O you’ve ever eaten?
Don’t forget to enter my Champion USA giveaway ! The winner gets to pick an entire outfit – bra, top, pants and jacket! Giveaway closes Tuesday, September 13th at midnight.
FTC disclosure: I got these pants for free and this post is sponsored by Champion. The opinions and tummy skin are all my own however!