Has the season of over-indulgence taken its toll on your tummy?

假期的胡吃海塞是否已經讓你的腰圍付出代價了？

If so, you’re far from alone. But prominent tums actually come in different shapes and sizes - and appear for all sorts of reasons.

長出肚腩的不止你一個。不過，小肚腩形狀不同，大小各異。連導致小肚腩的原因也不盡相同。

Here’s how to work out your tummy type - and how to target it in 2023.

以下是各種小肚腩的類型和治理辦法，2023年讓我們甩掉小肚腩。

WINE TUMMY

啤酒肚

What does it look like?

外觀

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.

臀部與髖部并無太多脂肪堆積，僅腹部向前凸出。有啤酒肚的人，腹部看上去像綁了個大鍋。

What Causes It?

成因

Binge-drinking alcohol - as well as eating too many refined carbohydrates - will create this type of tummy.

飲酒過度，吃的又過于精細，自然變得大腹便便。

How To Target It

甩肚秘訣

Monitor the calories you drink as much as the ones you eat.

節制飲酒，適量進食。

BLOATED TUMMY

脹氣肚

What Does It Look Like?

外觀

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.

腹部明顯凸出，腰上的“游泳圈清晰可見。你常常會感到腹脹難忍，仿佛吞下了一只氣球。

What Causes It?

成因

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.

空腹時，你看不見小肚腩。但進食后，肚子越脹越大。不過，不管肚子脹得有多大，你的體重依然不變。

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.

造成這種肚腩的“幕后黑手就是胃腸氣。當食物經過腸道，體內的細菌便開始作用，分解殘渣，同時產生6至8升的氣體。

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.

然而，如果胃腸內細菌無法分解某些食物，就會開始發酵，還會產生更多的氣體。無怪乎肚子會越來越大了。

Obesity surgeon Professor Basil Ammori, of the Salford Royal Hospital, says constipation and eating too much in one go can also create this effect.

索爾福德皇家醫院的減肥醫生巴茲爾·安蒙里稱，便秘問題以及暴飲暴食都會導致腸胃脹氣。

How To Target It

甩肚秘訣

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.

規范膳食，以免造成胃脹氣。尤其要遠離難消化的“酵糖羥食物（發酵性寡糖、二糖酶、單糖，以及多羥基化合物），比如甜味劑、麥片、大蒜、洋蔥、櫻桃、洋李、洋薊、甜菜和蘑菇等。

STRESS TUMMY

壓力肚

What Does It Look Like?

外觀

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.

壓力過大而導致的小肚腩向前凸起，卻不如啤酒肚硬挺。這種小肚腩往往從胸部下方開始，像軟面包一樣掛在腰際。

What Causes It?

成因

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.

《肚腩解密》的作者瑪麗琳·格倫維爾博士稱：“人在高壓力環境下，會觸發‘戰或逃’反應，身體會釋放一種名為皮質醇的激素，幫助往血液中釋放糖分，讓身體有足夠的能量應對危機。

‘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.

“不過，除非你能按照身體的期望做一些體力活動，否則那些多余的能量是無處可去的。結果就只是轉化為脂肪囤積起來。

‘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.’

“如果你持續處于壓力狀態中，那脂肪便會堆積在離肝臟近的下腹。當你面對壓力時，它們能通過肝臟，迅速轉化為能量。

How To Target It

甩肚秘訣

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.

多放松，常減壓，不妨試試深呼吸或冥想。另外，好好睡上一覺也是舒緩身心的絕佳途徑。

Eating little and often helps to stop the roll-coaster fluctuations of hormones, including cortisol, says Dr Glenville.

格倫維爾博士補充道，減少進食也能夠穩定包括皮質醇在內的激素水平。

PEAR TUMMY

梨形肚

What Does It Look Like?

外觀

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.

如果你屬于梨形身材，腰部雖少有贅肉，但下腹卻帶著一圈厚厚的脂肪，臀部肥大下垂，遠看呈梨形。

What Causes It?

成因

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.

導致梨形身材的“元兇，無疑是過多的雌性激素。有些女性天生如此，有些則受疾病困擾，導致體內激素紊亂。

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.

常見病癥如子宮內膜異位，即子宮內組織異常肥大，甚至長至宮外，分泌大量雌性激素，誘發良性子宮肌瘤。

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.

十分之一的待產婦女深受子宮內膜異位之苦。而在30至50歲的婦女中，有四分之三有子宮肌瘤病史。

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.

另外，蓄養肉類、飲用水、塑料制品、避孕藥中均含大量合成激素，攝入過多也會導致體內雌性激素水平飆升。

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.

女性在青春期時，分泌大量雌性激素，身形因而變得婀娜多姿。而待產期間，雌性激素能夠促進脂肪合成，讓她們的臀部與大腿更為豐滿。

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.

激素水平持續走高，脂肪不斷堆積，體重便相應上升，梨形身材也由此形成了。

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.

只要不接受激素替代治療，那么女性在絕經后臀部和大腿的脂肪就會減少，變成蘋果形身材。

How To Target It

甩肚秘訣

Avoid foods high in saturated fats which have been linked to higher levels of oestrogen.

少吃富含飽和脂肪的食物，因為它們會提高雌性激素水平。

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.

多吃堅果等粗纖維食物。菠菜等綠葉蔬菜也是“脂肪殺手，能分解過多的雌性激素，通過腸道排出體外。

MUMMY TUMMY

孕后大肚

What Does It Look Like?

外觀

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.

生完孩子已三月有余，你的腹部卻依舊下垂，毫無彈性。

What Causes It?

成因

During pregnancy and birth, the abdominal muscles divide in order to allow your uterus and tummy to expand.

懷孕期間，子宮脹大，腹部肌肉自然分離，形成肚腩。

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.

產后，腹部肌肉通常會自然收緊。不過，那些腹部力道不足的新媽媽們，就只能頂著小肚腩了。因為你的腹壁無力托起你胃里的東西和內臟。

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 percent still have it after five to seven weeks, while others have it permanently unless they seek treatment.

倫敦巴恩斯懷特哈特診所的女性理療師克里斯蒂安·伯德表示，半數準媽媽在懷孕后都會形成妊娠線，多數會在產后自然消失，三成人在產后5至7周還能看到妊娠線，還有的人的妊娠線會伴隨終生，除非經過治療。

‘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.’

“懷孕后，連接兩側腹肌的腹白線會被拉開。產后若無法恢復，腹部自然會松垮下垂。

How To Target It

甩肚秘訣

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.

先試著做幾個仰臥起坐，測測自己胸腹間的距離。若之間有三指空隙，不妨請教理療師，讓他/她為你打造甩肚方案。

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.

另外，骨盆運動與平板支撐也頗為有效，助你自內而外消滅脂肪。做平板支撐時，面部朝下，以肘部與足部撐起全身，盡量保持一條直線。發力時，勻速呼吸，并堅持若干分鐘。

THYROID TUMMY

代謝型肚腩

What Does It Look Like?

外觀

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.

有代謝型肚腩的人，不但肚子肥大，而且全身浮腫，手腳壯碩。

What Causes It?

成因

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.

每個人的頸部都有一條蝶形腺體，叫做甲狀腺。其分泌的甲狀腺素是人體代謝的“控制器。

However about one in 13 women have a condition called hypothyroidism which means they make less of this hormone.

然而，十三分之一的女性患有甲狀腺機能減退癥，體內的甲狀腺素明顯不足。

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.

甲狀腺機能減退癥的成因尚不得而知，但人們普遍認為其與機體衰老有關，另外，人體自身的免疫系統也有可能攻擊甲狀腺。

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.’

倫敦圣巴塞羅繆醫院的內分泌學家阿什利·格羅斯曼說：“甲狀腺與人體新陳代謝息息相關。患有甲狀腺機能減退癥的病人無法完全分解攝入的熱量。過多的熱量便儲存起來，轉化為脂肪，分配到全身。

How To Target It

甩肚秘訣

For many women, the first step is proper diagnosis, because hypothyroidism is often confused with general mid-life weight gain.

由于人們常常混淆甲狀腺機能減退癥與一般性的中年發福，所以對多數婦女而言，第一步是認清病因。

Treatment may include drugs containing a synthetic version of the hormones to top up levels.

治療該病，一般會服用合成激素，以提升體內甲狀腺素水平。

Natural approaches include eating foods rich in iodine - which help support the thyroid - like shellfish, seafood and dark leafy green vegetables such as spinach.

另外，患者也可采用食療，多吃貝類、海鮮，或菠菜等綠葉蔬菜。這些食物富含碘元素，對甲狀腺有好處。

Vocabulary

cauldron: 大鍋

pot belly: 啤酒肚

cortisol: 皮質醇

oestrogen: 雌激素

endometriosis: 子宮內膜異位

uterus: 子宮

fibroid: 子宮肌瘤