Thanks Angie. The things that work best for me are layering and ruching. Banded tops don’t work as well because somehow I tend to get “lost” in them. Also, my muffin top gets larger as the day wears on. So especially if I have a day long event that runs into the evening, particularly post dinner, I have to be really careful. In those cases, I always have layers on. I also find that longer tops help with this more.

Sihaya, isn’t that weird? My muffin grows as the day progresses, too. Thanks for this post, Angie, as the muffin is my number one stumbling block when it comes to finding clothes that fit in an attractive way. And yes, for sure, the higher rise pants, jeans and skirts are better. Low rise anything only illuminates the muffin like a beacon in the night.

Muffin top (also called love handles is a post-baby addition to my life. I’m learning to dress around it. All your suggestions are great, Angie. Thank you!

A different solution I come up with is to add a belt right around it on some knitwear. You’ve seen some examples of this in my forum outfit posts.

Comprehensive list! The only thing I might add is:

Choose pants with a wider waistband that hits you at your widest part. This “locks and loads” you in. Depending on where your trouble zone is, this may mean you can get away with a mid-rise instead of a high-rise. Basically you want your waistband right AT your widest part, or above it. Never below it, because then it’ll pop out and become muffin top.

A wide belt placed just in the right place can sometimes work miracles.

Cardigans: only button one or two buttons at the waist – not at the belly. Also a shorter cardigan tends to work better – try one that ends right at or slightly above the trouble zone. Sounds counter-intuitive but somehow this works, particularly if you have a top and a cami layered and peeking out a few inches. I think the layering creates some sort of optical illusion?

Sparkly jewelry or a scarf or shorter haircut – anything that draws the eye up towards your face and away from you mid-section- is also useful.

Angie- great great list!!! I am all about layering. I wear a tank or cami every single day under everything- it does help!

Excellent post! I hate the muffin top that has become a part of my life since my last child! I find that I am wearing tops that flow away from my body more often and if I wear anything fitted, I wear a tank. I’ve tried the “slimming” body shaping tanks but find that they creep up so I stick with a cami with a cotton/lycra blend.

I also notice that my belt makes a difference as well. If using a belt to hold up my pants (and keep the back gap closed), then it adds more bulk to the area. I am going to invest in one of those invisi-belts that are meant for function, not style.

Angie, you are so right. Also good suggestions from the group. You will probably say its a given, but I think it should be said that wearing the right size pant helps too. I see so many women with pants too tight at the waist that pushed up the muffin.

Interesting comment about the muffins grows through out the day. I wonder why? I would think as pants stretch it would do the opposite. I wonder if it is because you are your lightest in the morning when you get dressed?

Angie’s list and shiny’s suggestions pretty much covers all the strategies I can think of (unless you count giving up muffins, which has done wonders for shrinking my muffin top although it’s still there). One strategy I would add (which works well for an apple shaped person like me) is wearing a dark colored unobtrusive top and a bottom that is patterned or in a brighter color. This calls attention to your legs and away from your waist. Wearing a simple outfit with unusual or brightly colored shoes works too. Basically it’s the flip side of shiny’s tip about accessories/hairstyle that attract the eye to your face.

Great tips! The camisole has been a revelation to me this past year and has really worked wonders to keep jiggle to a minimum. I like one that has a bit of lycra for better hold. I also have found Shiny’s tips to be very useful – especially with the x-buttoned cardigans and having the rise hit you at the right spot. Too low and you get muffin top but too high is bad too and you end up with a huge pregnant belly bulge.

These are great suggestions, thanks. I am a big fan of cardigans over a top.

Eva: you stole my suggestion — wear pants/skirts/bottoms that are the right size. Most of the muffin-top felonies I see are because people wear their clothes too small. The small percentage of lycra/spandex in many fabrics nowadays is pretty forgiving and will stretch to button — but create the muffin top. Non-stretch fabrics yielded unyielding pants — if you couldn’t button/zip them, then you didn’t wear them.

I think this is also a body type phenomenon. Even though I am larger and overweight, I don’t really have the muffin top because a lot of my weight is in my thighs. I have a relatively svelte torso.

Another thing that works for muffin tops — lots of Pilates, cardio and calorie cutting.

My favorite solution for jeans is having my tailor add a couple inches to my waistband. It has worked wonders on my attitude. No longer am I flogging myself for those couple pounds that go up and down.

Great suggestions! The cami with stretch works well because, besides muffin tops, it also smooths over fleshy rolls that form on the back because of bra straps…something that often shows with knits and even cardigans.
I have the double problem of no hips and a muffin top. The pants that don’t bag are usually low rise and the muffin appears. Shiny is right about a wide waistband being helpful if it is high enough. They don’t seem very plentiful right now.

All the suggestions are great as temporary solutions. I agree with Kim from Nebraska, exercise is the only permanent solution. It is not just about the esthetics, it is also about health. Having extra weight around our mid-sections makes us more prone to heart disease.

Thanks for the suggestions! The options I tend to use more often are: higher rise pants, camisoles (they work wonders!), and layering. These have been my saving grace in camouflaging the “bulge”

Danja, I had muffin top when I was 13 years old and didn’t have a single ounce of fat to speak of. I have had muffin top when I was in my mid-20s before kids, ran daily and lifted heavy weights 5x’s a week and was at the peak of fitness with nothing jiggly on me at all. And since having kids (who are in their teens now) the muffin top is only worse, due to loose skin from pregnancy – and all the exercise in the world won’t eliminate it. Only a scalpel will, and I am not going under the knife.

The reality is that mass-manufactured clothing is designed to fit the “average” person and that means it fits very few of us perfectly. Most pants are designed to fit about a 0.75 hip/waist ratio. If you have 0.8 or greater hip/waist ratio, you will deal with muffin top! And if you have 0.7 or less hip/waist ratio, you will not have muffin top but you will probably have issues with gaping at the waistline and possibly the dreaded crack-a-toa.

My ratio is 0.8 and it stays at that ratio no matter how fit I am or how low my weight gets. There’s no budging it, and my doctor says I’m healthy as can be with ideal BMI. Ratio is important, but when you are talking 0.8-0.85 range, what counts more is the actual size of your waist itself and not the ratio.

Kim has an interesting idea about stretch fabrics, yet in my experience I find a little bit of stretch hitting in just the right place can help control muffin top instead of making it worse. Personally I think the biggest issue is more about the trend towards lower rise jeans – and yes – pants that are a size too small! But I do understand why someone would go for the smaller size. Altering down jeans that are too large everywhere but the waist is cost prohibitive.

Love this post, it’s so right on! I use all of these strategies effectively, with one exception: the items that float away from the waistline don’t usually work for me. I have a couple sleeveless summer tops that are cut that way and that work alright, but most of the time such tops don’t work – I think once they have sleeves the proportions are off and I feel thick in the middle again.

A great round up of muffin top-camouflaging tips! I’m a big fan of blazers and jackets as a way to downplay this problem.

Great post, Angie! What practical suggestions. I want to echo the ladies suggested wearing belts. The wider belts that are out there now are fantastic. Either you can put a nice wide belt around your waist, therefore cinching in any potential muffin top, or you can buy those low-slung belts that go around your hips, and wear a blousy top, which completely hides the midsection.

Shiny, you made me laugh with “the dreaded crack-a-toa” phrase and Antje, I think you should try a low-slung belt with those floaty tops – maybe it would make you feel the proportions worked better.

I wear a beautiful pair of earrings and a smile. Who can look at my gut after glancing at a wonderful? I suck in too… LOL

wonderful smile, I meant. Sorry…

Shiny and Danja–

I used to think this was a health issue as well, but now I’m starting to realize that even if it is a health problem, there is not a whole lot I can do about it. Imogen wrote a real eye-opening post that made me rethink everything I thought I knew about this issue. We are “fattest” where we are shortest. The only time in my life when I didn’t have muffin top was when I was under 100 pounds. Is that really the healthiest ideal for me? Even so, my waist was not as defined as I think you might expect a 95 pound woman to have.

Ever since I made it over the 100 pound mark, I have had muffin top. I am pretty short all over my torso, so that is where I will gain weight. I wish it was true that it was just a matter of exercise and diet because that means I could get rid of it, but I’m starting to realize that no amount of diet and exercise is going to work. My rib cage sits almost directly on top of my hips. There is just no room for a waist. Still, my BMI is at the lower end of “normal,” my waist itself is not big (27″), and my WH ratio is around .73, so I’m hardly in the danger zone. It’s my lower waist–the part right above the hips–that is my problem area.

As for advice, I can’t say this will work for everyone but it will work for me and anyone else who is otherwise pretty small everywhere else: I just bypass the waist entirely and focus on other parts of me that ARE slimmer than usual. Any time I try to create the illusion of a small waist, I end up feeling even thicker, so I have just given up on it. Instead I try to keep the focus up by my neck, arms, and shoulders, and also around my calves, which all reveal how small boned I really am.

Totally agreed with Eva about buying the right size pants. My “trick” is to usually buy whatever size fits my hips and then have the waist taken in to ensure a proper fit.

I am actually a rectangle/small busted hourglass with no tummy flab or muffin top, and i prefer banded tops and billowy, flowing tops and dresses as it creates an interesting sillouette with skinny jeans and tights. Otherwise, it’s too severe (tight on top, tight on bottom) and perhaps too showy. Some get away with it (students?) but i think I am getting too old.

I have muffin top too, and it isn’t because I am overweight – my waist is 28 inches (under the Australian govs recommended 80cm), my BMI is normal and hip/waist ratio .76. But since jeans moved to low rise, it has been a problem (3 pregnancies haven’t helped either)
The reason mine gets worse during the day is 1) My stomach expands with good in it 2) the waistband starts to expand and slips a little and then the MT hangs over the top.

I like the suggestions Angie!

In hot weather, I pop a cute lightweight shirt over a Tshirt or cami – same slimming effect as a jacket but helps me deal with the summer heat. I’m usually in air conditioned rooms anyway.

Great post as muffin-top, love handles is my problem-area…as if you can just have one. I went to Gap Outlet this weekend and found the perfect tank to solve the issue. It’s sort of flowy like the green one you picture and was only $7.99. I have it on today as we had our first over 80 degree day. I wore it with a pencil denim skirt (and comfy shoes, of course). I was able to chase after my kids and not have to worry about my shirt clinging to all the wrong places

I find, for me, that it starts best when I buy the right bottom piece. I’m quite long waisted so I look best in high waisted skirts and pants. I hated the low rise jean era, and never got a pair. I would look all torso!

The best way to conceal muffin top: buy clothing that fits. Fit above all else will indicate a much more stylish image than faux pregnancy wear. Not every woman has the hips/butt to support low cut jeans. Some women put weight on around the gut. Some women need to get in touch with that and buy clothing that fits appropriately.

Preggo wear isn’t a solution and I am a bit surprised to see it suggested as such.

[...] the ruched integrity of their silhouette folds over curves instead of clinging to them (ideal for camouflaging muffin top). If you can find a pattern that you like, the tops are well worth a try because they’re [...]

ughh.. i really HATE my muffin top !! i wish i could just chop it off !! or get lipo but its way too expensive so thats out of the question! oh how i envy women with no hips ! my problem areas: hips and thighs. my measurements are 34 31 36 (yeah…big hips lol) ughh..they make everything i wear look like sh*t! im not really fat either, just about average for my age (im 20) and weigh around 137 (although i havent weighed myself in awhile…i think i’ve gained :/ but im short too only 5’4 so yeah..it makes the muffin top look BIGGER! lol. i tried layering but it doesnt make much of a difference…baggy clothes tend to hide it well but they make me feel/look unflattering and larger than i am. i’ve lost 72 lbs so far and im trying to lose another 25 lbs, and im hoping it will get rid of the unsightly mass that looks like “the blob” trying to escape from my pants! LOL. ive heard running gets rid of “love handles” so im gonna try doing more of that in addition to healthy eating. well good luck with your muffin tops ladies, hope you find something that works for you !! ;]

Shiny, I too have this issue. I use the Kamora….it is the bomb. give it try, you tuck it in and then you can wear those cute body hugging shirts. The only downfall to this is that some tank tops are cut too wierd to hide the Kamora.

I liked the letter about the waist-to-hip ratio – I have slim 38 inch hips and a “thick” 32 inch waist (what is that, a 0.85 ratio?), am 5’8″ with a low 26% body fat at age 50, and have a BIG upper body – bosom AND ‘linebacker” shoulders. If it weren’t for my large bosom, my figure would (frankly) look pretty ‘manly.” It’s the classic “V” shape – I look awful in pencil skirts – Since I keep my belly flat through endless abdominal exercises, but my waist is permanently “thick” – it always has been, even when I was 20% body fat 30 years ago – high waist trousers look awful on me, just awful. The Eighties were horrible!!! But I have no trouble at all with mid-rise. If you are like me, try trousers and jeans that are perhaps half a size too large and with waist bands that hit right at or 1″ below your belly button. A wide belt worn right there, several inches below my actual waist, is most flattering. At age 50, I’d feel ridiculous in truly low-rise jeans, even at my thinnest.

wow.nice article, imma real big fan of ruched and ruffled tops..same effect.VERY forgiving the problem i have is that im like 4’11” hip and ribs are like..SUPER close and i have no waist. i mean i agree with maya. i AM fattest were i am shortestr.i hide the ol’ mufin with high clingy skirts( iknow it sounds crazy) and LONG ruched tops.well not too long but im sure yall know what i mean. that it covers the highness of the skirt..works like a charm for me.

gosh! i agree with tina!! thick waist..my goodness.imma try that one out thanx.i loved the article AND the suggestions

the best thing i’ve found are the right fit jeans from lane bryant. the have a fit that’s cut straight through the hips and waist that works wonders for those of us without a waist.

I have a wicked muffin top. I would love to layer but at 6 feet tall with a long torso, I find it close to impossible to find camisoles that are long enough to cover my belly. Any brand suggestions for long camis, please?

[...] but they don’t cling because the fabric is weighty and substantial. This prevents the dreaded midriff muffin top cling. Also, synthetic fibers are more stable than natural fibers. So items made of rayon [...]

[...] The volume that’s created  by the ruching below the knot camouflages the extra bits on the mid riff and hips by allowing the fabric to float away from the body. This is especially effective in patterned fabrications and combats muffin top perfectly. [...]

I don’t think any of those models look good–they all look like they (or rather their stylist) is desperately trying to disguise a “worst feature” and it totally shows.

Really? Lose weight and exercise…..duh! That doesn’t work for everyone. Some of us just carry extra weight (and skin after babies) in that area. Some women carry weight in their butt and thighs even though they diet and exercise. The wide belt over a blouse actually does create the illusion of a waste especially when worn over a higher waisted skirt. Not always the most comfortable look, but it works for night out.

Primark do reeeeeally long camisole tops. Rainbow of colours and only £2.50.

This may have already been mentioned, but I think what should “definitely” be added to the list here is to buy a ***”Waist Stretcher”***.

I’m a tiny 105 lbs., but I would “not” be without this device!!!

Using this machine overnight on the waist of your jeans/pants will easily add an extra few inches. If the pants are made of cotton, the extra inches will stay until your next wash. Woila! Goodbye muffin top.