Loose lower belly (Bellow Naval area)

Question

My lower belly (the naval area and bellow it) seems a bit outward, I am not fat I am really slim, in fact my chest is just thin and normal, but the lower belly seems a bit outward.

Please suggest me some solution for this.

Thanks.

Update : Thanks all of you for your answers, I examined myself, and it seems my problem is neither loose connective tissues, nor anterior pelvic tilt. As far being slim is concerned it is kind of I am not really really slim, but I am just normal kind of guy, not skinny not fat at all. I am a programmer, so I sit at my computer all day programing, less physical activities, so I also consider that might be fat belly due lots of food and no exercise. Please suggest me a good exercise for fat belly, specially the area around naval.

Answer 1

There are plenty of possible reasons, here are my two best guesses:

No. 1 is an anterior pelvic tilt. Modern lifestyles with lots of sitting and shoes with heels lead to tight hip flexors, which lead to a tilted pelvis, a hollow back and a protruding belly.

Fixing this requires attack from multiple angles, there are many muscles involved here, not just the hip flexors. Ideally, you'd find out where your weakest links are and target those. In general, I'd recommend strengthening your glutes and stretching your hip flexors.

There are many ways to strengthen your glutes. Kettlebell swings or deadlifts are compound exercises with a strong emphasis on the glutes. I'm not sure squats would work as well, they don't use the whole posterior chain in the same way that swings or deadlifts do. Glute bridges and hip thrusts are a more focused approach.

There are also various ways to stretch your hip flexors. The classic is the lunge stretch. But be careful to do it with good form, or you'll just hyperextend your lower back rather than stretch your hip flexors. Tim Ferris is quite enthusiastic about Supine Groin (progressive) stretches from the Egoscue method.

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As for something completely different, your digestion can also cause your belly to produde. A bloated stomach is not flat.

Answer 2

In case you are actually really slim, then your condition can also be caused by weak connective tissue or by some kind of food intolerance.

The former can be caused by hormones, malnutrition or just simple biological predisposition. You can alleviate it by doing core exercises (both front and back!) but be careful to not create too much abdominal pressure, because if your connective tissue really is weakened, you might risk an umbilical hernia. If you strengthen your abdominal muscles your belly will look more evenly distributed.

But also check if you perhaps are suffering from any kind of malnutrition or dehydration, which also brings me to the latter possible cause: It is possible, that you are consuming some kind of food, which you cannot be digested properly. In this case the food is not digested, but fermented which often results in a bloated bowel and most likely flatulence.

Here you must experiment a little bit. Check if your condition gets worse after eating certain kinds of food. Pretty common are lactose intolerance and fructose intolerance, so if you notice that after eating dairy products or fruit you belly gets extended even more, you might have found a possible cause (but don't be paranoid, any food will extend your stomach and bowel a little bit)

If you are unsure with any of this, you should also ask a doctor to rule out any actual sickness.

A general advice in case these tips won't help you: By getting toned in general you can cover up many irregularities of your body.