STANDING in front of my two daughters, I pull on my shapeless, striped T-shirt and grimace.
As a 52-year-old mum of two impressionable primary-aged girls I am big on presenting myself as body confident — but it can be a real challenge at times.
My reflection in the mirror looks fine from the front.
But turning to the side, my heart sinks as I immediately see my dreaded middle-aged tummy bulge.
I love clothes but I’ve lost my passion for hitting the high street as I’ve been feeling self-conscious about my stomach in particular for a couple of years now.
And I’m far from alone.
In a survey this year, 42 per cent of women reported their tummy as being the part of their body they feel most self-conscious about, beating concerns over their faces, legs, chests and arms.
But there could be a solution — the TikTok-famous River Island ruched side T-shirt, £22, which has been praised online for flattering in all the right places.
It is credited with cinching you in around the waist, but can it really help you drop a dress size?
My middle-age tum has been a problem for about two years.
I go to the gym every day and focus on cardio and also weight lifting, even doing sit up work outs on YouTube, but my tummy bulge arrived as soon as I turned 50 and — come hell or high water — it’s here to stay.
I’ve always been roughly a size 16, but I’ve come to realise my woes are less about losing weight and more about this particularly stubborn fat around my tummy.
Of course, weight-loss jabs like Mounjaro and Ozempic have crossed my mind.
But as menopause is a crazy hormonal time already, adding a relatively unknown drug into the mix just doesn’t feel helpful.
I have friends on them and one has lost three stone.
But for some women, including this pal, it isn’t always that flattering as you get older.
‘CONFIDENCE-BUILDING STAPLE’
You can lose weight around the face which can age you a lot — sometimes as much as 15 years, I think.
Like many of us, I’ve been fooled before with “miracle” buys.
I bought supportive knickers promising tummy-vanishing properties by rolling up over your waist and holding everything in.
But they always work their way down my midriff and I end up with a weird roll of fat just under my bra.
So-called tummy-support tights take so much effort to get on and off that going to the toilet becomes too much of a mission, and the results have been rubbish too.
I’ve tried eating more protein and fewer carbs and I’ve trialled diets like intermittent fasting but nothing has ever made a difference.
So after the horror of going to a smart work event in a clingy, black high street jumper that made my tummy look like an over-stuffed school bag, it would be lovely to know I’ve got a confidence-building staple at the back of my wardrobe.
Putting my scepticism aside, I’m hoping this £22 garment finally makes my tum disappear — but it is a big ask.
In the new top, which is more fitted, my silhouette from the side almost reminds me of a pre-kids version of myself
Anniki Sommerville
Upon ripping open the packaging, the first thing I notice is that it does indeed appear to be a very flattering shape.
The quality also feels great, which is surprising for the reasonably inexpensive price tag, and it is 100 per cent cotton.
One TikTok influencer had claimed: “It has an asymmetric bit at the front and is shorter at the back.
“So super flattering if you’re curvier . . . it’s a perfect top.”
This sounds too good to be true.
I pull the top over my head and look in the full-length bedroom mirror.
My first thoughts are that my waist looks slimmer.
I don’t like to draw attention to my tummy, so usually opt for a bog-standard, straight-up-and-down loose T-shirt.
But in the new top, which is more fitted, my silhouette from the side almost reminds me of a pre-kids version of myself.
‘MORE DEFINED’
It makes me feel more youthful and more put together — like I’ve made an effort.
It’s true that the ruching at the sides delivers the illusion of having a more svelte waist and hides any lumps or bumps.
I definitely look more tucked in around my waist.
I wear the top with my favourite barrel-leg blue denim jeans for maximum confidence.
One downside is the colour. I usually avoid red like the plague for its “look at me” factor.
But I start to ponder if I could put up with it as a trade-off for feeling better about my midriff.
Plus there are also versions in black and white, which would be great as everyday basics for work or relaxing at the weekend.
I wouldn’t necessarily say I look a smaller dress size, but my waist looks more defined.
Before I can overthink it, I step out of the safety of my house — shouldering on a chunky cropped jacket in a moment of shyness — straight into the morning school run.
Predictably, the kids, Greta, six, and Rae, 12, say nothing about my transformation.
After dropping the girls off, I meet a friend in a cafe, feeling tense about if she would notice anything.
“You look different,” she says as I take off my bulky coat.
“Stand up a minute,” she commands. “You look like you’ve lost weight, are you on the . . . you know what?”
The school mum code for weight-loss jabs.
“I don’t usually wear red, that’s probably it,” I reply.
She squints, adding: “No, it’s something else, it’s this top, isn’t it? It’s really flattering on you.”
I nod, feeling a bit too shy to go into the details about it and we move on to gossip about the class WhatsApp group.
When I get home, I give myself a once-over in the mirror. This top definitely gives me back a waist.
Come 3pm it’s time for the school run — no coat this time.
“Mummy, you look smart,” Greta says, looking up at me.
I clock the ice cream van out of the corner of my eye.
Is she buttering me up for a treat?
‘LIKE ME AGAIN’
But I look down and reason that she is right. I feel pulled together.
It is almost as if my tummy has disappeared.
When my partner Paul, 58, comes home in the evening, he asks if something has changed — and he rarely notices what I’m wearing.
The compliments keep coming.
I wear the T-shirt to the gym and one regular says: “Those workouts are definitely working for you!”
It feels so good — and I make a mental note to check if the week’s budget could stretch to the other two colours.
The T-shirt might not have erased my tummy entirely, but for the first time in years, I felt like me again.
And sometimes, that’s more than enough.
