YOUR NOT FAT. : Hi everyone, Im a bit upset :( I... - IBS Network

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YOUR NOT FAT.

NailQueenxo profile image
7 Replies

Hi everyone, Im a bit upset :(

I know most of you will understand my issue, I am always bloated. I don't remember the last time my stomach looked flat EVER.

I know i'm not fat but I cant help but see myself as massive, every time I look in the mirror my stomach is so out of proportion and just sticks out and hurts.

Please help not only with bloating tips but just confidence.

thanks x

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NailQueenxo profile image
NailQueenxo
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7 Replies

Bloating is usually a result of certain foods which ferment in your system and cause wind, gurgling and pain.

You could try cutting out some of the foods commonly known to cause this some of which are:

Wheat, dairy, soya products

Pulses, lentils, beans,peas

Garlic, onions, fruit containing stones

OR try Fodmaps using the app from the Monash University

Hope this helps

NailQueenxo profile image
NailQueenxo in reply to

Hm yes that list seems like the culprit. I consumer pretty much all of those foods . Gluten is the starting point for me as I feel that is the main problem for me .

Thank u very much x

kwood9 profile image
kwood9

I know exactly how you feel. I had anorexia nervosa for 7 years, and while I have recovered from my eating disorder I subsequently was diagnosed with IBS 9 months ago. I find it really difficult because I spend almost all the time looking bloated and only being able to wear elasticated trousers because my tummy is so swollen, even though the scales tell me I'm borderline underweight/normal weight for my height. This has been really hard because this is how I used to feel when I was anorexic, when I was so underweight but thought I was really fat. Something that has helped me is to take pictures of my tummy at different points in the day - first thing in the morning when I'm usually not too bloated, and then later on when I'm more and more round. It serves as a good reminder that I'm not actually fat but that it's this horrible health condition that makes me look like I am. Maybe this will help you too? x

NailQueenxo profile image
NailQueenxo in reply to kwood9

Oh congrats for recovering that's absolutely incredible you should be proud, I understand. Thank you so much,

I will take ur advice into consideration.

Good luck x

WoolPippi profile image
WoolPippi

I just discovered fodmap and that's the list of foods that produce gas in the belly. Since avoiding all the foods on it my stomach is flat and I now love standing up straight.

I also try to learn to burp as I seem to swallow air with everything I eat/drink. And passing wind. See it as learning a new skill, just like when you learned to whistle or riding your bike. Most young boys are able to burp and then giggle. Most adult men fart louldy and look proud. Let's conquer these skills and giggle and feel proud!

I've informed my husband and also told about the scientific reasons for wanting to burp and fart. It was embarrasing but really, other people do not care much about these things at all. Still I try to do it when he's not around. If he is around I blame the spiders: "a fart? No, that's spiders barking!"

Every night in bed I massage my belly to try and move the air around, towards the exit.

The not-being-bloated thing is awesome! Much more enery too. Fodmaps it is! For me, this includes fibre. Nowadays I eat cod with sour cream for dinner. Or chicken legs. I make bone broth. Eat steak. Eggs. White bread with full fat butter and some jelly or roast beef. Bananas. Sushi. And cakes.

One clementine can make me bloated again. So that's the fibre-marge I'm working with. It'll be interesting to find out what works for you. Start your discovery journey with adopting some barking spiders ;)

NailQueenxo profile image
NailQueenxo in reply to WoolPippi

WOw v interesting! high fiber foods really do make me bloat tho. I will try fodmaps i think, thanks x

WoolPippi profile image
WoolPippi in reply to NailQueenxo

Good luck!

btw, there's are two things to consider when you're thinking about eliminating all fibre from your diet. One is your stool might stay too long in your colon and become too dry and hard for you to expell. If your stool is already hard you're better off not reducing fibres too much.

This is why "fibre!" is the go-to advice for people with constipation.

My C happens early in the colon, in the ascending colon. After the hepatic bend it's smooth sailing and my stool doesn't sit long on the traverse colon, the descending colon or the sigmoid colon: not much water is extracted from my stool.

The other thing is that fibre is used to chafe off the little hairs in your small intestine, the villi. These need to be sanded off every once and a while because they renew quickly and are not meant to exist too long. In other words: the tips of the villi can easily become too extravagant when not sanded down with intervals. Extravagant like the teeth of rabbits which grow too long if they don't gnaw on stuf. Extravagant like the nails on the feet of cats and donkeys when not worn down or capped (donkeys). Extravagant like growing too much too long (cancerous).

This last one is a problem I have not solved for myself yet...

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