Bloating, stomach rock hard, peri?

[cosietea]

I’m 43, not confirmed as peri but a few things make me think it’s possible. I am on the contraceptive pill but take it back to back to avoid periods anyway so have no idea about my cycle anymore.

I have gained 7 lbs in 5 months and whereas I usually can shift it quickly, this is now very slow to lose and if I even so much as creep out of a calorie deficit for a day or two it’s all back on, when before I could usually get away with it.

Anyway I am sure if I try very hard I will eventually lose the weight but I have noticed quite often that I have a distended rock solid stomach ( even after bowel movement) I usually go 3 times a week and that hasn’t changed

I feel very ‘big’ I’m the stomach which I know is partly the weight gain but does anyone else have this and what is the cure? Laxatives or a de-bloater?

also feel like my body is very sensitive to carbs and alcohol by which I mean this appears to cause the weight gain whereas usually any calorie deficit would have worked but these things seem to make things worse these days

Whilst this could all be due to hormones/changes to your diet there are many other things that it could be too. The rock solid feel is unusual. I would make a GP face to face appointment explain to them what you have put in your post and ask for them to examine your abdomen and pelvis.

Definitely see your GP. It could be a food intolerance but it could also be a gynae issue. Worth getting it checked out.

I know you are on the pill but is there any chance you could be pregnant?

Thanks both, can food intolerance suddenly start in your forties? I’m sure I remember my mum developing IBS around that age and had to stop eating bread and other carbs.

@PammieDooveOrangeJoof did a pregnancy test this week to rule it out!

You should see your GP. Rule out all other things before you look at food intolerances.

I don't want to scare you but your symptoms could be Ovarian cancer. Please go and see your GP as soon as possible to at least rule it out.

I have looked at the ovarian cancer symptoms but it talks about having little appetite, feeling full and u intentionally losing weight, whereas this is all the opposite for me. Thank you though,

The main symptoms are bloating, changes in bowel habits and a rock hard sensation in the stomach. You really do need to go and get it ruled out rather than assuming it's something benign.

Defo see a GP about the stomach.

We become more insulin resistant as we get older which may explain the increase in weight from carbs and alcohol- glucose goddess has some good advice on this.

Carbs basically do weigh more and also each molecule of carb attaches to 4 molecules of water, so it's perfectly normal for eating carbs to look like weight gain. I don't recommend cutting them out because they are essential for hormone synthesis plus so many other processes. The reason it's easier when we are younger is that we tend to lose muscle mass as we age. Muscle is more Metabolicaly active than fat I.e. burns more calories at rest. So we then in theory have to eat less to lose the same amount of weight. The other way round it (rather than cutting calories cycle) is to do more strength training which means that you retain / build muscle mass.

It also means that if you do any calorie deficit going forward you will not lose muscle mass.

The body doesn't distinguish in a diet between fat or muscle - if the muscle isn't being used (and especially because muscle is a more expensive body tissue to retain I.e. calorie intensive) then the body will just say oh woop we don't need that muscle, let's burn that for some energy and keep hold of the body fat instead. Whereas if you are actively strength training during a small calorie deficit the body will say hey we need that muscle, let's burn some fat, and while we are at it, let's turn some fat into muscle too as it seems to be that we need it right now.

Hope that helps. Realising this completely changed my approach to my body, eating, exercise etc. I wish someone had told me that dieting causes loss of muscle mass and that this becomes really bad as we go into our 40s! I only discovered it by chance (long story) through personal experience of strength training and doing my own reading.

I feel like it's the biggest con of the diet industry but hey ho I will keep banging a quiet drum about it.

Possibly fibroids - very common in middle aged women and can give you a very hard stomach. Go and get checked out just in case.

Thanks all, @LogicalBlodge this a
makes sense, thanks for sharing

I see women in their 50’s looking fabulous and have successfully lost body fat and gained muscle.

how much weight training do you suggest? Daily? Along with a calorie deficit?

Coeliac?

You absolutely need to have gynae issues including ovarian, endometrial and cervical cancer ruled out as well as fibroids. Don’t let anyone fob you off with its just perimenopause or a bit of weight gain. Unless you’re a bodybuilder, weight gain in middle age would be fat not solid. If my cancer had been caught the first time I went to the GP and not fobbed off as just an ageing thing, it would have been stage 1 instead of stage 3c 6 months later.

Yep - it’s too easy to assume it’s hormonal rather than anything more sinister - always get the worst things ruled out first.

I'm joining PPs in urging you to see GP.
I lost a friend to ovarian cancer who was complaining of bloating - by the time she went in it was too late.

@mindutopia I’m really sorry to hear that, completely unacceptable.

i have previously had CIN 2 cells removed from my cervix, although the only symptom I had was abnormal bleeding ( which I don’t have now)

hope you are ok

Please make an appointment with your GP. My stomach was rock hard and like you I had gained weight. I assumed it was the menopause. Unfortunately it was advanced uterine cancer.

No not daily, I did three times a week consistently and stuck to tracking and had fantastic results. I was 42.

Difference between top calorie surplus and lowest calorie deficit was only 200-250 calories.

Defo get checked out by the GP first though!

@Berlinlover I’m very sorry.

Another one here alarmed by those symptoms. Please see your GP urgently.

Repeating my advice to see a GP.

I had ovarian cancer at 29. No symptoms at all other than a pot belly which I couldn’t shift with exercise or dieting. No bloating, feeling full, bleeding. Nothing. Go and get it checked out.

Hi OP, I came across your post as I have some similar symptoms- how did you get on? I hope all is well and you're doing ok.

Hi. I would give same advice as to OP. It's really important to go to GP if you have these symptoms. It could be nothing or it could be something. Important to rule out anything serious.

Sorry for the long delay. I did see a GP as I stated getting some pain during sex too. Dr suspected a womb infection as upon examination had discharge coming from the uterus. I had a very strong course of 3 different antibiotics and also a colposcopy because of previous abnormal cells. Well looks like abnormal cells have reoccurred at CIN1 ( previous history was CIN2 with LLetz removal in 2019)

worrying as I’m HPV negative so would not have been picked up on a smear and only because of these symptoms were they discovered

So thank you for the advice to see my GP, it has been very important.

also have an uterine US and all good there

bloating is on/off and I have managed to lose a few pounds so will carry on as I am