To ask you to advise me why my stomach is massive

[samjamsam]

I'm really struggling atm. I have a massive stomach - 31-32 inches.

I am a size 10 otherwise due to my massive stomach. I would probably be a size 8 if I didn't have my stomach to fit into clothes. I weigh 7 stones 13 pounds (50.3kg).

I have been to the doctors and had tests for gluten intolerance, cortisol, pregnancy and all came back normal.

My typical diet:
Breakfast: 40g oats, oat milk and 2 strawberries
Lunch: small portion of quinoa or couscous with 1/3 tin chickpeas and 1 banana.
Snack: malt loaf (91 calories) or no snack, very occasionally a treat like popchips
Dinner: e.g. 1 mug of pasta with tomato sauce (olive oil, garlic, 1/2 tin peeled tomatoes) aubergine and ricotta; jacket potato with a tin of beans and cheese

I do a 10-15 min workout in the morning such as a lower body workout, light cardio or abs and do about 8000 steps a day.

Please help!!

www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/recipes/vegetarian

Rose Elliott wrote a low carb diet plan for vegetarians, and has a lovely recipe book to go with it here

@lemonsandlimes123

It really isn't a 'massive' amount of carbs. It is a carbier diet but it's actually a very small amount of food so overall the carbs are not particularly high. I would actually be concerned that you are significantly undereating and potentially at risk of some sort of malnutrition which could also result in some sort of distension

I'd like to see what you think a massive amount of carbs is then!

And I doubt very much that the OP is under-eating, based on what's been posted here.

I probably am undereating as I get really weak and hungry all of a sudden. (I'm then fine once I eat!)

Based on what she has posted she will not be much over 1000 cals a day which is a low calorie level even considering her slight build and most of that is carb based so she will be very low on essential nutrients, So overall it's not a massive amount of carbs per se but it is a very large part of her diet which features very little food of dense nutritional value. Hence the concern about malnutrition

Can you "suck it in" op? I could walk around with essentially a flat (albeit wobbly) stomach if I had the inclination to constantly hold it in... just wondering if that makes a difference or not to it being bloat/fat etc?

I wonder if you have a slow food transit. I am 5 feet tall and weigh just 7 stone, with a bulge just below my belly button. I don’t usually buy supplements but I saw an article regarding J S Health debloat which contains milk thistle.

All the comments from users described my condition exactly. One said. it looked like a food pregnancy. This was exactly what I felt. The poster who commented about the starving children with bloated bellies has a point. Mine is much lower down than that. The abdomen rather than the stomach.

I have really noticed a difference since taking the supplement but I have also cut out grains, wheat and pulses. I think, once I have finished the course, I will try and stick to raw food diet as much as I can. Then Just wait and see if it comes back once I stop taking the tablets.

I actually feel much healthier but I don’t know if it is the change of diet or the tablets.

Hi OP! Ovarian cancer survivor here. My tummy did get like this (actually larger!) due to the size of my tumour but I also had crippling pain and various other symptoms. If you've had this for 3 years then I don't think you need to be worrying about ovarian cancer (although getting a second opinion from a GP is something I'd never advise against!)

The only other time I ended up with a stomach like that was due to lactose intolerance! I moved to lactofree milk and I've been fine ever since.

Hope this helps!

You're living on sugar, Samjam. Carbs are converted into sugar so that the body can use them. When carbs get low, we have a crash, which is what you've described above (weak and hungry, suddenly) You don't have to be underweight or undereating to experience this - you just need to have a body that's conditioned to only run on carbs, so that it can't access fat for energy when it needs to, as it should. After all, that's what fat is there for.

Protein and fat take longer for the body to process into energy, use more calories to do it, and release the energy in a more steady way (no peaks and troughs)

Up your protein and fat, and reduce your carbs. You'll get steadier energy, less sudden-weak-hunger, and you'll allow your body to access your fat stores (eg flat belly)

@samjamsam

I probably am undereating as I get really weak and hungry all of a sudden. (I'm then fine once I eat!)

This is because your blood sugar levels will be rising and then falling rapidly because of the carbs you're eating. To stop feeling so weak, you need your blood sugar levels to be stable, which means less carbohydrate.

... but @Eckhart explained it much better!

Some people are just made like that .. if you are 5 ft 2 and 7 odd stone you are slim and it shows up more .. it's just an Apple shaped body surely. ?

I have had something of a similar sounding issue. Had all sorts of tests and scans. All came back fine. Its also definitely not bloat and is fat.

However, how much do you drink? And how often do you poo? Do you suffer from constipation at all?

I've cut back on wheat and cereal based food and increased veg and that generally does seem to improve it. I think part of my problem is wheat based foods mean I need to drink more or my digestion slows.

I also find that this is worse at certain times of the month than others

I'm definitely not gluten or wheat intolerant, but I do find that too much of it doesn't help me. You diet does sound very heavy on this front.

Incidentally, this is why obesity is prevalent. Such a carb rich diet, and advice to eat regularly, means we are training our bodies only to use carbs as fuel. So the fat goes on, but our bodies can't use it. This is why overweight people get hungry. It's not that their bodies have run out of fuel, it's that they can't use the fuel they carry around. It's biology that evoved when there was no such thing for humans as 'too much food'.

I am exactly the same height and weight and body shape as you.

It's called skinny fat. So although slim, the little weight we do have comes from fat and not muscle we need to add muscle in. Plus like me you seem to store the fat on your stomach only. I have twig arms and legs with a wobbly belly.

Try doing weights, I have been doing them for a month or two and noticed a big difference already. It will help your posture too which will also make a difference.

I am also lactose intolerant like someone else upthread and milk and cheese both blow me right up, this is something that hit me in the last 2 years and took a while to figure out.

Push for a scan just to clear up any risk of cancer but I think you, like me will sorted with some weight training.

OP, sympathies, I have the exact same shape stomach. I’ve had it since I was a teen, even when I was a slim size 8-10 I would get a big belly.

It’s very odd as sometimes gluten based foods like bread and pasta will make be balloon and other times it doesn’t. Other times a honeydew melon will blow me up.

It must be food intolerances. I did do a food intolerance test once but I wasn’t very impressed with the results.

the way Ive heard to start is

2 weeks no gluten and then reintroduce to see impact

Then 2 weeks no dairy

Then 2 weeks no onion

Etc etc

Tedious

I had similar, was being asked “when’s the baby due?” several times a week. I went to a PT back in March who thinks it’s a combination of being naturally Apple shaped (my mother is the same), poor posture (very sedentary seated job) and mild diastasis recti from last pregnancy 10+ years ago.
It has improved a lot since then as I’m doing regular full body exercise, breathing and core exercise, calorie counting and eating much more protein and less carbs. It’s not a washboard stomach but it’s so much better than what it was.

@FunorFitness

I am exactly the same height and weight and body shape as you.

It's called skinny fat. So although slim, the little weight we do have comes from fat and not muscle we need to add muscle in. Plus like me you seem to store the fat on your stomach only. I have twig arms and legs with a wobbly belly.

Try doing weights, I have been doing them for a month or two and noticed a big difference already. It will help your posture too which will also make a difference.

I am also lactose intolerant like someone else upthread and milk and cheese both blow me right up, this is something that hit me in the last 2 years and took a while to figure out.

Push for a scan just to clear up any risk of cancer but I think you, like me will sorted with some weight training.

What kind of weights do you do please? At home or in the gym? What exercises?

@FreshEggs

It has improved a lot since then as I’m doing regular full body exercise, breathing and core exercise

Can you break this down a bit more? Thanks

@RedToothBrush

I have had something of a similar sounding issue. Had all sorts of tests and scans. All came back fine. Its also definitely not bloat and is fat.

However, how much do you drink? And how often do you poo? Do you suffer from constipation at all?

I've cut back on wheat and cereal based food and increased veg and that generally does seem to improve it. I think part of my problem is wheat based foods mean I need to drink more or my digestion slows.

I also find that this is worse at certain times of the month than others

I'm definitely not gluten or wheat intolerant, but I do find that too much of it doesn't help me. You diet does sound very heavy on this front.

I drink about 2-3 litres of water a day. I never drink alcohol. I have a glass of orange juice once or twice a week.

I poo twice a day - before and after breakfast.

Eckhart - with BMI of 19 the OP is far closer to underweight than overweight so your comments about obesity would be better suited to you starting a new thread. The OP has a very poor diet but that is not due to the amount of carbs she is eating so much as the lack of protein and fat. There is no reason for the OP to have to be low-carb she could quite easily eat a very healthy diet with moderate carbs and a balance of fats and protein. It's the protein she needs to sort out, the balance of fat and carbs can be made up in lots of ways some people do better with lower carb higher fat and other people are better with the balance being the other way.

@lemonsandlimes123

Eckhart - with BMI of 19 the OP is far closer to underweight than overweight so your comments about obesity would be better suited to you starting a new thread. The OP has a very poor diet but that is not due to the amount of carbs she is eating so much as the lack of protein and fat. There is no reason for the OP to have to be low-carb she could quite easily eat a very healthy diet with moderate carbs and a balance of fats and protein. It's the protein she needs to sort out, the balance of fat and carbs can be made up in lots of ways some people do better with lower carb higher fat and other people are better with the balance being the other way.

I can't believe all this time I have thought my diet was good. Oats, banana, homemade tomato sauce, aubergine etc all healthy.

quinoa, chickpeas, baked beans = protein, I didn't think I lacked protein but will definitely re-think my diet now. Any advice would be much appreciated.

My body today

Your diet is lacking in protein, fruit and veg. Protein would also stave off the blood sugar crashes and bloating.

Sadly have no real recipes, but for low carb veg - anything leafy and green is brilliant for gut bacteria and minerals/vitamins.

Steamed or sauteed with butter is the trick or you will be starving all day. Dont be scared of natural fats like butter, ghee, coconut oil. We are just discovering the importance of good fat. Mushrooms are brilliant for b vitamins and very low carb. Brocolli, cauliflower. Not many veg off limits, maybe cut down on the starchy veg like potatoes and increase the rest.

Fermented foods for good gut bacteria, horseradish, kefir, yoghurt all brilliant and will help the bloating as well as increase your immune system.

For fruit, the lowest sugar/carb options are strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, watermelon. Starchy higher carb fruits are things like bananas but I honestly think its pretty hard to binge on fruit.

Avocados are your best friend. Really satisfying, high fat, low carb and brilliant for your body.