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!!

Have you seen a PT? Physio? See somebody who knows about anatomy. My PT told me that women should be doing the concave for at least 2 hours per day. Spread it chunks across the day. So you’re standing cooking breakfast, you pull your stomach in and try and make it as concave as possible like a vacuum cleaner has sucked every bit of air out of your stomach. Hold it for as many minutes as possible. Repeat and repeat.

FWIW, I always had a pot belly, even at size 8 in my 20's when I ate healthy. I just learnt to hold it in, but now I'm 50 & size 14 , I use those shapewear knickers .

I have the same problem. Even when I’m thin my stomach sticks out and I can grab a roll of fat. Quite simply, I have a very small frame so a weight that would be “thin” for a bigger built person is “fat” for me. I’m also “skinny fat” because I have very little muscle. The solution appears to be losing more fat and building muscle (I am attempting to do this). Cardio will not help - you need to lift weights or do body weight exercises.

Before you spend a lot of time fiddling about with your diet, I would go and get properly checked out - make sure it’s not a cyst or something more sinister.

Your pic doesn’t show the rest of your body for comparison, but if that stomach with arms and legs that are size 8 slim, is unusual and needs investigation.

There were several long running threads on here within the last year, where the OP originally posted with the same issue as you - skinny legs, but tummy getting fatter - and it turned out to be ovarian cancer.

I also had a friend who had problems with a growing stomach and the rest of her stayed the same (although it was less easy to spot because she was already overweight) and she had a grapefruit-sized cyst on her ovary. Thankful it was benign.

I don’t want to alarm you but please rule out all those serious things first before you spend ages cutting out carbs or whatever.

When did it get like this? Or has it always been this way? Is the upper part soft or does it feel like muscle? Diastasis Recti can happen without pregnancy. My tummy looks similar but the fat is only below the waist.

First get an ultrasound of the lower (ovarian cysts/cancers/fibroids) and upper abdomen of it is hard. If you are getting any discomfort after eating in the upper abdomen, especially if it’s heartburn, you may need to explore the option of endoscopy and ruling out helicobactor pylori with a stool sample. One diagnosis could be hiatus hernia or an issue with the diaphragm which pushes down and doesn’t relax upwards. If the muscles aren’t working in sync this is a cause of a large abdomen.

I had a cyst on my ovary which was 30cm in diameter. It was bigger than a football.

I'd obviously had it for quite a while by the time it was discovered, but for all that time I had no other symptoms apart from a bloated stomach. I was in my 20s and about size 8 at the time, so slim everywhere else. No one really noticed the bloating apart from me until the end, 2 doctors examined me and could feel nothing. I was told I had IBS.

It was only when it got so big that it started blocking my kidneys and I couldn't wee properly, that the GP took me seriously. By then it was so big the GP could actually feel something on examination.

I had an operation to remove it. The women in the bed next to me in hosptial also had a massive cyst which hadn't been picked up until she had examinations for something else! So it obviously isn't all that rare.

Ovarian cysts /tumours are really hard to detect, they can't be felt on examination and have very vague symptoms that GPs easily miss. That's why ovarian cancer can be so fatal, because it often isn't picked up until it's too late.

murgatroid what did your stomach feel like when you had the cyst? Was it just firm and bloated? I can pinch a roll on my tummy which makes me think it’s fat above the muscles not a cyst below them.

@Dita73

Potential PCOS? Bad skin? Excess hair?

I have good skin and regular periods so I don't think I have that

If it’s bloating during the day I would try cutting out all those carbs. You do eat a fair amount of simple carbs- pasta potato cous cous oats (although lays are complex so a little better) Every one of those meals has quite a bit of carbs.
Try some low carb meals and see how it goes, Eggs and avacado / ham for breakfast, salad for lunch and chicken or Quorn with veg for dinner. See if it stops the bloat.
If that doesn’t work, I would look at dairy. If I eat Greek yoghurt for example my stomach bloats right out.

Just read back- you don’t eat meat or eggs. Here is your problem right there. All the other carby foods are causing you to store belly fat I’m afraid. Some women store fat on their belly more than other places. Genetics is a part of this and this may have just crept up as you got older.
You need more protein and fats and far less carbs. Cut out pasta and couscous and burger buns for a start- it will be going straight to your belly and those things have almost 0 goodness in them!

Try this diet for 21 days. It cuts all major gut irritants and then adds them all back slowly so you can see what you might have issues with. I think it will help you with getting a better balance of macros as well

www.amazon.co.uk/Plan-Diet-revolutionary-gut-healthy-weight/dp/1912023008

There is an app as well so you can start without waiting

@Ranunculi it just felt like my normal stomach, no firmer or less firm than normal. It was just bigger. If you think about it - your ovaries sit right at the back, deep in your pelvis. Any growth there will just push everything in front forward so that's what you feel when you press your stomach.

At the end it felt firm like a pregnancy stomach, but like I said by then it was bigger than a football, and squashing my internal organs!

Critique today's diet:

B: greek yog, sugar free drops, strawberries and pumpkin seeds
L: roasted veg, couscous, chickpeas, sundried tomatoes, olive oil
D: halloumi salad- spinach, red onion, tomato, halloumi, garlic mayo

Oh and a protein shake with oat milk

That looks good! Sounds tasty too.

... but don't forget other advice to get yourself checked out from a cancer point of view. Hopefully you will be fine, and a change of diet will work, but you do need to rule anything more sinister out.

Hence the concern about malnutrition

Good point lemons

Malnutrition is often confused with starvation - they are't the same thing,.

Malnutrition always accompanies starvation, but can be present even in people who eat enough (or eve more than enough) if their diet lacks essential nutrients or is otherwise imbalanced.

Baffled that you manage to eat the way you do on £20 a week?!

I couldn't eat your orig post on food like oats, pasta too many carbs for me and my tummy sticks out. Keto diet has helped me slim down my tummy and when j eat food I dont look 9 months pregnant but if I eat bread, or carb heavy food then I do.

When i mean carbs I mean the processed versions not ones in veg.

Much better intake today. You had protein at each meal and seeds added good fats.
Check your portions are the right size. This info is available on lots of web sites and a good rule is 1/3rd of your plate should be protein foods. Never less than 1/4.
It can take several weeks or even a few months to repair your internal organs and gut and see a change so don’t give up if it isn’t better by Sunday.

UPDATE
I have a physical examination with the GP and she will book me in for an ultrasound to check for ovarian cysts.

That’s really good news. I’m so glad you’re being investigated properly.

Good luck! Glad you have got some support from your GP

If you rule out a medical issue like ovarian cysts, the FAST 800 diet is good for getting rid of visceral fat.

Glad you are getting it checked out!

Great news! I hope you get some sort of answer so you can rule out (or in) an underlying health issue.