Stomach issues following low calorie diet

[Isadora2007]

I’ve been dieting for a few months and have lost around 10kg bringing me to a nearly healthy BMI for the first time in a few decades. I haven’t always made the healthiest choices but am trying to now have a good diet of a variety of healthier choices like overnight oats, Greek yoghurt and fruit, baked potatoes and salad etc. Aiming for around 1200-1400 cals per day.
But I am finding when I do eat I often get stomach pains like wind and the other day I had the runs immediately after eating. So for the last few days I’ve been back to not really eating much for fear of needing the toilet urgently which doesn’t fit with my work. So yesterday for eg I had a banana before work, a gut friendly yoghurt mid morning, a bowl of savoury rice (home made with boiled rice and a bag of frozen micro veg) with some chicken and then a banana muffin (home made like banana loaf but put into fair cake cases) and a few breadsticks. I had stomach pain after eating the rice and chicken. Which is why I didn’t have tea. I ate the muffin around 8pm as I hadn’t eaten but also had stomach pain then.
i have my Xmas staff meal on Saturday and am dreading it as I don’t feel I can eat much at all these days. Or I will end up spending half the meal at the loo.

I do have IBS and think I have mucked up my digestive system by my limiting intake.

I don’t know much about Ibs so take this with a pinch of salt, but I wonder if it’s a volume nd fibre problem. You are eating physically very little and so it may be moving through your system too quickly, if you can built up it might help, so add a bag of wilted spinach to the rice, lightly cooked broccoli on the side, baked sweet potato etc. Might so be worth looking at rote in as long term that low an intake with those sorts of foods will be challenging.

Not enough fibre.

I have to ensure I eat fibre else Im in the same boat, too much and it's the other way around. So I need to plan my meals and make sure it is balanced

So the day you log there , wasnt so bad, but change the rice to brown rice and dump white bread

A perfect balanced day for me ( and no its not perfect for everyone ) is greek yoghurt and frozen berries with oatmeal stirred in - protein and fibre

Lunch would be an open sandwich using German dark Rye. It's very dense and one slice is plenty. On that I would put a slather of grated beetroot , then some sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, top with rocket or spinach, then dollop on fat free cottage cheese and top with a tin of mackerel or sardines or some chicken mini fillets

Dinner - if Im still hungry will be protein - fish, chicken , turkey, eggs - carby veg - broccoli , carrots, turnips etc, If I haven't had the above for lunch then I will be hungry for dinner so will swap things about a bit - have brown rice, couscous, quinoa, beans, wholewheat pasta along with whatever it is my protein is - so maybe a turkey bolognese with spinach, and mushrooms added ( and red lentils for the protein and filling properties ) on whole wheat pasta, or a chicken, chickpea and cauliflower curry with brown rice

I also keep the cheese intake low, if I eat too much cheese - Im in trouble

Yes your tummy and bowels will take a battering when going through a change of eating habits. I changed my diet near on three years ago now and I can absolutely no longer eat a Chinese take away - the salt and sugar keep me up all night, Ive a thirst I cant quench and yep, Im on the loo a lot the next day

Funnily enough a Christmas dinner will have me bound up - too much meat and not enough veg ( when eating out )

Well done on your weight loss , you will find out what does what to you as you go along and know what to avoid. And the smaller you become the less calories you need so you are going to be eating more veg to fill you then you are now . I rarely go above 1200 calories and most days only eat twice, am not walking around looking skeletal and can still do five miles a day

Stomach bug? Lots going around near Christmas.

I have IBS and have since I was 27, I'm 44 now, I do have to reduce carbs especially bread or they trigger me. Dairy does too. What you've eaten is quite carby and sugary, banana, rice, banana muffin and breadsticks, they would totally trigger my IBS. try to focus on higher protein and low carbs, I've lost 4 stones in 14.5 months doing this and haven't had a single ibs episode in that time.

if this is your typical diet for the last 2/3 months and it’s only in the last week that you’ve had an upset tummy I’d be inclined to think it’s a tummy bug rather than anything else