Bloating

Ok, so lately, I have been so bloated and soo constipated.  Gross -- yeah, I know :/  But anyways, everytime I eat something, no matter how many calories (small or large!) I always become bloated.  I don't know if its because I added yogurt to my diet or because I ate something I'm allergic to.  Or if it's because I'm eating too much sodium.  What can cause my bloating after eating?

Another thing is -- I got my period last month, but this month I didn't.  And I started to feel the bloating around the time I was suppose to get it -- but it never came.  Yet I'm still bloated.  Help please, moderators, anyone!

Edit:  I was also eating about 1200 calories, but I upped it to 1500 about a month ago.

I'm just coming back to calorie restriction after eating 2,100 on average daily for about 3 weeks. My aim for weight loss is about 1,500. Naturally, since my stomach has been expanded for awhile now, I'm still feeling the effects of all that food by terrible bloat, no matter how little (in bulk) I eat or how much I poo. I guess I have to wait for the stomach to shrink again. This could be part of your problem too. Since you've increased your  cals your stomach is expanding outwards temporarily to accommodate the extra bulk.

You might also be a little lactose intolerant? Try cutting out dairy for a week or 2 and see if it helps. If not, then take a look at your sodium and reduce that as needed. One thing at a time will help you pin-point the culprit better.

Be careful about missing periods. If you eat too little and you start starving your body, it'll shut down any systems it won't particularly need.. like baby making. Stress (either emotional or physical like overexercising) can also cause absent periods. If you're young, irregular cycles are common and no cause for concern.

You can also try these remedies to ease bloating while you're figuring it all out.

I also think the bloating is the cause for my 2 lb gain.

Thanks for the advice.  I'm gonna stop eating yogurt now, and see if it works.  And I also reduced my sodium a little. Hopefully it does.  But I can't believe this could be happening eating 300 calories more!  This stinks!  Thanks again.

I actually have a book that has a page full of things to help with bloating and constipation. Hope these help you

Bloating:

• Drink liquids 20-25 before meals or one hour after meals, don't drink with you meals.
• Eat dinner early. Eating late depletes the stomach of fluids at a time when its energy is at its weakest.
• Food combine, i.e. don't eat fruit with any other food, don't eat protein and grains together.
• Eat when you're relaxed.
• Eat slowly and chew thoroughly, and eat smaller meals.
• Drink peppermint and fennel teas.

Constipation:

• reduce consumption of dairy, meats, saturated fats, spicy or hot foods, sugars, and coffee.
• increase fruit, green vegetables, sprouted seeds, whole grains, plenty of rest, plenty of fluids, eat slowly and chew food thoroughly.

Good luck, hope this advice helps you! 

Just FYI - even if you are lactose intolerant, you may be able to eat the yogurt...the sugar lactose is already naturally broken down by the process in which the yogurt is made.

Thanks for the info.

Yeah, I've been drinking tons of liquids, but I don't normally drink anything with my meals or even after for a while.  I do tend to eat fruit w/ crackers.  So maybe I'll try eating it alone.  And I eat 6-7 meals a day, very slowly.  But I'll start the food combining.

As for the constipation, I don't eat much dairy -- maybe like 3-4 times a week.  And I don't eat sugar or much meat.  But I will try eating way more veggies! 

Yeah, I googled that on the internet, however, everytime I eat yogurt, my stomach expands a lot and sometimes it hurts.  But I was also wondering if something that I was allergic to could of caused my weight gain and bloating.  Like last week, I had peanut butter even though I'm allergic!  It was all we had to eat.  So I guess that can cause bloating for a while?  How long should the allergy work inside your system?

Why on earth are you eating foods you are allergic to? I understand if you have nothing else, but that just means it's time to go shopping. That's not a good thing to put your body through, it has reactions for a reason. I'm allergic to all nuts except peanuts, almonds, and macadamia. I certainly would never shovel cashews into my mouth just because I was hungry, fully knowing what my body's reaction would be. To me, that just seems like a waste of calories when you can't even enjoy it.

hi im a pharmacy student,

well bloatiness generally i would recommend motilium it helps with bloatiness, quezziness etc.

but imodium, or loperiamide would help with constipation there are more natural ones like dulphalax, laxose, senokot also.

you could also just try increasing your fibre levels with fybogel which would help with constipation which can often occur if you excess on fruits etc.

but.. fibre often causes bloatiness cause of the gases produced.

in any case i hope this helps!

unouno

I went through about 6 months like this a year or so ago--bloating, consto. I ended up stopping wheat and cutting down on fruit and that seemed to do the trick (fructose malabsorption is a digestive problem and wheat can be broken down into fructans--not the same as gluten intolerance or celiac).

Luckily, after about 6 months I could eat wheat again....never did figure out why. I went to several doctors when I was trying to figure it out but all test came up negative.

But...also...if you're feeling bloated and you missed your period...what about a pregnancy test??  When I got preggers I definitely felt bloated in the first couple weeks before I took the test...

have you taken a pregnancy test?

I don't know, it was stupid of me.  But how long can the affects or symptoms of food allergy bloating last?  I'm still bloated to this day!  I even took benadryl but nothing!

Original Post by ginamero:

have you taken a pregnancy test?

 Nope.  I'm not pregnant, never have.  lol

Original Post by liannasmith:

I went through about 6 months like this a year or so ago--bloating, consto. I ended up stopping wheat and cutting down on fruit and that seemed to do the trick (fructose malabsorption is a digestive problem and wheat can be broken down into fructans--not the same as gluten intolerance or celiac).

Luckily, after about 6 months I could eat wheat again....never did figure out why. I went to several doctors when I was trying to figure it out but all test came up negative.

But...also...if you're feeling bloated and you missed your period...what about a pregnancy test??  When I got preggers I definitely felt bloated in the first couple weeks before I took the test...

 LOL.  I'm not pregnant. But that is totally weird on the wheat/fructose issue.  I don't eat wheat but I do eat fruit.  A banana a day.  Hmmm...I'm not sure.