help I get constipated!

I'm eating a whole cup of peaches or pears with one packet of oatmeal with apples and cinnamon. I couple of slices of 98% fat free ham. Salad with cottage cheese (nonfat) no dressing. skinless, boneless chicken breast, yougurt 100 cal. non fat. half a cup of fiber one. Some sugar in Pero ( an imitation coffee no cals) diet soda. Toast with margarine and peanut butter. I'm eating the fruit every day. Also the salad, every day.

It sounds like you are getting enough fiber, but when you add fiber, you also have to add water.  Try drinking more, and see if that helps.

I supplement magnesium. Somehow I tend to not absorb it properly yet so I have to supplement daily, for now anyhow.

so i have this problem also. i eat enough fiber and started drinking enough water. i get constipation and been staying bloated for weeks now. so the magnesium helps.

I am getting constipated from the increase in protein I need because I workout so hard. I'm going back to my high fiber diet in order to help this problem. Let me not even talk about how frustrated i feel today, and the forums that offer motivation are not doing anything for me. I'm doing exactly what CC has suggested for my goal. It just doesn't seem to be working. I just keep gaining and losing the same 3 lbs. Sorry to go off topic.
Just keep drinking a lot of water, and your body will get used to the increase in fiber, just give it some time.

Wyldemane, it is funny you mention the protein plugging you up b/c i noticed that since i have increased my protein b/c of hard workouts also over the last month i have been really bloated, do you think thta could be contributing to bloatedness?

Well, I'd say that when you get constipated, you automatically feel bloated. But, I know it's the protein that's my problem. nice to know someone else is seeing the same thing.

i am bloated 24/7 lately.

I at times have the same problem....You should watch the diet beverages (as well as the fake sugers added to protein powders, yogurt, etc)  Sucralose can make you really bloated (I am not sure if aspartame or Acesulphate potassium do too, but I think avoiding them is best)  Also, try adding flax seeds to your salads (or flax seed oil) as this usually helps.  It looks like you are not eating much in the way of fat, which does tend to plug people up.  I would increase the healthy fats like nuts, seeds, olive oil, etc.  and just keep drinking lots of water.  When you really need it health food stores carry laxative teas that I swear work better than the pharmacy stuff.  Hope this helps.

I agree:  Increase your water intake!  lkm

I seem to be searching the Mayo Clinic website a lot recently.  That's because it has so much accurate, reliable, easy to understand information.

Here's what it says about

Constipation

try staying away from dairy products for a while, and see if that is the cause of the constipation. I am suffering a lot right now myself.. and i have stopped taking milk for a while. I hope it helps. Milk is supposed to be nasty when you are constipated.

If you eat to much fibre and don't drink enough water it WILL have the opposite effect and constipate you....Need to up the water intake...I have been medically following a VERY VERY high fibre diet for the past 7 weeks...and the challenge I put forth to myself is to drink an 18 gallon jug of water a week...I go for a water refill each Friday...Works great for me cause as the week goes on and the water jug doesn't go down....I have to drink up....

i have been drinking more water, seemed to help a little. i am having a problem now that every time i eat i get really really bloated and gassy and upset stomach...

I never know how much water to drink when I read about drinking plenty of water.  I tried taking FiberOne (I think that is what it is called... a white fiber powder) and it made me worse than before I took it.  A year ago I had to take iron supplements due to anemia so the doctor had me take  colacse (spelling?), then I became too reliant on it, taking 2 a day.  Sometimes, when I felt really bloated I would use ex-lax, just recently I tried Milk of Magnesia and that seemed ok... I tried using smalled amounts but then had problems all over again.  It is a visious circle... I know that I tie this in too much with weight gain too and would sometimes take a laxative if I gain a pound or two so it feels like I am in over my head at times.

Artyeye, if you have a problem w/bloating does the milk of magnesia work for that??

how much fat are you getting? it doesn't sound like much...

if you are asking me i eat either lean ckn/turkey/fish daily. also usually eat some peanut butter daily.

I've been having the bloating problem lately too, must be the higher fiber w/not enough water.  Guess I need to put the Diet Dew down & guzzle some H20!

One thing to consider when switching to a high-fiber diet is that you shouldn't transition from 15 g fiber/day to 40 g fiber/day over night.  This should be done slowly, such as increasing 5 g/day more each week until you get to your goal.  When you dramatically increase your fiber intake, your body isn't as shocked and can more appropriately adapt to the change.  However, if you do increase your intake quickly, your body will eventually catch up.  Key word, eventually.   But this is assuming adequate water intake.  For women, this is 2.7 L/day for an inactive person.  It goes up for those who are active.

I've been through what you have and have seen the detrimental effects.  It took several months for my body to adapt to the sudden change, but now I feel even worse if I miss out on my daily fiber! 

You didn't say what kinds of veggies were in your salad and you didn't say if your fruit was canned or fresh or if your ttoast was wholegrain or white....Hmmm...I have to say that increasing my RAW veggie and fruit intake along with increasing good fats has fixed all my plumbing problems. It could be that you need more fresh foods and oils and less of the 'canned' fiber, because it's also about fat intake, volume of material, and water intake.

Minerals and milk products can stop things up and so can white bread. I say increase your fresh fruit and veg consumption, drink a bit more water. Eat frequent snacks of raw apple, plum, celery etc- not canned stuff of course. Also, adding a fish oil supplement might help too. Flax seeds too.