My body looks awesome! When I'm not bloated....

fivefootfitness

Hi! I'm nearly a year into recovery from an eating disorder. At my lowest weight, I was very skinny fat-- all of my beautiful muscle was gone, but my stomach flab still plagued me. What made me look thin (brace for TMI) was that I was always a bit dehydrated and my bowels stayed pretty empty. Therefore, I looked pretty slim. I'm at a healthy weight now (I was never actually underweight at any point), with my muscle back. But even when I try to eat pretty well, I'm always bloated. I don't have BDD, I just recognize that my middle appears larger than my weight would have. I assume the it's the long-term results of IBS and my spikes in salt addiction?

Is it possible to achieve minimal water weight all the time? I know you can do things to temporarily lose water weight, but is it possible for water weight to stay/be minimal on a healthy body? I like to think that perhaps I can just make a dietary change rather than losing 5 vanity pounds to always look trim, you know?

No, I don't think I have celiac, but I do have an unknown flavoring/additive allergy.

LAWoman72

Most people aren't always bloated - if so, it's probably a question for your doctor. If you have IBS, you'll experience more bloating but again, that's something you should speak to your doctor about.

If you suspect food allergies, you can always try an elimination diet, adding one food (each week) individually to find out which set you off. Doctors can also run tests for certain food allergies.

But are you sure it isn't your ED/body image that's telling you that you look/feel bloated, simply because you're not empty all the time any more as you say?

Do you have a therapist you can ask about this? If it were me, I'd be going to my doctor for the physical part if it's actual bloating, and to the therapist if it might be just a question of how I was seeing myself in comparison to when I was in the throes of my ED.

Vune

I've been plagued by GI problems at every weight I've been. My last ditch effort, after my latest battery of tests (the diagnosis for my stomach pain is gastritis, from the Latin for "stomach pain"), I've decided to take matters into my own hands. I'm eating tiny portions more frequently for better digestion. I'm eating all the fiber every day. I'm drinking the recommended water. I'm eating fruits, vegetables, and lean meats, and seasoning by hand, rather than anything premixed. Even salad dressing. Grains on the weekend, since I don't have celiac, and I'm too lazy to cook them during the week.

It's been working so far. My belly bloat has decreased on a day to day basis, but a big meal will have me bloated and stuffed in 20 minutes. It's a lot more attention paid to food than before, but I'm also not up at 3am with a painful, bloated stomach. It's sort of sad that I discovered that the best way to heal my stomach is to not abuse it...

Of course, this may not work for you, but it's worth a mention, right?

LKArgh

Are you into therapy? does your support team know about these thoughts?