Can you hide severe bloating with exercise?

jennagirl240
jennagirl240 Posts: 7 Member
edited November 23 in Food and Nutrition
I'm at a healthy weight. I could lose about 5 pounds but overall I'm at a healthy weight. I have severe bloating that gets worse after each meal (no matter what I eat) and makes me look several months pregnant and have a muffin top which I've never had before. My question is, can you hide this with a lot of core exercises to where my stomach looks flat and normal?
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Replies

  • jennagirl240
    jennagirl240 Posts: 7 Member
    Why not deal with the cause of the bloating?

    Doctors don't know what's causing it and have been unable to figure that out for years. I'm sick of the bloating. It is extremely embarrassing. I can't wear ANYTHING even baggy sweaters without looking pregnant!
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    A muffin top is created when your clothes are too tight.
    Have you seen a Dr about the bloating?

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Why not deal with the cause of the bloating?

    Doctors don't know what's causing it and have been unable to figure that out for years. I'm sick of the bloating. It is extremely embarrassing. I can't wear ANYTHING even baggy sweaters without looking pregnant!

    Exercise won't help. Have you done FODMAP?
  • jennagirl240
    jennagirl240 Posts: 7 Member
    A muffin top is created when your clothes are too tight.
    Have you seen a Dr about the bloating?

    The muffin top has NOTHING to do with clothes. It's there even when I'm naked. The muffin top gets worse throughout the day and grows just like the stomach bloat from the front. The muffin top expands further out each time I eat.

    I've seen 20+ doctors about the bloating. They've ruled out anything serious. They have no idea what's causing it. But I also have a lot of swelling in my legs and breasts and arms. So it's not just my stomach. My stomach is the worst. But my legs "grow" over the course of the day too just like my stomach does.
  • jennagirl240
    jennagirl240 Posts: 7 Member
    Why not deal with the cause of the bloating?

    Doctors don't know what's causing it and have been unable to figure that out for years. I'm sick of the bloating. It is extremely embarrassing. I can't wear ANYTHING even baggy sweaters without looking pregnant!

    Exercise won't help. Have you done FODMAP?

    No I haven't but I get severely bloated with potatoes which is allowed on the FODMAP diet. I also get bloated with bananas and milk which are also allowed. I can't pinpoint it to a particular food but if I have potatoes the bloating and swelling is severe. I have a lot of nutritional deficiencies and hypoglycemia so I can't do any restrictive diet changes. But if it helps at all, I'm eating the same diet I've always eaten.
  • jennagirl240
    jennagirl240 Posts: 7 Member
    Why not deal with the cause of the bloating?

    Doctors don't know what's causing it and have been unable to figure that out for years. I'm sick of the bloating. It is extremely embarrassing. I can't wear ANYTHING even baggy sweaters without looking pregnant!

    Exercise won't help. Have you done FODMAP?

    No I haven't but I get severely bloated with potatoes which is allowed on the FODMAP diet. I also get bloated with bananas and milk which are also allowed. I can't pinpoint it to a particular food but if I have potatoes the bloating and swelling is severe. I have a lot of nutritional deficiencies and hypoglycemia so I can't do any restrictive diet changes. But if it helps at all, I'm eating the same diet I've always eaten.

    You can't pinpoint particular food, but you've just pinpointed 3 things that bloat you?

    :huh:

    It's every food. That's the point. Potatoes are the worst but even when I have no potatoes, milk, or bananas, the bloating is still severe. It doesn't matter what I eat. It's literally everything.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    Exercise can't do anything for bloating.

    Bloating is an inflammatory response by the body. It's basically fluid. Even if there was a magical way to stop it you wouldn't want to as the body is doing it to heal or process something.
    Short of keeping an extremely detailed timed diary of food vs symptoms I can't see how you can improve it.
  • jennagirl240
    jennagirl240 Posts: 7 Member
    Exercise can't do anything for bloating.

    Bloating is an inflammatory response by the body. It's basically fluid. Even if there was a magical way to stop it you wouldn't want to as the body is doing it to heal or process something.
    Short of keeping an extremely detailed timed diary of food vs symptoms I can't see how you can improve it.

    So is it food allergies? It does seem like an inflammatory response cause I'm having swelling all over. But how can I be allergic to everything I'm eating? I've kept a food diary before and I bloat after every meal so I really can't tell anything.
  • pamfgil
    pamfgil Posts: 449 Member
    Have you tried the gaps diet?
  • pamfgil
    pamfgil Posts: 449 Member
    And did they check your gut bacteria?
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    Is it bloating... Or just a distended belly from having eaten food?
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  • Redordeadhead
    Redordeadhead Posts: 1,188 Member
    Do you mind sharing how tall you are and your current weight?
    I'm wondering if you perhaps have a very small frame, and what looks like bloating might just be caused by the additional food in your stomach.
    Is the bloating painful, or do you experience any other side effects?
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    The bloating adds about five pounds, right? Kind of throwing it out there but have they checked for lymphedema?
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    Exercise can't do anything for bloating.

    Bloating is an inflammatory response by the body. It's basically fluid. Even if there was a magical way to stop it you wouldn't want to as the body is doing it to heal or process something.
    Short of keeping an extremely detailed timed diary of food vs symptoms I can't see how you can improve it.

    So is it food allergies? It does seem like an inflammatory response cause I'm having swelling all over. But how can I be allergic to everything I'm eating? I've kept a food diary before and I bloat after every meal so I really can't tell anything.

    You've been to 20 doctors and the topic of allergies never came up?
  • Cbean08
    Cbean08 Posts: 1,092 Member
    Are you 100% sure its connected to food and not something else either in the environment or in medication? What is a typical food day for you?
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    A muffin top is created when your clothes are too tight.
    Have you seen a Dr about the bloating?

    The muffin top has NOTHING to do with clothes. It's there even when I'm naked...


    Then it's not a muffin top. It's just additional fat.

    And this doesn't sound like bloating, if it's everything, as you mentioned.

  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    edited December 2017
    Deleted my comment.
  • jennagirl240
    jennagirl240 Posts: 7 Member
    You know, I'm out of here. Thanks for the non help. You're right, someone's stomach expands after they eat with each meal so much so that they look like they have a man's beer belly and are about to give birth. I mean you see that after everyone eats!! And the bloating is very uncomfortable. I get shortness of breath from it and can't move. I'm 5'3 and 130. The same weight I've been most of my life. Before I was 130, I was 114 and still looked 6 months pregnant and before that I was 102 and still looked 6 months pregnant.

    It's NOT additional fat. Oh yeah, you're right fat GROWS throughout the DAY. The muffin top and stomach expansion grows throughout the day. My bad. I didn't realize fat grows throughout the day. Thanks for informing me.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    edited December 2017
    When you mentioned shortness of breath, it made me think of something (not that I think it's even remotely likely, but just throwing it out there)... a (very short) friend of mine had to have a hysterectomy because of a large fibroid that would fill with fluid and cause her to have chest pain & shortness of breath, because of the infringement on the other organs. She didn't mention gastro-intestinal issues, but I can't imagine that they could have been avoided (I got the condensed version- hadn't seen her in 30 years). Might be worth a visit to an ob/gyn.

    At any rate, I agree with the previous poster- if there is pain present and it's interfering with your ability to live your life, you need to continue to follow up with a doctor. Other comments have held out rather specific possibilities that you haven't addressed or ruled out, so without more to go on, there's not much to be done here except say, "No, you can't hide bloating with exercise." Hope you feel better soon.
  • Redordeadhead
    Redordeadhead Posts: 1,188 Member
    You know, I'm out of here. Thanks for the non help. You're right, someone's stomach expands after they eat with each meal so much so that they look like they have a man's beer belly and are about to give birth. I mean you see that after everyone eats!! And the bloating is very uncomfortable. I get shortness of breath from it and can't move. I'm 5'3 and 130. The same weight I've been most of my life. Before I was 130, I was 114 and still looked 6 months pregnant and before that I was 102 and still looked 6 months pregnant.

    It's NOT additional fat. Oh yeah, you're right fat GROWS throughout the DAY. The muffin top and stomach expansion grows throughout the day. My bad. I didn't realize fat grows throughout the day. Thanks for informing me.

    Not quite sure what prompted this over-reaction. What I saw was people making suggestions, asking questions to clarify or try to identify possible causes, asking for additional information... sounds like attempts to help to me.
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  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    try2again wrote: »
    When you mentioned shortness of breath, it made me think of something (not that I think it's even remotely likely, but just throwing it out there)... a (very short) friend of mine had to have a hysterectomy because of a large fibroid that would fill with fluid and cause her to have chest pain & shortness of breath, because of the infringement on the other organs. She didn't mention gastro-intestinal issues, but I can't imagine that they could have been avoided (I got the condensed version- hadn't seen her in 30 years). Might be worth a visit to an ob/gyn.

    At any rate, I agree with the previous poster- if there is pain present and it's interfering with your ability to live your life, you need to continue to follow up with a doctor. Other comments have held out rather specific possibilities that you haven't addressed or ruled out, so without more to go on, there's not much to be done here except say, "No, you can't hide bloating with exercise." Hope you feel better soon.

    I've just had a hysterectomy last week due to this. (14cm growth)

    It doesn't go away, you are literally huge the whole time.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    try2again wrote: »
    When you mentioned shortness of breath, it made me think of something (not that I think it's even remotely likely, but just throwing it out there)... a (very short) friend of mine had to have a hysterectomy because of a large fibroid that would fill with fluid and cause her to have chest pain & shortness of breath, because of the infringement on the other organs. She didn't mention gastro-intestinal issues, but I can't imagine that they could have been avoided (I got the condensed version- hadn't seen her in 30 years). Might be worth a visit to an ob/gyn.

    At any rate, I agree with the previous poster- if there is pain present and it's interfering with your ability to live your life, you need to continue to follow up with a doctor. Other comments have held out rather specific possibilities that you haven't addressed or ruled out, so without more to go on, there's not much to be done here except say, "No, you can't hide bloating with exercise." Hope you feel better soon.

    I've just had a hysterectomy last week due to this. (14cm growth)

    It doesn't go away, you are literally huge the whole time.

    It sounded like this friend would have to go in and have the fluid drained occasionally and would get temporary relief. But admittedly, I don't know all of the details.
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