Anyone experienced bloating/heaviness when starting to eat “recommended” no of calories?

Kittyy1994

Hi there, I recently joined again to check in with logging as I felt like I was possibly underrating a bit. (Recently increased from exercising 3-4 days to 6) wanted to make sure I am fuelling properly.

With all my data put into MPF I am recommended just over 2000 calorie service a day.

I have eaten to this number for only 2 days so far but I found that I feel I am eating too much! I have been eating every 3 hours or so and both nights have had terrible bloat/puffy tummy.

Am wondering if anyone else experienced this when starting out and trying to eat a bit more. Will the bloating and this feeling go away once my body gets used to eating more?

Thanks x

quiksylver296

Did you increase the amount of fiber you're eating? Are you including high calorie/low volume foods like peanut butter, full-fat dairy, etc?

hipari

Did you just increase total volume of food, or did you also introduce some foods you weren’t eating before, or drastically increased the amount of a specific food? The bloat might be caused by something disagreeing with your tummy. Luckily you probably have complete food logs to review so you can try finding the culprit

AnnPT77

Even without a food sensitivity or allergy, if you're eating differently, it can take the body a short time period to adapt.

If there's more fiber in your diet (more veggies, fruits, whole grains), then make sure you're getting enough water and fats (not crazy much, but adequate minimums).

Most people don't realize that food choices and gut microbiome are inter-related. (Heck, some people still don't realize they even have a gut microbiome. ). You digest your food, but you also have literally trillions of bacteria in your digestive tract - bacteria that are genetically not you, and that add up to a couple hundred grams of outsiders living inside your body! - and those little guys are very important to you actually digesting and getting all the good stuff out of the food you eat.

When you change the composition of your eating, you need a somewhat different distribution of bacteria - more of some, less of others. Until that balances out, there can be some unusual effects, even some mild discomfort. It can take up to a couple of weeks or so to sort out. Meantime, some no-longer-needed bacteria are complaining/dieing, and needful ones are breeding and growing, so that you have the population mix you now need. Kinda scary, innit?

It can be useful to phase in major dietary changes gradually.

None of that should cause major discomfort. If you have major problems, consider allergies or sensitivities, maybe see your doctor.

If major dietary changes but minor discomfort - gas, bloat-y feeling, constipation or slight looseness, but nothing hugely major - it may be an adaptation issue. If so, dropping back to a gradual phase in of the new eating style, or toughing it out, may be options.

Again: Any significant symptoms, see doctor.