2.5 Months in... Tummy Troubles

sunshineallthetime4

Alright, MFP friends... maybe some of you have experienced this..

I can tell I am getting stronger -- I can feel better definition in my abs/core for sure. However, the way my body composition seems to be changing feels and looks odd. I feel like my stomach has a strong slab of muscle underneath that has sort of "pushed" a fluffier little layer of fat to the front of my abdominals. It makes me look bloated and puffy all the time, though to the touch my abdomen's actually pretty hard.

(I drink TONS of water... usually 10-16 glasses a day.. so I don't think the bloating is a sodium/retention issue.)

It sounds crazy, I know.. but has anyone else experienced this and is it normal? Any explanations as to why this happens? :noway:

Fit_French

That happened to me ALL THE TIME and I didn't know why. I ate clean and healthy, had cheat meals but far and few between I just didn't get it. I cut out dairy but it didn't help so I cut grains ie pasta, bread, muffins, pancakes, quinoa, couscous, brown rice, whole wheat and whole grain and then after a day or 2 of no grains TADA!!!! It was like magic lol no more puffy bloated stomach and I could see my abs a little. Needless to say I was super excited but thats what worked for me. Stupid industrial revolution and their grains!

yellknrb

That is an aweful lot of water. There is such a thing as having too much water.

"In humans the kidneys control the amount of water, salts and other solutes leaving the body by sieving blood through their millions of twisted tubules. When a person drinks too much water in a short period of time, the kidneys cannot flush it out fast enough and the blood becomes waterlogged. Drawn to regions where the concentration of salt and other dissolved substances is higher, excess water leaves the blood and ultimately enters the cells, which swell like balloons to accommodate it.

Most cells have room to stretch because they are embedded in flexible tissues such as fat and muscle, but this is not the case for neurons. Brain cells are tightly packaged inside a rigid boney cage, the skull, and they have to share this space with blood and cerebrospinal fluid, explains Wolfgang Liedtke, a clinical neuroscientist at Duke University Medical Center. "Inside the skull there is almost zero room to expand and swell," he says." Full Article @ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=strange-but-true-drinking-too-much-water-can-kill

Good luck.

sunshineallthetime4

Haha, yes, I know there's such a thing as too much water... but that's MUCH more than I'm drinking. 128 oz of water a day is not bad for you, especially if you are exercising and sweating out quite a bit as well.

Scary story, though, about the lady in that contest!

sunshineallthetime4

That happened to me ALL THE TIME and I didn't know why. I ate clean and healthy, had cheat meals but far and few between I just didn't get it. I cut out dairy but it didn't help so I cut grains ie pasta, bread, muffins, pancakes, quinoa, couscous, brown rice, whole wheat and whole grain and then after a day or 2 of no grains TADA!!!! It was like magic lol no more puffy bloated stomach and I could see my abs a little. Needless to say I was super excited but thats what worked for me. Stupid industrial revolution and their grains!

I have definitely been cutting back my grains more and more since starting MFP.. Though I haven't noticed a substantial change in belly bloat, I can DEFINITELY tell that my energy levels are more stable, my allergies are much better (yay for no more swollen glands!), and I don't get painful, achy joints like I used to. It's crazy to realize the negative effects I was never even aware of until I starting avoiding it. Last week I was on a business trip and had to eat it on a few occasions and MAN it made me feel horrible! Glad you've had such great results from cutting it out!!

I haven't tried cutting out dairy though... will have to consider it.

Thanks for the help!