Hello :)

Hi there!

Just wanted to pop in and say hello. After some IBS issues this past week (and my desire to get in better shape and lose a little weight) I've decided that a food diary is something I need to be doing so that I can better pinpoint which foods irritate my stomach and so on. It just so happens that a food diary doubles as a good tool for getting healthy and in shape, so I'm using this site to kill two birds with one stone -- keep track of food for stomach issues AND to help me lose the weight I've been wanting to lose by letting me also track my exercise along with my food.

Today is it, it's time to get in shape and be healthy And if you're like me, when you feel "fat" you don't feel good about yourself. I'm tired of feeling this way, so it's good to be here! Ideally I'd love to lose 15 lbs or so, but I don't want to set a goal that's too high for now, so I've set it at 10. If I can reach that goal, I will re-evaluate whether or not I really need/want to lose another 5 and I can set a new goal from there. I hope that makes sense. Don't want to set myself up for failure if I have too big of a goal to start! I guess I can always adjust as needed.

Nice to meet everyone :flowerforyou:

Hi and welcome!!! A food diary is the latest proven, most effective way to lose weight (aside from diet and exercise of course!!) I went to the doc and thought I had IBS...it was really just lactose intolerance...try eliminating dairy. It has worked wonders. I also found that my belly issues (to put it nicely) cleared up even more after eating more healthfully!!!

Hi michnthecity!

I've gone to the emergency room with pain so bad I couldn't stand it multiple times now, and always told it's IBS. It's been 2.5 years since my last flare up that got THAT bad, but just last week we took a trip over to the hospital around 3am because of pain and the doc chalked it all up to IBS. It's frustrating, because there wasn't much they could give me for pain (I should backstory this and explain that I used to live in the states and have lived in Canada now for just over 2 years -- so my last big flare up that sent me to the hospital was when I was still living in Indiana and they gave me morphine for pain) -- I only go to the hospital when the pain has been just unbearable for several hours or more (this time around I waited it out as long as I could at 4 hours and then it was time to seek help for the pain) but here in Canada they gave me 600 mg of extra strength Ibuprofen and some more IBS literature. Plus the doctor gave me a new prescription. Back home in the states I was taking Levsin for awhile and when I moved to Canada that turned into Dicetel. The newest meds I was given is called Buscopan. I was also advised to stay off of dairy and caffeine for 2 weeks. It's been a bit of a challenge, but dairy is one of the major suspects for me. Usually things like lots of melted cheese (melted cheddar is the worst! very greasy) or creamy pasta sauces, which usually include a lot of cheese on top of that, set me off. I don't eat fried foods, pizza, or french fries already.

But I'm rambling! Haha. Thanks for the advice -- I've been doing a lot of reading up lately on IBS and it looks like I'll be carefully watching what I eat and seeing what else triggers pain along with the dairy and caffeine. I know personally I tend to feel like crap after drinking a little alcohol -- I drink so rarely anyway, but I've definitely cut it out for awhile to see. Our friends observed me not getting a drink or having any caffeinated beverages when we went out with the group from my husband's work on Friday and more than one person asked if I was pregnant. LOL!

Quick thought on the subject of dairy -- is it a lactose intolerance thing or is that completely different? Perhaps taking a pill for lactose intolerance before meals with dairy would help keep it from triggering the IBS? Or is that just wishful thinking? hehe