Dieting with Obstacles - Anyone deal with chronic constipation?

I'm wondering if anyone else deals with chronic constipation. I've never been officially diagnosed with IBS-C, but I have suffered this my entire life. I am a guy btw.

Basically it boils down to this: If I eat a lot of "crap" such as soda or lots of foods with fat, my bowels are fine and I am quite regular. But if I eat "healthy", and cut out the soda and fats, I am in total misery. My stool turns into a cement sludgy thing, sometimes I have to extricate (sorry for the TMI), and it can be very bloody and put me in miserable pain.

BUT, if I am drinking liberal amounts of soda, lots of sugary foods, and a generous amount of fat and chocolate, I am a-ok, my body couldn't be happier, no more constipation.

If I am doing "good" I am lucky if I have a BM once one to every two days. And, I have to strain to get it out. There is usually AT LEAST a little bit of blood often times. But it can go up to a week, and be quite impacted and uncomfortable.

So I cut out the pepsi, as I said, well a few weeks ago, I splurged and bought lots of pepsi cans. I was drinking about 8-10 cans per day. I know bad, but I had denied myself months. Thing is? No more constipation problems, nada. Diarrhea now, lol. But this is heaven compared to the pain of constipation and feeling bloated all the time. Sometimes I was going TWICE daily, which never, ever happens.

So like what gives? Why is my body a-ok and working when I eat "crap", but when I eat "healthy", I'm in utter misery. When I drink water only I feel tired, listless, and deal with extreme brain fog and it's hard to motivate me to do ANYTHING. When I'm drinking soda I feel like myself again, and I feel like I feel a LOT sharper. So maybe the local tap water is messed up? (It's filtered).

So I'm so frustrated, now for the "answer" to my problems, obviously I should just go with eating "crap". But the thing is I want to lose weight! And for the past year or more I have yo-yoed between 280 and 260 lbs up and down, up and down. I started off at 448, so I should be happy, but I have been a LOT thinner since (237), and want to make progress again.

And, it seems like everytime, I make progress, I have a constipation issue, which shoots me up about 5 lbs and it takes me weeks to lose that, or I stablize forever, because I can't have reliable daily BMs. I've talked to people at an IBS forum and they tell me not to concentrate on weight loss, but on fixing the issue, but I want to lose weight (!), lol.

How can I reconcile this paradox of losing weight and eating healthy, and keeping my stool soft and have regular BMs without chronic pain? Can anyone else relate? I feel like a freak, to where my body just works on the so called "junk foods". I'm also in a living situation where I have very little control over what I eat, which is a major problem, but with no income, very little I can do about it. So I am stuck with basically cereal and toast and water for the most part, weekends excepted. And yeah, cereal and toast can add up so I am getting plenty of daily cals. I've found the natural remedies such as prunes don't work, but it was suggested I try tea, but it seems to me that it's because of the caffeine, and again, it's just a socially acceptable "bad food" and I still have my issue, that I can't get my bowels moving properly without some kind of stimulant like fats or caffeine, and it's like...argh.

But anyway, any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

I guess no one, eh? For what it's worth, I didn't this for "shock value", though I should have put a TMI warning in the subject header. I'm just wondering if anyone has gone through similar and has any advice for me who has dealt with this problem before or who is going through similar.

I have a horrible problem with constipation also due to my medications. I'm also working to lose weight and just started so don't know how my body will react. However, I eat very little (usually) and can go months without going to the bathroom!! Not pleasant. If I had ur "problem" id take a day e ery week and chug sodas!!!! :). Sorry for no answer.....

I do, due to some physical structural problems, as well as suspected IBS. The only thing that works? Daily Miralax, as approved by my doctor.

I don't often come to the common thread here, I usually just go to diabetics and don't check in here. I too suffer constipation under certain conditions.
Dairy can be a biggie for me, I suspect I have a lactose intolerance that is reversed, causing constipation instead of diarrhea, or constipation type IBS.
I can manage quite well with eating whole wheat foods, like sprouted grain breads, whole grain cereals etc. and got regular in my late teens by doing that.
Until I became pre-diabetic.
The only time I have successfully lost weight was doing atkins. It helps too that I can control my blood sugars by diet alone with closely following atkins. But I get quite constipated. I take fibre supplements, but they don't help much, and do resort to either taking a laxative or eating a bowl of shreddies at least once a week. BUt I also eat a fair amount of cheese on atkins, which may make it worse. My metformin that I take to help control blood sugars, makes most people have loose stools, but I have not had that side effect.
So I don't have a lot of advice, except to increase fibre since it can't hurt, and drink a ton of water. WHen you don't drink soda, do you substitute water? or nothing?

I can relate to your frustration with constipation--makes one feel sluggish, bloated and stressed b/c no weight loss for days. As you say, the worst thing is that eating bad foods relieves it! Very tempting

And for me, drinking lots just makes more urine; the fluids don't go where I want them to go--to the bowel. Not fair!

I don't know what to suggest, just wanted to offer support and tell you you are not alone. Maybe exercise such walking would help move things.

Are you able to talk to a doctor about this?

Congratulations on your major weight loss so far! You have done so well--don't give up.

All I can suggest for right now is lots of fiber and lots of water. You could try taking some mineral oil. That could help as well. I'm going to have to bust out my nursing books and see what they suggest, see if I can give you any more advice.

Congrats on your weight loss so far, that's pretty dang awesome!

Thank you guys for the encouraging words. {{}} I'll just keep truckin as it were.

I drink lots of water, lots of fiber in my diet, fresh fruit and veggies, fiber one bars and fiber one cereal daily, even Benefiber in tea somedays and I too suffer from some big bouts of constipation. When I was eating regular fast food and 'bad' food I would have daily BM's, now I am lucky if its every 2-3 days and is quite painful (with blood too) I changed my diet about 7 months ago, I was hoping it was just an inital starting problem due to my diet change but nope...every day battle.

I feel your pain! Literally!

You can eat a little barley every day and the constipation will go away. It helps the intestines make mucus to push the stool along.

But I just eat 2 tablespoons of raw pumpkin seeds every day. And then I have no problems. I buy them at the health food stores, but Trader Joe's also sells them, as do Mexican import stores. A few of my friends that suffered for years now eat the pumpkin seeds and have no more problems either.

Natural foods and remedies are the best.

:smug:

I have to do milk of magnesia a lot ... it is so perverse that eating bad (and drinking liquor) relieves it, whereas eating clean aggrevates the problem!

You can eat a little barley every day and the constipation will go away. It helps the intestines make mucus to push the stool along.

But I just eat 2 tablespoons of raw pumpkin seeds every day. And then I have no problems. I buy them at the health food stores, but Trader Joe's also sells them, as do Mexican import stores. A few of my friends that suffered for years now eat the pumpkin seeds and have no more problems either.

Natural foods and remedies are the best.

:smug:

Intriguing, I'm gonna give that pumpkin seeds thing a try! Where do you get barley?

Thin Desire,
This is a problem I have struggled with as well. For me, increasing water & or fiber doesn't work. Like you, BM's use to happen when I ate crap, which always included plenty of fat. People on Low Carb Boards often post that as long as they eat enough fat, they have no constipation. This is probably different for everyone, but I am willing to give it a try. I do not want to go back to consuming sugar, but I am willing to go a little lower on carbs to keep calories at maintenance (for me), so I can increase the fat. I have read it takes a few weeks for your body to adjust. I'll let you know if it starts to make a difference.

Smooth move tea (available @ Target) I love it! Im with you...I only go "regularly" about once a week and I get migranes from it.

Another suggestion would be if you are able to go to an allergist to make sure you are not sensitive to any foods. I found out that im allergic to tomatoes and when I eat them my constipation is MUCH worse.

Also coffee in the morning can get things moving...but the fact that your poo gets bloody must be a tad scary. ((hugs))
I hope you get some good ideas through your post.

Hello,

I also suffer from constipation and my nutritionist advised me to drink a glass of water with the juice of half a lemon in the morning on an empty stomach. It relieved things a little bit but I am not always able to drink lemon water in the morning. Sometimes I just take herbal tea to help me.

I hope this helps.. and congratulations on your weight loss.

Thin Desire-

Me too :( I've had the problem for about a decade. It is miserable. I have always wondered how much a part it plays in my weight. Seems like if things aren't moving, my metabolism might slow or something. Or all the weight of the stuff I should be getting rid of still sitting in my gut lol, a gross thought but I'd be lying if I said I don't think about it.

I keep thinking about that old rumor about John Wayne, how it was said he had 40 pounds worth of backed up gunk in his intestines when he died.

Am I just one giant poo away from being skinny? :P I'd like to think so....

I have literally tried everything, even two prescriptions from my doctor. Everything tends to work for a bit and then my body gets used to it and I'm right back with the same problem.

The thing I have found to be the best of all I've tried is senna. It's in the smooth move tea another poster mentioned, and comes in several forms. I'm not a tea drinker myself, so I take it in capsules. There is a brand called "super colon cleanse" I buy at walgreens, they also have a generic that's exactly the same....it's the high dosage that works. I use it when it gets unbearable and it does get things moving, even in my colon full of concrete.

I have not tried to use it long term, as the bottle says not to use it all the time....but my doc did give me the ok to take it indefinitely. I guess I'm just worried I will overuse it and it won't work when I'm desperate (as that's been the case with everything else).

I take a fiber supplement 3x/day (benefiber) and Colace (per Dr's reccomendation, it is not a laxative, but a stool softener so with Dr's OK you can take it every day). I would highly recommend you see a gastroenterologist if you have bleeding and chronic constipation because you could have an underlying illness that can cause severe problems if left unchecked.

I find that I do not tolerate a lot of grains. I can have brown rice once or twice a week but if I have white rice I get myself in trouble. Make sure you do eat healthy fats like olive oil. I have to eat at least 3 cups per day of vegetables (cooked work better) to stay regular without supplements. Also I cannot eat bananas at all or they back me up for days.