[Thin Desire]

I think this is kinda weird but it's something I've found, but it may be TMI, I'm sorry. I have terrible problems with constipation often when I eat healthy, particularly when I eat lots of bread and cut out soda. I'm sensitive to most fruits and veggies which makes it difficult.

And, so it may be a few days before I can go to the bathroom. The odd part is, I have noticed that at it's worst, I will actually lose a lb or something. My guess is the body is pulling in all that excess water in hopes of trying to expel the waste. The odd part is, it's just water redistribution in that case, but nevertheless I have consistently noticed I will have this small loss if I am overly impacted, and may actually see a slight increase in my weight the next day AFTER I go, lol. Not often, but sometimes.

Has anyone else come across this phenomenon? I know I kinda have a freakish metabolism as it is, it's why I can only speak in generalities. I have gained on 800 calories a day and lost on 10,000, lol, and everything in between.

[geoblewis]

I often lose weight after a big BM. I don't always have BMs everyday. The less I eat, the less often I go. Even if I've eaten a lot of veggies. I've even had some of that Super Dieter's Tea with senna in it that's supposed to make you go, and I don't for at least 24 hours. For me, I think it's a matter of not having eaten enough to move anything out. I make sure to get at least 30 gm of fiber. I make sure to eat spinach because it has magnesium in it and that's supposed to make you go.

Why do you think your metabolism is freakish? The gaining/losing on any given day is mostly from water. I know that I can physically eat half a pound of food but realize a three pound gain because it happens to be a food that requires more water to process.

What kind of bread are you eating, and are you drinking enough water?

[krampus]

I am ALWAYS constipated when I am eating clean and light at loss levels. I took the maximum dose of a pretty powerful laxative because I couldn't stand it this week. What happens to me is that I swell up and bloat from all that backup and completely lose my appetite. I drink twice as much water as is recommended, eat vegetables and oatmeal, cook with oil and drink a lot of coffee, so I get really frustrated when I am rewarded with constipation.

The only thing that makes me "go" naturally seems to be binge eating or grossly overeating fatty carbs, and that is totally counterproductive to weight management.

I've not noticed the phenomenon you mentioned. I just watch the number on the scale go up with the number of days since last poo and get really upset about it, ha.

[Lovely]

You're sensitive to fruits and veggies, but there are others ways to get in fiber... beans is the first thing that came to my mind. You say you have issues when you eat a lot of bread, but the bread itself might not have a lot of fiber (depending on the kind you eat) so it could just be a lump of non-fiber carbs going through your system. Also, sometimes too much dairy can cause constipation.

Not only will having enough fiber help, but having a healthy amount of fat in your diet can, uh, ease the way so to speak.

Not everyone even at their healthiest will go each and and every day. That being said, do look over what you're eating.

[LeighM]

I have always had trouble with constipation. It got alot worse when I changed my eating to healthier. I take miralax every night and no more problems. My docotor said it is safe to take indefinitely as it is not a laxative. I always seem to lose after going though not gain. Good luck

[shishkeberry]

For those of you with constipation, blueberries always work for me. Just half a cup of them at breakfast has me going by noon.

[Beach Patrol]

You may not be getting enough magnesium in your diet. A simple dosage of magnesium pills (I usually take 3 or 4 per day, twice a day) can get things moving along as they should.

Milk of Magnesia is also helpful and is safe enough to take several times a week or even every day. Just don't take too much unless you want to live in the bathroom!!

[Thin Desire]

That's interesting, I'll keep that in mind about the Magnesium! And, yeah I forgot about the grape family, Grapes loosen me up as well as cherries. Mostly my problem fruits are apples, oranges, pineapple, etc. Anything acidic. Causes dry mouth swelling, but I'm good with bananas or grapes and such.

About the water, yeah I drink tons of water, like 8 8 oz glasses a day. At minimum, I'm getting 32 oz per day. It does nothing for the stool by itself for me. It remains dry unless I give it some help. It's horrible, I just can't go through this too much longer. The problem is economics right now. I am completely dependent on others for my dietary needs, and I have to do calorie counts and work around, it's really, really beyond frustrating.

With my own money, I'd do a world of difference, as I have in the past.

Krampus, that's interesting what you say about your experience. So it can't be a genetic factor with Japan, it's got to be cultural. I wonder what it is that the average thin Japanese person eats that gets things moving softly. The entire nation can't be suffering the horrors of constipation, lol.

I am an anglo American, but I have a Filipina stepmother. I believe the Philippines obesity rate is even less than Japan's, something like 2.9% compared with Japan's 4.1%. Somewhere around Vietnam's and just ahead of countries like Chad and Mali.

She is extremely thin around 78 lbs when I first met her, but probably around 95-100 right now. So I had already lost 150 lbs when I first got to know her, and I'd be getting to a normalish, mid-range obese range and people would be telling me how good I looked and that I should "quit", while she was "disgusted" by my "lazy" self and that I had no "self respect" because of my size, and so she'd probably not see me as thin until I hit the 140-160 range, it just makes me feel like a monster.

Truth be told 160 is my ultimate goal as well, but I will do a full account when I hit 200 and see where it goes from there, how I look and if it's easy to maintain and whatnot. I'm a long way from there though.

At any rate, thanks everyone. I like the idea about getting more beans into my diet, that makes sense that chili helps loosen me up! And, I never really gave it thought that store-bought white bread might actually be low in fiber and just have carbs, interesting. I kinda took it for granted that all bread had fiber, that makes a lot of sense.

[Esofia]

Linseed is excellent too. Take about 2 tbsp of the whole seeds with 2 glasses of water, though you may need more than one dose.

[Sunshine87]

Thank you for posting this. I was just going to start a new thread until I stumbled in here. I have gained 2lbs in the last 9 days on a perfect diet but I have not gone to the bathroom at all in that time frame. I have taken over 12 milk thistle pills in the last 3 days and it is not working. I will start with some of your suggestions. Thank you.