Featherweights- Does this happen to you? (bloating, temporary gain) - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

mca10 · 09-27-2011, 11:43 PM

Hello all-
Ever since I hit the 120's as my all time low (128) I've started to take breaks from dieting. I haven't stopped working out and still workout (run 3 miles (30min total) mon-thur, 8-9min mile fri-sun and 3-4miles on bike fri-sun) every single day and lift as well (3-4 times a week, one day interval training).
My diet is fine 5 days out of the week where I'm eating between 800-1000 calories a day with a lot of protein it's hard for me to eat more with the amount of protein I'm eating.

Sometimes I go off my diet on Fridays and Saturday's and I eat between 1500-1800 calories but I eat foods that I don't ever allow for instance I might have some bread or a piece of pizza.

Since I started this I'm gaining/bloating up right after my meal and my belly is hard and big I even noticed my breasts get larger and my thighs go up an inch! This even happens when I go off my diet and just eat at home. For example if I eat a bowl of fruit, gluten free pretzels and a little chocolate.

One night I had frozen yogurt and my pants didn't fit the next day.

Usually I eat very well but might share a dessert when I go out to eat. I am aware of salt but is it really possible to be bloating up so soon after a meal?

Does anyone else experience a gain like this when you eat a little bt more? I don't understand how it happens over night and how my clothes don't fit! It takes almost two weeks of perfect eating to get rid of it. Does anyone know why this happens? It can't simply just be salt because it also happens when I have food without salt.

Is this fake weight and is it going to happen every time I eat off my diet/start
To maintain?

Sorry for the long rant and post any help is appreciated!

indiblue · 09-28-2011, 12:18 AM

I've been having really weird problems with bloating (and constipation

) as well. I have no idea what it is. I've cut out aspartame, most oil and fried things, and cut way back on grains (not that they were high to begin with). I feel better these days, but I think I have to be EXTREMELY careful with my salt intake.

My bloat too happens right after a meal. I really don't know what it is. I do think eating super-super clean/whole foods/homecooked helps.

So I suppose I don't have any advice really.. but I do know what you feel and it's hard! Maybe others will have suggestions

mca10 · 09-28-2011, 01:03 AM

Indiblu- yes! This is what's happening to me. Even if I eat clean (sweet potatoes, turkey chili and beet burger) and I'm under 1700 calories I blow up! I'm sure there was salt but it wasnt so much that my clothes shouldn't fit.

I can't tell if it's because I don't usually eat more than 1000-1200 with little carbs and no gluten and then when I do eat out of rane I'm eating carbs and gluten and maybe this is why?

I feel like I could be sensitive to gluten now and this is part of it. Anyone else experience this???

runningfromfat · 09-28-2011, 08:00 AM

Very, VERY normal!!!

There are a few things going on here:

1. You mention you introduce more carbs, specifically grains. When you add water to grains they expand so, hence, the bloating. I recently started seeing a nutritionist who has me introducing more fiber into my diet. For the first couple of weeks I was a lot more bloated. However, my body eventually adjusted and now it's back to normal.

2. When you're eating more calories you're eating more food. Your body also needs more time to adjust to digesting the sheer volume of the food. Again, this is something that it will adjust to overtime but it can make the number on the scale go up and make you feel bloated because of the undigested food.

3. If you're introducing greasy/high caloric foods, then, yeah, there can definitely get some digestion problems. There are some foods that I just can't eat and expect to have perfect digestion afterwards.

mca10 · 09-28-2011, 03:34 PM

Runningfromfat - on the days I didn't eat off plan I was eating salads, lean roasted turkey, salmon without oil or salt, and sometimes a green smoothie. Sometimes just salads and turkey.
The days I would go off my diet I would eat dried fruit, gluten free pretzels, chocolate, handful of almonds, fruit and this would be a good day! I would eat this in addition to eating a salad. clearly I was still hungry and would eat all that other stuff too, but I don't think I was eating so much that I would really gain.

I also went on a three week vacation and ate a lot. Bread, desserts, juice, ect. food I NEVER EVER EAT. When I came back the weight slowly started to come off but then for about 4 days total I went off my diet and did eat foods with larger amounts of salt.

Through it all I've kept up with my workouts. During my vacation I actually walked about 3-5 miles plus running and lifting plus cardio videos.

Does anyone think that the weight gain could be truly real? I just weighed myself today and I'm up 12lbs!!!!!!! How is this is possible? Can it really be from going out to eat and having carbs? does anyone think it will come off as fast as i gained it/in a month? That seems like a lot more than normal. Can this be bloat/retention/real? I'm so scared and pissed off at myself. This has never happened to me before and I'm a little freaked out.

I am back to eating on plan and I really hope this will come off in the next month.

Ahh thanks again everyone for reading. Just need to relax and listen to my fellow featherweights

runningfromfat · 09-28-2011, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mca10

Runningfromfat - on the days I didn't eat off plan I was eating salads, lean roasted turkey, salmon without oil or salt, and sometimes a green smoothie. Sometimes just salads and turkey.
The days I would go off my diet I would eat dried fruit, gluten free pretzels, chocolate, handful of almonds, fruit and this would be a good day! I would eat this in addition to eating a salad. clearly I was still hungry and would eat all that other stuff too, but I don't think I was eating so much that I would really gain.

I also went on a three week vacation and ate a lot. Bread, desserts, juice, ect. food I NEVER EVER EAT. When I came back the weight slowly started to come off but then for about 4 days total I went off my diet and did eat foods with larger amounts of salt.

Through it all I've kept up with my workouts. During my vacation I actually walked about 3-5 miles plus running and lifting plus cardio videos.

Does anyone think that the weight gain could be truly real? I just weighed myself today and I'm up 12lbs!!!!!!! How is this is possible? Can it really be from going out to eat and having carbs? does anyone think it will come off as fast as i gained it/in a month? That seems like a lot more than normal. Can this be bloat/retention/real? I'm so scared and pissed off at myself. This has never happened to me before and I'm a little freaked out.

I am back to eating on plan and I really hope this will come off in the next month.

Ahh thanks again everyone for reading. Just need to relax and listen to my fellow featherweights

I really do think a decent amount of weight gain can be from bloating. Goodness know I have a lot of problems with bloating and I've stayed on plan and still lose over time.

However, if you had a 3 week vacation and you were eating like that the entire time at least some of it is probably a real gain. Unfortunately, I can't say how much.

BTW, did you have a long car ride/flight coming back? That can cause MASSIVE water weight retention. I'm talking on about the order of 5lbs. At least that's the case for me.

indiblue · 09-28-2011, 10:39 PM

I ate out a few times recently in the span of 1-2 weeks, including a deadly bowl of miso soup!, and I think I gained about 6 lbs of water weight. It took a full ELEVEN days to come off... then I got constipated for 4 days... ugh it was awful.

After weighing in anywhere from 129-126 for a full week or so, then at 124-125 for another week (after being at 124 steadily for a while before all of this happened) I finally weighed in today at 123.0. Talk about a whoosh!

And at yoga yesterday my yoga teacher- who had just seen me exactly 1 week prior- told me it looked like I had lost weight since last week. I must have been quite bloated/back up/all sort of other fun stuff the last time she saw me... and now I was normal.

So I do believe you can gain a lot in water and other sorts of retention.

Yesterday I ate only sauteed vegetables with 1 tsp oil, yogurt and honey, pomegranates, cucumber, almonds, and some steamed fish with 2 bites naan and 2 tbs rice. Not entirely low carb due to the fruits and honey, but VERY low in grains. I'm going to keep it up for a while and see what happens. I feel awesome today and really don't want to return to what I felt like last week or the week prior :-/

mca10 · 09-28-2011, 11:06 PM

Indieblue- so happy for your whoosh! I know what you mean about being backed up and bloated after a meal or two off plan. Do you feel huge and do your pants feel tight/almost not fit? I didn't realize that bloating also meant that your clothes don't fit! This is the first time I've gained since losing a lot of weight and this is the first time I've worn jeans in almost ten years so this bloating and clothes not fitting is really new to me. I don't really know how it goes when you're a normal size.

After I came back from my 3 week vacation I didn't weigh myself. I knew that would depress me and I wanted to go right back to my diet but I've cheated about 4-6 days worth and it's been two weeks since I've been home. One week after I came back my jeans finally started looking right and they fit, they did NOT fit while I was away. Now they don't fit again but like you guys said I think it might be from bloating. It usually takes me about 2 weeks for bloat weight to go away for just 2-3 days of off plan eating.

Is it normal for 3 weeks worth of non-dieting to take a about 2-4 weeks to come off? Just curious if that's something that I'll just need to learn to deal with.

Runningfromfat- i didn't have a very long plane ride back. I think it's possible that it's mostly bloating and excess food/waste from vacation and a couple days (well more like 4-5) of binging (on healthy food this time!). IS that possible?

Ok last question to you skinny gals- do your pants sometimes not fit after eating off diet? I'm scared that every time I eat a sandwich (I currently don't eat them ever) that I will have to go back on a really strict low cal diet for two weeks just to get it off

thanks for the replies and insight!

indiblue · 09-28-2011, 11:21 PM

I don't really know- I have never experienced all this before! It's just happened in the past couple of months.

I do think it can take WEEKS to peel water weight off. I don't know how much you are drinking a day, but I have a 750 ml water bottle I refill about 3 times on a normal day, and 5-6 times when I was bloated.

I have recently had the feeling after eating (specifically dinner) that my pants were too tight around my stomach and I felt bloated and crampy. It was awful. That's why I'm being super careful about cutting out Diet Coke, almost all grains, and really cutting back on dairy (except for yogurt). I'm going to try to cut almost every possible "culprit" out and then add a few back slowly to see what happens.

All this said, I was explaining these experiences to a friend recently who said this happens to her every now and then. Sometimes the body gets sensitive and acts up a bit. So perhaps that's it. I don't know. Hope to figure it out soon

mca10 · 09-29-2011, 02:16 PM

Indieblue- This is very new to me too. I can't quite figure it out. I also don't understand my new need to binge. I've never binged in my life. When I was bigger I did eat a lot, but it's not like it is now where I'm so good all week and then friday night I have a relaxed attitude about sharing a small gluten free dessert and it ends up being a crazy over the top binge. I never had the urge to eat sugar before while trying to lose a lot and if I did I would have a small bite like the size of a dime or quarter. Now I can't control myself and it's a strange feeling since I controlled myself for 9-10 months with ease.

I'm also drinking a lot of water. I started to slack before and during vacation with it but now I'm back to drinking 192-200 ounces a day. So that's about 5600+ ml a day.

The good news is that I'm down almost 2lb. since yesterday. I really hope this is just bloat and retention and that the weight will come off. I just don't think I ate more than my maintenance plus an extra 3500 calories every single day. I don't think it happened once to be honest. I was sharing almost everything and working out everyday plus walking almost 5 miles a day.

I thought it boiled down to calories in/calories out. Eating maintenance plus 3500 extra calories a day to gain seems like a lot of food and I know I wasn't eating that much because when I binge I get super sick for days and I vomit and get diarrhea for days. I guess I'm having a hard time understanding and accepting that I might have gained some weight in such a small time. Doesn't 12lbs seem like a lot in 3 weeks?

Thanks again everyone it's nice to hear feedback from people who are also dealing with this.

christine123 · 09-29-2011, 04:26 PM

I am just gonna pop in here and say that I have been going thru this awful cycle of eating too much, then being OP for a few days, then eating too much, etc. Initially, I would retain and bloat SO MUCH from the high days that I could not zip pants that fit (they were not even snug normally). I actually had to unbutton them on the drive home from work one day because I bloated so fast and so bad during the work day from eating up to 1900 cals. The bloat would last for 2-3 days and then go down. As my body has adjusted to this ridiculous cycle, the bloat is not nearly as bad on my high days. It's almost like my body is no longer in shock and knows what to do with extra food. Perhaps your body will also adjust to the days you have carbs and a couple hundred more calories, and you won't bloat so bad. The 12lbs is water and will go down.

Ivonnely · 09-29-2011, 04:59 PM

,going through it as well.
I hit my all time low at 125 and wanted to go into maintenance. But no matter what I do, or eat, god forbid me to eat half a sandwich! I ballon up so fast and very extreme, would take days of "barely" eating anything for it to go away.
I am always tired, sleepy, and always hungry. I feel like I have a hunger that will never satisfy. If I eat anything, even yogurt, I will puff up.

It's so depressing

indiblue · 09-29-2011, 10:08 PM

I have been eating extremely clean the last few days and it's helped tremendously. I am eating no grains and moderate carb (150 g a day) mostly from fruit, beans, vegetables, and a few tsps of sugar or honey here and there. I did have a bite of my fiance's pasta last night and a few tsps of rice the night before, but nothing else.

I'm kind of afraid to eat grains again now! Which, as much as I love bread and such, may not be a bad thing. Grains offer me not much nutrtionally that I can't get from fruits, veggie, and lean protein. So if I have a natural mechanism to keep me away from them, I'm all for it.

(That said, I haven't definitely concluded it's grains that are giving me so many problems... I would need to try to eat them again and see what happens to confirm.)

mca10 · 09-30-2011, 12:14 AM

Indieblue, Christine123, ivonnely-

Do you think maybe it's a gluten sensitivity? I noticed that I was gluten free for about 3 months before I went on vacation and didn't even realize. As soon as I introduced it during those three weeks my side effects were bloating, gas, abdominal pain, intense sugar cravings, extreme night sweats, joint pain, weight gain and acne/cysts. I now that I don't eat gluten it's all going away. However there were a few days I did have gluten and I bloated right back up again.

I don't eat any grains, and keep my carbs at about 45-50g a day total. I also eat a lot of protein instead of carbs to keep me full. I eat salmon and roasted lean turkey (not packaged deli meat) all day. I also only eat healthy salads with homemade dressing. I measure every single thing I eat and I eat the exact same thing and amount everyday.

Christine123- Are you able to fit into your clothes after a bigger meal now? I know you said it takes a few days, but I was wondering if you are able to have a bad/off diet day without your body really freaking out. I'm scared that my body is used to a small amount of food and that from now on I can't have a sandwich, salad and scone in one with day without having to go back on a strict diet for two weeks just to have that amount of food in one day.

Indieblue- it really does sound like youre sensitive to gluten now. Have you thought about being tested? I've been researching and I'm thinking about doing it. i don't think I'm allergic to gluten I just think my body is really sensitive and it's the reason I'm having weird reactions to food I don't normally eat.

Ivonnely-
Your reply sounds exactly like what I'm going through! What exactly are you eating and drinking throughout the day? Maybe I could help in some way...
I'm hungry all the time too and I'm not sure if it's because I'm not eating enough with the exercising I'm doing or what, but I have energy and I'm not tired I'm just so hungry but I'm scared to eat more because I know I have 8lbs to go
We have very similar stats. Would you mind telling me how you've managed to lose past 128-130lbs? Or would you mind if I PM'ed you some questions?

Thanks again you guys!

Ivonnely · 09-30-2011, 11:47 AM

You can ask me anything

I had stomach flu a month ago, and I was diarrhea in and out for almost 2 full weeks, still am

I guess thanks to that, I went from 131 to 125. I was eating very little though. Maybe 800 calorie tops per day. Then I decided i will die if I eat so little, i went back to 1300 and BOOM, I went from 125 to 128.

Ever since then, I've been eating very little again, and been at 125-128 yo-yoing. Yesterday i had 1 protein shake, 1 cup of fruit and 1 cup of yogurt. I went from 126 to 123.5 over night and my stomach balloon went away.

I really hate this, i wish i can just eat a normal 3 400 calorie meal and be NOT gaining. I am always starved, hungry, and constant craving more food. I just cant wait to get to 120 then slowly add more food so that even if i gain more during maintenance, i would still be at my goal -125.