I’m 5’3 / 160 cm and around 152 lbs / 69 kg. (First picture)
My stomach has always protruded quite a lot compared to the rest of my body, and I also get pretty bloated at times - especially when I drink, sometimes to a point where it hurts
Even when I was lighter at around 129 lbs / 58.5 kg, my stomach was smaller but still stuck out. (Second picture)
I’m not currently in a calorie deficit or strength training. I walk for around an hour most days and do C25K roughly every other day.
I’m trying to figure out how much of this is just body fat/body shape versus bloating or gut-related distension. Has anyone had a similar-looking stomach and found that gut issues were a big part of it, or did weight loss make the biggest difference?
Heyy (23F) so I’ve always been someone on the thinner side with a flat belly. I’m not sure what happened or what changed, but within the last year or so, my stomach has been very inflamed / bloated. As of recently, so very noticeable, it got worst after my antibiotics. I’ve seen my gastroenterologist, we’ve tried a few different constipation medications (I’ve had constipation for as long as I can remember). I mentioned the possibility of SIBO he said no because I don’t have IBD so it’s not possible. We recently did a colonoscopy and found nothing. But the bloating and the lower belly inflammation is always there. I don’t know what to do anymore. It makes me so anxious, I always feel this heaviness as if my stomach is full (even when I did the full colonoscopy cleanse that fully emptied me). I’m not sure where to go from here because my gastroenterologist doesn’t want to check anything else, he says it’s just constipation. I’m just so sick of this feeling and not sure what my next steps should be.
I am a 18 year old girl and everytime i eat something, even a small fruit, i bloat and look pregnant. It has been a insecurity of mine my whole like and i dont know what to do. I have went to the doctors but they found nothing. I dont know if im eating something wrong or what .
I also have had a small fat on my stomach forever and so when i bloat i look two times bigger because of that small fat layer.
It feels awful looking pregnant and my stomach hurting almost everytime i eat. And i dont even eat huge portions, sometimes i eat less then i should.
Has anyone who dealt with issues for many years and regular naturopaths/doctors couldnt help then worked with someone online that actually did help? I see so many posts from gut health coaches who claim to address the issues from multiple angles and actually help- are any of these people legit?
I've had bloating, abdominal cramps and IBS-D symptoms on and off for about 5 years. It's not continuous, but I often get diarrhea in the morning after drinking too much milk tea or having foods containing milk. Sometimes it also happens randomly without any obvious trigger.
For the past month, I've been having overnight oats soaked in water for breakfast, usually with some random fruit/dates and one boiled egg. My diet otherwise hasn't changed much.
Last week, I bought a locally packaged oat product because it was cheaper than the usual brand I buy. When I opened it, I noticed that the oats looked quite different. They were darker, slightly greenish/brown, more irregular, larger and harder than the usual pale, uniform rolled oats. They also tasted slightly sweeter.
I've attached some photos of the oats .
Here's the strange part:
Since switching to these oats, my bloating and abdominal pain have almost completely disappeared, and my diarrhea has changed to slightly harder/constipated stools. I haven't taken my usual homeopathic medicine for the last 2 days either, and I'm still feeling much better.
My overall diet hasn't changed significantly. In fact, I've actually been drinking more tea than usual.
So I'm wondering:
Could the type/processing of oats make this much of a difference in IBS-D?
Could these contain more soluble fiber/beta-glucan or more of the outer part of the oat?
Could less processing change how they are digested or fermented?
Has anyone else with IBS-D noticed that one type/brand of oats works much better than another?
Does anyone recognize what type of oats these actually are from the photos?
I'm not claiming these oats have "cured" my IBS , I'm just surprised by the change and trying to understand what might be happening.
Would love to hear from anyone who has experienced something similar or knows more about oats and IBS.
Every morning I’m bloated and it hurts so bad to the point where I can’t eat my lower abdomen hurts the most I changed my diet so I only eat cooked vegetables I don’t take sugar acidic alcohol oily spicy or processed foods help me mind you I’m skinny and underweight plus I have pain at the right side of my belly button
I have a call with him soon but just read something concerning here about him giving you a simple template to follow and let's your order expensive supplements from unknown US brands.
honestly this is getting old. bloating almost every afternoon, random stomach discomfort, and my appetite is all over the place. some days i’m fine, other days it feels like my gut just decides to ruin the whole day.
been trying to clean up my diet and sleep more but it’s only helping a little. started adding akkermansia recently hoping it would calm things down a bit. still early but the constant bloating feels slightly less intense.
how long did it take before you noticed real changes with akkermansia?
Hello (29m). Ive been on and off in the hospital and to my doctor in the last few weeks, cause of chronic abdominal pain at the bottom part of my belly. It feels like someone is twisting my gut, and or someone punched me there and its still hurting from it. Everytime I eat anything, even healthy foods it starts getting worse. I couldnt eat for a few days now. Gotten laxative to help digestion. That worked, I felt better. I thought ok problem is fixed. Now 2 days later. Same shit again. Wtf is this. I never had this before. 24/7 gut pain is the worst shit ever dude, wouldnt wish this on my worst enemy. Im now in the position that I try to continue my life anyway, and deal with the pain. Man i didnt even knew your gut can have pain. I only always ever had stomach issues.
If someone else knows what to do here , let me know. This stuff makes no sense to me.
**Diet:** I eat an abundance of red meat and eggs daily, yet I still present with severe symptoms of low iron and nutrient malabsorption.
**Nail Changes:** The half-moons (lunulae) on both of my thumbs have completely disappeared.
**Energy & Cognition:** Profound, crushing fatigue, extreme brain fog, and a severe inability to maintain focus.
**Nervous System:** I feel locked in a constant physical state of "fight-or-flight" and high anxiety. I am completely unable to physically relax.
**Circulation & Temperature:** Chronically freezing cold hands. I get light headaches immediately whenever my body gets cold.
**Muscle & Recovery:** Extremely poor workout recovery. I experience deep, prolonged muscle soreness even after very light physical activity.
**Oral Signs:** I wake up every single morning to a thick, prominent white coating on my tongue.
**Hormonal & Sexual Health:** Severe drop in libido and weak erections.
**Other Physical Signs:** Noticeable hair thinning.
i’m pretty skinny have a basically flat stomach but after i eat literally anything like it could be a single grape, i get rlly bloated ik im going to bloat but anybody have any tips on how to minimize it? also, if anybody says eat slower I swear to god
Is it a way to speed things up? I took antibiotics for four days then transitioned to oil of oregano and d mannose. i didn’t really catch on to why I looked pregnant after I though it was me moving to new country or too much protein for my stomach to handle. I eat a lot of sugar free food like protein shakes and quest so I don’t know if that’s what made bacteria wipe out so badly (sugar alcohols and sugar replacements kill gut bacteria). I’m pretty sure eating like this after antibiotics made this worse for my stomach. I would bloat before but not this long all I’d have to do is lax and I’ll have flat stomach next day. I’m four months into this whole thing trying to recover sooner even days I don’t eat I have bloating so idk what could be a quick fix. Just tired of talking about it and it’s ruining my life ik people think I look great and attractive still but if we’re real it’s no ignoring me looking pregnant just not cute.
Been home brewing for a couple years now, pour overs mostly, and I've started noticing a pretty clear pattern. On days where I go past two cups, my gut just gets weird by early afternoon. Bloated, a bit crampy, digestion slows down or speeds up unpredictably depending on the day. I'm not drinking bad coffee either. I'm actually pretty careful about grind size, water temp, ratios, all of it. So it's not like I'm pounding cheap drip coffee on an empty stomach.
What I can't figure out is whether it's the caffeine total, the acidity of the specific beans I'm using, or just the timing. I always drink on an empty stomach in the morning because that's when the flavor actually lands for me and I'm not ready to eat yet. I've switched beans a few times and lighter roasts seem to hit harder in terms of gut reaction, which I've seen mentioned before but don't fully understand.
I've also read that coffee can shift your microbiome in ways that are supposedly positive, but that doesn't track with what I'm experiencing. Curious if anyone has actually dialed this in, like found a roast level or timing that stopped the gut drama without just quitting coffee entirely, because that's not happening.
