Appearance Of My Stomach

[radgirl]

I am not even sure how to write this down, so bear with me if it sounds bizzare. Has anyone noticed that the appearance of the stomach has changed. I look at the rest of my body and my stomach simply looks larger and different (not necessarily bloated) but just bigger and different. Almost as if it doesn't fit my body. I don't know if its water retention or all the hell that it has been put through internally (now showing externally). But my abdomen/stomach area is different that the rest of my body. I know that sounds strange, but I'm trying to figure out if this is normal and will eventually go away.

[Eriella]

I have gone through this too. In the course of a week I can go up or down 3 pants sizes. I find that with time the swelling goes down and by eating super healthy (lots of fruits and veggies) my belly is actually flat for once. But, it does take time and anytime I have gluten I get the big belly for awhile. My key is dance pants and empire tops-- they stretch and grow with me!

[radgirl]

I have gone through this too. In the course of a week I can go up or down 3 pants sizes. I find that with time the swelling goes down and by eating super healthy (lots of fruits and veggies) my belly is actually flat for once. But, it does take time and anytime I have gluten I get the big belly for awhile. My key is dance pants and empire tops-- they stretch and grow with me!

Right now, I'm just having a hard time looking in the mirror. My focus goes directly towards my gut. I did have some yogurt, just to see how I would react to it on Saturday. Although my gut didn't "react" who knows what it did to my body. I know that I can't have dairy either, but I thought I'd try the yogurt to give it a shot. I'm learning that our bodies react to certain foods even if we don't necessarily "feel" it. I'm so frustrated.

[Boffin]

I've been struggling with this too. I also have the problem that if I look in the mirror my eyes just go straight to my belly too. I can stand there and stare and turn all different angles analysing to try to tell if it's "normal"! (How sad!) Trouble is, that I have no idea what is normal now! I mean you don't get to see other women's tummies do you?! I suppose there probably is no such thing as "normal" anyway.

I've only been gluten-free since 1st of this month and I'm still having problems with bloating. (In fact this morning I had first D for over 2 weeks so I'm wondering if I'm going wrong somewhere.) Despite not having gluten now I still find that my tummy is a lot bigger and more rounded in the evening than when I get up in the morning. I have no clue whether this is the case with everyone, or whether it's a speciality of celiac disease and something that should have gone away/will go away in the future.

Is life incredibly complicated or what?! Or do I just make it complicated by analysing it so much?! I think I'm definately having "one of those days" today.

Anyway, you're definately not alone with your tummy looking out of place.

[aikiducky]

I think having a slightly more rounded tummy towards the evening is completely normal, unless you've been having diarrhea all day or something. After all, everything that you've eaten during the day is still in there. It's also completely normal to weigh slightly more in the evening compared to the morning. If you want to know your real weight you need to weigh in in the morning and evening for a few days and then see what the average is.

Also, skinny legs and arms and a big tummy is a typical malnourishment "shape", and lots of celiacs look like this to some extent.

In my case I've learned to feel the difference between a normal "hard to digest food" bloat (like after eating cabbage) and a painful gluten bloat.

After three years gluten free, I still bloat easily, I'm not always bloated but it doesn't take much. I've decided to just live with it. It mainly bothers me, nobody else seems to be particularly obsessed with my body shape.

Pauliina