So depressed. I can't fit into any clothes, I keep bloating, no one seems to know how to help me

[kaylav1024]

Everything is going fine except for my weight. I'm on edge and stressed every day. It's a constant struggle with clothes every morning. I cant fit in half my clothes because I am either soooo bloated or so not-bloated. All my new clothes are streched out already because my bloating comes and goes at random times. Even if ive ate nothing!!

My past week:

Day 1: Fit in size 6. Had to wear a belt. Love handles not visible. Just a slight belly bulge. Weight: 130

Day 2: Went shopping. Tried on clothes for 2 hours to make sure they fit 100%. Size 6 pants. large shirts. bought up a size in shirts to avoid clinging to fat.

Day 3: New clothes dint fit. Too small. Had to wear size 8 pants, and even my large shirts were too tight! Weight: 130.

Day 4: Fit in size 6 jeans... and medium shirts. Weight: 130

Day 5: No pants fit. Size 8 too tight, size 9 too big. Weight: 130

I'm freaking out, Doctors say nothings wrong! My diets not the problem! I exercise 4x a week! Nothing!

I feel so gross. It's affecting my whole day.. what can i do? Not worth buying new clothes..

I am 7 months postpartum.

[kaylav1024]

I feel so selfish. But it's so hard doing everything right and looking so gross every morning. Maybe if I had a prettier face, my body wouldn't bother me,  but my self-confidence is down the drain.

[neveryoumindthere]

First of all *hugs!*

I know how frustrating that can be!!

My first thought was gluten. When I was diagnosed with gluten sensitivity, and went off of it, my bloating went away and when I got 'glutened' my bloating came back and I had never noticed a correlation until then.

Also, notice any difference when you eat raw versus cooked foods.  In Eastern medicine, mostly everyone, especially postpartum moms, are told to eat cooked foods, no raw veggies or cold foods and especially no cold water or other drinks.

Have you been eating/drinking anything raw/cold? It can't hurt to test it out.

Also, the other thing I wondered if you'd looked into was Belly Binding. Again, an Eastern practice. I have a post about it on my blog, if you're interested.

Hugs again. go easy on yourself, your body and mind just went through a major upheaval, it takes time for things to settle down.

Take care and hope this helps!

Edited by neveryoumindthere - 12/13/10 at 12:04am

[mommaklo]

I would say gluten, too. I think a reaction can take a day or so to manefest. I lost a LOT of bloat and not many lbs when I cut gluten. I used to work out ALOT, not exteme, but couldnt figure out why I still had a bloated belly, but strong arms and legs. It went away (mostly ). Also, I cant help but feel for you. I have had so MANY mental issues with my weight since giving birth. Ds is almost 9 mos and still not sleeping good through the night, and Im still nursing, but I beat myself up over my weight and dont feel comfortable bringing it up at my ppd group, even though its such an emotional issue for me right now. Ive heard "but you just grew a BABY" and "9 mos to gain it, at least that much to lose it" blah blah I know this stuff. Still it sucks. Hang in there. And try cutting gluten. It sounds harder than it is.

[nurturedmoms]

Another way to keep the bloating to a minimum is to make sure you're drinking plenty of water/well-hydrated. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but it works!

[Juvysen]

FWIW, after I gave birth I kept gaining weight and I would have wild weight swings (like 5+ lbs over the course of a day).  This went on for a few months and I just couldn't get what was going on.  Turns out, it was adrenal fatigue.  I started on supplements to help with it and started eating salt and literally the *next day* I was 8 lbs lighter and kept pretty even there (give or take a pound or two -you know "normal" changes from water) for several months.  Now I'm feeling way better (after being on supplements since August or so) and my weight has started slowly declining even more.  My energy has gotten WAY better and I feel less sad and far more motivated.  Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there as something to look into!

[brendajw]

If you decide to try the gluten-free plan for a week to get a feel for if that might be it, and it seems to help but not totally, it could be a bit of candida overgrowth, in which case sugar (even fruit) or other non-gluten grains could be contributing to the bloat. As someone else mentioned, adrenal fatigue is also a possibility; maybe Google the term to see if any of the other symptoms are a fit. I've seen the grain intolerance in our own household and the adrenal fatigue and gluten/carb intolerance lots in my nutrition practise. Peace on you are you try and sort out what is doing it.