Hey there,
I recently lost a lot of weight, but did not do resistance training for the last half a dozen pounds. I am male, 5'10, and about 140 pounds right now.
I have been trying to build muscle mass for about a month now, and have gained about 5 pounds.
My problem is, my lower gut never really went away. Now, I have read about this before and thought that I just lost a ton of muscle mass and no body fat. However, I got a body fat test (the one where they send electrical signals up your feet) and my body fat registered at 6.1% one time and 6.4% the other time. They said my water content was slightly higher than normal and that may make the machine underestimate the body fat, but that it would still be around 7%, which I thought should be enough to at least keep my stomach from protruding. My posture is also kind of slanted like a gymnast, which I thought may also be a reason for how I look.
I'm serious when I say it protrudes, if someone responds with advice I will try to get a picture since that will probably help.
I probably just store practically all of my bodyfat in my lower gut, unfortunately, but one of the things I never worried about was sodium, and am sure I get at least 200% of the RDA most days. I also read that sodium can contribute to stomach bloat. I take in WAY too many artificial sweeteners and liquid (decaf coffee with tons of artificial sweetener) as well (as evidenced by having too much body water percent, apparently)
Anyway, here is a rundown of what I eat in a day. It is kind of unusual, I guess, and it rarely changes much, but I watch my calories (I go between 250-500 over a day now that I'm trying to gain muscle(maintanance is like, 2050)) and my macronutrients are pretty stable except my fat intake is probably low (something like 35-40% protein, 50% carbs, and 10-15% fat, but I brought it up lately when I realized how little I was getting(dry skin and stuff was happening)). I am really quite a comfort eater, and usually eat based on how much I can eat, so I eat a lot of low-calories things, hence a lack in fat calories...I guess this is another thing that could contribute to my stomach bloat, although, I could just be looking for solvable reasons to complain other than needing to lower my bodyfat more to have a flat stomach...
anyway, here is the run down of my diet:
Breakfast:
egg whites, sometimes mushroom eggwhite omelettes (2) or veggie. rarely, ham and cheese eggwhite omellette. lately, I have put just a tiny bit of ketchup on these, though I had not until this week. There's sodium in the eggwhites, I think (it's a cafeteria) but I'm not sure how much...
this week, I also added peanut butter to a piece of toast to breakfast. sometimes I will also have a piece of fruit, or more toast. sometimes lately oatmeal or potatos, but that's also a very recent change.
8-16oz soymilk and 32oz decaf coffee. in the soymilk, I often add equal amount of water and 3 packets of splenda...my reasoning was lower calories and more I get to enjoy it (weird I know but it even tastes better now, somehow). The 32oz decaf coffee contains 6 packets of splenda as well. and we're just getting started on the splenda...
snack: generally just egg whites and a banana, after I lift (or like, a pear if it is a day I don't lift). Sometimes I'll add 16-20oz of decaf coffee, again, with 3-5 Splenda packets.
Lunch:
the drinks are the same, at least another 48oz of liquid though I have 64oz sometimes
GIANT salad. I'm not even kidding when I say giant. this was basically how I lost as much weight as I did, eating salad. I found out there is alot of sodium in vegetables as well, so I thought this could contribute to stomach bloat?
other than greens, the salads often contain a lot of tofu, cottage cheese, and sometimes tuna. occasionally, light french dressing on the salad as well.
sometimes a lunchmeat sandwich with ham or turkey, banana peppers and onions, and mustard. otherwise, tunafish sandwich with banana peppers and onions and sometimes tomato.
snack, again I will usually just get some protein (6 eggwhites) and a piece of fruit. also, 20oz of decaf coffee with like, 5 splenda packets again.
dinner:
Almost the exact same as lunch. forgot to mention, sometimes I will have a bowl of soup if it is low enough calorie, so there is some sodium. If I'm already high on calories at this point, I will substitute mustard on the salad instead of another dressing. strange, but I like it.
snacks at evening/night:
usually I will eat a big salad again here, with light italian dressing, and drink at least 40oz of decaf coffee again. forgot to mention, the decaf coffee contains, like 2 ounces of soymilk or skim milk per 14 oz of decaf coffee. it is also the watered down/splend'd up version soymilk/skim milk I mentioned earlier. there's another at least 10 packets of splenda.
So, looking back at this, I guess the sodium can't be THAT much? my stomach literally feels distended sometimes after I drink all of this stuff. I know I am getting too much liquid and wake up to pee constantly, as well.
all in all, I would say I usually consume between 20-30 packets of splenda a day, and have been since about xmas time. liquid intake is probably roughly between 150 oz to 200 oz a day. sodium, when I used to use thedailyplate.com, was usually at about 200% of the RDA.
does anyone have any thoughts here? when I wake up in the morning, it isn't as bad as it is after breakfast, as well..but it still seems like it is bloated more than it should be with my supposed bodyfat percent. lastly, it's a bit embarrassing but I break wind constantly. I mean, like 30-50 times a day. that is probably just the eggwhites and veggies, though.
thanks for the input,
James
I recently lost a lot of weight, but did not do resistance training for the last half a dozen pounds. I am male, 5'10, and about 140 pounds right now.
I have been trying to build muscle mass for about a month now, and have gained about 5 pounds.
My problem is, my lower gut never really went away. Now, I have read about this before and thought that I just lost a ton of muscle mass and no body fat. However, I got a body fat test (the one where they send electrical signals up your feet) and my body fat registered at 6.1% one time and 6.4% the other time. They said my water content was slightly higher than normal and that may make the machine underestimate the body fat, but that it would still be around 7%, which I thought should be enough to at least keep my stomach from protruding. My posture is also kind of slanted like a gymnast, which I thought may also be a reason for how I look.
I'm serious when I say it protrudes, if someone responds with advice I will try to get a picture since that will probably help.
I probably just store practically all of my bodyfat in my lower gut, unfortunately, but one of the things I never worried about was sodium, and am sure I get at least 200% of the RDA most days. I also read that sodium can contribute to stomach bloat. I take in WAY too many artificial sweeteners and liquid (decaf coffee with tons of artificial sweetener) as well (as evidenced by having too much body water percent, apparently)
Anyway, here is a rundown of what I eat in a day. It is kind of unusual, I guess, and it rarely changes much, but I watch my calories (I go between 250-500 over a day now that I'm trying to gain muscle(maintanance is like, 2050)) and my macronutrients are pretty stable except my fat intake is probably low (something like 35-40% protein, 50% carbs, and 10-15% fat, but I brought it up lately when I realized how little I was getting(dry skin and stuff was happening)). I am really quite a comfort eater, and usually eat based on how much I can eat, so I eat a lot of low-calories things, hence a lack in fat calories...I guess this is another thing that could contribute to my stomach bloat, although, I could just be looking for solvable reasons to complain other than needing to lower my bodyfat more to have a flat stomach...
anyway, here is the run down of my diet:
Breakfast:
egg whites, sometimes mushroom eggwhite omelettes (2) or veggie. rarely, ham and cheese eggwhite omellette. lately, I have put just a tiny bit of ketchup on these, though I had not until this week. There's sodium in the eggwhites, I think (it's a cafeteria) but I'm not sure how much...
this week, I also added peanut butter to a piece of toast to breakfast. sometimes I will also have a piece of fruit, or more toast. sometimes lately oatmeal or potatos, but that's also a very recent change.
8-16oz soymilk and 32oz decaf coffee. in the soymilk, I often add equal amount of water and 3 packets of splenda...my reasoning was lower calories and more I get to enjoy it (weird I know but it even tastes better now, somehow). The 32oz decaf coffee contains 6 packets of splenda as well. and we're just getting started on the splenda...
snack: generally just egg whites and a banana, after I lift (or like, a pear if it is a day I don't lift). Sometimes I'll add 16-20oz of decaf coffee, again, with 3-5 Splenda packets.
Lunch:
the drinks are the same, at least another 48oz of liquid though I have 64oz sometimes
GIANT salad. I'm not even kidding when I say giant. this was basically how I lost as much weight as I did, eating salad. I found out there is alot of sodium in vegetables as well, so I thought this could contribute to stomach bloat?
other than greens, the salads often contain a lot of tofu, cottage cheese, and sometimes tuna. occasionally, light french dressing on the salad as well.
sometimes a lunchmeat sandwich with ham or turkey, banana peppers and onions, and mustard. otherwise, tunafish sandwich with banana peppers and onions and sometimes tomato.
snack, again I will usually just get some protein (6 eggwhites) and a piece of fruit. also, 20oz of decaf coffee with like, 5 splenda packets again.
dinner:
Almost the exact same as lunch. forgot to mention, sometimes I will have a bowl of soup if it is low enough calorie, so there is some sodium. If I'm already high on calories at this point, I will substitute mustard on the salad instead of another dressing. strange, but I like it.
snacks at evening/night:
usually I will eat a big salad again here, with light italian dressing, and drink at least 40oz of decaf coffee again. forgot to mention, the decaf coffee contains, like 2 ounces of soymilk or skim milk per 14 oz of decaf coffee. it is also the watered down/splend'd up version soymilk/skim milk I mentioned earlier. there's another at least 10 packets of splenda.
So, looking back at this, I guess the sodium can't be THAT much? my stomach literally feels distended sometimes after I drink all of this stuff. I know I am getting too much liquid and wake up to pee constantly, as well.
all in all, I would say I usually consume between 20-30 packets of splenda a day, and have been since about xmas time. liquid intake is probably roughly between 150 oz to 200 oz a day. sodium, when I used to use thedailyplate.com, was usually at about 200% of the RDA.
does anyone have any thoughts here? when I wake up in the morning, it isn't as bad as it is after breakfast, as well..but it still seems like it is bloated more than it should be with my supposed bodyfat percent. lastly, it's a bit embarrassing but I break wind constantly. I mean, like 30-50 times a day. that is probably just the eggwhites and veggies, though.
thanks for the input,
James
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