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Constant Bloated Stomach

As long as I can remeber, I've had a gut that I can pull handfuls of flab off. However, 15, I'm 5'6"-5'7", and 130ibs, about average BMI. Why am I this way? It's not my diet, I don't drink soda often, candy, only often around holidays, and usually get some exercise. I found out air swallowing can cause this, when I was younger, 3 years old, I thought you HAD to swallow, saliva. So I often times swallow saliva many times through the day, and eat meals quickly. Does swallowing air cause my distended belly? The rest of my body is lean, I'm male, have a small chest, thin forearms, muscular biceps and calves, and medium thighs. Help!
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Avatar universal
I drink mainly lots of water, wheat breads.

Anyway, sprinting 250 feet a couple times, more and more the longer i can, would that slim me down?
Helpful - 0
82861 tn?1333453911
It depends on how the grain is prepared.  Whole grains and whole grain breads have plenty of fiber, but fiber won't keep you regular unless you drink enough water.  Just plain water - not soft drinks, tea or coffee that have caffeine. Instead of white rice, try brown rice since it still has some good fiber in it and all the nutrients haven't been stripped out.  White bread is made of heavily processed grains, so you don't have much fiber there and mostly empty calories.  

If your diet is heavy in one area, try to mix it up more.  Fresh foods always have more nutrients and flavor than canned or frozen.  White potatoes are fine if they're fresh and you don't eat them all the time.  The natural sugars turn to starch pretty quickly in storage so you end up eating almost pure starch.  If you eat potatoes with the skins on, you'll get more nutrients as well as lots of fiber.

It's pretty much common sense.  Lots of variety in your diet will keep you healthy.  Add in some basic exercise - even walking your dog once or twice a day - and you're on the right track.
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Avatar universal
That's probably it, I do eat a lot of food, though i don't gain weight or flab, its stable. Also, dinner often involves grains, and usually two hours before bed or so. A lot of grains causes constipation? I thought it was the ooposite.
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82861 tn?1333453911
Breads and processed, pre-prepared foods have lots of simple carbs.  One handy way to look at it is to avoid white foods like bread and potatoes.  These can also lead to slower transit time which means a certain amount of constipation.  Eat fruits earlier in the day and drink plenty of water to help that problem.

Complex carbs take longer to break down into simple sugars.  Examples are your green leafy veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, etc.

Try to cut down on the simple carbs and lean toward complex carbs and proteins.  Eating dinner and snacking late at night won't help you at all even if you are eating a healthy diet.  Eat nothing a good 3 to 4 hours before going to bed.

What you're shooting for is a steady supply of energy throughout the day without big spikes.  When you eat a large meal, chances are good that most of those calories will go into storage in your fat cells rather than being burned off in your daily activities.

Pay attention to portion size.  Since you mention you're a fast eater, you probably don't realize exactly how much you're putting away at one sitting.  Our eyes are usually bigger than our stomachs when we haven't eaten much all day, and "normal" portion sizes are actually much smaller than we think.
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Avatar universal
Also, it takes me a while to defecate, even though I eat a lot of grains
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Avatar universal
I thought that too, but I had no urge to defecate yesterday, though I had eaten, I also eat my largest meal at dinner, with lunch and breakfast usually being light. What food have a lot of carbs? I usually eat a lot of grains.
Helpful - 0
82861 tn?1333453911
If you can actually pull "handfuls of flab" off your abdomen, it's simply fat.  Your body simply has more fat cells in that area so it's the first place your body noticeably stores it.  Luck of the draw genetically.  Women tend to have more fat cells in the abdominal, hip and thigh area than men, but it's not a hard and fast rule.

The only thing you can do is eat right and get more exercise.  Cardio activities like walking, running, skating - anything that gets your heart rate up - helps burn off calories that will slim down your entire body.  There is no such thing as "spot reducing" by exercising only one part of the body.  Sure, those muscles in the targeted area will grow firmer, but you can't can't lose the fat cells there or make them smaller only by focusing on the abdomen.

It's great that you don't eat junk, but what time of day do you eat?  The later in the day you eat, the less likely it is that those calories will get used, so it goes to storage in the fat cells.

Swallowing air will only make you belch or give you gas.  Yes, that can cause a certain amount of bloat, but not flab.  Swallowing saliva is normal and you need the enzymes for digestion, so that's not an issue either.  Eat slowly, chew your food completely and pay attention to what you're eating.  If you eat a great deal of carbs and don't get enough exercise to burn them off during the day, they turn to fat more quickly so eat those foods earlier in the day.  Instead of white bread, try whole grain breads.  Instead of white potatoes, try sweet potatoes.  Smaller but more frequent meals can help too.

You also may have a naturally slow metabolism.  Weight training can really help that.  The more muscle tissue you have, the more calories are required to maintain that muscle so you get an automatic metabolic boost right there.

As long as you aren't having any pain or other digestive symptoms, it sounds like you simply need more exercise and a change in diet and meal timing.
Helpful - 0
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