Hi, new here, though have been doing low carb for many years now. A few slip ups, which is why I am here today.

I am restarting induction . About two weeks in and for the past 5 days I've had a stomach that has swollen the size of a beach ball. What is very strange also is before o went back on this diet, I didn't have much cellulite. My fat composition/body looks weird. Have these horrible dimples showing on my thighs and stomach. I've rarely had this during induction before, nor when I was off plan.

I am following Atkins 72, to the letter, which I've always done. Just strange. I deep heavy. I am definitely in ketosis as I drinkore water as usual and have to drink through night and get woken up just to pee.

I really how there is a logical explanation to this bloated, tight stomach that seems to keep growijg. Can't even get my jeans on, though I was able to before. Really odd.

Any help appreciated massively! Feel so uncomfortable right now

Give us some data we can look at: "Atkins to the letter", amount of daily water conumption, "Beach Ball" what size? have you documented the change or is it just how you feel other than you can get your jeans on (this may be true!)

Hopefully it's not an indication of a problem with your liver and ascites or some kind of fluid accumulation. Keep an eye out for liver failure symptoms would be a suggestion... I don't mean to scare you but I have experience in that area.

I have a bit of an intolerance to collagen, sometimes if I eat pork rinds, I'll get a bit burpy, and bouillon can give me bathroom issues. Vinegar seems to protect against this. Things have actually been better lately, sometimes I forget the vinegar lately and nothing bad happens.

A few years ago we had a pig roast, and this is how I found out about the intolerance. After everybody left, I was alone at the cottage with all of the bones of a young pig. So I put them in a big pot and made the richest stock ever. The next day, I ate bowl after bowl of this soup--and my gut swelled right out the next day, I looked like I was pregnant.

What is your relationship to grains? Are you very strict about avoiding all sources of all grains? Another bloat issue I have is with yeast. I don't want to tell you what to do. Just adding these questions to your own.

I drink when I am thirsty, definitely not gallons, adding on the thrist that I get at night. Roughly 1 to 1.5 litres a day.

Nearly completed induction and I have been eating what I've eaten on the few inductions I've done before. An example of what I have in a day - When breaking my fast I have two large eggs gently fried in ghee, coffee and a tbsp cream with splenda. Lunch, usually not hungry, but may peck on a few 98% pork sausages. Dinner, minced beef with 6 broccoli florets and about 2 oz cheese. Maybe a cup of tea in the evening with tsp cream.

I also have my last meal around 18:30 and water thereafter, IF thirsty.

As for the belly, its just puffed out double the size, not gigantic but definitely not what I'm used to. It feels tight, like air is in it, though I am not gassy, and don't have the urge to go to the loo. I cannot do my jeans up.

Though, here is an observation. Last time I did inductino after a slip up, I had the same swelling, yet it went down, after a major bout of diarrhea. Only this time, the swelling is lasting pretty long.

I really hope it isn't a liver issue :/

What is the other 2% in the sausages? Things like MSG are inflammatory. Sometimes broccoli or cauliflower cause a bit of bloat. If it does not go away and is not food-related, I don't want to scare you, but it is also a symptom of ovarian tumors.

If you have an urgent care center, I suggest you go there. This is an issue we are not qualified to advise you. I have not heard of a bloat reaction to eating roast pig, soup made of pigs feet or eating pork rinds. It may be a rarity but has some solutions. Or it may be different triggered by something in pork.

The bloat response to the pork was me--and that was about four years ago. Might be a bit late for the urgent care center. Pork rinds just make me a little gassy, when I bloated from eating the soup, that involved massive amounts of soup.

Hope by now issues resolved 😊

I do think maybe some gut bug thing has resolved or something. For a while, anytime I had broth without something acidic like tomato or vinegar, there'd be a run to the bathroom, I've been having broth all winter, several brands, and forgetting to add the vinegar sometimes, no problems. I mostly do add the vinegar, the taste reminds of fries and gravy with vinegar I used to have at the corner restaurant when I was a kid.

I made some bone broth last winter once, and had big bowlfuls of it a couple days in a row. My belly got distended and I was gassy. I did some research, and it turns out that when you simmer bone broth for extended periods (longer than 6 hours, I think it said), it increases the histamines dramatically. If you're susceptible to histamines, it can cause belly bloat.

Libby, have you ever had issues with diverticulitis? I've had two bad attacks of that (one landed me in the hospital for 4 days). My belly was like that, too. Suddenly distended and hard. If you haven't had it checked out yet and it's still an issue, please see a doctor immediately. If it is diverticulitis (and I'm saying it is), waiting could cause a perforation in your lower intestine and that would be really bad.

Let us know how you're doing.

I am back. Belly bloat gone. Cut out certain foods that I thought might be the culprit. I also had one eve of massive carb binge, to shock my body. Either that worked, OR the fact that I stopped eating mashed broccoli (which I think most likely).

I noticed as soon as I had stopped eating broccoli lamb mince pie (and just ate the meat on it's own) my belly bloat had gone down rapidly and is now none existent. What also helped was pysllium husks, as I was a tad constipated.

Anyway, cut a long story short. Today I have heaps of energy, belly is back with it's flat self! For the first time I am not feeling tired, this is the feeling I love!

Thanks guys for all your input. So glad it wasn't liver issues - a part of me was adamant that it wasn't, and that the issue had to do with something I was ingesting.

So chuffed I got to the bottom of it, but took patience, LOTS of it.

Glad to hear you're back to normal. Broccoli and other high-fiber foods are not good for some people. I actually have to limit high-fiber foods and keep my veggie intake low or I get terrible constipation.

Glad you are feeling better. The family that broccoli is in (cauli, cabbage, Brussels....) cause gas in a lot of people. You might try more veggies, which aren't cruciferous, or smaller portions of a cruciferous veg.