“Bloating, Body Image, and The Myth of the Always Flat Stomach” -Nicole Paolucci LMHC
The other morning, I went to put my favorite jeans on and “oops”, couldn’t button them. Just two days earlier these jeans fit my body perfectly comfortably, but today they didn’t. Back in the day, I would’ve crawled into a hole, hidden under the covers, cycled through every eating disordered behavior 25 times in a day, and spiraled down a deep rabbit hole of depression.
However, as someone who has been recovered and functional for twenty-something years, I took them off and put on a pair of pants that actually fit. Telling myself that bloating is totally normal was something I had to repeat for years in order to retrain the way I thought about my body.
“I must have celiac.”
“I must be allergic to something.”
“I must be lactose intolerant.”
“I am just ugly and disgusting.”
Those old thoughts once haunted me every single day for years.
Let’s face it , no one wants to feel bloated, uncomfortable, gassy, or any of the things. But just because our stomachs may protrude and give off “it’s giving pregnant vibes” doesn’t mean we’re bad, we ate too much, we’re unlovable, or we’re unacceptable. It simply means our body is having a normal physiological reaction to having food in its stomach.
For some reason, everyone in 2025 must have completely dissociated during fifth-grade science class when we learned about digestion. Digestion is literally a sign that the body is functioning properly. Naturally, our stomachs expand to allow room for food, and yes, gas is a thing, (my 3 year old farts out loud all day!) and water retention is also a thing. All of this means your body is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.
When you’ve experienced an eating disorder and long periods of restriction, loss of fluids from purging, or gas and water retention from binging (or a combination of all three), the body gets confused and totally thrown off. Processes don’t work the way they’re supposed to. So when we start nourishing and healing again, the body’s like, “Hello? What are you doing now? I’m all messed up,” and it has to slowly recalibrate and figure out how to respond to food again.
Also, anxiety and stress play a huge role in digestion. If you’ve been through trauma (which often underlies eating disorders), your GI tract can get completely dysregulated.
So many times, people come into my office with a rigid image of what they think they’re supposed to look like. They tell me that flat is “good” and bloated is “bad.” In order to avoid bloating, they restrict and we know that restriction leads to binging, and suddenly, boom, we’re trapped in the cycle of an awful eating disorder.
So, the million dollar question I get asked all of the time is, “What am I supposed to do about all of this?” My answer is, “NOTHING. Do what you are supposed to do. Feed your body, lean into the uncomfortability and be kind to yourself during this transition.” Below some helpful tips:
Use positive reframes like, “my body is doing exactly what it needs to do.”
Partake in some stretching to help support digestion.
Avoid wearing super tight and uncomfortable clothing, and invest in some loose fitting clothing that your body feels comfy in.
Avoid body checking!
Breathe.
Remember, your body’s goal is not to stay small. Its goal is to keep you healthy and alive. Healing is not always comfortable, but recovery is worth it!