puffy nipples/general bloating ruining confidence.

[puffybegone]

I train hard, I eat right counting cals and macros, take what I believe to be good supps ( vitamins etc ) but I cant get a handle on this at all.

I've tried everything from low carb/low sodium/more water/less water but have been unable to find the cause of it.

I know it's not gyno as it comes and goes, if I get a good nights sleep I can wake up with a normal looking chest but something is throwing it off and I cant for the life of me figure it out.

It's your basic puffy nipple post, they go away when I pee a lot only to keep returning... even when I don't consume anymore liquids. I have trouble sleeping but when I do get a good sleep I wake up lean and no puffy nipples/bloated stomach area/face don't get me wrong I probably wake 3/4 times through the night to urinate to achieve this.... but at least I know it goes away with frequent toilet trips.

Some people have suggested estrogen related so I've got on DIM and cayenne/black pepper but not noticing any difference, they've also mentioned could be cortisol which adds up with my other symptoms.... I've no idea where the water retention can even come from... on a very low carb/low sodium and watching my water intake it still manages to keep building like I have secret water strores in my body...

anyone got any ideas what this could be and something to try as I really will try anything to keep this retention at bay... it varies from not visible to slightly puffy... to cones sticking out of my t shirt... when its at its worst I notice all ab definition and face definition is also gone....

other symptoms struggle sleeping despite being very tired, waking up 4/5 times a night to pee... occasional headaches and fatigue somedays to the point hard to get up... then random energy spurts through the day.

Ill try anything!.

thanks

 

[dbondi]

Go get bloodwork done instead of throwing darts at the problem and seeing what sticks. It's a good place to start.

 

[Mathb33]

BF%?

 

[puffybegone]

Happens whether bulking or cutting, it's significant water gain around face belly and chest that's most noticeable.

After good night's sleep, and frequent toilet trips I awake looking my right bf% whatever it may be, and through food choices it begins.

So far I've went grain free and low carb only getting carbs from unrefined kinds like sweet potato or brown rice, this has helped s little but it still flares up, I had thought it was blood sugar spikes hence the low carb unrefined choices and general low glycemic.

However I still get it and the food choices I have left are limited to meats, veg, fruit and dairy.

My dairy choices are butter,Greek yoghurt, mayo, cheese and small amounts of milk in tea.

So now I'm considering insulin spikes as I've read dairy and protein in general can do this....

So now things are very tricky, hopefully some guys clued up in the science might be able to explain this to me.

If proteins can cause insulin spikes, how do you counter this? I believed fats with protein blunted the insulin response, but then eating cheese which is equal amounts fat and protein is known to cause an insulin spikes also... Confused.com

It isn't food intolerances as I don't get cramping, or stomach issues, the only other symptoms would be slow metabolism.

Thanks