laxatives????

how many can i take in one go?? i have eaten prunes, oranges all kinds of high fibre stuff. i drink 10 galsses of water a day, and a holy amount of caffiene, i took 6 extra strength senna pills last week and only went once, should i try taking more?? is it safe?? (this seems to be a very common problem with me)

You need to be very careful with laxatives, overdoing it can cause serious issues. If your food log is accurate you are 1-not eating nearly enough food and 2-consuming almost no fiber whatsoever. Many of your calories are coming from chocolate and energy drinks. Laxatives are not going to do you any good. Forgive me for being blunt, but you need to start eating more real food, more calories in general, and get some fruits and vegetables in there!!!

i have tried but in the end i feel more bloated and doesnt make much difference, not keen on fruit, will try more veg, i thought i ate loads is there such thing as not eating enough food??? if i made a veg smoothie kind of thing would it work the same as eating it?

You are probably feeling bloated because your body thinks it is starving. Yes, there is such a thing as not eating enough. Your body is holding onto everything you put into it. Read through the forum posts here... search for things like how many calories you should be eating, not eating enough, eating too little - you will see good discussions on the topic. Google it on the internet for some other sources but at 150 general recommendation would be to eat at least 1200 calories a day.

ok thanks will try eating more veg less rubbish but it just kills me to see i've eaten anything over 1000 cals (i know i do) will look into it some more thank you x

1000 calories is way too low. 1200 should be your floor. And yes, eat more real foods (especially fruits and veggies) and fewer foodlike products.

Prunes are very good at helping loosen things up.

Did 500-800 calories a day and lost 170lbs in 10 months.. My dr. is thrilled with the results.. though she didn't recommend such a low calorie count.. Still she suggested my maintenance be 1,300 cal.. so she's not a big believer in the RDI model.. I felt great throughout. Had my blood tested regularly and all was normal.. I exercised as well and still do .. I'm not a Dr. but I DO know how I feel.. I've had this body for 53 years now.. and I felt wonderful losing the weight and learning to eat FAR less and be more than satisfied.. I agree re prunes btw.. I have used them to great advantage.

thanks nice to know its not just me that likes to do low cal diets,
i have already managed to lose around 30lb in 4 weeks but now i'm finding harder to get the last bit off. i did mention i eat prunes, kinda found out them and a few senna pills take a week to work on me, do you think this is to do with metabolism or something similar?

going below 1000 calories for extended period of time is dangerous because it can damage internal organs and muscles. Besides loosing too quickly can be counterproductive creating loose skin and problems when one has to go back to a "normal" diet.
Taking a few weeks more to loose the fat in a gradual way increases the chances of adopting an healthier lifestyle long term and keeping the weight off. ALmost everybody can loose weight, but very few manage to maintain it

Try aloe, it works for me. Juice or tablets, either way.

More fiber is definitely the key.....if you feel you are not into eating it a daily dose of a fiber laxative would be helpful but you must keep the fluids going. If you use senna use the kind with the softener in it and 1 or 2 tablets per day as the bottle instructs is the way to go not all in one shot.
Chronic long term constipation is something you should be discussing with your physician.

yeh ive had it since i was little, but it gets worse when dieting, my doctor is very odd no matter what the problem is he just offers me antidepressants (most un depressed person i know) i will try some of the tips thanks everyone x

I'm loosing weight at about 2 lb per week by eating about 2200-2600 cal/day of real food, and bicycling about 80 miles/week. I am 5'9-240#. If you are thinking that you can loose weight by excreting more with the use of laxatives think again. The stuff you excrete is not fat leaving your body. That mostly leaves your body exhaled as CO2, which is the "exhaust" your body produces from burning "fuel"-carbs and fat.

The stuff you excrete is the portion of what you eat that is not absorbed as fuel, plus small amounts of Bile, which are waste products filtered from your blood stream by the liver.

I have a regular, healty, bowel movement every day about mid-morning, from eating real foods alone.

thats not what i was thinking at all my regular bowel movements are once every 3 weeks to start with then when dieting even less, it causes a lot of pain and discomfort i was simply asking if anyone had any advice on laxatives as i heard they were bad if u take a lot, any way last night i drank califig and vodka it worked yaaay

Exercise works for me. After I start a walk/run or doing my stationary bike, without fail about 5-10 minutes in I feel the need to go.

Glad to hear something worked for you. I have issues with this too and I wouldn't take too many laxatives. You may need to talk to your doc if you have a lot of issues because there could be bigger problems, or they could possibly give you something prescription that could help. For me personally, I find that when I eat a lot more fruits and veggies and exercise regularly I don't have near the problems. I do a fruit smoothie and that helps me get fruit in. Also, I have a really low tolerance for alcohol, so if I have a drink or two that seems to move things along.

Sounds like it might be a good idea to change doctors or at least get a second opinion. I once saw an episode of Dr. G: Medical Examiner where a man had died from a fecal impaction and it scared me. Now if I go more than 3 days without a bowel movement I start freaking out, let alone 3 weeks!

I have to totaly agree with everyone that says your calorie intake is to low. I am working w/a dietitian(sp)through a hospital and when I asked if I could drop below my cal limit of 1200 she gave me a huge adimit NO. The lowest you should go for a long term plan is 1200. Doing it for a long time can cause your body to get messed up from the lack of certain types of food & vitamins. And it also will cause your metabolisn to slow down in to a starvation mode.

As for taking so many laxatives it can be dangerous. My Grandma had a stint of taking to laxatives and because of that she had to go in and have parts of her intestine removed. It had weakend stretched out and flipped on it self because of the laxatives. Personally I'd recomend lots & lots & lots of water and high fiber veggies. Much safer.

Hello! I know what you're going through, what totally changed my regularity was to eat/drink papaya every morning (my dr. recommended), and my sister's dermatologist recommended her to take 2 tbs milk of magnesia every night before bed, you could try that, also try massaging your lower abdomen to help your colon. The other thing is that you should lower your caffeine intake, switch your energy bars for celery sticks once in a while, and last but not least, you 'dispose' what you eat, if you eat very little you will have little and far apart bowel movements. Eat smart, power foods, 5 times a day, have a schedule, make time for your meal and your bowel movements and see a doctor about that, more that 3 days is dangerous!

Looking over your diet calender you are getting around 2 to 3 grams of fibre a day. I would up it to around 20 grams a day before going to laxatives.