There was an ad for Pamprin, IIRC, on today and it got me wondering about something that has been vexing me for some time. Is the bloating associated with PMS/menstruation noticable to the observer, or does it solely mainifest itself as discomfort to one’s self? In other words, if I paid attention to women’s bodies that closely, and wasn’t pathologically unobservant, would I be able to tell if a woman were bloated–assuming I see her more or less every day?
Also, if your bloating were noticable to an observer, and if your S.O. said that you were particularly sexy looking during that phase of your cycle, how would react to that?
Interesting question. I think most of the “bloating” you hear about is from water-retention. It’s not a lot, I myself gain about 3lbs, and I don’t think much more (less than 10lbs, certainly) would be normal. I guess your question can only be answered with another question: can you tell if someone has gained a very small amount of weight?
If it’s someone you see on a daily basis, you might be able to tell - depending on the woman.
My face gets rounder, particularly in the cheeks. It’s not huge or anything - the casual observer that I don’t see often wouldn’t notice, I’d think. But someone who sees me daily or near abouts might pick up on it.
As for someone telling me that I was looking particularly sexy during that phase of my cycle? Well, the problem would be that it’s not a point that I feel particularly sexy, regardless of what I’m told.
It’s very obvious on me. I get horribly bloated, and I’m extremely skinny (about 95#, 5 foot 7). My stomach becomes convex, to the point I almost look like I have a pooch. I usually gain 5 or 6 pounds for about 2 days. The funny thing about it for me is shortly after starting my period, I can honestly feel myself getting smaller again. It takes about two hours. (I think it’s ALL water retention for me.)
Damn, thought I was skinny at 5’7", 120 lbs. Yep, I must agree. My symptoms exactly. It’s a bitch. I’ve heard drinking tons of water helps, believe it or not.
I think that’s the key. If you’re really skinny it shows but if you’re already 10lbs over skinny nobody can tell. If my SO told me I looked particularly sexy when I was bloated I would be pleased to arrange for a permanent 5lb increase in my weight.
I’m not skinny by any stretch of the imagination; I’m on the chunky side of “healthy-looking”. And I can most certainly see when I’m bloated, mostly because none of my clothes fit me (and the emotional anguish from being too fat to fit in my clothes doesn’t help, either). The bf is too kind to say anything, but I’m sure if he can’t see my stomach bulging over the waistband of my jeans, he can at least feel it if he puts my arms around me. I like to think that nobody else looks at me enough to notice, though. You’d have to be paying attention - it’s not that obvious.
He tells me I’m sexy all the time, so I don’t put a lot of faith in it. (I can’t be sexy ALL the time, so he must be wrong SOME of the time.)