Size 10 Kerri Dowdswell is often mistaken for being pregnant â because her stomach balloons after a meal.

A real belly full: Kerri Dowdswell shows off her bloated stomach â which makes people think sheâs pregnant â after eating just a slice of cherry pie Pictures: Caters

Kerri, 23, can sit down for a meal a trim size ten but, by the time sheâs on her dessert, her stomach is so bloated that people think sheâs about to give birth.

Her stomach shrinks back to normal size within hours but doctors have no idea what causes the bizarre bloating despite trying for ten years.

Ms Dowdswell, who has to wear maternity trousers to eat, said: âItâs really embarrassing.


âI watch what I eat and exercise regularly, so Iâm mortified when I end up looking like Iâm about to pop.



âIâve been asked several times when Iâm due to give birth and I usually have to explain that my âbabyâ is a roast dinner.

Size 10: Kerri Dowdswell (Picture: Caters)

âThere seems to be no rhyme or reason behind what causes my stomach to expand. Sometimes itâs when I eat a big meal but other times I can just nibble a biscuit or a piece of fruit and my trousers suddenly donât fit.Iâve almost given up hope that Iâll ever find a cure. Itâs not painful, just uncomfortable and embarrassing.

âIâve learned to live with it and I really have to see the funny side. My friends and family call it my âfood babiesâ.â

Ms Dowdswell, from Cannock, Staffordshire, first suffered the tummy troubles when she hit puberty. But the problem has worsened the older she has become.

Doctors first believed she had suffered a reaction to gluton but she continued to bloat despite removing all wheat products from her diet.

She also underwent further tests for irritable bowel syndrome â known to cause bloating â but they came back negative.

âI was convinced it was something that I was eating that caused it, so I cut loads of different food groups systematically out of my diet,â she added.

âI spent about a year living as a vegan, with no red meat, wheat or dairy but it didnât stop my stomach from expanding and I never got to enjoy my food.

âI decided as it wasnât actually causing me any pain, I might as well eat the foods I enjoy, so I eat what I like now and donât deprive myself.

âSometimes it comes up instantly, within about 15 minutes of eating, but other times it takes a few hours, and always takes a few hours to go down.

âIf my friends plan to go for a meal before going out for the night, I always have to skip the food, because I donât want to go out in my maternity wear.â