so I read somewhere that for people just getting into feeding/stuffing (is there a difference when the stuffing is food? I’m new to this which is part of my ask) that it’s a good idea to start with water, and my doctor was already recommending I drink more because of my frequent dizziness so two birds with one stone. I just drank somewhere between 20 to 30 ish ounces of water in one go, which for a complete first-timer I feel pretty proud of myself. Issue is, is it normal for my stomach to hurt and feel like every burp is risking the water joining it? How do I stop this from happening again if it’s not supposed to?
That's great! Stuffing/bloating are all about capacity training. It's important not to overload your kidneys with water faster than they can process, which means not drinking more than 2 liters (half a gallon) in one sitting, or more than 5 liters (about a gallon and a half) in one day. As a beginner though you probably have a ways to go before you get there. If your stomach is small and you completely fill it with water, it can feel crampy and like you're going to puke before it gets a chance to filter. I would recommend slowing down your chugging, even by a minute or two. Your kidneys don't take that long to start filtering, and in my experience, I can drink around 32 oz and pee it all out in about 75 minutes. I use a straw, because I can't chug like the pros, and I find it easier to drink lukewarm water rather than cold.
It might be easier to start training your stomach capacity with air rather than water. Air inflation is much easier than people make it sound. You don't need a balloon pump and you don't have to do it up your ass. I looked up tutorials for years and all I saw was people saying "just swallow air!" But that's not very helpful imo. If you can burp on command, you're already halfway there. When you open your mouth to suck in air, fill up your cheeks as much as you can. Then you use the pressure in your mouth to shove it down your throat. This goes into your esophagus, not your lungs. In a quiet room you can hear it. It sounds like burping in reverse. Instead of tensing your stomach/diaphragm like you normally would to release the burp, hold it in. You'll hear it rattle down your throat into your stomach. It will sound like your stomach growling. When you're just starting out, your body might try to let you burp. I just held my breath and clamped my throat shut (by putting the back of my tongue up on the roof of my mouth, mewing basically) until the air settles. The more you practice, the better you'll get with technique. The best position I think is standing upright because that's the way the air naturally wants to go. This will fill up your stomach very quickly. I can fill mine in 8-10 large breaths which only takes a couple of minutes. The upper part of your stomach will get tight and full. When it's full, your lungs have less room in your chest cavity and you'll be breathing quickly. For safety, I would only go up to the point of discomfort, not into pain.
When you're done, you can burp the air all back out. I lay down and then sit up quickly/tense my abs to burp. It's less annoying than having to pee every five minutes for the next hour, and you can probably fit more air than water because it fills up all the nooks and crannies. Unless you just ate, there's less risk of puking too, because your stomach knows it's just air so you won't feel as sick. You can try air inflating and then chugging some water too for extra fullness. If you leave the air in your stomach for more than 30 minutes, it will start to travel down your intestines. If you let it go the whole way, you'll start farting in minutes, but it could take hours for you to completely expel all the air, which might leave you bloated and can cause some pretty painful cramps. Laying on your left side is better to help the air pass through and laying on your right side will keep it in. Once the air starts to trickle from your stomach to your intestines, if you want, you can start inflating with more air. Then your belly will fill up in the lower part beneath your belly button and you can keep refilling the higher part. Your intestines are super long so you can keep doing this. (My longest time was about an hour, swallowing more air every few breaths) You can get a pretty dramatic effect this way by expanding your gut, and it's easy to do anywhere and you don't need any tools. Once you can handle more air, you can try water, or both, and you can start stuffing food. Just remember that food will try to come back up if you eat too much too quickly. Even the difference between bloating with water and milk can make you throw up.
Anyway, you didn't ask for an air inflation tutorial, but I figured it might be helpful to share. If anyone else has any other safety tips, etc, feel free to add on.