Keto got me feeling parched?

(Elian) #1

Hello,

I’ve been on the keto diet for 3 weeks now and l feel dehydrated and thirsty most of the time. It mainly happens in the evening before I go to bed and in the morning when I get out of bed. Another thing that worries me is I wake up during the night with an extremely dry mouth, dry throat and dry nose to the point of hurting when I inhale, which is something I’ve never experienced before. On top of that - and sorry in advance for the TMI - my stools are not regular (I go for a no. 2 after 3 or 4 days, but I’m not feeling bloated or constipated) and when they happen, they look like separated, dry hard lumps, which worries me terribly because again, that NEVER happened to me before.

I drink way more than 8 huge jugs of water a day, yet I’m still feeling parched and my mouth is dry most of the time. Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong or is there anything I can do to not feel so dehydrated all the time?

#2

Hello and welcome :grinning:

Many years ago I had this, it was during a really hot spell in the summer and was working in a hotel kitchen. Not a good place to be if you don’t like the heat!
Anyway, I was at a local bar and commented about this, the owner told me that in the past, when there had been peat fires on the tops (in rural Scotland) , the guys fighting it would drink pints of lime squash with salt in it (about a teaspoonful) to stop dehydration.
I tried it and although its wasn’t nice the lime helped and it soon quenched my thirst.

Try upping your salt intake and see what happens.

(Carl Keller) #3

Hi Elian.

Your increased thirst is perfectly natural. When we restrict carbohydrates (which has the word ‘hydrate’ in it), this makes our insulin levels go down and our kidneys are more prone to release water and sodium. Also, when we lose water weight, we are losing three grams of water for every gram of glycogen and our body’s reply to those losses is thirst. Lastly, the act of burning fat requires water so if you are burning a lot of fat, you need a lot of water:

The process of metabolizing fat is called lipolysis. The first step of this process is hydrolysis, which occurs when water molecules interact with triglycerides (fats) to create glycerol and fatty acids.

As @HelenM says, salt should help you retain water better and that should help with your thirst. Two+ teaspoons of sodium over the course of your day is a good place to start.

#4

I was also dehydrated at around that far in. Salt helped a lot. After salting myself sufficiently, I now feel generally hydrated. I think it might be that my body just got used to it eventually. But the salt is necessary early on. Add as much salt as still tastes good. On your food, in your water, any way you can.

NASA has actually found out that more salt makes people drink less water, except just after eating the salty food. Food consumption goes slightly up, but that might be to make up for the extra energy used to expel more salt.

#5

Welcome, Elian! And thank you so much for posting this!!! I am experiencing the same thing also. I thought it was due to this awful head cold, and impaired breathing (through my nose) at night. But, also discovered that it happens during the day when my sinuses are clear enough to breath normally. Argh!

And, thank you @CarlKeller for that info!!! I was adding salt in my chicken broth the last couple of evenings, and it starting to help. I drink ALOT of water, but perhaps not quite enough to meet my body’s needs during the drastic weight loss period. Thank you SO much!!!

(Elian) #6

Thanks for the welcome to this forum, folks! It’s nice to be here.

Also, thanks for your input and advice. Will try to incorporate more salt into my diet see if anything changes with my thirst and bowel movement. Glad to know it’s normal and I’m not the only one going through this.

May you all have a great day! :slight_smile: