Pee Question

#1

Five weeks in and still going to the bathroom frequently. I do drink about 104 ounces of water a day but still, before this diet I drank the same amount of water and never went this much. Do you think this is normal?

(Carl Keller) #2

Yes it’s normal. When our insulin stays low, we excrete sodium much faster than we are used to and we do it mostly via urination. Make sure you are getting 2+ teaspoons of sodium over the course of your day to compensate for this.

#3

Ok, great, I will do so. Thank you.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #4

Glucose and glycogen are both hydrophilic, that is attract and retain water, up to 3 times their own weight. That can be a lot of water, which is why the first week or two of weight loss is mostly water. Fat and ketones do not retain water but instead flush it through the system pretty quickly. That’s good because the water takes with it a lot of stuff you want to get rid of. On the other hand, like @CarlKeller says, it also takes electrolytes which you need to replenish daily.

#5

Great thanks for the explanation!

(mole person) #6

Are your individual urinations the same volume as before or have they become smaller, like you have to go all the time but not much comes out when you do, and you’re suprised that it even led to a real urge at all?

#7

Well, I drink about 104 oz of water a day so when I go I go a good amount.

#8

The other thing that holds water is inflammation, similar to how a joint will swell up after an injury, except it can be all over the body in adipose tissues. A lot of people see reduced whole-body inflammation when starting keto and that liquid comes out too.

(mole person) #9

Actually it’s inflammation that I was getting at in my previous post. When I have a lot of inflammation it makes me pee much more often because my bladder has pressure on it from all the swelling. There are a lot of keto foods that can be highly inflammatory for some people and when we switch to keto we can increase the amount of those foods that we are consuming and it can lead to more inflammation than was even there before keto.

For me two foods that absolutely did this were nuts and seeds and dark chocolate (86%). Both led to heavy inflammation followed by days and nights of many, many urinations. But the urinations were characterized by being individually smaller than normal and with a weaker stream.

#10

I have heard that. I am going on my sixth week of the diet and it seems like I go more frequently than when I wasn’t on it but not as much as at the beginning of the diet. But when I go it is a good amount. Couldn’t tell if it was just the volume of the water I was drinking or if everyone has the same thing happening. Thanks for your input!

#11

So, a bit of TMI from me…

We live in an RV and the toilet bowl is dry rather than filled with water (unless you intentionally fill it first). This comes in handy to judge the volume and color of urine because when you pee in a regular toilet there isn’t the same way to judge it. Sometimes I feel like it was a normal amount but the bowl is either fuller or less full than I would have guessed.

#12

Lol, not at all! I camped all through my childhood and teens so I know how those toilets work!