Why am I peeing so much?

[chip]

I've noticed since starting a PP-style diet that I need 'to go' several times a night. I remember years ago the same thing happened when I was on the Atkins Diet. Can anyone give me a reason for this?

I have regular physical examinations. I have no health problems. I do not take medications, I do not drink.

[Mitra]

Welcome, Chip.

How long have you been following PP? It's common to urinate more frequently in the first few days, as there is quite a strong diuretic effect (I'd have to dig some books out to give the details - unless someone else has them to hand). Once you pass that stage, then it's generally pretty much back to normal - and depends how much you drink.

[maxlharris]

Dr. Mike just commented on this while talking about potassium supplimentation. For some reason, cutting carbs puts the "flush" message to the system, and you dump a lot of water weight, a lot of it through the kidneys.

Also, he might be drinking a lot of water late. That does it for me. I go a lot at work. But I drink beyond floating.

[chip]

Thanks for the replies. I try not to drink too much water before bedtime. I've been doing this for more than a month. I would have thought by now I'm done dumping carbs. I just wonder what the physiologic theory for this might be. Perhaps I'm taking in too much protein?

I don't count grams of carb, protein, fat. I make meat the main part of the meal with veggies on the side.

[maxlharris]

hrm. Is there a wide variety in the carbs you take in from day to day? Maybe through different veggies? That might lead to holding more water as glycogen in muscle, then dumping it later.

Also, might be a sodium issue if you swing that around a lot.

[chip]

I don't add salt to anything. I try to stick to lower carb veggies like broccoli. Yesterday I had a curious effect. I was feeling tired all day, possibly from getting up so often the night before. I normally exercise at midday. The workout was belabored due to tiredness. I had my normal dinner of a large skillet of stirfry vegs and fish. Later that evening the dinner had not helped. I was still quite tired. I broke down and had a large slice of pie, about 60 grams of carb. I don't know if that was the reason but I slept soundly with no need to use the bathroom during the night.

I would have thought that much carb would have led to some water retention but this morning my belt was looser than normal. So did the carb dose shut down the ketosis? The Atkins approach says ketosis is like a switch. A little bit of carb will shut it down. My impression of the PP system is that it's not so black-and-white. There are degrees of ketosis. Not so?

TIA