is it a myth that you pee a lot when losing weight

jackdaniels1234123
jackdaniels1234123 Posts: 89 Member
edited November 12 in Food and Nutrition
have heard this a few times from various people that an indicator you are losing weight is that you keep needing to pee. Anyone else heard this?

Replies

  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    If you drink a lot of water and have excess sodium in your system, then you will need to pee a lot.

    The only weight you are losing though is water weight.. and that can easily be gained back depending on what you eat, water levels, etc.
  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member
    I have to pee a lot anyways. Drinking more water has not changed that, which is a little scary. But yeah, the above poster had it right - it flushes out water weight. It's not the act of peeing or anything that makes you lose the weight.
  • craignev
    craignev Posts: 1,247 Member
    I feel like I'm visiting the restroom a lot but I know it's because I drink a gallon of water a day. I think most people who take up a healthier lifestyle tend to consume more liquids.

    If you're not drinking much and need to pee a lot, this can be a sign of diabetes.
  • 1ConcreteGirl
    1ConcreteGirl Posts: 3,677 Member
    Peeing is not how your body rids itself of fat.

    A lot of people trying to lose weight up their water intake, as most people should, which might account for the bathroom breaks.

    Causation does not equal correlation.
  • ElizaRoche
    ElizaRoche Posts: 2,005 Member
    depends on your water intake.
  • honu18
    honu18 Posts: 294 Member
    I know I started peeing a lot after I stared working out a lot. Probably both to do with flushing toxins out of your system and the fact that I drink a lot. I drink on average probably 3 liters of water a day, so yeah, a lot of times I'm going every hour. Kind of a pain sometimes.
  • kbeech06
    kbeech06 Posts: 328 Member
    Well, the peeing isn't making me lose weight but I keep trekking up the stairs to get to the bathroom :laugh: Honestly, I've always had a small bladder, but now that I've started drinking more water I'm ALWAYS going!
  • 1ConcreteGirl
    1ConcreteGirl Posts: 3,677 Member
    I know I started peeing a lot after I stared working out a lot. Probably both to do with flushing toxins out of your system and the fact that I drink a lot. I drink on average probably 3 liters of water a day, so yeah, a lot of times I'm going every hour. Kind of a pain sometimes.

    Every time you pee, your renal glands have flushed toxins of some sort from your body. Not just when you're losing weight. That's what peeing's all about.

    Were you drinking that much water before you started losing weight?
  • threeohtwo
    threeohtwo Posts: 153 Member
    Concretegirl is right: Correlation does not equal causation. Just because two things are related doesn't mean that one caused the other. However if you are upping your water intake then you'll pee more!
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    It's the fat and toxins flushing out. Or you drink more water and eat more water-dense foods like fruits and vegetables. It's definitely either one or the other.
  • mjennings
    mjennings Posts: 10 Member
    There are several things besides muscle that make up the weight you see on the scale. Extra water in your system, Food in your intestines, fat in your body. When you drink extra water, your body gets rid of the water it does not need, when you have a bowel movement you get rid of food left in your intestine, when you cut calories and exercise you can lose fat, you need to cut 3500 calories to lose a lb. All will lower the number on the scale but cutting the calories and exercise will keep it off.
  • Katbody10
    Katbody10 Posts: 369 Member
    When I cut out sodas and switched to water .. well .. yeah .. I felt like I was pregnant all over again and running to the bathroom every 5 minutes! LOL

    As I increased my water intake, so did the need to pee .. however .. that has balanced itself out again and even with my increased water intake -- I'm back to peeing normally again (whew) I was starting to think I needed to give up water .. :laugh:

    I drink caffeine and alcohol as well .. .that doesn't seem to affect my need to go as much as when I started drinking more water.

    Your body will adjust .. you tend to lose water weight early on and if you're changing your diet to be healthier, incorporating more water and clean eating. After a couple of weeks, your body will go back to a normal routine that is more desirable than running for the loo every few minutes :wink:
  • janf15
    janf15 Posts: 242 Member
    This is part of the fat burning metabolism - "To remove the fat to use as energy, the body empties the fat cell. Technically, the "fat" in the cells are triglycerides. Once removed, enzymes break down the triglycerides into two components, glycerol and fatty acids. The liver, kidneys and muscles absorb the glycerol and fatty acids to produce energy and heat. Waste products from the breakdown are excreted by the body through urine, expiration and sweat. The usable portion of fat is transferred to energy and the unusable portion leaves the body as waste." from Livestrong.com

    I don't see the argument that fat burning cause more urine.

    I am inclined to say it is related to the water intake. By drinking more water you will excrete more water and that is one good reason for a higher urine output - and by living healthier (i.e. avoiding processed food) you get less sodium to bind water so you are getting rid of excess water. Thus your urine output increase because the water bound to sodium is released. After a while you will have 'homeostasis' of water - and you won't pee quite as much.
  • Firefox7275
    Firefox7275 Posts: 2,040 Member
    It's nothing to do with fat loss or toxins, there is no science backing those claims AFAIK. Might be to do with you drinking more fluids/ eating more fluids in the form of fruit and veggies, might be eating fewer carbs (1g muscle fuel glycogen held alongside 3g water), could be burning more carbs through exercise and depleting the muscles of glycogen, could be eating less processed sodium rich foods or most likely a combination.
  • Seattle_mom1
    Seattle_mom1 Posts: 1 Member
    I found this article interesting, you do pee more because of the extra waste your body needs to flush out. http://www.livestrong.com/article/308167-weight-loss-and-urination/
  • Justinrenna1
    Justinrenna1 Posts: 4 Member
    About five years ago I lost about 30lbs over a few months, and noticed I was peeing clear several times a night. Couple years ago I was dropping weight, and again, this time in mornings. And over the past year the same. I drink water, and coffee at the same rate, but when not losing normal color 4-5 times daily losing weight clear 8-10 daily.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    I pee a lot when I drink a lot of liquid. :|
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    MoreBean13 wrote: »
    It's the fat and toxins flushing out. Or you drink more water and eat more water-dense foods like fruits and vegetables. It's definitely either one or the other.

    fat is burned by the body and exhaled... not "flushed out of pee".


    OP- It all has to do with the amount of water and liquids you're consuming. Period. It has nothing to do with whether or not your body is using fat.
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
    edited October 2016
    Holy peepee necro.

    It's water weight. It doesn't have anything to do with whether you're burning fat. Cutting carbs/sodium and/or increasing water intake will cause you to pee more.
  • la1n
    la1n Posts: 1 Member
    I've been dieting for two days, and I did not increase my fluid intake, nor did I exercise. I noticed a significant increase in the amount I peed these two days. Here's a small snapshot of what I ate: in the morning, I had a cereal bar. No liquids. Peed a lot. For lunch, I had an avocado and half a cup of juice. Peed a lot. Normally I drink a whole cup of juice and about 800 calories of food for lunch. I'm peeing more now while consuming less food and liquids than I did when I consumed a lot more.

    I found this online:
    "Peeing a lot is a good indicator that you the diet is effective, since that extra pee comes from "burned" fat. Yes, most of the extra pee does not come from your body "dehydrating" as people think. What happens is that when you are dieting your body resorts to using fat as "fuel". When you use fat, you turn high-energy fat molecules (from inside the fat cells) into low-energy H2O and CO2 (the chemical formula of human fat is complex and varying, but it is all C+O+H, so the conversion is easy, though it involves multiple steps through interim molecules). The CO2 goes out when you breathe, and the water can go out as vapor in your breathing and also as perspiration (when you exercise) and pee. So if pee more, it generally means you are burning more fat."
    Read more: Why do i pee a lot while dieting - Will drinking half of body weight in water help lower blood pressure along wih fat levels :: Xmms Answers at http://www.xmms.org/qna/Why_do_i_pee_a_lot_while_dieting-qna894058.html#
  • tbright1965
    tbright1965 Posts: 852 Member
    1ConcreteGirl wrote: »
    Peeing is not how your body rids itself of fat.

    A lot of people trying to lose weight up their water intake, as most people should, which might account for the bathroom breaks.

    Causation does not equal correlation.

    Only about 16% of byproducts of fat burned leaves the body as water. The other 84% of those byproducts leaves the body as Carbon Dioxide, if I can still do high school chemistry correctly.
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