So I’m approaching the end of Day 2 and I can’t stop weeing. Literally, as frequently as hourly and always a good volume. I’m not aware of drinking more (although I suppose its possible), I’m definitely not pregnant, and a seimens dipstick is not suggestive of infection. No (sorry but gross) odor, burning and nice and pale, with good quantities produced each time…. is this a carb thing?

Water retention seems to be caused by carbs, and when you drop the carbs significantly the water is released, as long as you are also drinking enough water to replace it. It is useful when you are burning fat as the by-products are removed by the water as well, this is part of the reason for the well known plateau-whoosh cycle later in the diet, as partially burnt fat cells also fill with water and then release all of a sudden. It can also deplete sodium so make sure you are adding a little salt to things.

Ah. thanks. This probably accounts for the 4lb dropped over night too! I love salt…. yay!

Energy is stored as glycogen in your liver and muscles, which is glucose combined with water. When you start the diet, the first thing your body does is burn up your glycogen, releasing all that water. That is where it gets the energy you need when you stop eating sugar/starch. The glycogen is heavy, so you will show a dramatic weight loss as you burn it. You will pee about 3-4 litres extra in those first few days. I was getting up 4 times a night for the first 3 nights.

When the glycogen is depleted, your body will start to burn fat. This is when the real weight loss happens.

You may lose around 8 pounds of water the first week, then settle into about 2 pounds of fat loss a week. If you don’t revert to your previous eating habits, this fat loss will be permanent.

After 8 weeks, you will have lost over 20 pounds, about 8 pounds of water and 12 pounds of fat. Every extra week will mean an extra 2 pounds of fat lost.

If you fall off the wagon and have a high carb day, the only thing you will do is rebuild your glycogen levels. You can easily gain 3 pounds in 1 day, but this is just water. A couple of 800 calorie days and those 3 pounds will quickly disappear.

When you get to your target weight and up your calorie intake, you will rebuild your glycogen stores so you will regain the water you lost in week 1, which is fine and expected. You should overshoot your target weight to account for this.

At that point you need to go on a good exercise program to help prevent regaining the fat you lost. A tape measure is your friend as weight gained by building muscle is good, but you want to keep the fat off your gut!

Thank you for explaining this so clearly (particularly about what to expect at the end of your target…. this would have left me really disheartened if I hadn’t have been forewarned!

Thanks for that excellent and detailed explanation, I experienced this when I started eating more ‘normally’ after my 8 weeks finished on 27th November, I wasn’t at my target quite yet but made the decision to wait until after Christmas to continue to allow myself some indulgences. I put on 6 pounds almost immediately even though I was still sticking to BSD food, just not watching the carbs so closely. Another 4 pounds followed over Christmas, probably some of which was actually fat, but today after restarting on 3rd January I am only just heavier than I was just before Christmas, so a large amount of that water has gone again. I will be planning in an overshoot this time as I want end up between 10 stone 7 pounds and 10 stone 11 pounds for the longish term. I may take a little time to sort out how to stabilise my final weight but I am sure it will be worth it. Today was 11 stone 5 so less than a stone to go now.