Pee-o-Meter
Most every night I wake up at some point and head to the bathroom to pee. Some nights more than once. It’s a hassle but it’s a good thing.
I’ve noticed a clear correlation between what I eat and how often I need to visit the tinkletorium at night. More so than how much I drink, actually. (But then again, for years I have been careful not to drink much close to bedtime.) When I eat well, I pee well. When I eat crap… well, seems that the only good thing about eating crap is that I don’t have to get up at night to pee!
Recently I was cruising along with my eating. On plan day in and day out. Or should I say “NIGHT out.” Because that’s when the pee was flowing. Okay, the pee was flowing all the time because along with eating well I was drinking a lot. Until one day. And one night.
That day, for some reason I have yet to explore, I ate stuff that I should not have eaten. Let’s be clear here. I ate some real crap with a capital C. And that night I slept straight through to the wee hours of the morning with no wee needed. Which might have been nice for a change if I didn’t know exactly what it meant. And sure enough, after I finally got out of bed, still early despite my lack of the usual unbearable bladder pressure, and peed, just a wee bit, I stepped on the scale and saw exactly what I expected. Okay, I actually saw a higher number than I expected. Because really, people, I did not ingest an extra 10,500 calories the day before despite the scale telling me I did. (That crazy math!)
Anyhoo, this post is not about my eating. Or overeating. This post is about the amazing scientific instrument – my nocturnal pee-o-meter. Mine was registering zero that night and that is never a good thing.
What about you? Have you noticed something similar? And have you, like me, suffered an injury on a pitch-black potty pilgrimage?
haha, true, however I drank my whole water bottle (27oz) before bed last night – just after I had a large cup of coffee…BAD idea! I went pee so many times last night and I was even dreaming about washrooms. Ugh. I NEED MY SLEEP!
:)
D
Oh I dream about it too sometimes! I think that is my unconscious mind trying to wake me up to go:)
Hmm, I’ve never noticed a correlation, but I shall explore at the first opportunity. This vacation might be a good place to start. :)
Cammy@TippyToeDiet recently posted..Sunny Side Up!
Trips to the bathroom are actually a bellwether on the road to healthful eating. Same things are very true for me that you wrote about. I think it’s all directly tied to carbs. Athletes carb load for the energy as well as the hydration absorption, to be used at a later date. So as long as the fluids are “flowing”, then all is right with the world.
Roxie recently posted..Bick as Bellwether
I had to look up “bellwether.” Love learning a new word:) That carb thing makes sense when I consider that my poor eating is almost always some form of “bad” carbs. Lots. I didn’t realize that about hydration absorption.
First, you are too funny AND so is that pic!
At my age, I get up more often at night anyway & drives my hubby crazy – poor guy! On top pf the fact that the hormones don’t let me sleep well so I toss & turn!
But, yes, if I eat well & drink all my fluids, I “work well”! :-) On the weekends when I run around more & don’t get all the water in I want to, even though I still eat fine, the night visits are less….
No injuries tough, I keep a pretty bright night light in my bathroom!
tinkletorium – now that is a word!!! :-)
Jody – Fit at 53 recently posted..Overcoming Pain – A Story of Survival
One of my very earliest posts was lamenting how my husband now gets up too pee at night too. And I can’t sleep through that so it means I am up and I might as well go then as well. I have not hit the hormonal stuff yet. One more thing to look forward to:(
Most definitely this is true for me, too! Happened last night. I had tri tip at dinner. Sodium kept me in bed, and added .6 lb. to me this morning. (also, on weekends I weigh later, so there has been an extra pee or two before I get on the scale, so oftentimes I have this problem come Monday morning weigh-ins. Great for weekend mentalities, not so much for Monday morning…
Sunny recently posted..Waiting for a Huge- Mofo-sized March Storm to Hit
I have the exact same situation. Although it is frustrating to have to get up twice per night to pee, I know I’ll be glad about it in the morning. When I wake up in the morning without having gotten up, I know there will be a problem with the scales.
Lori recently posted..Mind Games
I most definitely notice the same thing. It’s the high sodium content of Crappy Food. When we’re eating high sodium, our bodies retain water… hence, no 3am bathroom visits.
I haven’t been paying attention but now I will.
Ewa recently posted..Bikram Yoga Revisited
Nooo. Never noticed, but I haven’t paid attention either. This is interesting stuff. And it scares me to think of how the crap we’re eating is affecting our bodies in ways we DON’T pick up on, either. Clean eating is the just the way to go. End of story. Thanks for spilling your pee here today. Errr, you know what I mean!! ;)
Yum Yucky recently posted..Bikini Monday- It’s Time to Make Those Muscles Pop
LOL. And, yes, clean eating is best. Maybe if I repeat that to myself often enough I will remember it when I am reaching for a cupcake:)
Tinkletorium – lol. That cracked me up. Now how do I work that into the conversation…”I’m off to the Tinkletorium.” With the amount of water I drink, I’m going to be able to use it over and over again.
Darla recently posted..Tales from the Scale and no PJ Zumba
I am not sure where that one came from… I want to credit my husband once upon a time but it doesn’t sound very manly.
Sounds like your little hypothesis is ready for testing! Next thing you know, you will be published in Science!!
I am with you on the pee-o-meter thing.
Michele recently posted..A plan in better tune with my life
I wake up at least once a night needing to use the bathroom — sometimes I get really thirsty right before bed and drink a lot of water… then I wake up 2x a night!
Katie @ Healthy Heddleston recently posted..Mozzarella Cooking Class Recap
I have to admit that my husband is now a contributing factor to my nighttime bathroom visits. He gets up at least once a night too and I always wake up when he does and then my mind starts thinking if I don’t go too I’ll keep thinking about it.
I always take 1 or 2 trips to the bathroom each night – sometimes even 3 if I have had a lot of water to drink. I drink a lot of water all day but I am told that the body makes more urine while at rest thus all the night time trips to the potty.
Broightside-Susan recently posted..I AM A YO-YO
Ooh – I had not heard that! I pretty much stop drinking at dinner time. I got lots of great advice about drinking tea in the evenings to stave off the munchy monster but kept thinking about what that would mean to my nocturnal peeing.
I’m going to have to pay attention to this now. I, too, have to stop drinking after a certain hour or I get no sleep due to frequent potty trips!
thanks for coming by my blog today on my SITS day! :)
gigi recently posted..Flight of Fancy
Me too! Dinner time and I’m done. But I go to bed pretty darn early.
When I first started drinking more water I was peeing all the time- even waking up to pee! Now I have a handle on it and ALWAYS go the bathroom right before bed.
I definitely notice a difference from when I’m drinking enough water and not drinking enough water.
beerab recently posted..Tired
I am in the tickletorium all night long when I’m eating healthy, however give me salt or something fried and my bladder builds itself a wall that Napoleon couldn’t climb! I retain water like it’s nobody’s business! Hate that… Bad food=weight gain & puffiness
Sarah
TheWeatheredWord.blogspot.com
Sarah recently posted..The Weekend Recap
Funny! And why is it that we can retain water so fast and then it takes so long for us to let it go:(
for me it’s a hard thing to check as i have renal failure i don’t pee much maybe only 3 to 4 times in a 24hr period. no matter what i eat or drink i am not much of a run to the bathroom kind of gal
rebecca bryant recently posted..Meet Me On Monday 3-21-11
I didn’t know that, Rebecca. Sorry to hear it.
That pesky math! I’m pretty sure I didn’t eat 35,000 extra calories in the last four days but the scale says I did! 10 pounds in four days…yeah, def not peeing as much. I never have to wake in the night but I usually have a long one when I first wake up and it hasn’t been as remarkable lately. Isn’t that interesting how we start retaining water as soon as we start eating poorly? As the comedian Bill Engvall says, “here’s your sign.”
Yikes! Hopefully that will come off fast. But it never seems to come off for me as fast as it goes on:(
The picture you used is hilarious; that boys father is prouder than the guy whose kid just got accepted to medical school on a full ride scholarship.
Yes indeed, over drink or over eat and I will over-pee.
I have two boys. I could tell lots of stories. Suffice to say I refuse to clean toilets!
Did not notice something like this before but will do an experiment like this and see what happens.
blackhuff recently posted..Trying to not step onto toes
ahhhh the peeOHmeTER.
That thing keeps me up—but it’s my own doing.
I tend to drink a protein shake (CHOC and DECAF coffee base. LOVE) at night.
I shall never learn.
Miz recently posted..Hula Hooping and Self-Love
Stopping by from SITS. I have never paid attention to a correlation with the stuff I eat. I’m going to have to start noticing. Thanks for the interesting post.
Laura recently posted..Southern Magnolia Minerals
Thank you for your comment…if you check out Collage Video, you’ll see that some DVDs have audio CDs to go w/ them, and Collage also has audio walking CDs http://www.collagevideo.com/exercise-audios/walking-audios (they have more than I see here – in the back of their catalogue – music with a certain beat to keep your pace up) … Debbie Rocker’s DVDs have audio CDs included with them. It’s been great since I figured these out. I LOVE using my MP3 player and taking off!
D
D recently posted..Rocking In Spring
Yep. It’s that darn sodium. I love it – but it doesn’t love me.
debbie recently posted..Heres The Problem With Health Care Today
I have never noticed what I ate effecting my visits to the potty at night, but when I drink all the water I was suppose to while losing weight it was every night visits.
I love this post Karen, your are a hoot!
Sheri recently posted..What Does Food Do For Me
As my bladder ages, it does require nocturnal visits to the potty. I always have to hope when I stub my toe on the corner of the bed that I do it on the way back from the bathroom, because if I stub it on the way to the potty…I might pee my pants.
Oh funny! The time I stubbed and broke my toe it was indeed on the way back to bed:)
I never thought about this! I know that I’m super sensitive to water retention for any and all reasons. And being a teacher, I have a bladder of steel and probably the size of Montanna. I always assumed my pee issues were due to a lack of not drinking right or enough.
I’m going to have to investigate this further and see how my eating affects my pee adventures.
I’ve always made the bad pun that I have a pea size bladder:)
VERY funny post!! I’ve walked into the bed frame, wall, dresser, door frame – I have the excuse that it is a new house and he remodeled the bedroom but still… you’d think I’d get it right eventually! I hadn’t thought about it since mine is usually drinking too much water late at night -
LBDDiaries recently posted..Head Over Heels And It Shows