Protein And Water Rention / My Results

superhuman

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Hello

Im an active guy, i workout with weights and all that jazz.

For some time now i have really experimented with my protein intake in terms of fullness and what effects it has on me.
I have been trying to get my water retention away for the longest time as well. Sodium bicarbonate really help but i need to take alot of it for it to have a really big effect.

So then i started to up my protein intake to see. What i have found was kind of strange but also very cool.

When i increase my protein intake to 250g+ a day, positive things really start to happen.

- faster and better bowel movements
- way less water retention
- better pulse and temp
- i can just drink water with meals and it makes me even warmer

Today i tried eating the 120-150g again, and man it sucked ****. When i was drinking water/fluid i could just feel it filling me up in terms of water retention and it did.

So i was wondering, do i just need that high amount of protein for a while?
Or what other things cant it be?
 

tara

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Did you just add protein to your diet, or did you remove anything else at the same time?

If you just added protein, another component could be just the increased calories - IIRC, you were eating a low cal diet. More food=more energy for everything. More protein left over for all its other functions after some of it is converted to sugar for energy.
 
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superhuman

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Nope i just added or substracted protein and i was way in a calorie surplus so that was not it at all
 

tara

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I'm glad you have increased your food - if that is what you mean. From what you say, when you added protein, you did increase overall calories. Since you were probably running a deficit for a while earlier this year, you may still have a bit of catching up to do - your body may have good uses for a surplus. I wouldn't be sure the calories are irrelevant. I'm not meaning that the protein itself is irrelevant.
 
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superhuman

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tara: jeezus now it has nothing to do with calories AT ALL. I can eat 6k cals and 150g protein and retain water as ****

Zachs: dairy mostly
 

marcar72

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I've had positive results since upping my protein intake a few weeks ago. It seems as if I've been mildly chronic protein deficient since I don't know when. So now I aim to get 200 g of protein a day on average. I'm also pretty active so that would probably be in line with what Ray Peat would recommend. :2cents
 

Zachs

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SS, thats impressive to eat 250g in dairy protein! Unless you were using a powder...

I try to hit over 100g of dairy protein and that takes effort for me.

I think protein, especially from an easily digestible source like dairy definitely has its advantages. I can see it helping with metabolism and also with body composition. Either of which could be helping with water loss.

On a personal note, i have done both a zero fat, plant based high carb diet and a zero fat plant and dairy high carb diet. With a plant diet i would retain a layer of water, making my body less defined and my face puffy. Adding in dairy and gelatin allows me to get very defined, seeing striations in delts and between pecs, and my face is slimmer.

Not sure the exact mechanism but i see similar results. Maybe i will experiment with increasing protein and seeing what happens, iv been stuck at just below 10% bf for a month or more.
 
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superhuman

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Zachs, yeah i use cottage cheese and low fat cheese mostly.

I agree. When i was vegan and more high carb raw food or vegan and no matter if it just was low protein i get puffy
 

tomisonbottom

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superhuman said:
Zachs, yeah i use cottage cheese and low fat cheese mostly.

I agree. When i was vegan and more high carb raw food or vegan and no matter if it just was low protein i get puffy

Do you do a 2/1 ratio or around that every time you eat protein? And do you eat only when you're hungry? Or did you up your protein, e.g., starting forcing down extra as if it were a supplement, to see the effect?

RP says to eat for appetite, but it's hard work for me to eat even 80-100grams/day because I just don't have much appetite and am not that active....and when I force it down to reach the 100 grams mark I gain weight, because I'm hypo.
But I feel like I'm gonna never get my thyroid better and fix the Hypo condidtion without enough protein, so I'm stuck in a vicious circle with that.
Plus digestion isn't good, so that's another reason your post interests me because you said it was faster and better.
 
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superhuman

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Yeah i try to keep it 2:1 but sometimes its more towards 1:1 but it does not matter since its just for a time beeing since i need more protein now. Ive talked alot with ray over email about it and he has give me great tips etc etc

And yeah i think ALOT of people can benefit from more protein in the beginning since prob most have had to little from previous. I feel amazing when i up the protein and i know its a high amount but i need that now it seems
 

tara

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superhuman said:
tara: jeezus now it has nothing to do with calories AT ALL. I can eat 6k cals and 150g protein and retain water as f***
My Peat inspired diet has so far not conferred on me the talents of either telepathy or clairvoyance, so all I had to go by is what you had already posted. I was speculating, I did not claim certainty. You asked for ideas. You are not obliged to accept anyone else's ideas. No need to lose your temper.

So, based on more information, another idea. If you were varying protein on a background of high calories, then another possible factor could be the ratio of protein to carbs. I think I have read (from Peat?) that excessive carb to protein ratios in a meal can cause their own stresses, which you maybe alleviated with more protein? Eg 150g protein out of a 6000 cal diet is a pretty low protein ratio: ~1p:9(c+f). I'm not sure how the ratios work with fat included.
 

pboy

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excess protein tends to make peoples blood hot and polluted so theyre likely to come out with aggressive or defensive tones, poor tara

Peat emphazises protein as important but is in no means a high protein paleo type approach. Even cottage cheese is calcium imbalanced, less than meat, but still not right. Theres no feasible way to eat that much protein without imbalancing the body in some way shape or form hormonally and signally. You say you can drink more water with high protein, but im sure the same would be if you used starch, its just the fact its denser and hypertonic much more so compared to fruit or milk. Theres no point in me saying more, ive stated exact ratios that the body works on and people turn a blind eye. I NEED "MY" PROTEIN MAN, IM A HARD WORKER TOUGH GUY, I NEED A LOT OF MEAT AND PROTEIN TO FUEL MY MANLINESS. Ok....
that's more of an estrogenic man tone, which you would only (and easily) be able to recognize once you have a point of reference to the actual other ideal. If everyone really did require such a high amount of protein, which we don't, there wouldn't even be close to enough food or everyone. You realize if you had your own cow or even cows, you couldn't get enough extra milk in a day to produce that much cottage cheese? From that perspective you can easily see how its wrong right away. It involves taking excess from other beings, which will run its course. And not to mention youll get gout, balding, sore joints, and all the other stuff associated with excess phosphorus protein, high blood pressure (excessively), calcification, ect
 

jet9

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Mar 5, 2018
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Hello

Im an active guy, i workout with weights and all that jazz.

For some time now i have really experimented with my protein intake in terms of fullness and what effects it has on me.
I have been trying to get my water retention away for the longest time as well. Sodium bicarbonate really help but i need to take alot of it for it to have a really big effect.

So then i started to up my protein intake to see. What i have found was kind of strange but also very cool.

When i increase my protein intake to 250g+ a day, positive things really start to happen.

- faster and better bowel movements
- way less water retention
- better pulse and temp
- i can just drink water with meals and it makes me even warmer

Today i tried eating the 120-150g again, and man it sucked ****. When i was drinking water/fluid i could just feel it filling me up in terms of water retention and it did.

So i was wondering, do i just need that high amount of protein for a while?
Or what other things cant it be?
Superhuman, hi

I know it’s and old post, but did you get this effects only with dairy protein or any protein? Meat, etc.

Also what’s the rest of your diet looks like?
 

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