Question:
How many times a day should I urinate?

I am 6 weeks post op (had open rny). Only down 36lbs. I drink about 44-50 oz of water, and 2 8oz protein shakes a day. I eat 3 meals, and maybe 1 snack a day (and only eat foods permitted by the dietician). I go to the gym 4x a week for an hour (I do treadmill, bike, body trec, & weights). I maybe only urinate 3-5x a day. Before the surgery, I was drinking that much water, and urinated at least 1x an hour. Now I can go for many hours, and then kinda have to force myself to use the bathroom. What am I doing wrong????    — Andrea M. (posted on June 4, 2001)

June 4, 2001
1x per hour seems like an awful lot to me. I drink a similar amount of liquid as you do (7 1/2 months postop) and go 2-3 times per day. However, part of the difference might be that your stomach full of food is no longer pushing down putting preasure on your bladder. I'm not sure about that, but just a thought.
   — tlg6056

June 4, 2001
I don't think you're doing anything "wrong." However, we can almost always do "better." Try to increase your fluid intake if possible. Especially on those days you are working out for an hour. After an hour of working out your body can easily need an extra 320z. of water just to make up for the dehydration of the work out. One thing you can do gauge this is weigh yourself immediately before your workout, then immediately after. Any difference in weight is water LOST by your body. Make sure you add that much back in IN ADDITION to your regular water intake. Just an idea to consider.
   — BethVBG

June 4, 2001
I am experiencing the same thing. I used to go 6-8 x's a day and would get up through the night too. Now I go only 2-3x's a day. I used to also have a sense of urgency sometimes and that's gone now as well. I think it really could be that my stomach isn't pushing on my bladder anymore, who knows? Good luck!
   — Brenda H.

June 6, 2001
Hi..I pee less now too. Even though you drink a lot now, just imagine how much water was in the vast amount of food you ate pre-op. If I really think about it, I ate and drank much more pre-op, so it only logical that I went more often. After the painful catherization in the hospital, I was sure I'd never pee again, but I did, and now I pee like a champ. I don't think that peeing less is a problem, I'd be more concerned if you weren't peeing at all.
   — Peter S.