sodium levels

forevermaryb

Hi all, after reading many topics about plateaus since I have been stalled for a few weeks on weight loss, I have been gradually increasing my calories. I started MFP at the end of May 2013 after losing 45 pounds on a medically supervised weight loss plan, which had a pretty low daily calorie intake. I stopped that diet after "hitting the wall" with such a restrictive diet and I wanted to lose the remainder through a diet that could become a healthy life style. I started MFP on 1200 calories (I am 5'9" tall, 46 year old female), but after stalling a few times, I started increasing my daily calories. My goal now is 1600 calories. I'm finding it difficult to increase my calories without going over the recommended sodium levels. I don't eat any processed foods, don't add any salt to my cooking, eat lots of vegetables and lean proteins with some fruit and dairy and I still often go over the recommended sodium levels. I didn't realize that celery has 90 mg of sodium! I have no health concerns and don't feel as if I am retaining water (no ankle/feet swelling). Should I worry about my sodium? I usually don't go much over 3000mg if I'm over. If it is an issue, any suggestions on how to keep my sodium levels low?

socajam

Hi all, after reading many topics about plateaus since I have been stalled for a few weeks on weight loss, I have been gradually increasing my calories. I started MFP at the end of May 2013 after losing 45 pounds on a medically supervised weight loss plan, which had a pretty low daily calorie intake. I stopped that diet after "hitting the wall" with such a restrictive diet and I wanted to lose the remainder through a diet that could become a healthy life style. I started MFP on 1200 calories (I am 5'9" tall, 46 year old female), but after stalling a few times, I started increasing my daily calories. My goal now is 1600 calories. I'm finding it difficult to increase my calories without going over the recommended sodium levels. I don't eat any processed foods, don't add any salt to my cooking, eat lots of vegetables and lean proteins with some fruit and dairy and I still often go over the recommended sodium levels. I didn't realize that celery has 90 mg of sodium! I have no health concerns and don't feel as if I am retaining water (no ankle/feet swelling). Should I worry about my sodium? I usually don't go much over 3000mg if I'm over. If it is an issue, any suggestions on how to keep my sodium levels low?

A lot of people on here would say don't worry about sodium, me personally anything over 1500mg, I worry about. Some days I don't even hit 1000mg. I am extremely careful about what sodium foods I eat (pita bread - 440 mg of sodium - to me it is not worth eating), I could make my own bread with less sodium. Smoked salmon, I gave up for a while, eat some yesterday because I wanted to make homemade pizza. Its up the individual, but why task your kidneys with a high doses of sodium and then pay for it in your later years. The scale was not moving for me, once I cut my sodium it started to move again

I have now even started to bake with sodium free baking powder, it more expensive, but worth the extra money.

tishtash77

Sodium is something to watch but I dont think it is something to obsess over unless you have high blood pressure or other health issues that means you should monitor it. I have read some recent articles about sodium (I do watch mine somewhat for bp) and it seems to be that very low sodium levels (under 1000) is just as unhealthy for you as very high so it is not as simple as cut out all salt. Also from what I understand sodium affects your weight loss more when there are drastic changes in the levels you eat day to day, rather than keeping it steady. Finally remember it is not affecting your fat loss. It surprised me too the things that have high sodium but I am surprised that you struggle to get under 3000 if you are not eating any processed foods or using any salt at all. I try to keep mine between 1500 and 2300. Have you checked canned goods and swapped to no salt added for those? As you have no health concerns perhaps try to get down to the rda of 2300 with the 3000 being your max.

forevermaryb

Sodium is something to watch but I dont think it is something to obsess over unless you have high blood pressure or other health issues that means you should monitor it. I have read some recent articles about sodium (I do watch mine somewhat for bp) and it seems to be that very low sodium levels (under 1000) is just as unhealthy for you as very high so it is not as simple as cut out all salt. Also from what I understand sodium affects your weight loss more when there are drastic changes in the levels you eat day to day, rather than keeping it steady. Finally remember it is not affecting your fat loss. It surprised me too the things that have high sodium but I am surprised that you struggle to get under 3000 if you are not eating any processed foods or using any salt at all. I try to keep mine between 1500 and 2300. Have you checked canned goods and swapped to no salt added for those? As you have no health concerns perhaps try to get down to the rda of 2300 with the 3000 being your max.

I don't eat canned vegetables, so that isn't an issue. There are a few high sodium foods in my diet (ie, canadian bacon or deli meat even though I often get low sodium) that I could eliminate, but it seems to be small levels that add up that puts me over. I am just generally surprised at the amount in sodium in seemingly "healthy" food. For instance, for dinner I had 4 ounces of grilled shrimp that I sauteed from raw using only a 1/4 second spray of olive oil cooking spray and Mrs. Dash seasoning (no salt). I was shocked to see that it had 670mg of sodium! When I was consuming 1200-1300 calories, sodium didn't seem to be an issue for me. I could generally stay around 2300mg. However, now that I am trying to increase my calories, I can't seem to get a handle on sodium. I just wonder how much I should focus on lowering my sodium or not worry as much about it as long as I am eating fairly healthy?