Sodium Issues... Help Please!
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NikaChartrand
Posts: 35 Member
Does sodium seem to be a major issue for anyone else? I know to keep my electrolytes balanced, I need to be at around 3000mg/day, but I'm finding that if I go over 2200 even for one day, I retain water like crazy and gain a pound the next day! There are some other issues with what I'm eating that I'm cutting out one by one to identify what's going wrong, but it's so frustrating! I had around 2480mg of sodium yesterday and I'm up a pound today! That's literally less than 300mg over my "limit" and 500mg away from where I need to be!
I was eating an occasional greek yogurt, but I'm thinking maybe that isn't so good for me and I'm going to stop. So far I've cut out all dairy except for cheese and butter (even then, the butter in my fridge is mostly vegetable oil so I don't eat much of it at all-)
This isn't going to deter me from keto at all, it's just super frustrating to see my macros where they should be and my body not accepting it for some reason!
I was eating an occasional greek yogurt, but I'm thinking maybe that isn't so good for me and I'm going to stop. So far I've cut out all dairy except for cheese and butter (even then, the butter in my fridge is mostly vegetable oil so I don't eat much of it at all-)
This isn't going to deter me from keto at all, it's just super frustrating to see my macros where they should be and my body not accepting it for some reason!
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Usually, the sodium doesn't cause you to retain water unless it is paired with higher carb foods - i.e. chips, pretzels, etc.
You have already identified the next top potential culprit in dairy. I wouldn't worry as much about the butter, but the cheese could possibly be the issue.
The next most likely culprit may be nuts. Many of us significantly increased nut consumption when moving to this WOE. Where small amounts now and then may have never caused an issue, eating more on a regular basis could be having an effect.
Of course there is bio-individuality so you could be part of the small percentage who is actually sodium sensitive and need to keep levels lower than the rest of us.4 -
If the butter in your fridge is mostly vegetable oil then it isn't butter... it's margarine. Is it possible that the reaction to going over the 2200 mg of sodium isn't from the sodium itself but the processed-type food(s) you are eating that contains the sodium (like margarine?)....2
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cstehansen wrote: »Usually, the sodium doesn't cause you to retain water unless it is paired with higher carb foods - i.e. chips, pretzels, etc.
You have already identified the next top potential culprit in dairy. I wouldn't worry as much about the butter, but the cheese could possibly be the issue.
The next most likely culprit may be nuts. Many of us significantly increased nut consumption when moving to this WOE. Where small amounts now and then may have never caused an issue, eating more on a regular basis could be having an effect.
Of course there is bio-individuality so you could be part of the small percentage who is actually sodium sensitive and need to keep levels lower than the rest of us.
Having to cut out dairy completely makes me so sad because I love love love cheese, but I'm willing to stop eating it just to figure out if it's what's causing the issues. I'm really hoping it's not. As for nuts, I don't eat them at all simply because I don't like the texture of them. I'm still going to keep my sodium low to minimize the amount of variables I'm testing all at once.kimberwolf71 wrote: »If the butter in your fridge is mostly vegetable oil then it isn't butter... it's margarine. Is it possible that the reaction to going over the 2200 mg of sodium isn't from the sodium itself but the processed-type food(s) you are eating that contains the sodium (like margarine?)....
I was thinking about that and I'm actually going to go through my fridge and cupboard and see which foods aren't what they appear to be and then replace them with what they SHOULD be. Like I'm replacing that margarine with actual butter if dairy isn't what's causing the issues.
Thank you both for your input and I'll definitely switch up how I'm eating!3 -
Takes a few days (3-5 or so) for kidneys to compensate to sodium intake change to attenuate bloating...key strategy: stick to a CONSISTENT daily Na+ intake (ex) same pre-package food portions, same method of measuring salt). Somewhat higher intake is fine on low-carbohydrate, BP effects are pretty minimal (2-4mmHg rise or so if I'm remembering correctly from JNCVIII guidelines) vs. more impactful variables (weight loss, K+ intake, physical activity...EtOH intake has pretty low impact though).
I wouldn't go crazy if you're say only +/-500mg on any given day if you're averaging roughly 3,000mg/day consistently. Greek yogurt carb intake ~ slightly moderate 6-8g carb per serving or so is another variable to monitor1 -
I think I actually found my problem. I went back through my food diary and found (obviously the dairy) but I also found that I was drinking a lot of water. What I never logged was the electrolyte additive with 30mg of sodium I put in my countless glasses of water. I didn't even think to look what was IN the enhancer. One day I drank 15 glasses of water with that enhancer in all of them. That's a total of 300 additional mg of sodium I haven't logged and never accounted for EVER. So instead of going just 200mg above my 2300 mg goal set by MFP, I was going 300+mg over my 2300mg goal.
Knowing that I had missed all of that, I decided to cut back on how much I use the drink enhancer in favor of lime juice and simply waiting about a week to see if that was the issue. If not, I'll move on to cutting dairy out of my diet next.0 -
An edit to my previous post: I've been going 500+mg over my goal, not 300. I did a lot of math to figure out the numbers and typed some of them wrong lol0
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It's also a possibility that it's not the sodium in the enhancer..... what else is in it? Some are affected by artificial sweeteners or certain food colorings or flavourings.2
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FWIW, my sodium goal is 4000 mg. I am usually pretty close. Sometimes it is 5000 mg. If I am below 3500 or so, I will have some beef bouillon at the end of the day.
I tried to use a 3000 mg level for a while and eventually developed "keto flu" symptoms that went away when I bumped it back up again. I am guessing these things (like everything else) might be a little individual. You might have to experiment a little.2 -
Have you just started keto? You have only 5 days eating history in your recent food diary so I'm guessing "new" or perhaps you tracked elsewhere.
What besides a 1 pound fluctuation on the scale indicates water retention? Are your legs/feet swelling? My weight fluctuates daily and sometimes more than a pound. This is common for the masses whether "dieting" or not. It is what the body weight does. Some find using a weight trending app to be useful showing the overall up or down trend, minimizing the daily fluctuations. Try Trendweight or the apps Happy Scale (iphone) or Libra (Android) if you find yourself too focused on and influenced by the number on the scale.
I don't know what is in Imperial margarine but if it contains trans fats it would be beneficial to eliminate it from your diet. It's the 1 fat most experts (possibly all) agree should not be eaten.
Yogurt? Many are able to fit plain Greek yogurt into their carb amounts. The fruity/sugar flavored stuff, not so much. Some people are lactose intolerant or just don't like yogurt so don't eat it. Some have found dairy stalls their weight loss but that usually takes some time to determine. If you enjoy Greek yogurt and it fits into your daily carb amount it can be keto friendly.
My experience: I use butter, avoid trans fats, enjoy/eat plain Greek yogurt. I have no sodium sensitivities that I'm aware of and need to hit amounts ~3000...generally speaking but the low end of the common keto range of 3000-5000 mg is generally enough for me.
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This happened to me when I started keto. Very frustrating. I could NOT get my sodium intake above around 2000mg a day or so without retaining water. Some folks are just more sensitive to sodium than others are. I wrestled with sodium intake for around 6 to 9 months before that problem went away. Even now though, I find I do well on around 3200mg to 3500mg of sodium daily although last summer I needed to be at 4000mg/day.1
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Sodium is supposed to help you retain water.
Keto is a naturally diuretic diet and requires 5000-7000mg of sodium a day.
You’re nowhere near where you should be.
You’re probably so deficient that when you begin to get close to what you need your body is holding onto it as much as possible. Because that’s what it has to do when you’re deficient. And it cannot let go of excess water in a sodium deficiency because that’s dangerous.
If you consistently get the sodium you actually need, your body will finally regulate it naturally and won’t hold excess water because it won’t have to.
You really can’t get too much sodium unless you have a specific health condition that affects your renal handling of it.
Don’t restrict sodium otherwise.2 -
Thank you all for the input! I'll try to put the advice to good use! I've been on keto for around a week and a half, but got around to tracking it on here 5 days ago. It's just a mental battle for me, remembering that it isn't all about the scale.1
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I should have said that I shoot for 4000 mg in logged foods. I liberally salt food as well.
I also don't think you are getting enough2
