Leg cramps & salt

thkdiffgirl

If I eat clean and excercise I develop lower leg cramps at night and or restless leg syndrome at night. The only thing that helps me is pickle juice or adding extra salt to my food. With that said I then perhaps retain water and hardly see the scale budge. Of course I try to drink lots of water, but cannot drink a gallon a day. Thoughts? Anyone else have the same problem? Thanks.

psuLemon

Low salt/sodium, which is an electrolyte, can certainly cause leg cramps, especially if you are also low carb. Even so, that will not prevent fat loss. So the question is, how long have you been tracking weight?

ETA: if you want to prevent swings in water weight, maintain a standard level of sodium (~3000mg) and eat foods high in magnesium and potassium.

JeromeBarry1

When I experienced nighttime leg cramps while eating in a deficit and exercising in a surplus, I decided to eat a handful (it's about half a gram) of pink salt before bed each night. That cleared up my leg cramps. Afterward, I told my doctor about it and she agreed that I done right.

Cahgetsfit

magnesium helps with the leg cramps/restless legs, as does zinc. you can get a supplement called ZMA (basically magnesium + zinc in one tablet) which really helps and also helps your sleep.

I take magnesium every night before bed.

I do, however, salt my food also. I'm not afraid of salt, and I drink tops on a very good day about 2 Litres of water. I'd estimate more like 1.5L/day.

Fatty_Nuff

I tried potassium, magnesium, even the pickle juice thing for my night cramps with no effect. Found some information online that said simply being dehydrated can cause nighttime leg cramps. Drinking a few extra glasses of water a day made a big difference for me.

thkdiffgirl

Thank you everyone! I wanted some reassurance and will definitely try the pink salt/Zinc idea . The scale fluctuates weekly and I understand salt /water retention is something I cant really avoid. Those cramps can be very painful throughout the nigjt , I end up jumping out of bed and almost have tears of pain So, anything to avoid that!

JeromeBarry1

Your body wants to keep the saline level relatively constant through a group of processes called "homeostasis". If you eat too much it will excrete some and if you don't eat enough it will cause trouble until you do. Some people are much more sensitive to their salinity than most of us. I'm of the 'less sensitive' group.

Your body uses water to maintain salt in solution, and your body uses a lot of water to maintain carbohydrate products in solution. It's what I call "stupid salt tricks" to manage salt for the purpose of seeing a temporary scale movement.

elisa123gal

take magnesium at night before you go to bed... it works wonders.

dukeofthedeck

I use a magnesium complex daily. Still have an occasional leg cramp but easier to work off and not nearly as frequent.

thkdiffgirl

Thanks definitely trying magnesium, and less salt.

lorrpb

You can also get a magnesium lotion that some people swear by. On amazon.

KetoZandra

If all fails I get a tub of hot water and soak my feet in Epsom salt (about 4 cups) for about 20 mins and the pain is gone.

Danp

I occasionally get night cramps in my calf muscles. They suck!

The way I've found to get the fastest relief is to rub salt (jut regular table salt) on my gums. I'll pour some in my hand, dab and rub.

Really effective and works super quickly but tastes awful!