Sodium Help??? Please

P90XCertifiedCoach

I am having a hard time with Sodium and have a couple of question I cannot find on google. I am 99% positive we sweat out salt and I know that water flushes it out, like osmosis.

1. should we adjust our sodium levels based on working out?, I am hoping so because I keep going over mine.

2. Sodium makes you retain water, so is it right to say the more sodium you have the more water you will retain?

3. The 2500 mg RDA is that for a big boy like myself at 237 pounds or is that for a skinny person?

any and all advice is greatly appreciated, my weight yesterday was 238 and I got on the scale today it was 244, now thats not 6 pounds of muscle( I have mainly been doing cardio lately) I tried 2 scales also thinking it was my scale. I just got off of the scale after a hard work out and weighed 238. I AM CONFUSED

_Sally_

Yes, the 2500 mg max is for anyone. It is probably more important for overweight people to adhere to this limit because more than this amount on a regular basis can lead to hypertension and other health problems. Unfortunatly, you are not going to sweat it all out.

I took a quick look at your diary and it looks like the days you go over, you are eating more processed foods and restaurant meals. I would recommend making those food choices less frequently (and/or eating smaller portions when you do) and eating more veggies and whole foods made from fresh ingredients.

Good luck!

Timeforme714

Not sure about #1.

For number 2# the answer is yes. If you eat less salt you retain less water, more salt you retain more. So if you eat a lot of salt drink a lot of water to flush it out of your system.

Number #3 - it's for everyone. Over time you can actually raise your blood pressure if you eat too much salt.

P90XCertifiedCoach

the funny thing is my blood pressure has been great, I will be taking an average tomorow fo rmy weigh in an dmeasurements and I do eat to much processed food, It use to be worse but its getting better, everything else is in place but sodium.

Rae6503

I go over my sodium by a LARGE amount pretty much every day. I just can't make the effort to control it right now. I figure I'll worry about it when I'm trying to maintain and/or when I finish grad school. The convenience of pre-processed high sodium food is of great value to me right now.

pauljsolie

If you are not overly sensitive to sodium I wouldn't worry too much but long term high sodium can have adverse effects like alatkovic mentioned above. I monitor my BP every day. Sorry to tell everyone but the gov't. recently came out with (I know, what does the govt. know) revised downward amounts per day. Now it is only 2000 mg per day, and that stays the same whether your caloric MDR goes up. Maybe someone should tell the food manufacturers to knock it off when adding all this sodium to their foods. 2000 mg a day is achievable unless you are eating mostly processed foods, then good luck. I kicked my sodium habit with lots of black pepper. If that ever becomes bad for you, I'm dead.