Sodium Question

Chagama

Any thoughts on Sodium consumption when doing high calorie burning workouts? For example, after doing a long run today, my total calories for the day come to 3700. Despite all the extra calories, the Sodium consumption does not change. As a result, I'm going over my Sodium pretty much every week.

How do you eat all those extra calories and still stay under the Sodium guideline? Any and all thoughts and ideas will be appreciated.

shovav91

Drink plenty of water and you really should be fine. I am generally over on sodium and I haven't had any issues with it except for occasional bloating.

dvisser1

When you sweat you lose sodium as well as other vitamins and minerals that you need to keep your electrolytes balanced. This is one thing that I don't think MFP handles very well in adjusting food intake for exercise. If you have problems with muscle cramps or continue to feel thirsty after drinking a lot of water before, during and after your workout, it's probably worth trying a little increase in your sodium levels. Keep in mind that magnesium and potassium play big roles in your electrolyte balance as well. Everyone is different, so you really just need to find the right balance for yourself.

rockerbabyy

i dont worry a WHOLE lot about sodium, but i do track it along with potassium to make sure theyre as close to the same as possible. i also make sure to drink at least 8 glasses of ice water a day, in addition to my coffee/tea/soda/whatever to make sure i stay hydrated.

Chagama

Thanks everyone. I do drink a lot of water, so I don't worry too much about Sodium, but it drives me crazy to see the application show me as going over all the time.

wftiger

I read somewhere that endurance athletes should intake an extra 300 mg of sodium per hour of activity. That would be on top of the 2300 the AHA recommends.

I would definitely say before you don't worry about it you talk to a physician or nutritionist especially if hypertension is in your family. You probably should have more than the daily recommended but I don't think it would be good to go over every day and by too much.

Just my opinion as someone who knows how much hypertension sucks and what it can do if not treated correctly.

Chagama

I read somewhere that endurance athletes should intake an extra 300 mg of sodium per hour of activity. That would be on top of the 2300 the AHA recommends.

I would definitely say before you don't worry about it you talk to a physician or nutritionist especially if hypertension is in your family. You probably should have more than the daily recommended but I don't think it would be good to go over every day and by too much.

Just my opinion as someone who knows how much hypertension sucks and what it can do if not treated correctly.

Ah, now that's the piece that's missing. If i account for the extra 300 mg / hr of activity, I'm generally not going over. But MFP doesn't adjust the total to account for that, so it keeps showing up with that bright red number.

Thanks for that piece of information.