Sodium for those who eat their exercise calories

TheGoblinRoad

Curious:

For those of you that work out a lot and eat a lot of your exercise calories back (or all), do you find it difficult to keep the sodium amount under the 2,300 mg a day max that doctors recommend? More than that puts one at risk for hypertension, I'm told.

TheGoblinRoad

Info from center for disease control:

http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsSodium/

TheGoblinRoad

bump. really curious!

KeyMasterOfGozer

This is a beef I've had a long time, and I will preface that I am not a doctor, even if I am a scientist, and there may be some factors I don't know about.

My thought is that claiming any set number of sodium needed for all people is pretty suspect. It seems to me that people of different sizes are going to have different masses of water in their system. Any extra salt is going to be spread across.

Also, your sweat has salts in it. If you are exercising, you are going to sweat and therefore expend salt from your system.

My thought experiment is to imagine the two people Shaquille O'Neal and Verne Troyer (mini-me from Austin Powers). Verne Troyer is 2 foot 8 inches and must weigh something like 30 pounds, and as far as I know doesn't exercise excessively. Shaquille O'Neal is 7foot 1 inch and weighs 325, and at least at one time exercised a tremendous amount. I have a very hard time believing that these two people require the same amount of sodium.

ssdivot

I am over on the sodium more often than not. It is things like cheese, croutons, and salad dressing that are my usual culprits. I have also read though that its not a health hazard unless you are someone who does have high blood pressure. Although it will cause more water retention, it doesn't slow down loss of fat apparently. I don't worry about it much. I am trying to eat more unprocessed food which just naturally have less sodium, but still I am over most days, but not usually by a ridiculous amount. Now when I'm travelling for work and eating restaurant or food stand food then I'm ridiculously over on the sodium .

monty619

if you workout you need more sodium in your diet.

susannamarie

I do martial arts every day (but Friday) and eat the exercise calories. I'm not really fussed about sodium and don't track it at the moment. I'm sure I'd be over. My bp normally runs 110/60 or 110/65.

Gilbrod

Sodium schmodium. Work out, eat up. Drink water. That's me

chevy88grl

This is a beef I've had a long time, and I will preface that I am not a doctor, even if I am a scientist, and there may be some factors I don't know about.

My thought is that claiming any set number of sodium needed for all people is pretty suspect. It seems to me that people of different sizes are going to have different masses of water in their system. Any extra salt is going to be spread across.

Also, your sweat has salts in it. If you are exercising, you are going to sweat and therefore expend salt from your system.

My thought experiment is to imagine the two people Shaquille O'Neal and Verne Troyer (mini-me from Austin Powers). Verne Troyer is 2 foot 8 inches and must weigh something like 30 pounds, and as far as I know doesn't exercise excessively. Shaquille O'Neal is 7foot 1 inch and weighs 325, and at least at one time exercised a tremendous amount. I have a very hard time believing that these two people require the same amount of sodium.

I'm not a doctor or a scientist either, but I see what you're saying. And sodium affects different people differently. I don't have any issues with sodium - I can have a large amount of sodium in a day and have no ill effects. I've had blood work and many tests done and I'm in "excellent health", so it doesn't affect me like it does other people. I think that number, like everything else when it comes to weight loss, is simply a starting point. It gives people an idea of where they should start as far as sodium intake goes - some people need (or can handle) more and some people need (and can only handle) less.

sammys1girly

Sodium schmodium. Work out, eat up. Drink water. That's me

Agree! And my doctor told to me eat extra sodium since my blood pressure is low! I also drink a ton of water.

GouchisGirl

I do eat back my exercise calories and am a stickler on sodium so mine is usually between 1200-1700 on rare occasions it may go over 2000 (If I eat out or something like that). I know that a lot of people fear that an increase in calories makes an increase in sodium, but that isn't necessarily the case.

CaffeinatedConfectionist

I typically average between 1800 and 2200 calories per day, but I don't have trouble staying under sodium. I usually hover around 1,800 to 2,000mg. I don't eat much processed food, but most of my sodium comes from the processed food I do eat and, of course, the actual salt I put on my food. My higher sodium days usually come if I eat a lot of sesame noodles or stir fry with high sodium sauces, although I did manage to break 3k the other day when I made buffalo chicken quesadillas. All that cheese and buffalo sauce! But usually I eat a lot of chicken, fish, dairy, sweet potatoes, etc, and I use more herbs and other seasonings than salt. That being said, when I do go over, I don't sweat it...I just make sure I don't weigh in the next day so I don't get psyched out by water retention.

sammyjbray

I think the sodium levels on here are really high, but I think that they are US figures?