Sodium????

graciesmomma0209
graciesmomma0209 Posts: 36 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Ok this may be a dumb question but I really don't know. I am going over my sodium every single day. I go over by quite a bit some days. What is this going to do to my weight loss. I am eating healthy but I eat a lot of chicken which I notice has a lot of sodium in it. I am not sure what to do about this or how badly this is going to mess me up. Any insight would be helpful.

Replies

  • caspergirl7
    caspergirl7 Posts: 590 Member
    it will make you retain water keeping the scale from going down.. also tons of sodium is just not good for you.. didn't look at your dairy but try to stay away from processed/packaged/frozen foods those tend to have tons of sodium in them and also most fast food.. when i changed that, it significantly lowered my daily sodium intake. now i usually have no problem staying under 1500 mg a day.
  • LilBelieve
    LilBelieve Posts: 23
    it will make you retain water keeping the scale from going down.. also tons of sodium is just not good for you.. didn't look at your dairy but try to stay away from processed/packaged/frozen foods those tend to have tons of sodium in them and also most fast food.. when i changed that, it significantly lowered my daily sodium intake. now i usually have no problem staying under 1500 mg a day.

    ^This, most definitely. Once I cut out a majority of the processed foods and meals at restaurants, my sodium dropped significantly.
  • Bethnevergivesup
    Bethnevergivesup Posts: 24
    I have the same issue and I dont eat much frozen dinners or eat out. Can't ever have day where i'm under no matter what I do!
  • Vaisaxena
    Vaisaxena Posts: 109 Member
    Ok this may be a dumb question but I really don't know. I am going over my sodium every single day. I go over by quite a bit some days. What is this going to do to my weight loss. I am eating healthy but I eat a lot of chicken which I notice has a lot of sodium in it. I am not sure what to do about this or how badly this is going to mess me up. Any insight would be helpful.

    Unless you're hypertensive you need not worry about sodium too much. If you exercise - even less. If you lift heavy weights - then you NEED excess sodium for muscular contractions to take place.

    Sodium is only detrimental if you are already diagnosed with high blood pressure - otherwise its effects are transient.
  • bzmommy34
    bzmommy34 Posts: 229 Member
    My sodium levels fluctuate. I eat clean about 75% of my diet. Most of my sodium comes in the form of processed foods, that other 25% I just can't get rid of!

    My body reacts at about 2300mg. If I go over that, I tend to hold water and/or gain a tish until I've had two days under that magic number. It has NOT been detrimental to my overall success as I still average 1.6 lbs lost each week and 2.2 inces lost each week. I'm just always careful to stay under the 2300mg a couple of days before my weigh in.

    On days that I have major burns I don't worry about the number as much as I know I need the nutrients for repair and I slam the water so......
  • holothuroidea
    holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
    Sodium helps your body retain water. This isn't necessarily a bad thing unless you have a tendency for hypertension or issues with swelling, but you will carry extra water weight. That only affects the number on a scale, though, not your actual health.

    If you cut out processed foods and salt your food to taste, you won't have any problems staying under the recommended amount of sodium. I season my food with lots of salt and salty condiments and I never have a problem and I'm 100% sure that it's because I rarely eat out and only consume processed snacks in moderation.

    HTH!
  • 257_Lag
    257_Lag Posts: 1,249 Member
    I do have mild high blood pressure but I will admit that since the medication brought it down I never did anything about my sodium like I was supposed to. Since joining MFP I watch my sodium almost as much as my calories. I swear I must have been eating over 5000 mg a day since salt and fat are my sirens.

    It's simply amazing how much sodium is out there. Two weeks after I started here we were supposed to go out with friends to a popular southwestern chain restaurant for dinner. I thought I would be "good" and look at there menu online before I went so I could make smart choices. Some of their APPETIZERS had 4000 mg of sodium! (we went elsewhere)

    If I am over about 2700 I can guarantee that I will see a pound or 2 the next morning on the scale.

    One teaspoon of table salt has about 2350 mg of sodium
    One tablespoon of soy sauce has about 1000

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