SODIUM!!!!! Lets chat

Although MFP changes the calories, fat, etc proportionately, I have found that some of the stats don't change. 2500mg of sodium is still based on a 2000calorie a day diet. Calcium and other vitamins are still 100%--on a 2000cal diet. The FDA has actually changed the food pyramid this year and 1500mg of sodium is the new recommended intake for a 2000cal diet. Hope this helps, I am not very good at explaining things. If you are worried about too much sodium try to take it down to the 1500...I tried it and it is really hard to keep up unless you are eating nothing but fruits and veggies. Good Luck!

I think 2500 is an amount that is standard and healthy for a diet,good question though,if you are consistently going over by 1000 that is probably a big part of your plateu issue,specially if you are lifting hard.

My two cents!

I found the wikipedia article on salt very interesting. It can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt

But in summary this is the intake recommendation.

In the United Kingdom the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) recommended in 2003 that, for a typical adult, the Reference Nutrient Intake (RNI) is 4 g salt per day (1.6 g or 70 mmol sodium). However, average adult intake is two and a half times the Reference Nutrient Intake for sodium. SACN states, "The target salt intakes set for adults and children do not represent ideal or optimum consumption levels, but achievable population goals."[54] The Food Safety Authority of Ireland endorses the UK targets.[38]

Health Canada recommends an Adequate Intake (AI) and an Upper Limit (UL) in terms of sodium,[55] as does the Auckland District Health Board in New Zealand.[56]

The NHMRC in Australia was not able to define a recommended dietary intake (RDI). It defines an Adequate Intake (AI) for adults of 460–920 mg/day and an Upper Level of intake (UL) of 2300 mg/day.[57]

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration itself does not make a recommendation,[58] but refers readers to Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005. These suggest that US citizens should consume less than 2,300 mg of sodium (= 2.3 g sodium = 5.8 g salt) per day.[59]

Meta-analysis in 2009 found that the sodium consumption of 19,151 individuals from 33 countries fit into the narrow range of 2,700 to 4,900 mg/day. The small range across many cultures, together with animal studies, suggest that sodium intake is tightly controlled by feedback loops in the body, making recommendations to reduce sodium consumption below 2,700 mg/day potentially futile.[60]