no wonder people are over weight..

this may be a little off topic, but what is it about excess sodium that hurts weight loss? Water retention? It has no calories, which is the main focus of weight loss. I'm not arguing that high sodium is irrelevant, I'm just wondering how it is detrimental to weight loss.

Yeah I agree. Sodium doesn't really contribute to weight loss or weight gain too much except for the retaining of fluids, which can be flushed out with water. It actually has nothing to do with your body fat content. The worst side effects would be high blood pressure or heart attack/ heart failure. So even though it doesn't really impact our weight, too much sodium has several severe negative effects.

Found this online:
How Salt Affects Your Weight
Diet and Weight Loss Tutorial
Salt does not cause your body to gain or lose fat. In fact, salt has no calories. High consumption of salt only results in temporary weight gain as it causes your body to retain water. Conversely, low consumption of salt can result in temporary weight loss as it causes your body to expel water.

It is interesting to note that many crash diets which boast quick weight loss rely on foods with little or no salt content. The weight loss is mostly water, and as soon as you eat foods containing salt again you regain the weight.

A Word of Caution
Our opening paragraphs would lead you to believe that salt is of little concern in regards to long-term weight loss. In fact, a diet high in salt content can not only affect your blood pressure (see below), but is typically associated with weight gain.

The reason is that high levels of salt in our diets usually come from calorie dense, fiber poor, processed foods, like those found in fast food and restaurant meals, as well as on supermarket shelves. If you adhere to a low salt diet, it will likely consist of the lower calorie, healthier foods associated with weight loss.

Salt versus Sodium
We add table salt (sodium chloride) during cooking and at the dinner table to enhance the flavor of our food. Manufactures add it, often in great quantities, to return flavor to processed foods and help preserve them. But when we look at nutrition content, we look at sodium.

Though the terms are often used interchangeably, salt and sodium are not the same thing. Sodium, which is found naturally in most foods, accounts for approximately 40% of table salt. Therefore when salt is added to food, the sodium content increases by approximately 40% of the amount of salt added.

Why Salt Causes Water Retention
Our bodies rely on electrolytes, most significantly sodium and potassium, to carry the electrical impulses that control our bodily functions. In order for our bodies to function properly, it is important that the concentration of electrolytes in our bodies remain constant.

A high concentration of electrolytes in our blood triggers our thirst mechanism, causing us to consume adequate amounts of water to return to the proper concentration of electrolytes. This is one of the reasons bars provide free salty snacks like pretzels and peanuts. The salt causes us to become thirsty and purchase more drinks.

When we consume an adequate amount of water, our kidneys are able to keep the concentration of electrolytes in our blood constant by increasing or decreasing the amount of water we retain. The result of our retaining more or less water in our bloodstream can also affect our blood pressure.

The water moves beyond our bloodstream, too. Through the process of osmosis, water flows from a lower salinity environment to a higher one in an attempt to balance the levels of salinity. After we consume large amounts of salt, it is the water moving from our bloodstream into our skin that gives us that "puffy" look and makes it hard to get our rings off. Then, when we consume lesser amounts of salt, the same process works in reverse to remove the excess water from our bodies.

I won't eat at any restaurant.. fast food or sit down, if I can't find the nutritional information on the food they have. If I know I am going out to eat.. I look it up and plan my meal before I even get there. That way I don't have to look at the menu and be tempted, I already know what I am getting.

Me too. It has saved me many times. I can plan all my other meals around it too. It's what I'm doing tonight.

The problem is most people, like me before, have no clue how many calories they are eating!
Most places meal sizes are atleast 2 'portions' and if you've never paid attention to that kind of thing, you just eat it.

I've still lost weight eating out 2-3x per week, sometimes more when I'm traveling. There's really nothing to geek out over - even if you don't know the EXACT caloric figure that you're eating. More important is that you have a handle on portion control (i.e. don't eat the entire plate because it's probably a huge serving). Most dine-out meals can easily provide a second leftover meal for the next day.

Don't forget that you have a nifty little app at your disposal so you can make quality choices when you eat out at a restaurant. You can lose weight eating out if you're using common sense practices. But we have to be honest, how many people go into a restaurant with the purpose of eating less?

I actually rarely check the calories of what I'm eating when I'm out. Most days I don't even log food unless I'm trying to get back into a certain macronutrient breakdown and just need to verify that my portions are working.

Speaking of HFCS - I recently watched the King Corn documentary (right after Food Inc.! Blah!) - corn is EVERYwhere!

We have a grocery store out here (seattle) that made a commitment some time ago to NOT sell anything with HFCS in it. Since I have found them, and thusly greatly reduced my intake, my headaches have gone away. Hmmmm....

Another reason why I love shopping at Whole Foods. Sure, some of their stuff will be a little more expensive (but not much), but no weird crap in the food !!