Am I going over board weighing my food ? And should i go over my sodium intake

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sycokid666
sycokid666 Posts: 23 Member
in Food and Nutrition
My wife thinks I'm crazy , but I have been weighing my foods am I going overboard ? And on my app I keep going over on sodium intake should I cut back on salt ? Really trying to get ripped I have heard to cut out salt if you want abs to show but I'm not sure if that's really true or not ..

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  • ShandaLeaS
    ShandaLeaS Posts: 136 Member
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    I can't say on the salt/sodium but you're absolutely correct for weighing your food. We got here partially in fault of not knowing what a proper portion/serving is.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    Weighing with a food scale is essential. Pretty soon you get good at estimating portion sizes and you won't have to do this for very long either. Lower body fat is what you want for ab definition. read this


    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603/so-you-want-a-nice-stomach/p1

    Good luck!!
  • richardositosanchez
    richardositosanchez Posts: 260 Member
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    Weighing food is the only way to ensure you're getting an accurate count on the calories.
  • jpaulie
    jpaulie Posts: 917 Member
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    yes with weighing food. If you are competing in a body building competition then you might want to look at how to manage salt. Otherwise even if you want to get ripped, don;t worry about it, unless you are consuming crazy amounts
  • dfranch
    dfranch Posts: 207 Member
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    Yeah, my wife thought I was crazy when I bought a kitchen scale so I could count calories. She accused me of going to far. 95lbs later, she doesn't say anything about it anymore.
  • morgo20
    morgo20 Posts: 68 Member
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    My Competition coach reccomends not going over 1000mg of sodium a day, if you really want to lean out
  • Ephemeral64
    Ephemeral64 Posts: 3
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    No idea on sodium, but weighing is essential
  • Hellbent_Heidi
    Hellbent_Heidi Posts: 3,669 Member
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    richardositosanchez wrote: »
    Weighing food is the only way to ensure you're getting an accurate count on the calories.

    This!

    and yes, try to cut back sodium. It causes water retention (not to mention can contribute to high blood pressure) and can hinder weight loss.
  • Briargrey
    Briargrey Posts: 498 Member
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    Defined muscle is more about building strength than reducing sodium. Weighing is essential to help people learn what a true serving is and to fully be accurate on your food diary here. As you get good at it and used to it, you may find you don't do it as exactly as you did in the beginning because you're better at estimating or whatever. That's fine. Sodium - it's probably good to keep around the recommended daily intake for sodium over all, but unless your doctor has told you to strictly limit it, then going over may not be an issue either.
  • emilyGPK
    emilyGPK Posts: 83 Member
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    At least in the beginning, precise weighing is important. When you feel ready to start tackling other nutrient issues go for it. But you can also do one thing at a time.
  • sycokid666
    sycokid666 Posts: 23 Member
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    Thanks , for all the input It seems I tend to obsess over the little things at times .. I'm still going to continue the weighing of my food and work hard it seems to help me stay on track to completing my goals.I just need to realize it's going to take time.. Stay motivated my friends ...
  • CooCooPuff
    CooCooPuff Posts: 4,374 Member
    edited February 2015
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    My mom brings up my weightloss a lot and still laughs or says "How much of *insert food* can you eat" when I whip out the scale.

    For some reason, people can't make the connection of me losing weight and me weighing my food. I have a tub full of portioned cookies and candies yet they insist I don't eat "bad foods".
  • Metazoick
    Metazoick Posts: 96 Member
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    There's no such thing as going overboard on weighing food - the more you do it the more accurate you can be. As for sodium I really wouldn't worry about it. The current guidelines are based on the minimum you need to function and it's very necessary for your body. If you're very serious about getting your abs to stand out a bit more you can cut back on it but unless it's super high or lower than you need the risks of the stuff tend to be greatly overstated.
  • paj315
    paj315 Posts: 335 Member
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    Maybe already been said (I didn't read the Pp) but sodium will not Inhibit fat loss but it will increase the amount of water that you hold so you'll look and feel puffy when you overeat sodium. The general recommendation is below 2400mg. If you're wanting to see your abs you need to keep it down.

    As for the weighing your food, I weigh nearly everything I eat because I'm trying to be super accurate on my macros. Maybe it's obsessive but I don't really care :)
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    For question 1:
    No.

    For question 2:
    Depends.

    If you have a reason to avoid high sodium, avoid it. If you don't have a reason, don't sweat it. Personally, I'm so bad with electrolytes, I need to take a lot of sodium.

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