How important is tracking sodium?

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Alexstrasza
Alexstrasza Posts: 619 Member
in Food and Nutrition
How important is it?

I find myself having troubles to meet my calories and other macros sometimes because I worry over the sodium. I do try my best to avoid it but, let's face it, that's a pretty hard thing to do in this day and age.

The amount they say is okay for someone is 2500. I find I am usually closer to 3000. Do you think that will affect my over-all weight loss?

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  • ahamm002
    ahamm002 Posts: 1,690 Member
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    How important is it?

    I find myself having troubles to meet my calories and other macros sometimes because I worry over the sodium. I do try my best to avoid it but, let's face it, that's a pretty hard thing to do in this day and age.

    The amount they say is okay for someone is 2500. I find I am usually closer to 3000. Do you think that will affect my over-all weight loss?

    There's no good reason to track sodium. The best thing about reducing sodium is that it's often accompanied by a reduction in processed foods. But otherwise don't worry about it. Sodium won't affect fat loss.

    EDIT: One thing that's a lot more important for weight loss than tracking sodium is tracking how much time you spend playing WoW :)
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
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    Different people are affected differently by sodium. Personally, unless my sodium is at least 2300, I start having low blood pressure issues and I can't push hard in my workouts. I don't go crazy with it, just try and keep it between 2300 and 3000. As for your question, keeping it at 3000 generally won't be an issue for weight loss, especially if you keep it balanced with potassium.
  • PercivalHackworth
    PercivalHackworth Posts: 1,437 Member
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    How important is it?

    I find myself having troubles to meet my calories and other macros sometimes because I worry over the sodium. I do try my best to avoid it but, let's face it, that's a pretty hard thing to do in this day and age.

    The amount they say is okay for someone is 2500. I find I am usually closer to 3000. Do you think that will affect my over-all weight loss?

    As important as tracking sugar, in other words, useless to track it.
    Having too much of sodium may lead to an electrolyte (potassium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, chlorine and phosphate) imbalance,that the body would take care of by moving fluid to cells

    Here is an interesting study
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19173770
  • jordanreddick
    jordanreddick Posts: 197 Member
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    Sodium does not have an effect on your weight loss, but if you are like me, I have to keep it under 1000 or I will retain several pounds of water. I ate grilled food last night and woke up this morning 4 lbs heavier. It makes a huge difference for me, but everyone's body is different. It doesn't affect fat loss but if you keep it down, you will be eating less processed foods and more raw and fresh foods. I track mine in the food diary to make sure I don't get too high and also track potassium because you can counteract the affects of sodium water retention by balancing potassium and sodium intake. This also shows me if I did go over on a certain day that I can be prepared for a scale fluctuation the next morning. This is what works for me, find what works for you.
  • imlik
    imlik Posts: 64 Member
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    Well, it depends on what issues you have. I have borderline high blood pressure, so I try to keep mine below 1500 (and usually fail, but it's still a lot less than it used to be XD). If you have edema, lowering your sodium can sometimes help with that, too. I track my potassium because of the high bp too--potassium can help lower it.

    Someone mentioned sugars, and I track those because I have some symptoms of pre-diabetes, and keeping your sugars low can help with that. It's suggested that women get no more than 25 sugars a day (men get 35 i think), but that's really hard to do. Some fruits & breads can put me way over without me even realizing it. :I
  • toomuchsweetness
    toomuchsweetness Posts: 168 Member
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    agrees
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
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    Some people have issues with sodium and need to watch it more than others. I personally don't track it... the more "natural" and "whole" you eat, the less sodium you will be consuming usually.
  • spicypepper
    spicypepper Posts: 1,016 Member
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    I typically drink more water if MFP says I've gone over what they allow for sodium. I do believe it'll make you retain water, but that should slough off in a few days regardless.

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