Sodium!? HELP!
 

I keep retaining water! I can gain 3 pounds over night just from one small meal.

I guess it has to be the sodium.

PLease, someone tell me what would be a recommending max. amount of sodium to have each day!:exclm:

This can be so frustrating to lose weight and then the very next day gain it back plus more! :exclm:

OH well...I am sure someone knows my answer so I will sit here and wait and I will be very careful what I eat until I get an answer. :wiggle:

Hi Amanda,
Sodium could be the culprit. Buy low sodium salt. You might find it called 'low salt' or something similar. Don't add normal salt to food in your cooking. Drinking tea - especially green tea helps as it is a natural diuretic.

Avoid deli food with a lot of salt in for a while and see if this helps.

Good luck,

Robert.

P.S. Don't forge that women tend to retain water at certain times of the month so you need to alllow for that too.

Hi Robert!

Thank you for the advice. I never add salt to my food, but I have eaten bacon and sausage, that is why I wish I knew exactly how much the max amount of sodium a normal person should have a day. If I am eating all the right foods, how do I know if I ma getting too much sodium if I don't know the max amount.


My body just doesn't want to lose weight!!!! :cry:

I will start drinking green tea...but doesn't that have caffiene?

On the bright side, I ran (jogged) 2 miles this morning.

Other than that, my weight seems like it will be with me forever.

So far, I have been counting my carbs and eating lots of the foods I am supposed to. My daily intake of carbs have been less that 15 everyday.

But I didn't lose weight. Then I was told to increase my fibber to 25-30 grams a day. OK I did that with still maintaining 15 carbs. I still didn't lose weight!

Then I was told to count calories!!!! :cry:

OK I have added that to the list!!! I am now counting carbs (15 a day) , fiber (25-30g a day), and cal (1500 a day), and I still have not lost but 2-3 pounds in 3 weeks. In fact I have gained a pound that I lost earlier!

OK so, now I need to add one more thing to my list --- sodium!

Geez, even if I haven't lost weight, I have become a math wizard!!!!

I posted in another thread but in case you don't see it 2400mg is the max on the recommended amount of sodium and this is for a 2000 calorie per day diet. Lots of people have to cut back from this amount. I am very sensitive to sodium and it really bloats me.

Hi there, you can buy a low sodium bacon, ask for it at a major store or a small butcher. :thup:

As well if you are not drinking the required water, your body may hang on to what you do drink.



Try get those carbs up to 20, by adding more of the allowable veggies, it'll help the weight come off, lower does not mean better on this plan, Atkins says 20 a day for good reason :thup:

Cheers Kathy

Amanda
I understand your concerns about retaining water. I am one of those too. I use no added salt at home so when I go out to eat I automatically gain about 3lbs from added salt. I gave up the bacon and I only eat sausage that has little added salt, no deli meats.

Have you tried using fitday? www.fitday.com

It is a great tool to help you keep track of just what is going on with your food and nutrients. Definitely make sure that you drink lots of water. Your body likes to hold onto whatever it thinks is in short supply. Water flushes water ;)

Also, I had success when I upped my calories. Because your weight is 185 it seems that probably you need at least 1850 calories a day. That would most likely be about your BMR (basal metabolic rate ... just what your body burns to stay alive without any activity). Unless you are eating an outrageous amount of calories you're really not supposed to be counting your calories until you're closer to your goal weight.

One other thing that might help is if we knew your ratios. What is your fat%?? (This is where fitday really helps). I lose best when my fat % is around 70% and of course as has been pointed out here and by Dr. Atkins if doesn't help weight loss go any faster if the carbs are below 20gs. Don't worry so much about fiber grams except to remember to subtract them so that at the end of the day you have 20g of carbs.

It sometimes take a little tweaking until you find exactly what works best for you. I've had to learn by trial and error too. We are all so individual. All I can do to help is let you know what worked for me. You can try that and maybe it will work for you. Hope I was able to help. Hang in there. :)

BMR - how do you figure?
 

Thank everyone of you!!!:angel:

You listen to me vent and then give me good advice! This is better than a family!
:dazzle:

How do you figure out the BMR? This is new to me. Could someone explain this?

This next part I am just rambling...:)

Sometimes I am very desperate. For those who do not know, I am a single mother who gave up ten years in the military for my ex. He wanted me to be a stay at home mother (he told me this after we were married) then he left me for a working woman!

If I lose about 10 - 15 more pounds then I can go back into the military (ARMY) and provide very well for my kids (My alimony runs out next month).

It is very scary out here alone with a teacher's pay to provide for everything. All the teachers I know are married or their kids are grown. Anyway, I hate whining. If I lose weight then I can make things work. The longer it takes me, the farther I will get behind in everything.

If I could exercise everyday I would. But, again, I could do that if I didn't have a job! :nono:LOL It is one big circle!!!

One Good thing ...I jogged 2 miles today and ....

:) YEAH I drank at least 80 OZS of water today!!! Even more because I added lots of ice each time and I did not count the ice!


Everyone pray for me. I do need it. :wiggle:

Again, I can't tell everyone how you have made my day better! Have a nice day everyone!

Hi Amanda,
I think that if you make the diet too complex, it is going to be hard to stick with it...
The simple way, is just the way Aitkins wrote it...and I truly believe that the weight will come off.
I do, however, subscribe to the belief that you need to drink 2litres of water a day...at the minimum...seems each time I get below that mark I gain a bit of weight...so I try to get in more than the two each day...on the days that I hit 3 liters...seems I lose a bit more.
Just some food for thought.

Amanda
I don't know if you have the book (if not try to get it. Its the most important tool!) If you don't have the book yet try checking out the website until you can buy the book

Here are the Rules for Induction
http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-325810.html

Here are the acceptable foods for induction
http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-464579.html

There is plenty of other useful information on the site... but the book is MUCH better for you :)

Here is one of many online BMR calculators
BMR - Calorie Needs
Realize that these are only estimates.

I wish you the best of luck!

HI,

Yes I do have the boook and I have been sticking to it...or I thought. :-( BUt whatever I have been doing wrong I am going to start doing better. It just seems no matter what is in the book you still have ot make adjustments for your own body. Example is the sugar alcohols: some people react to them some do not.

With all the help on this site I am slowing cracking the code for my body. :-) YEAH!

i was told if you keep your Potassium at a higher ratio then Sodium that that helps, I unforantly have a alot of things that can be fixed quick(ie deli meats, cheeses) in my diet cause i am not home alot. anyways try tracking it on fit day and see where your potassium is at :) i beting it was like mine was about half of your sodium level

Crysania