Salt Weight Gain?
- Thread starter troutman
- Start date
In the long term, it's not true. Salt can make you retain water, and water is heavy. So if I eat popcorn before bed, I'm going to see a high number on the scale the next morning. Doesn't mean I gained weight, or failed to lose weight; it means there's more water in my system than there otherwise would be. But there's a limit to how much water your body can retain, so a limit to how much water weight excess salt can cause.
mikitta
New member
I over did it on the salt during the holidays. Because of that, I put on 10 pounds in retained water. Since getting my eating back under control and making sure I was under 3000mg of sodium/ day for the last week, I've dropped all but 2 of those 10 pounds, and I expect to see the last 2 pounds drop by Monday.
Your body retains water when you eat a lot of salt because sodium is an electrolyte. Your body needs to maintain a certain concentration of electrolytes in the blood for proper function - nerve impulses depend on electrolytes to carry the signal from neuron to receptor. If you have too many electrolytes, your body will retain water in order to dilute those electrolytes and facilitate the elimination of them through the kidneys. If you don't have enough of them - well, let's just say it's a bad thing
We can get enough salt and other electrolytes through our diet without adding any during preparation or at the table.
Anyway, according to my Biochem prof in college, you can retain up to 20 pounds of water if you heavily and chronically overdo it on the salt. This can lead to high blood pressure, which over time can damage your heart and blood vessels - which can lead to heart attacks, strokes and a host of other problems.
Don't be afraid of getting the salt and other electrolytes your body needs, but don't overdo it either
God Bless,
mik
Your body retains water when you eat a lot of salt because sodium is an electrolyte. Your body needs to maintain a certain concentration of electrolytes in the blood for proper function - nerve impulses depend on electrolytes to carry the signal from neuron to receptor. If you have too many electrolytes, your body will retain water in order to dilute those electrolytes and facilitate the elimination of them through the kidneys. If you don't have enough of them - well, let's just say it's a bad thing
We can get enough salt and other electrolytes through our diet without adding any during preparation or at the table.
Anyway, according to my Biochem prof in college, you can retain up to 20 pounds of water if you heavily and chronically overdo it on the salt. This can lead to high blood pressure, which over time can damage your heart and blood vessels - which can lead to heart attacks, strokes and a host of other problems.
Don't be afraid of getting the salt and other electrolytes your body needs, but don't overdo it either
God Bless,
mik
there's a few threads on sodium around here -and one of the answers given by steve, is that if your body is used to a lot of salt... then you don't get much weight gain issues from sodium consumption, however, if your body isn't used to it - thenyou do see a difference in the scale, not neccessarily fat gain but scale gain... that comes off eventually.
That said - too much sodium isn't good for most people - especially if you have high blood pressure or any predispostion towards it... the AHA suggests the average person get 2300 mg a day (which is tough to do if you eat any processed foods) and 1500mg a day if you have HBP.
Since you're trying to lose weight, your best best is to really dump the salt cellar, and if you must use salt -use kosher salt or sea salt just before serving (the salty thigns are a little larger and more flavorful so you need a lot less of it.)
That said - too much sodium isn't good for most people - especially if you have high blood pressure or any predispostion towards it... the AHA suggests the average person get 2300 mg a day (which is tough to do if you eat any processed foods) and 1500mg a day if you have HBP.
Since you're trying to lose weight, your best best is to really dump the salt cellar, and if you must use salt -use kosher salt or sea salt just before serving (the salty thigns are a little larger and more flavorful so you need a lot less of it.)
mikitta
New member
Troutman, I know it was water gain because it all came off in about a week of returning to my normal eating patterns. You don't drop nearly 10 pounds of fat in one week. Except for one or two days total over that two week period, I didn't eat above my maintenance calories. But I did eat a lot of baked goods and salty things. My average salt intake over those two weeks was over 4000 mg/day. One day, it was higher than 6000mg. This is MUCH more sodium than I normally take in.
Just before Christmas, and all the over consumption - I weighed 162.5 (as shown in my ticker). On the morning of December 31st, I weighed in at 172.5lbs. This morning, I weighed at 164 lbs. I fully expect to see 162 or 163 tomorrow morning.
One note on the folks used to a large intake of sodium. No, they aren't going to see EXTRA water weight unless they increase their sodium intake from what they are currently taking in. However, when they lower their sodium intake, they will also shed a large amount of water - water that formerly was in their system diluting the salt to achieve homeostasis of the electrolyte in the body. When you start taking in less salt, your body sheds the water in order to maintain the same dilution of sodium in the body. This is one of the reasons people tend to loose a large amount of water weight at the beginning of any healthy eating plan that cuts out all the processed and prefabbed junk they were eating previously. Folks who were over eating on whole, unprocessed foods and weren't adding salt to their cooking won't see nearly the same amount of water loss.
God Bless,
mik
God Bless,
mik
Just before Christmas, and all the over consumption - I weighed 162.5 (as shown in my ticker). On the morning of December 31st, I weighed in at 172.5lbs. This morning, I weighed at 164 lbs. I fully expect to see 162 or 163 tomorrow morning.
One note on the folks used to a large intake of sodium. No, they aren't going to see EXTRA water weight unless they increase their sodium intake from what they are currently taking in. However, when they lower their sodium intake, they will also shed a large amount of water - water that formerly was in their system diluting the salt to achieve homeostasis of the electrolyte in the body. When you start taking in less salt, your body sheds the water in order to maintain the same dilution of sodium in the body. This is one of the reasons people tend to loose a large amount of water weight at the beginning of any healthy eating plan that cuts out all the processed and prefabbed junk they were eating previously. Folks who were over eating on whole, unprocessed foods and weren't adding salt to their cooking won't see nearly the same amount of water loss.
God Bless,
mik
God Bless,
mik
mikitta
New member
I have a bachelor's degree in microbiology. I had to take two semesters of biochemistry as well as several survey classes. Human metabolism, including electrolyte balance, was covered extensively. Granted it has been a long time since I was in those classes, but I do remember it as it was driven home quite a lot.
God Bless,
mik
God Bless,
mik
This is why I aways tell people to not weigh in until they have been on a healthy diet for 3 or 4 days. You will lose 3-4 even 5 pounds real quick when you quit all the high sodium foods when you go on a diet. People get all excited about losing 3-5 five pounds right off the batt but it's mostly water, then they plateu and wonder why.