BrandyRelaxing's Journal, 17 April 2011

I'm really hoping that the little amount of weight I lost this week is from some silly reason and not indicative of approaching a plateau. I worked my butt off this week (and with the exception of yesterday) I did a good job of eating well. 

My roommate just had a similar problem and we figured out it was her sodium intake. Counting fats and calories is fine but a meal too high in sodium stays in your system like a plague and can really getcha on the scale. You're doing great girl. Keep going! 

That could be true... my sodium yesterday was insanely high! I'll have to watch that going forward. I've never noticed it was a big issue for me, but I guess any high sodium days were during the week, and I was able to get rid of it before my weigh in! 

I eat mostly whole foods and still have to watch sodium. Processed foods all have a good amount of sodium in them. I'm proud of you, Brandy! You did GRRRRREAT this week. 

I'm on South Beach and one of the main approved snacks is part-skim string cheese so I've been having 3-4 of those a day. I only just figured out how much sodium a single serving has so I'll definitely be cutting back on those! 

You want to be between 1500mg and 2400mg. 

I think the string cheese is 200+ mg per stick, then add in the salt I use while cooking and sodium in the sliced meats I eat. Definitely not good. 

I think sodium has gotten me this week too. I'm not going to stress. I'm trying to drink more water, but I noticed the last couple of days I have been slacking. My sodium today is high, but in defense, the recipe I made for lunch (Beef and Broccoli Crockpot), I used lower sodium soy sauce, added a pack of sliced mushrooms, about 2 cups of brown rice, 2 cans of water chestnuts, and two bags of broccoli. So, I don't think I really got that much sodium. Then, of course, I decided to have turkey hot dogs tonight, and that is full of sodium. >:p <---- That's me sticking my tongue out at sodium. lol 

LOL... Seems like a blessing in disguise... I never really realized how much sodium I had until we had this little discussion! :) 

Don't forget, ladies. You can edit your preferences on your food diary, if you want to monitor the sodium. And @kcook323, your dish sounds delish! 

@Heather - yes, I did just modify my settings to monitor my sodium. It did surprise me how much sodium meat has in it... seriously, if you buy a plain chicken breast or ground beef, how does it have so much sodium? LOL 

Brandy I know this is my first post in your profile but may I suggest reducing your fat intake? Your carbs are a bit too high for the fat and protein you eat. Protein at about 40% is good and fat at about 40% and 20% carbs does the trick too. 

I guess. And one teaspoon of salt contains 2000mg of sodium. Check out this article from Prevention Magazine. It was in the January 2011 issue. 

http://www.prevention.com/health/health/health-concerns/how-to-kick-the-salt-habit/article/3bd0b810e847c210VgnVCM10000030281eac____?print=true&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prevention.com%2Fhealth%2Fhealth%2Fhealth-concerns%2Fhow-to-kick-the-salt-habit%2Farticle%2F3bd0b810e847c210VgnVCM10000030281eac____  

While its probably not an issue for most people, getting your blood chemistry checked for sodium might be a good idea for a baseline. I know someone who has very low blood sodium and has to watch her diet for that reason. She now adds salt where before she did what most people do and was careful to avoid too much of it. Good luck!  

Well it must have been salt or something, because I just weighed myself and I'm down a pound from this morning (which is really unusual because I always weigh higher at night). Of course, I'm sticking to my strict rule of only recording my weight once per week, whether I like the number or not! :) 

I know you didn't ask but after looking over your diet for today here are my suggestions. It looks like you use a lot of condiments. Try to cut back on that (especially the ketchup). Instead of straight margarine use a spray like I Can't Believe It's Not Butter or Smart Balance. Switch to turkey or canadian bacon with breakfast. They both have MUCH less fat than the kind you're using. You don't have any water recorded so I don't know how much you drink. But try to get at least 8-10 glasses of water in a day if not more. I learned a trick that can show you some extra weight loss. Use this formula: Your weight divided by 2 = the amount of water you should drink in ounces. According to the article I read you can lose 5 lbs in 2 days doing this. I only did it for 1 but I saw an extra 1-2 lb loss the following morning. 

I guess the thing is that I'm not looking for this to be a diet. If I switch to Turkey bacon, or deny myself ketchup with bacon & eggs or burgers, it's a diet! I've been on "diets" before, and I always end up feeling too restricted, and then stop following them and go back to what I want to eat whenever I want. 

Don't do turkey bacon. More sodium than the real stuff, & doesn't taste as good.