The Fat Loss TroubleshootThis is your place to troubleshoot your fat loss problems from nutrition to training. This section is led by Leigh Peele, author of "The Fat Loss Troubleshoot," the ultimate fat loss manual. If your results have slowed or stalled this is the place to come for advice for all your fat loss needs.
I'm trying to make sure that I get enough potassium to ensure a proper potassium and salt ratio. But now that I'm tracking it, I don't think I know what it's really supposed to be. Fitday says the recommended daily amount of potassium is 4,500 mg but I've seen other websites say the RDA is 2,000 or 3,500 mg/day. Also, the RDA of sodium is 1500 mg/day but there is the recommendation that the max amount is 2400 mg/day. So, if potassium and sodium need to be in balance (i.e., if I am at 83% of sodium I should be at 83% of potassium), then what numbers do I use? 83% of the max recommended amount of sodium? 83% of 4,500 mg of potassium? or 83% of 3,500 mg of potassium? I'm probably not explaining this very well, but I have some water retention issues and want to make sure I'm tracking things properly.
You can't land on a exact formula for what you need with sodium and potassium, thought generally a 2:3 ratio is what is discussed.
There are so many variables that could make it where you may need a little less or more sodium, etc. Water intake and magnesium can play a role as well not to mention hormones. There are 1001 reasons a female retains water.
You have to look at the situations of why you are retaining water and see what you could do to help react via supplement, nutrition, or training breaks. So what happens when you retain water?
I take an anti-seizure medication that has water-retention as a side effect. Being very overweight and sedentary for most of my life doesn't help either, so calves/ankles/feet are always swollen, esp. at the end of the day.
Once I started tracking my nutrition on Fitday, I noticed that my sodium was pretty high and my potassium was very low. For the past two months or so I've really cleaned up my diet and after looking at the last few weeks, my average sodium is 1400mg and potassium 3400mg. Magnesium is averaging around 350mg. I admit I do struggle with drinking enough water. I don't drink anything else though, no more sodas or diet sodas or diet drinks. On a good day I drink about 2 liters. Swollen legs are better than they were, but still there.
If you are largely overweight and and on that type of medication then weight loss is going to be your biggest help over all. Worrying too much about details of something you have little control of is just distracting from the real problem, the weight. The more fat, the more water you will hold. As you lose that weight then you will still likely be dealing with excessive water for period of time and then likely see period of water drops.
Don't overly restrict sodium, especially when dieting down. It isn't about being excessive as much as it is about balance. Too little sodium and too high of potassium isn't good either. Just drink a good amount of water, try and balance things out and eat healthy. As time goes by the amount of retention should release slowly. Not though that bouncing in and out of the deficit or binging is going to throw off that trend.
Intake of potassium/sodium does not always directly relate to body levels. The accepted range is is 3.5 to 4.0, and it is your adrenal glands that dictate the amount present at all times.
Case in point: My Dad has a severe potassium deficiency called Hyperaldolernolism (I may be spelling that wrong) and he takes 12 potassium pills per day. That is 240 MEQ's a day (if you are familiar with those terms) PLUS he is on a high potassium diet. He takes enough potassium to kill a horse . .. litterally.
Me or you would die simply from taking the pills and having that much potassium introduced into our system, but for him, it barely keeps his levels at 3.2 (which is still very low).
So, while input is important, and gives us the building blocks, ultimately it is your endocrine system that decides how it will manage the levels. Being overweight (or on dieuretics) can make it more of a challenge for your adrenal glands to 'keep up' with it all.
I will say that even with Dad's severe problems, sodium intake does not effect it one way or the other. Lord knows, we have tried all that stuff.
Just go down and have some simple bloodwork done, and get them to tell you your levels. It's easy, Dad has it done 2 or 3 times a week. A lot of times you can go to the lab at your doctor's office and request it yourself.
You could tell your doctor you want a complete blood panel (and check iron and all that) just for the heck of it?
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Intake of potassium/sodium does not always directly relate to body levels. The accepted range is is 3.5 to 4.0, and it is your adrenal glands that dictate the amount present at all times.
Case in point: My Dad has a severe potassium deficiency called Hyperaldolernolism (I may be spelling that wrong) and he takes 12 potassium pills per day. That is 240 MEQ's a day (if you are familiar with those terms) PLUS he is on a high potassium diet. He takes enough potassium to kill a horse . .. litterally.
Me or you would die simply from taking the pills and having that much potassium introduced into our system, but for him, it barely keeps his levels at 3.2 (which is still very low).
So, while input is important, and gives us the building blocks, ultimately it is your endocrine system that decides how it will manage the levels. Being overweight (or on dieuretics) can make it more of a challenge for your adrenal glands to 'keep up' with it all.
I will say that even with Dad's severe problems, sodium intake does not effect it one way or the other. Lord knows, we have tried all that stuff.
Just go down and have some simple bloodwork done, and get them to tell you your levels. It's easy, Dad has it done 2 or 3 times a week. A lot of times you can go to the lab at your doctor's office and request it yourself.
You could tell your doctor you want a complete blood panel (and check iron and all that) just for the heck of it?
Yup, very true. I have low blood sodium levels and it has nothing to do with diet/intake of salt. My mother in law has very high potassium even on a very low potassium diet (she has to restrict fruit/veggies tremendously) and needs meds for it.
Thanks for all the input everyone! So far in the last year or so I've dropped 40 pounds, gained a bunch of muscle and my bodyfat percentage has gone down about 12%. Still have another 40 pounds to go but I feel really good except when the NROL4W program is kicking my butt. I know that the extra weight is the biggest issue but I also wanted to make sure that I had the information straight in my head.
I have really been enjoying eating "clean" - no processed foods, 95% of my carbs coming from lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, keeping at ~1700 kcals per day. It's amazing how energetic I feel and how little I crave the junk food. We had friends visiting last week from Europe and they wanted all the American crap food they were missing (they're from here), and on the few times that I ate with the rest of the group, instead of bingeing I was really grossed out. There's still ice cream and a 2-liter of Pepsi in the fridge, and I'm craving the fresh yellow peaches in the fruit bowl.
Thanks for all the input everyone! So far in the last year or so I've dropped 40 pounds, gained a bunch of muscle and my bodyfat percentage has gone down about 12%. Still have another 40 pounds to go but I feel really good except when the NROL4W program is kicking my butt. I know that the extra weight is the biggest issue but I also wanted to make sure that I had the information straight in my head.
Is this a typo? You say your bf is 12% yet your have another 40 lbs to go?
Potassium and Salt question
I know that the extra weight is the biggest issue but I also wanted to make sure that I had the information straight in my head. 
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