Can Salt Sabotage Your Weight Loss Journey

Salt! Nature's wonder flavor! It can make the most blandest of foods taste amazing. Heck, it will even make already salt enriched foods taste even better! Being transparent, I've been known to add a couple of shakes or 2 to foods, just because. As a pro competitor, salt is an essential mineral that can make or break how you look on the stage, but we're not talking about competitors specifically in this blog, we're addressing: Does the salt you're consuming have an impact on YOUR weight loss?

We're going to answer that question, but first, let's get on the same page and identify what salt really is. Merriam-webster.com defines salt as: A crystalline compound NaCl that consists of sodium chloride, is abundant in nature, and is used especially to season or preserve food or in industry.

I wouldn't be doing my due diligence if I did not state some negatives of having too much salt:

• High blood pressure

• Heart disease/stroke

• Kidney stones

Some benefits of salt are:

• Improves sleep

• Supports a healthy nervous system

• Balances electrolytes and helps prevent muscle cramping

• Helps you stay hydrated

There are other benefits, but hopefully you get the picture that it is not only extra flavoring you're putting on your chicken. Now, what if you are on a weight loss journey. Can salt help or hinder your progress? We've already stated how salt helps you (see above), but how does salt specifically hurt or sabotage your weight loss journey:

1. Water retention: When you eat too much salt, the cells of your body must compensate by absorbing more water to balance out sodium concentrations. Roughly 400 milligrams of salt can cause the body to retain up to 4 cups of water.

So think of the time you went out to dinner and ate a high sodium meal, like a burger and fries. The next day you jumped on the scale and you see maybe a 2-4lb weight increase (of course depending on what time you ate the burger, how large the meal was and when you weighed yourself after). This also depends on what you drank that day and/or during that meal. The sodium in the burger and fries and the liquid you drank caused that weight gain. If you get back on track that retention usually lasts 2-3 days, depending on other factors, but you get the picture.

2. Eating certain types of foods: Think about the types of food that are usually high in salt...I'll wait. Right! It's usually chips, bacon, pizza, burritos, types of bread, processed foods, etc. The good stuff...LOL. These foods not only have a high content of salt, and calories but also of fats. Not the good fats, but saturated fats, as well as high in calories. To lose weight your body needs to be in a caloric deficit , among other things. Eating these types of food while on a weight loss program would be defeating the purpose.

In summary, salt is good and good for you, in moderation. Too much of it will hurt you, to little of it can cause physical issues. Find that healthy balance. The American Heart Association states that no more than 2300 milligrams per day is ok. 1500 milligrams per day is ideal, per the same source. In comparison, Americans eat (on average) 3400 milligrams of salt per day.

We can do better, right?