Hello everyone. Should I take care over my salt intake? I’ve never really bothered to monitor it largely because I work out (cycling) 3 or 4 times a week, mostly indoors so I sweat a lot. I also eat freshly prepared food, nothing much processed except sausages occasionally and cheese, also 3/4 times a week. Is this “head in the sand” or perfectly reasonable?
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Hey njt - good question!
To be concise and blunt - unless you are experiencing symptoms of hyponatremia (low sodium levels), like dizziness, fatigue, etc.; you have noticed or quantified your sodium loss from sweat as significant (sodium loss rate =/= sweat rate); or you have received info like a blood test result that indicates issues with sodium levels, then you’re probably good.
The body is really, really great at maintaining hydration and electrolyte levels for proper physiological function. Of course, extremely exhaustive exercise or that which occurs in challenging conditions (heat/humidity) can be large enough stresses that the body cannot adapt in the duration; but in those instances, you typically know going into them what you may need and how your body will be limited in those regards.
In day-to-day training, in a stable, comfortable environment over quantification and an attempt to acheive perfection is very difficult to pull off and can do more harm than good, in my experience. Again, if there are extenuating circumstances that are driving this examination of sodium intake, then go for it. Honestly though, a “head in the sand” approach lets your body do what it does best - so let it!
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Thanks for this reply. Sorry not to have responded sooner but for some reason I didn’t get a notification of your reply.
I only asked because general “Healthy Eating” advice is to limit salt intake (I.e. keep it low) and it seemed to me that it might not be wise in the case of athletes who sweat a lot.
Thanks again.
From a medical and sports science perspective: yes, endurance athletes should pay attention to sodium, especially during long or hot sessions. However, for most recreational athletes, normal food intake usually provides more than enough. Supplementing is mainly relevant in extreme conditions or very long workouts.
Personally, I use something like PowerBar 5Electrolytes on full-day summer activities instead of plain water—before that, I occasionally got mild leg cramps after 8h mountaineering in the sun. Since switching, no issues at all.
So best to listen to your body and adjust accordingly.
I’m going to offer a v diff angle than above.
While I don’t 100% disagree; for many casual athletes, the body will take care of it. Especially w the insane amt of salt in the modern diet.
You’re going to get a lot of disagreement; “Yes, you should.” , and “No, don’t worry.” , from ppl who have experience living those ways, successfully, maybe for decades.
Why & how ?
Bc there’s an insane degree of variability in both sweat rate, and amt of Na / mL in our sweat. I think the total possible range is like 1 - 8 g / hr or something nuts like that. [ No clue. ]
So some must, or they’ll have a medical event. Others likely should not.
Unless you can afford and want to pay for expensive athletic tests, you have to figure it out, and go by feel.
For me, I always lived by ‘salt is basically instant death’, and minimized it as much as possible. I never put it on my food, “knowing” that I got too much already.
As my training got more and more intense, I started having insane leg cramps, and RLS @ night.
More concerning is that I was drinking an absolutely insane amt of H2O all day, peeing dead - clear, and constantly feeling brutally thirsty. Huge red flag.
Dug into the subject; we lose mostly Na, but also not - insignificant amts of K, Mg, and Ca in our sweat.
Also, urine should be just a light shade of yellow. Not dark, but also not clear; you’re drinking too much water, and your body can’t absorb it; you’re just passing too much water, and it’s hard on the kidneys.
Here’s a neat analogy & fact: The advice to lower your salt is based on the assumption that an average North America is eating ten grams of salt a day.
And our recommended intake, for body function & hydration, for a non - athlete, is five grams. Not zero.
A big mac has one gram [ abt 1063 mg ].
Do you think you are eating the equivalent of ten big macs of salt / day ?
I definitely was nowhere near that. Likely 1 - 2.5 ish, maybe 4.
Started putting salt on everything, and taking K, Mg & Na supplements daily. Cramps disappeared instantly. Drank normal amts of water, felt great, instantly. Constant thirst gone.
I just buy econ supplements in pill form. 99% of athletic stuff is broscience marketing.
The bod is great at storing all these, for use when needed. There’s zero need to supplement in WOs <60 - 120 ish mins, for most ppl. Obvi, for extremely long stuff, or 30 - 60 mins @ 35+ C & 80+% RH, you might / def will need to replace mid ride. Again; no clue. I don’t need to.
On mid - ride supplements: Do keep in mind your amounts, when considering what to buy. You can find the ranges of sweat rates / hr & Na, K, etc / mL online.
Bottom line: I’m not paying anyone for a product to replace 15 - 50 mg / hr of K, Ca & Mg if I’m loosing 150, 300, etc mg / hr just so I can crash out at hr 2, 3, etc !!!
I think of it like this: At km 30 of a HOT bike leg, if I had dropped my bottles, I’d pay someone $ 100 for 500 - 1000 mL !! But I wouldn’t give you $ 20 for 5 mL !! 
Be careful where your $s go ! 
With most stuff, we need med tests, doctors, etc. W some stuff, like hydration, the body has pretty damn strong signals, if we listen. And we’re great at peeing out the stuff we don’t need. [Obvi don’t go crazy, but within reason, we just pee it out. ]
Salt =/= certain & instant death. IF you are an athlete, and sweat a lot.
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