I Guess I'm Watching my Sodium Intake

If you read food labels you many things: total fat, unsaturated fat, saturated fat, calories, total carbohydrates, dietary fiber, protein, cholesterol, sodium and more.  Sometimes looking at a label can be overwhelming.  What do you look at?  Should we look at every ingredient and every line?  How is it possible to watch our intake of everything?

When I started following WW in 2004 I decided that I was going to ignore all of the information that I had learned about diets previously.  I was going to block out every magazine article I had read and infomercial I had watched. I was just going to pay attention to the information that WW gave me.  I was too confused.  I didn't know what to pay attention to.  At that time Weight Watchers had us look at the calories, fat and fiber on a product to find it's points value.  I decided that was good enough for me.  I was going to track those things only.  As long as I was tracking my points, that was all I could concentrate on and I would lose weight.  It worked.  I lost weight by tracking my points based on those categories.

WW changed their program a couple of years ago. They changed it to use fat, fiber, carbs and protein to calculate PointsPlus Values.  When that happened I changed my focus to those categories instead. It was an adjustment but eventually I got used to it.

When I was a leader in the meeting rooms I would often have member ask me about sodium.  People wanted to know how to account for sodium.  Often, they were shocked that we didn't use sodium to calculate our points.  I would give the same answer regularly, "If you are someone who needs to watch your sodium you can do that.  You are not required to but you certainly can if you find that you are sodium sensitive."  I would estimate that about half of my members found that they were sodium sensitive.  I wasn't shy in telling them that I usually didn't have to watch my sodium.  It wasn't an issue for me.  I could just count my points, stick to them and be fine.

Since then I have gotten a few years older......it happens.  I have recently found that my body is becoming more sodium sensitive.  There are days when I wake up and find my rings much tighter than the day before.  It's uncomfortable. It's disconcerting.  It's disappointing when I have followed my plan and eaten well but feel like I have gained weight.  It's frustrating when I step onto my home scale to find that I have gained weight.  I am realizing that those days are due to water retention.  I am becoming one the the "sodium sensitive people."

Yesterday morning I stepped on the scale.  My scale must have been preparing for Halloween because the number was scary! I chalked it up to all of the extra eating I had done over the camping weekend.  It was my own fault.  It was very disappointing though.  I was really hoping that the 5 mile hike would have helped to even out some of those extra calories.  Chasing a 15 month old around a campsite seemed like a pretty good workout too.  While everyone else was sitting around the campfire playing games and telling stories I was walking behind Samuel, taking leaves out of his mouth, dashing to grab him from the fire circle, picking him up as he stumbled for the umpteenth time......I thought I had gotten some pretty good exercise.  Looking back the calories I put in my body outweighed any workout that I received.

Apparently, my sodium intake must have been pretty high too.  I followed my eating plan well yesterday.  This morning my scale was 3 pounds lighter than yesterday. There is no way I lost 3 pounds of fat in a day so I know it was water.  I am not shy in telling you that I ran to the bathroom many times to pee yesterday too.  (Sorry, I can't come up with a better way to say it.)  I was obviously hanging on to a lot of water from the weekend and last week too.  I noticed last week that even though I was following the plan well (until Friday) I was not losing weight.  In fact, I had gained weight last week on my scale.  I'm sure it was due to water retention because I know that I made good eating choices.

I have joined the ranks of "sodium sensitive."  What does that mean for me?  I will keep watching my points, keep tracking everything, keep to my plan but now stay away from high sodium foods more often.  I'm sure it will be something new to get used to but I'm sure it will only make my weight loss that much easier and my body that much healthier.

I welcome feedback in the comment section to any of you who have found yourselves to be sodium sensitive too.  What are your tricks?  What do you look for?

Have a great day everyone,
Corinna

"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." -1 Corinthians 10:31

Camping: pros and cons

Hello all,

I haven't posted in a few days because I have been camping.  It was an exciting weekend in the Ramsey household.  For the first time we went tent camping as a family. As a child, my father took my brothers and I tent camping several times but I have never done it as an adult.  The closest my children and husband have gotten to tent camping is once a few years ago when we went up north with some friends to their trailer.  With all of our kids there was not enough room in the trailer so my husband and 2 sons slept in the tent outside.  I didn't count that as true tent camping because they had access to the trailer for everything except sleeping.

This past weekend we went true tent camping with the same friends and another family.  It was a great time. It was a great experience for myself and my family.  It was a well-needed get-away too.  We hadn't vacationed as a whole family at all this year so when my friends asked us to join them on this trip I jumped at the chance.  We really  needed a get away together.  The kids and I had gotten away for 10 days during the summer but Bryan didn't get to join us. Bryan got away for a workcamp this summer too, but I wasn't able to join him for that. It was nice to get away from the daily grind with my entire family plus some good friends that we love spending time with.  That is a pro to this past weekend.  I feel refreshed.  I feel like I can get back to chores and school work with new vigor.  I have a new lease on life.  Life can get so rushed and busy.  I can get so stressed.  This weekend I was able to enjoy the nature that God so beautifully created.  It was gorgeous.  We camped at Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin.  The colors are starting to turn on the trees.  It was one beautiful sight after another.

It was a great time to teach my children to work together too.  I am not an expert camper, Bryan has never camped but my friends have.  It was fabulous to have them there to take control of the nuts and bolts of camping.  We all assisted in setting up the tents, cooking the meals, gathering the wood, fetching the water, serving the food, taking down the camp, cleaning up, doing dishes, chasing Sammy and more.  As I write this I feel a bit guilty because I was chasing Samuel so much that I couldn't help as much as I would have liked.  As often as I could I would put one of the kids on "Sammy duty" while I helped with camp.  Actually, it was wonderful that so many of the kids often volunteered to be on "Sammy duty" because he is so loved. There were 5 adults and 12 children (Jason is 13 and he was the oldest) including my family.  The adults were well outnumbered but the kids were so helpful that it was a great time.

We went hiking up one of the sides of Devil's Lake.  It was gorgeous.  It was also a ton of exercise!  That was yet another pro.  All of the adults on this trip are watching their weight.  Four of them are WW members and the other one has lost 40 pounds this year.  We earned a ton of Activity Points, burned a ton of calories and worked our muscles.  Several times over the hike my friend and fellow WW, Julie, asked me how many Activity Points we had earned.  At one part of the hike I had decided that every step I took climbing up the rocks with Sammy on my back had to count as a point.  I have a feeling that each step counting as a point may be a slight exaggeration but I am still sore today from that hike we took on Saturday so I know I worked my muscles.  It was tiring. I wanted to give up when we were told that we took the wrong way down the hill and now we would have to climb back up the hundreds of rocks that we had just maneuvered down to get back to the rest of our group.  Looking back I don't regret one step. I really think I would take every step again and climb every rock both down and up.

Even though I can feel every step I take today in my muscles I am encouraged that I was able to get through the hike and still be breathing.  I hiked at least half of the hike with Samuel on my back.  (I have a picture posted on the bottom to prove it.) Samuel weighs 26 pounds so that was a taste of what it would be like to carry around 26 pounds of the weight I have lost.  The really encouraging part is that even with the extra 26 pounds I kept up with the group quite well.  Our 3 families were joining this Boy Scouts on this hike so we had to keep up with young boys. It made me feel a renewed vigor for exercise.

All of those pros that I just mentioned were joined by just one con.  When I am exercising so much and enjoying the company of good friends and family I............wait for it.............you guess it it, eat more!  While camping out around a campfire there are s'mores.  While going on a 5 mile hike, climbing up and down rocks and hills there are trail mixes.  When coming back to camp after a long hike there are sandwiches, fruit, chips, cheese, sausages and crackers to eat.  While camping with so many children someone is always hungry so there is always food available.  When returning home sleep deprived and desperately needing a shower the local pizza buffet is very inviting..........no clean up, no cooking, no dishes.  Need I say more?! I ate too much!

Here's to a new week.  It's Monday.  I'm home.  I have access to my kitchen and will use it wisely.  I also have access to the outdoors and should use it more often too.

Have a great day everyone,

Corinna

"O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?"-Psalm 8:1-4

Here is much of our crew on the hike with some of the Boy Scouts.  I'm the one towards the middle in the green with Sammy on my back.

Sammy knew that he was supposed to sit on that chair.  He plopped himself right down on that spot. Now we just need to teach him how to open it first.

The tents needed taken down and the air needed to be let out......or should I say squished out.  Unfortunately, most of the air was gathering under the 40 pound little Carlin on the end.