Salt Depletion and a Month Off From Weight Watchers

So I had a pretty crappy run today, but I didn't think much about it. When I first started running, my mentor told me that "about 1/4 of your runs will just suck. And of those, about half will suck for no reason. Only about half you will be able to determine why it sucks." And she was so right!

I did 5 miles today after work, so there were numerous reasons why it was so rough: 1) hot afternoon, 2) wrangled kiddos all day, 3) maybe not enough water through the day.... All I know is that I knew it'd be a rough run when I hit my first downhill. Because I wear my heart monitor every time I run, and because I often do the same paths, I have a good idea of my heartrate at any given point on the path. This first downhill is a nice, steady decline and it's shaded, great for recovery after a hill. My heartrate is usually around 168 during this stretch. Today? Today, it was 183. ONE EIGHTY THREE. ON A DOWNHILL. IN THE SHADE.

Oy vay.

I stumbled through the run, came home, and had a very scary moment. I found myself unbelievably nauseous, very dizzy, and extremely lethargic. A runner friend happened to call while I was stretched out on the floor, trying to get up the energy to get to the shower, and I told her how I was feeling. She told me it sounded like salt depletion and suggested I go look it up.

So I went to WebMD (is there any place scarier when you have a heath concern?!?) and found this:

"There are two types of heat exhaustion:

Water depletion. Signs include excessive thirst, weakness, headache, and even loss of consciousness.
Salt depletion. Signs include nausea and vomiting, frequent muscle cramps, and dizziness."

Hmmmm... The symptoms for salt depletion really do fit. And so I explored further and went to the Department of Health and Human Services, where I found this:

"Salt depletion heat exhaustion usually develops over several days; usually in people that replace the fluid loses adequately, but fail to replace salt loses."

Well, that couldn't be me, because I just felt it today. But then I went back through my food journals, which automatically keep track of my sodium, as well as other nutrients. My goal for any given day is about 2500 milligrams of sodium, and there was not one day in the last 15 days that I have had more than 1500 milligrams of sodium.

So maybe it really is that. So I designed an experiment, just hoping and praying I wouldn't throw up everywhere. The DHHS website also said this:

"Mild dehydration can be managed with oral replacement of fluids i.e. 1 tsp of NaCl mixed with 500 ml of water or a stock electrolyte solution given over 1 - 2 hours."

So I put a teaspoon of salt into a glass, added some Crystal Light to help mask the flavor (I am not really a salt fan, in case you can't tell!) and added half a liter of water. I am currently sipping it as we speak and with every sip that goes down, I feel a little more human.

Does anyone else ever have issues with salt depletion? I guess I need to find some sodium-dense foods that are good for runners!

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In another note, I have taken a step back from Weight Watchers. For all of those who don't know, I have been in the program since May of 2011. I've lost 16 pounds and (as of March 13!!) 17.5 inches. But I think Weight Watchers was helping me develop a very unhealthy relationship with food. While I know the line is that any food is allowed, I began to have very firm "can have" and "cannot have" lists. And I would spend days dwelling over how I was doing, especially leading up to a weigh-in. I would remain so on track, and Saturdays, which were my splurge days, became the ONLY day I wanted to see friends. I felt like I had to be perfect those other days and the only way I could manage perfection was to eat at home where I controlled everything.

I began to get discouraged when I saw an increase in the scale, even if it was a week with very hard workouts, or even when I was steadily losing inches. And I realized that the increase on the scale bothered me because somebody else saw the number before I did. Weighing in in front of somebody stressed me out. Now, I know it's great for accountability. And I really did need that for the longest time. But I think the downside of weighing in and the downside of Weight Watchers might be coming to light.

So I decided to try something new. I am taking a month off from Weight Watchers altogether. But not from watching what I eat! Fifteen days ago, I signed up to My Fitness Pal (www.myfitnesspal.com), and now whatever I eat gets tracked there, instead of Weight Watchers. This counts my calories, my protein, my carbs, my fiber, and my sodium (hence how I knew how much sodium I was not getting!). I'm not sure why (maybe it's just the newness of the system?), but I am more motivated now than I have been in weeks for WW.

Every day, after you input all of your food, you click "save" and you will see a statement at the bottom of the page that looks something like this:
"If every day were like this, you would weigh ___________ in 5 weeks." I LOVE that statement. It's never the same, because my exact calories are never the same. Sometimes I'm down by a couple hundred, sometimes I'm up by a couple hundred, but I love to know what it says. It's also helping me realize that I AM allowed to eat whatever I want, within moderation. The other day, I had wings and a beer for lunch, and I put it into the tracker. It told me that in 5 weeks, I would weigh 142 pounds, which is about 2 pounds less than I weigh now.

Hold up. Wait... I could eat badly for one meal, and STILL LOSE WEIGHT over the long run?!?!

I know. It's a concept most of you already know, but it's a concept that I never really embraced until now. So I ate my wings and beer, went back to my lean proteins and veggies, and am doing great. And the best part? It wasn't even a Saturday when I had the wings for lunch! I met my friends for lunch on a TUESDAY and splurged. And then jumped right back on.

I think if this is going to be a lifetime deal, I need to have that flexibility. I need to know that if I have a bad week, it's okay. I need to know that if my best friend's birthday is on a Friday, it's okay to celebrate, even if weigh-in is the next day. And I never felt that on Weight Watchers.

So here I go...! I will continue my Saturday weigh-ins. And I will post them here, to help me stay accountable. And at the end of the month, I will figure out what I want to do about Weight Watchers.

Food Tracker for the day:
Breakfast: Cold oatmeal (my new obsession!), coffee, 3 tbs organic half & half
AM Snack: Yoplait Greek yogurt, pear
Lunch: roasted veggie pasta, 1 tbs Ken's Light Ranch, sliced cucumbers, strawberries
PM Snack: Pink Lady apple, 12 almonds
Dinner: 2 oz left over Honeybaked turkey breast, 1 deviled egg, roasted zucchini, 1/2 avocado, Kroger lowfat vanilla ice cream sandwich

And oh yeah, my salt water! :)

Today's run... As craptastic as it was, it was 5 miles and it took me a ridiculous 1:06:33. I am going to pretend this run never happened.

My notes from MyFitnessPal (first time in 15 days that I have been "in the red" for sodium!):

As you can see, today was one of my better days. Here's hoping that extra sodium doesn't jack me up tomorrow! :)

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What 'diet plan', if any, do you guys follow? Weight Watchers? Good common sense? Anything else in particular?