sodium affects phentermine weight loss

We all know that too much sodium in our diets can lead to health problems such as heart disease, but reports indicate that Americans are still consuming almost twice the recommended limit every day. In addition to being part of an unhealthy lifestyle, the over-consumption of sodium also makes it more difficult to lose weight as it stops the release of water weight. And, for those taking phentermine, a diet containing too much sodium can reduce the effectiveness of phentermine. Here we explain more about how sodium affects phentermine weight loss, and the steps you can take to reduce your sodium intake in order to improve health and lose weight with phentermine.

What Are The Recommended Daily Limits For Sodium?

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting sodium to less than 2,300mg per day – or, 1,500mg if you’re over 51, of African descent, or if you have high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease. As with many minerals and nutrients, a small amount of sodium each day is essential to good health. Your body needs sodium to function properly as it helps to maintain the right balance of fluids in your body, helps transmit nerve impulses, and influences the contraction and relaxation of muscles.   You may think that you don’t consume that much sodium, but many of us aren’t aware of just how much sodium is in our diet; consider that a single teaspoon of salt contains 2,325mg and that many processed and prepared foods contain additional sodium even if you don’t add salt to dishes yourself.

How Sodium Affects Health

Your kidneys are responsible for balancing the amount of sodium in your body for optimum health; when your sodium levels are low, your kidneys essentially hold on to the sodium, and when your sodium levels are high, your kidneys excrete the excess in urine. However, if your kidneys are not able to eliminate enough sodium, the sodium starts to build up in your blood. Because sodium attracts and holds water, your blood volume increases, forcing your heart to work harder which then increases pressure in your arteries. Due to individual differences, some people are more sensitive to the effects of sodium than others. If you’re sodium sensitive, you retain sodium more easily, leading to fluid retention and increased blood pressure. If this becomes chronic, it can lead to heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and congestive heart failure.

Additionally, when taking phentermine to lose weight, it should be considered how phentermine affects your heart, as we explained in our phentermine blog article covering these issues. By increasing your heart rate and putting additional pressure on your heart to pump blood and oxygen around the body faster, phentermine can add to existing heart problems and has even been associated with the onset of heart problems in otherwise healthy individuals. Therefore, from a health point of view you should try to cut back on sodium in general but especially if you are taking medications such as phentermine which can aggravate the heart problems associated with the over-consumption of sodium.

How Sodium Affects Phentermine Weight Loss

As well as the direct effects that it has on our health, the over-consumption of sodium also affects weight loss. Eating salty foods causes an increase in water weight, and although too much sodium will not directly increase body fat, sodium increases water retention which will show up on the scale. These kinds of disappointing scale readings due to over-consuming sodium can also affect you psychologically; you may feel that you’re doing everything right, but if the scale doesn’t reflect that then you’re more likely to become disheartened and give in to temptation, or possibly give up altogether. By cutting down on the sodium in your diet, you will flush out the water weight that your body is retaining and the scale will reflect this with a lower reading which will encourage and motivate you to continue. Drinking lots of water also helps to flush out water weight as your body recognizes that it has a steady supply of H₂0 and therefore does not need to hold on to this excess any longer, and all this water will also help to suppress your appetite, boost your metabolism and keep your body working at its best. If you’re suffering with dry mouth, the most common phentermine side effect, then you can help to solve this problem and reduce water weight by adding Phen Drink to your eight glasses a day. Phen Drink is specially formulated with ingredients that help to boost saliva flow, solving the problem of dry mouth while also adding a fresh fruity taste to your water, and giving your metabolism a boost too!

sodium affects phentermine weight loss

It’s also important to consider that, if you are consuming too much sodium, this would indicate that your diet is not particularly healthy as most foods high in sodium are processed or prepared foods which are also likely to contain high levels of sugar, saturated fat, additives and preservatives, such as cured meats, instant ramen noodles, fast food, sauces and tinned soup. So, it is likely that the over-consumption of sodium in your diet may only be a part of the greater problem of an unhealthy diet which is likely to also be low in natural whole foods such as fruits and vegetables. Therefore, by not limiting the amount of sodium in your diet, in addition to increasing your chances of suffering from the heart problems associated with this, you are likely to increase the likeliness of suffering from additional health issues associated with an unhealthy diet, such as obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome, which make future chances of weight loss much more difficult. Losing weight with phentermine for good requires a long-term approach, which means permanently changing unhealthy habits for healthy ones, and cutting down on processed foods full of sodium in favor of fresh whole foods will benefit your health and weight loss potential in many ways.

Lastly, when taking phentermine to lose weight, certain foods can cause your urinary pH to become too acidic which then means that phentermine is expelled from your body at a faster rate, therefore making it less effective as the appetite suppression and energy boosting effects don’t last as long. Such foods include ice cream, butter, alcohol and foods high in preservatives and sodium. So, in order to reduce the acidity of your body you should aim to cut out these foods and instead, eat lots of alkalizing foods such as broccoli, carrots, cucumber, mushrooms, onions, spinach, tomatoes, apples, bananas, berries, grapes, lemons, pears, pineapple, watermelon, almonds, and cinnamon.

Tips For How To Reduce Your Sodium Intake

As many foods high in sodium are also unhealthy, aiming to cut down on sodium in your diet will help you to shed excess water weight but also to cut out unhealthy foods that make you gain weight and cause your phentermine to be less effective, so it’s a win for your health and for your weight loss efforts. These tips will help you to cut down on sodium:

• Eat More Fresh Foods


• Opt For Low-Sodium Products

If you do buy processed foods, choose those that are labeled “low sodium”, and wherever possible, buy whole grain rice and pasta and bypass prepared pasta dishes with added seasonings.

• Replace Salt With Herbs & Spices In Cooking


• Cut Down On Sodium-Laden Condiments



Does your diet include a lot of sodium? Or are you taking steps to cut down? Let us know by commenting below.


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2 Responses

  1. I hope its true, I have to loose at least 70 lbs. got the prescription from my Doctor.
    can I eat anything in moderation? I need new clothes by July for a wedding , how lone can I take these before getting addicted ??? I am starting off with a half on one to see how it effects me.

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