How much sodium is too much? I dont know too much about sodium, but I would like to know if I am consuming too much.

My goals are fat loss.

AFAIK, sodium shouldn't have any effect on fat lose. In some people excess sodium can cause hypertension as sodium causes your body to retain more water. For this reason bodybuilders somtimes control their sodium intake to reduce their hydration levels to show off the muscles but generally just for a limited time like a show- or at least that is my limited understanding.

Most western diets have more than enough sodium. If you eat a lot of processed foods you are probably getting more than you need. If you eat mostly fresh foods then you aren't getting too much unless you pour a lot of salt on your food or add it to your cooking. Try not to eat too much sodium as a general rule but if you don't have blood pressure problems you don't really need to track your sodium intake.

If you have any kind of family history of high blood pressure, don't consume too much sodium. Sodium is EVERYWHERE, however, so this can be hard to do. For example, a can of soup usually has 1/3-1/2+ your daily recommended intake of sodium. 1/6-lb of deli turkey breast has half your sodium for the day. It's really ridiculous.

So unless you live in the middle of no where and make/grow all your own food, there's almost no way you're getting too little sodium.

I don't worry about sodium myself because I drink so much.

However, in doing some reading, sodium intake itself isn't that important to most people, it's the sodium/potassium ratio to watch. So eat your fruits and veggies (with salt! ;))

I just wanted to add a tiny explanation as to why my post sounded a bit rant-like: Everyone (parents, grandparents) have high blood pressure in my family, and a few years ago I was told I had pre-hypertension (blood pressure was just slightly above "normal range"). Granted it was probably because I knew I was going to have blood drawn that day and needles make me freek out, but it made me start to look carefully at nutrition labels.

I don't want to need to take a pill every morning for the rest of my life to control it, so I'm trying to do so at the moment with diet. I've gotten down to eating around 2100 mg of sodium a day (still 5% above the daily recommended amount) but it was incredibly difficult, and it rules out a lot of things for me (like turkey breast sandwitches, lots of cheese, salted peanuts, etc.), and so I'm fairly sensitive to the issue.

From what I've read, some people's blood pressure is related to their sodium intake, but that isn't necessarily true of all hypertensive people. Maybe some of our doctors here can clear this up.

But if you have high blood pressure, it's probably worth seeing if your sodium intake controls it. But if you don't have high blood pressure and you drink a lot of fluids and get your potassium, you probably are fine (within reason).

From what I've read, some people's blood pressure is related to their sodium intake, but that isn't necessarily true of all hypertensive people. Maybe some of our doctors here can clear this up.

But if you have high blood pressure, it's probably worth seeing if your sodium intake controls it. But if you don't have high blood pressure and you drink a lot of fluids and get your potassium, you probably are fine (within reason).

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. Primary hypertension is caused by a number of different factors for some people reduction of sodium intake can help correct BP so it is always a good thing to try first as correcting the problem with diet and exercise is preferred over witting a script.