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disagree, I went for a 5 hour fairly hard (~2000m of climbing) bike ride last summer in hot weather with no food and drinking only plain water (and not that muc

disagree, I went for a 5 hour fairly hard (~2000m of climbing) bike ride last summer in hot weather with no food and drinking only plain water (and not that much water at that, around 1l during the ride, of course I had a very large breakfast beforehand) without any issues whatsoever. I am not sure about the whole "working out requires eating salt tabs", when I was doing triathlons a lot of people took them and it was amazing seeing all the salt that ended up on their clothing due to sweat/evaporation. I've always thought that if you really needed the electrolytes your body wouldn't immediately try to get rid of them via sweat. Again of course this is n=1, I think maybe my n=1 is different because I am used to an extremely low sodium diet, but goes to show that when it comes to diet it's all a big YMMV...

abakker 9y ago
I wish I were like you! Before salt tabs, I'd cramp up and be useless after a pretty short time on the bike - maybe 2 hours / 2000 ft of climbing on a mountain bike. Now that I add two of those nuun tablets to my 3 L of water I sweat less and never cramp up anymore. My sweat has always been very salty my whole life. I wish I didn't need to supplement for longer rides but time has shown me that it is unrealistic for me to skip it for anything over around 1.5 hours. Under that, I don't bother, though.
- jameskegel 9y ago
  That's interesting what you said about your sweat being salty; is be interested in seeing how much electrolytes you're excreting that way. Conversely, my sweat isn't salty hardly at all, I've noticed. I wonder if there is any correlation, because I ride 50 to 60 miles, single speed on street tires, up and down elevation no problem with just regular water, never have had a cramp as far as I can remember. I don't consider myself a very fit person, and neither would a dietician, fwiw, so I'm not just some type of anomaly, just your typical desk dweller who hits the bike path hard on weekends when time allows.
  - abakker 9y ago
    Yeah, I'm in about the same fitness boat as you. Just very different outcomes regarding salt in sweat.
- calvano915 9y ago
  Plasma volume and salt concentration in sweat varies with where you're acclimatized, which could be a differing factor.

abakker 9y ago

I wish I were like you! Before salt tabs, I'd cramp up and be useless after a pretty short time on the bike - maybe 2 hours / 2000 ft of climbing on a mountain bike. Now that I add two of those nuun tablets to my 3 L of water I sweat less and never cramp up anymore. My sweat has always been very salty my whole life. I wish I didn't need to supplement for longer rides but time has shown me that it is unrealistic for me to skip it for anything over around 1.5 hours. Under that, I don't bother, though.

jameskegel 9y ago
That's interesting what you said about your sweat being salty; is be interested in seeing how much electrolytes you're excreting that way. Conversely, my sweat isn't salty hardly at all, I've noticed. I wonder if there is any correlation, because I ride 50 to 60 miles, single speed on street tires, up and down elevation no problem with just regular water, never have had a cramp as far as I can remember. I don't consider myself a very fit person, and neither would a dietician, fwiw, so I'm not just some type of anomaly, just your typical desk dweller who hits the bike path hard on weekends when time allows.
- abakker 9y ago
  Yeah, I'm in about the same fitness boat as you. Just very different outcomes regarding salt in sweat.
calvano915 9y ago
Plasma volume and salt concentration in sweat varies with where you're acclimatized, which could be a differing factor.