sodium intake

does anyone else find that when you increase your caloric intake that your sodium intake siginificantly increases as well? I never used to really watch my sodium but now I'm a little worried I am getting too much.

Sodium is one of the few things I do now keep an eye on. It's possible to keep it below 6g of salt/2400mg of sodium with sensible choices - less packaged or processed foods and more fresh, tinned foods like fish and pulses in water and not sauce, brine or salted water, and so on. :] Don't forget we all need some sodium in the diet, though.

Depending on how much exercise you're doing, it might not be such a big problem. People who work out a lot tend to need more sodium, since they sweat more. Makes sense, right? I wouldn't worry too much about it, but maybe that could be inspiration to start exercising if you don't already.

People who work out actually don't need to eat a lot of sodium - that's something of a myth.   If you're in some kind of extreme environment, such as a soldier fighting in the intense heat of the Iraqi desert, extra salt is going to help you stay hydrated but 6g salt or 2400mg sodium a day is the recommended limit for everyone else.  If you're getting more than that, it's worth trying to reduce it a little.  

When you start to eat more you can avoid getting too much salt  by preparing and cooking as much of your own food as possible.  Ready-made, packaged and preserved food (like cheese and ham) has a lot of salt in it so that it has a long shelf-life.  Restaurant food is usually over-seasoned.  But if you eat mostly fresh, unprocessed foods and do a little home-cooking you can easily get your sodium intake to a sensible level.

The reason i say that it might not be such a big problem is because my sister is an avid runner, cyclist, and goes to the gym 5 days a week on average. She actually got pretty sick when she first started calorie counting. She saw that she was eating anywhere from 3k-4k mg of sodium, when the recommended maximum is 2.4k. When she cut her sodium intake down to 2k, her energy levels dropped dramatically and she experienced symptoms common to sodium deficiency.

Everyone is different, you just need to find what works best for you and your body. And i definitely can relate with you on sodium levels jumping when i upped my calories, i try to keep them below 3k mg at least.