DON’T buy LMNT! Do THIS instead

Electrolyte supplements are booming in popularity.

For the right population, electrolytes can be a huge help.

At the same time, though, electrolyte supplements might be a huge waste of money for you.

In this article, I aim to break down why that is, and show you how to make your own electrolyte supplement for 4.2x less expensive.

What are electrolytes?

By definition, an electrolyte is an ionically bonded compound that disassociates in water.

Take table salt for example: sodium chloride.

A sodium atom is bonded to a chlorine atom. When these bonded atoms touch water, they become a lone sodium atom and a lone chlorine atom.

There are 5 electrolyte minerals that are relevant to you:

• Sodium

• Potassium

• Calcium

• Magnesium

• Chloride

Electrolytes have numerous functions in the body, some of which include:

• Facilitating muscle contractions

• Maintaining fluid balance

• Facilitating energy production

• etc.

Of these five, three are commonly lost through sweat: sodium, potassium, and chloride.

This is why your sweat tastes salty, and why it’s important (in some cases) to supplement with them.

Why electrolyte supplements might be a waste of your money:

Remember, of the notable electrolytes, only sodium, potassium, and chloride are lost through sweat. Magnesium and calcium are crucial minerals to eat enough of each day, but they need not be supplemented with during exercise they way the other three should.

To illustrate why I think your money is better spent elsewhere, let’s look at an example supplement: LMNT

LMNT is a grab-and-go electrolyte supplement with the following nutrition information:

• 1000 mg sodium

• 200 mg potassium

• 60 mg magnesium

As the writing of this, you can buy 30 of these LMNT electrolyte packets for $45.

Therefore, one serving of LMNT would cost you $1.50. Now, let’s see if what a cheaper alternative looks like.

Here’s what we’re going to use:

• This pack of Morton’s table salt

• This pack of Morton’s potassium chloride salt

• Total cost: ~$43

Here’s what you do next:

• Take one teaspoon of the table salt

• Add one small pinch of the potassium chloride

This will give you an identical nutrition profile to LMNT:

• 1000 mg sodium

• 200 mg potassium

The difference? The LMNT packs cost $1.50 per serving. This cheaper alternative cost $0.35 per serving.

That comes out to being 4.2x cheaper than buying the LMNT packs.

A caveat that I would add here is if you performing an endurance training session lasting longer than 1 hour. In this instance, you will need to supplement with electrolytes AND carbohydrates. Usually, these come as a single supplement product. In such an instance, I would recommend buying the supplement. An example of such a product is G.1.M. Sport from Bare Performance Nutrition.

If you are performing a workout lasting less than one hour in which you will likely produce a lot of sweat, though, then I would recommend electrolytes alone. In this scenario, this cheaper switch would make sense.

As always, if you feel you have questions left unanswered, feel free to email me at info@FitnessSimplified.org.