Paleo diet anyone?

Brittanygail92

I need to loose at least 60 pounds. I struggle with cravings daily! Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!

Hamsibian

Are you eating adequate amounts of protein and veggies? What about your carb intake? A lot of people assume paleo = low carb, but it doesn't have to be unless it's for medical reasons . Also make sure you're drinking lots of water.

trigden1991

Eat in a calorie deficit with whatever foods you want. Paleo is a fad diet and not required for fat loss.

kommodevaran

brittanydeleo92 wrote: »

I need to loose at least 60 pounds. I struggle with cravings daily! Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!

To lose weight, you need to eat less. Not as little as possible, but less than you burn. You can eat anything and lose weight, as long as you consistently eat less than you burn. But to consistently eat less than you burn, adherance to diet is crucial. You will lose as long as you stick to any diet, but how long can you stick to [insert diet name]? And more importantly, what will you do when you stop the diet?

Do the cravings make you want to eat too much? It's you who decides to eat too much, or not. Do whatever makes it easier to not eat too much. For some people it can be to have a small amount of what they crave often, for others it can be to cut it out completely (and not buy/keep). Or something in between, have it rarely and only on special occasions. Some people have success by eating a boring diet, others have success by adding as much variety as possible. Some people eat few and large meals, others snack all day.

Counting calories is just a method to make sure you are indeed eating at a calorie deficit, but it's foolproof if you do it right.

kommodevaran

Oh, I have to correct myself a bit

Counting calories creates awareness. You learn what works and what doesn't. It can make you feel more secure, especially if you also track macros - that you are getting what you need, not just that you aren't eating too much. Counting calories takes the emotions out of the equation. It can make you let go of black/white thinking. It lets you eat in whatever way you choose. Counting calories was part of fixing my relationship with food! Counting calories taught me how to eat like a normal person

Did I mention that counting calories and just eating food is awesome?

courtneyfabulous

Paleo is good for people with food sensitivities since it cuts out gluten and dairy which many people cannot digest well and cuts out sugar which is inflammatory and most people eat too much of. But it's not necessary if you don't have those sensitivities.

All you need to do to lose weight is be in a caloric deficit.

Try to eat enough protein, eat mostly healthy foods but also allow yourself a few of your favorite treats, exercise, and eat in a mild caloric deficit and you should see great results.

Whitezombiegirl

Paleo can help reduce calories by cutting out high calorie foods like bread, pasta, pastry etc. It can also help with carb cravings .

Ive been 80% primal for 9 years. It helps my ibs and ive really gone off bread, pasta, rice etc. I prefer extra veg instead. Its been positive for me.

Only dangers were too much dried fruit, not enough protein, trying to eat dark chocolate when it caused me migraines and eating too much bread type things when i did include them. Ive never been much into nut butters (dislike peanut butter) so that has never been an issue.

lemurcat12

Cravings for what, when? Are you sticking within your calorie goal? What is that goal? How long have you been doing this?

Often cravings are a result of habitual eating in a certain way or a reaction to change. Either way they go away.

I was looking at the Beck Diet Solution, which is based on CBT, and it also seemed intelligent in how it addressed cravings -- they aren't an emergency.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with paleo, but it seemed more what you were asking about. On paleo, I did it for a bit (I don't really like most bread, rice, cereal, and I do generally cook from scratch, so it seemed like something I might enjoy trying and I wanted to see if I felt different). What I learned was no, I don't feel different, and when I thought about it I couldn't come up with a justification for cutting grains, dairy, and legumes out of my diet -- I think my diet is healthier with legumes, dairy helps me meet my protein goal (and I love it), and whole grains seem reasonably good for me and aren't something I overeat, and also pasta is a great base for a really healthy meal of lean meat and veg. So I decided to take what I liked from paleo (most of which I was doing already), like focusing on whole foods, eating lots and lots of vegetables, getting enough protein, eating the whole animal and sourcing them from farmers who I trusted, eating as seasonally as possible (with limits, I'm going to eat fruit and veg in the winter, after all), and discard the rest. I thought it was a pretty easy and enjoyable way to eat, though, and still use ideas from paleo recipe blogs sometimes.