From Paleo to Zone diet.

Jack3r

I started my weight loss off, following the paleo diet,been doing that for the last 4 months, I recently found out I need to eat around 2600-3000 cals depending if im working out or not. I do not enjoy eating around 3000 cals a day of mostly meat, every day, too much.
I want to get into the zone diet the 40-30-30 macro set, and im not sure where to start?
Can you basically eat whatever you want(of course no junk etc, fried, etc) as long as you stay within your calories and macro's?
What are good and bad carbs? I will initially probably weight in a little heavier right? because of the carbs im my body, and how they retain water?
Im really confused about carbs, and what would be considered good, and bad etc

Thank you!

fiveohmike

For me as another big guy i do not differentiate good or bad carbs. However i dont go searching for high fructose syrup carbs either lol

I eat lots of fruit....whole grain bread....veggies...ect for mine

HeidiHoMom

I eat what I want and try to fit it into my macros. I go over my carbs most days by at least 30 but it doesn't bother me.

You're going to lose weight either way, just try to make the best choices most of the time.

By good choices I mean whole grains, fruits and veggies.

Jack3r

So to you guys, burger buns, the extra carbs on store bought burgers, white rice, bread all that, is considered good?
Bad would be too much sugar, deep fried etc? ><

fiveohmike

So to you guys, burger buns, the extra carbs on store bought burgers, white rice, bread all that, is considered good?
Bad would be too much sugar, deep fried etc? ><

For the most part yes.

Speaking of which I am having a hamburger and a bun for dinner in a few...with a slice of cheese...BBQ sauce and a side of veggies

Jack3r

Yummm haha, So to YOU, could you give me an idea of what is considered a bad carb? After being on Paleo, I still feel like they are ALL bad! lol

nettasaura

You could try to think of it this way - the least processed carbs are better and the most processed are worse. So following that line of thinking - brown rice is better than white, 100% whole wheat bread is better than white bread, oatmeal is better than sugar cereal, 100% pure maple syrup is better than white sugar.

A lot of it will be what you personally consider better or worse and what you can actually afford. It IS cheaper to buy a box of mac and cheese than to make whole wheat mac and cheese with milk and real cheese. Just try to keep everything as natural as possible........since you are coming from Paleo try to think of it not so much as "what would a caveman eat", but maybe "what would someone from early civilization eat"........just shift your dietary aims forward in time a bit.

fiveohmike

Just to throw this out there. Strictly for weight loss. I firmly believe this from my research.

A carb is a carb, a calorie is a calorie.

You can eat 2100 calories of twinkies (proven by studies as some guy did this and documented it) and lose weight.

This does NOT mean he was healthy by any stretch of the imagination.

To boil it down simply (aside from medical conditions) a calorie deficit is a calorie deficit.

So with that, Id eat as little processed carbs as possible. We are in this for our health, not just the scale number. Eat cleanly. I still eat bread (mostly wheat/whole grain), I still eat rice (white, cleaned of starch), I still eat potatoes ect.

I stay away from processed sugar as much as possible.

Jack3r

I can also expect to "gain" some weight right? from introducing carbs again, and by gain, I mean retain water weight?

victoriousnrltm

A good compromise is sprouted grain breads. They are high in protein, good whole carbs, & nutrients. I like Ezekiel Sprouted grain breads. They have wraps, buns, & breads. It is usually in the freezer section. The Idea behind good carbs & bad does relate to nutrition but also to glycemic index. The more whole a food is the lower the glycemic index meaning it doesn't give you the sugar spike right after eating it so you don't get the insulin rush & the resulting startving feeling 2 hrs later.
hope this helps:)

sonyachan

I would say slowly add in carbs again. Good carbs first, like fruits, beans, peanut butter, starchy veggies like sweet potatoes. Then add whole grain oatmeal, breads like Joseph's flax wraps and pitas. Like someone else said, the less processed the better. I bet if you add back slowly you won't have much weight gain and you won't feel so bad. Good luck on your journey.

Jack3r

Well I can tell you this, I didnt go back into it slowly haha
So no wonder I "weighed" a little more, damn carbs lol

On paleo, you dont really eat lots of fruits if your trying to lose weight, does that apply to a normal zone diet aswell?
Do you stay away from natural sugars if your trying to lose weight?

Can someone check my food diary for the last couple days and tell me how it looks? If it's "clean" enough.
Minus the timmies of course lol and im going to be swapping all white breads and buns for whole wheat.

Thanks!

PittGatorJD

Looked into your diary. Mostly good choices - fair amount of clean carbs...but you could eat less processed food. You're still going to lose weight for sure just due to the calorie deficit...Personally, I try to eat pretty clean. Only brown rice (slow cooked at that, not the instant which has to be processed in order to get ready that quick), 100% wheat or 100% whole grain if bread (which is rare), never white bread....when you're eating chicken wings...those are processed...so it's not really "clean". The whole idea of "clean" doesn't apply singularly to carbs as much as processed food vs. unprocessed food. When people look at carbs they usually care about complex vs simple, and where it falls regarding the glycemic index. First off, don't worry about the glycemic index unless you're only eating carbs. Example: Most people tout sweet potatoes as much better for you than white because of the low GI. This is true, sweet potatoes fall much lower on the GI scale. But if you eat that same white potato with a protein and some fat, ie steak, etc, the glycemic load of the entire meal takes precedent (because the fat and protein slows the digestion of the potatoes, therefore not causing as great a spike).

Moving on to carbs - if you can eat more complex carbs, and less simple ones, this is always a win. The caveat is natural simple carbs, like the ones you get in fruit...these are good. But most of your carbs should come from the complex variety as well as fibrous carbs (veggies). Again, you'll still lose weight, but these are healthier carbs.

So to recap, clean means unprocessed...isn't really a carb specific thing. Also...you may want to look at your saturated fats...I can't see them, but with things like bacon in a couple of your meals, they may be rather high. An awesome way to get your fats up, and have healthy fats is through almods, nuts, etc. These are high in monounsaturated fats (the very best ones)!

Hope this helped some...Shoot me any questions if you have some.