Math Question: How the hell do you figure 80-20% out?

CharleneExtreme

I don't know how to decide how many calories to stash away for non primal meals (i like to treat myself for sticking to primal at the end of the week). I can't for the life of me figure it out.. Is there a spreadsheet somewhere? or an equation? I'm aiming to eat with 20% of my total weekly calories not being primal. But what happens if i don't meet that total on some days? Or what if i work out and earn more calories?? Gahh im so bleddy confused!!!

I was thinking maybe a good idea is:
- Add up my weekly calories (or 6 days if i want to use them all in one day)
-Subtract the percentage of the SAD calories consumed
-Find 20% of my total (or less if i've eaten SAD calories during the week)
-Consume the result in SAD calories as long as i don't go over my daily goal.

Does this sound alright??

caribougal

Wow, that's a lot of math. I'm new to Primal, so maybe not the best to answer this. But I would say on any given day, if most of what you ate is primal, with a non-primal food when you choose to (or have to) then you're probably good. Or, since you say you'd like to treat yourself on weekends, just let yourself have one or two non-primal cheats that make you feel good but won't make you feel bad later.

For me, I figure I'll try to eat primal 100%, and the 80% comes in when I can't help it. For example, last night we ate at California Pizza Kitchen. I got 2 Korean beef taco appetizers as my meal (beef, cabbage, cilantro), which normally come with corn tortilla. I had them switch out the tortilla for lettuce wraps. But, I'm positive that the beef was marinated in some sugar and soy. So, for sure that meal would not pass the primal test, but I still felt good about switching out the tortilla, and not eating any of the chips or pizza on the table.

Cerebrus189

Wow, that's a lot of math. I'm new to Primal, so maybe not the best to answer this. But I would say on any given day, if most of what you ate is primal, with a non-primal food when you choose to (or have to) then you're probably good. Or, since you say you'd like to treat yourself on weekends, just let yourself have one or two non-primal cheats that make you feel good but won't make you feel bad later.

I think this way of thinking is a lot easier than figuring out the math. When I first started, I was trying to figure all of this out too. I questioned everything about Primal/Paleo including my macronutrients but it shouldn't really be that hard. What I did initially is count how many meals and snacks I would be eating for the week, and multiply by .20. So if you calculate it based on 35 meals (5 meals a day with two snack), you can cheat about 7 times.

OP, how long have you been Primal/Palo? If you're already looking to cheat, I'm convinced you probably aren't ready to cheat just yet. Many authors say that you must be strict on Paleo/Primal for the first three weeks to become fat-adapted and become a "fat-burning beast".

DiscoGirl999

I agree with above. For me the 80/20 idea is more about not beating yourself up for deviations from primal. It's about changing the mindset that so often accompanies 'diets' that can lead to a feelings of failure when you 'break the rules'.
So I would aim for eating primal foods all the time and be really relaxed when they don't exactly meet primal criteria.

jonski1968

say you eat 2000 cals a day....thats 14000 cals a week...take 80% from this total and your left with 2800 cals a week that are non primal...Or 1 bloody good cheat day a week...:bigsmile:

spirit80

Bottom line... If you are thinking about cheating you are not ready for a lifestyle such as primal/paleo. Its your choice.

jonski1968

Bottom line... If you are thinking about cheating you are not ready for a lifestyle such as primal/paleo. Its your choice.

Doesn`t the 80/20 thing account for going off track...ie a cheat day?

I think if you can`t go wild once in a while, the chances of a full long term approach is very hard to stick to.

But maybe thats just me..

mehaugen

If you modify paleo for yourself, you won't have to cheat. For example, I make my own kefir from raw milk from a local dairy farm. Not paleo, but definitely in my book a whole, healthy food. Once or twice a week I have a glass of pinot noir and some dark chocolate. I eat (good) cheese at least once or twice a week, so that's probably my big cheat, because I know if I don't control myself, I will eat nothing but cheese for breakfast, lunch and dinner! But its still a real food, so I consider it being part of my paleo/primal/ancestral/whole food way of life. If I want to go have a box of Pamela's gluten free chocolate chunk cookies, (and I will eat the whole box), that is definitely a cheat, because I do it maybe a few times a year. Or have warm, freshly made tortilla chips at a mexican restaurant, or some type of sauce at a restaurant. So its usually for a situation I cannot control. Some good advice I have heard is to strive for 100%, allow for 80% (or whatever, in my case its like 5% because my digestive system hates everything).

So with the cheese eating several times a week and the occasional deviances while on vacation or at a restaurant, that would be my 20%. But you can see that I mostly strive for 100%, I don't purposely go off paleo (except for the dairy, which doesn't bother me). In the past, I would maybe make some paleo desserts once a week, and that would fall into the 20% because of the sugar and large amounts of nuts. Another example would be allowing yourself to use a good, gluten free tamari when cooking. Not paleo, but not an SAD nightmare either.

If you want a gluten full cheeseburger once a week, that would be yours. Or whatever. But planning for it, and then looking forward to it all the time, probably defeats the purpose of the paleo lifestyle. A better goal would be "I want to be able to go out with my friends occasionally and enjoy what they are having without feeling like a failure"

beccarockslife

Bottom line... If you are thinking about cheating you are not ready for a lifestyle such as primal/paleo. Its your choice.

Just about all the Paleo writers talk about an 80/20 approach so are they not ready for the lifestyle too ?

Cerebrus189

Bottom line... If you are thinking about cheating you are not ready for a lifestyle such as primal/paleo. Its your choice.

Just about all the Paleo writers talk about an 80/20 approach so are they not ready for the lifestyle too ?

Really, it's simply a lot easier to drop fat when one approaches Primal with 3 full weeks of strict adherence. There is a shift that happens at 3 weeks, once all of the glycogen reserves are used up, where the body starts burning saturated fats as it's energy source. The 80/20 rule is for the rest of one's life IMO, with the beginning of the lifestyle being strict in order to lose quickly. The first week I was on strict Primal, I was 193 at 5'10" and lost 8 lbs, and the second week I lost 6 lbs. By week 3, my body slowed down and I only lost a few more lbs but at the third week, my body switched its energy source and I started to consistently lose, and didn't lose it too fast.

When I first started, especially the first week, I had cravings that were for sugary sweet things because my body was craving those carbs. As I get further and further into my journey, and drop more and more weight, I don't snack like I used to because my body, and my mind, don't crave it anymore. When talking about cheating, it's an internal struggle between the mind's habit of what it used to want, and the body's subsequent response in the form of a craving for something sweet. I've figured out how to use mind over matter when it comes to cravings. I can have a snack but it should be an apple, and not the cinnamon roll (if I can help it) so I don't regret it later. I feel better, my insulin doesn't spike and it shows in my weight loss. It's a change of one's mindset in the first few weeks to not give in to the old habits.

CharleneExtreme

Some good answers here. The one about subtracting 80% for my cheat day being really helpful. Honestly don't know why i didn't think of that before.

To the people saying i'm not ready for it because i don't commit to full primal, I'm sorry, but that's not gonna happen for the beginning.. I don't believe in deprivation because if i crave something and don't get it. I WILL binge. I've tried diets before and they didn't work because of that. I know its "only 3 weeks" - but idoubt my ability do that. Also i like to reward my good work to keep myself sane.
I just want to be healthier, i don't want to do full primal.

Though that said, the information you provided on why doing 3 weeks is best, makes perfect sense - so i WILL try and pre-plan 3 weeks where i'll strictly adhere to primal, but i'm not ready for that just yet. I'll need to order some almond & coconut four and be fully prepared because i know my tendancies to binge are high! I fully plan on eventually doing 3 weeks, but i think i might wait until i have it properly planned to start.

Thanks for all the replies!!

spirit80

Some good answers here. The one about subtracting 80% for my cheat day being really helpful. Honestly don't know why i didn't think of that before.

To the people saying i'm not ready for it because i don't commit to full primal, I'm sorry, but that's not gonna happen for the beginning.. I don't believe in deprivation because if i crave something and don't get it. I WILL binge. I've tried diets before and they didn't work because of that. I know its "only 3 weeks" - but idoubt my ability do that. Also i like to reward my good work to keep myself sane.
I just want to be healthier, i don't want to do full primal.

Though that said, the information you provided on why doing 3 weeks is best, makes perfect sense - so i WILL try and pre-plan 3 weeks where i'll strictly adhere to primal, but i'm not ready for that just yet. I'll need to order some almond & coconut four and be fully prepared because i know my tendancies to binge are high! I fully plan on eventually doing 3 weeks, but i think i might wait until i have it properly planned to start.

Thanks for all the replies!!

You will find a happy balance that works for you. Nothing is set in stone. Try to focus on the Five groups. Meats , vegetables, fruits, nuts and berries and you will be well on your way.

Cerebrus189

Though that said, the information you provided on why doing 3 weeks is best, makes perfect sense - so i WILL try and pre-plan 3 weeks where i'll strictly adhere to primal, but i'm not ready for that just yet. I'll need to order some almond & coconut four and be fully prepared because i know my tendancies to binge are high! I fully plan on eventually doing 3 weeks, but i think i might wait until i have it properly planned to start.

Thanks for all the replies!!

The biggest help for me the first few weeks was fruit and cheese, especially at night. I thought I would use the almond flour more than I actually did. I have a friend who used it a lot and didn't lose as much weight, probably because she was using too much, frying it up with olive oil (oxidizing fat not good for cooking but rather as a dressing or for seasoning), or maybe it was because she continued to eat how in the same manner but with different ingredients.

This is one of the pitfalls of switching to Paleo/Primal, just so you know. It's not about replacing buttermilk pancakes and syrup with almond butter and agave syrup, but rather eating an omelette with vegetables and bacon, or some bulletproof coffee for breakfast and fasting until lunch.

But you're in the beginning, so some slack is necessary to get you on the right track. I was a sugar addict, and at one point a vegetarian, so if I can do it, you can too!