Paleo and calorie counting.

daniellegwilliam
daniellegwilliam Posts: 122 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So my trainer is a big advocate of Paleo. And I've really tried to cut back on the breads, grains Im eating ect. It does make sense and I feel better!

Im aiming to try it 100% in a couple months. "weaning" myself there.

My question is to the Paleo community, do you still count your calories when eating paleo, or just eat that way and not worry?

Replies

  • seena511
    seena511 Posts: 685 Member
    i'm not paleo, but i just wanted to point out that simply "eating clean" won't help you lose weight if you still eat at a surplus. if you don't think you can trust yourself to intuitively eat at a deficit, you should still count.
  • divemunkey
    divemunkey Posts: 288 Member
    At some point, calories do matter, but since a little fat loss and toning is your goal, you don't need much of a deficit to reach your goals. When one eats paleo, they tend to eat more calorie dense foods, but not as much, or end up in a calorie deficit. If you eat a lot of paleoified treats or excessive amounts of fats, you can end up overeating a lot easier. I lost a lot of weight initially, but decided to come here and log my food more because i wanted to make sure I ate enough protein than I cared about my calorie totals. Some people do count calories, but not very many.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    I do track calories because I'm in weight loss mode for another 5 lbs. Once I hit maintenance for realz, I probably won't track anymore.

    The reason people don't track is because if you're eating a diet full of veggies, meats, healthy fats, and fruits/nuts in moderation, you probably are naturally staying on the low cal end. Some people track in order to make sure they're eating enough cals, or to watch their macro ratios.

    But, it is possible to gain weight or not lose on Paleo, if you "paleo-fy" lots of foods. If you're eating breaded/fried foods using coconut/almond flour, making lots of "Paleo" desserts, or hitting the nuts and fruit pretty hard... the calories in those things don't just disappear because they're from whole foods. Or, if you're eating 80/20 paleo, and that 20% is from high cal foods, that can hinder weight loss.

    If you want to lose weight, and you're new to Paleo, I suggest tracking. You'll learn a lot about how you feel and how much food you need.

Categories