Poor Clueless kitten

What's with all the threads today about people stuck at 1300 calories, or hell - 800 calories (!?!?) per day? That's one meal for me a lot of the time. HELL, I can make a 900 calorie salad without blinking! I know that we all have to find our own way of doing things, but I really wish I could just shake people and make them understand that Primal/Paleo is easy and healthy and you actually get to eat vast amounts of food and be happy.

Replies

beccarockslife

Thing is if I eat vast amounts of food, paleo or not, I gain weight. I'm eating around 1500 regularly at the moment which I'm feeling more than satisfied on.

TBH I try not to judge anyone elses decisions, they think we are mental for not eating whole grains that's the nature of the beast.

ksellen1

Thing is if I eat vast amounts of food, paleo or not, I gain weight. I'm eating around 1500 regularly at the moment which I'm feeling more than satisfied on.

TBH I try not to judge anyone elses decisions, they think we are mental for not eating whole grains that's the nature of the beast.

Valid Point on them judging us. I've been getting crap all week!

PitBullMom - 1st off....adorable dog!

So I usually come in under 1300 calories a day by a couple hundred. I'm new to the paleo lifestyle (day 4) and am open for feedback and suggestions if you have them. My food diary is open for viewing. I eat a lot and feel full pretty much all the time. I have no idea how to make a 900 calorie salad. I'm not logging my food on here to count calories, I'm just logging me food.

tidmutt

@PitBullMom - You know I'm a fan of Primal/Paleo but I''ve never found any evidence anywhere, ever that you can eat more than you expend and lose weight. Even hardcore primal for 10 months straight I still need to watch my intake. It's true that you will likely feel more satisfied eating the whole foods and lots of protein that Primal tends to promote, however, the laws of thermodynamics still apply, unfortunately.

Calories matter, even Mark Sisson has said so.

Those people struggling on 1300 calories a day could benefit from the more nutrient dense foods Primal provides for sure though.

zellagrrl

Right now, I'm trying to stay around the 500 calorie mark per the doc. This is usually okay for me and I'm happy to be losing again. Maintenance is pretty much 900 - 1800, depending on activity level and anything above that, I gain. And my muscle mass is actually pretty decent- I lift extremely heavy, once per week (google super slow). Thyroid, however, is an underperformer.

I should also mention that I can go for a full day of snowboarding on a 5 hour energy in the morning and a yogurt midday (though this season, being Paleo-ish and all, it will probably be a salad with animal parts of some kind). My mom usually eats 1 yogurt, 1 banana and a salad in her entire day, so this is kind of normal for our family.

Realistically though, unless you're a daily direct influence on my life (i.e. I am in some way responsible for putting food on your plate at my house), I don't really care what other people do. People who can eat more are lucky-- I tried that, and I'm not one of them.

tidmutt

Thing is if I eat vast amounts of food, paleo or not, I gain weight. I'm eating around 1500 regularly at the moment which I'm feeling more than satisfied on.

TBH I try not to judge anyone elses decisions, they think we are mental for not eating whole grains that's the nature of the beast.

Valid Point on them judging us. I've been getting crap all week!

PitBullMom - 1st off....adorable dog! So I usually come in under 1300 calories a day by a couple hundred. I'm new to the paleo lifestyle (day 4) and am open for feedback and suggestions if you have them. My food diary is open for viewing. I eat a lot and feel full pretty much all the time. I have no idea how to make a 900 calorie salad. I'm not logging my food on here to count calories, I'm just logging me food.

Certainly don't try to eat if you feel full, but even on Primal/Paleo diets it's important to know what you are taking in. There is no free lunch.

PitBullMom_Liz

Well first, let me apologize - it seems most of what I've seen in here in people's diaries is a whole lotta calories with a whole lotta loss still going on. So if I offended anybody, I truly am sorry. I just feel like we get picked on so constantly by the SAD eaters!

I do believe that we still need to eat less calories than we burn - even at 1800-1900 calories a day I'm still burning more with basic living and a short walk with the pupper dog.

ksellen, I ran back through my diary to find my huge salad and I was mistaken it was 600 calories, not 900 - I had also had two chicken thighs which added an extra 300 calories. But it was just a huge lovely salad with tons of veggies, avocado, dressing, sunflower seeds, almonds, etc.

christimw

ever since going primal, its a struggle for me to get to 1200. i'm actually eating MORE food than when i was eating SAD, but its a lot less calories. 4-6 oz of meat and 1 cup of veggies early in the day keep me good and full until the afternoon. i even added in coconut oil for calories, and STILL i have trouble getting to 1200. i literally have to stuff myself to the point i'm uncomfortable. then i feel like crap and i'm lethargic the next day. eating until i'm satisfied, not uncomfortablly full, i have way more energy and weight comes off easier, even if i'm only getting 1000 or 1100 calories a day.

lintlin

I often wonder if we don't actually need less calories per day then we are led to believe. I'm not sure that my total daily caloric intake should be at the standard 2000. When eating paleo/primal it seems that you are often longer full than on SAD, I easily only need 2 meals a day. But since that often leaves me at only about 1000 calories I generally snack on something in the evening, even though I'm definitely not hungry for it. Appetite yes, real hunger no.

With high quality food I think it is possible to get all your nutrition from about 1100 calories and be satisfied and healthy. Most of our food is just not high enough quality--even the organic stuff is lower in nutrients than their counterparts a hundred years ago. So it takes more of it to get the nutrient profile we need, but that comes at the cost of dealing with extra calories that we don't need.

epcooper

I came over from the Eat More to Weigh Less crowd, and I'm having a really hard time with coming in so far under my allotted 1800 daily calories (that's with a 400 calorie cut - my maintenance is 2200 when I don't work out). I've had to really struggle to get over my 1460 BMR some days.....thank goodness for 200-calorie packets of almond butter! I'm actually worried that my hair is starting to fall out again, and it was just growing back in after 6 weeks of eating at maintenance.

And guess what.......after 1 week primal + 2 weeks of strict paleo I haven't really lost anything. I'm actually a half pound above the weight I maintained while eating a 2200 calorie SAD diet.

CRody44

Walnuts, 60g = 400 cal, 40 fat, 0 cholesterol, o sodium, 10 protein, 8 carbs.

KittyMarie13

PitBullMom - I do understand where you're coming from. For those people that feel good on less calories, then less calories is the way to go. Under 1500 and I feel fairly famished at some point during the day, but then again I'm also carrying about 100 lbs or more extra weight than ideal. I figure once I shed some of this extra poundage I'll be comfortable on less calories or even be able to fast once in a while without feeling like my stomach is eating itself.

It's the people that are restricting calories down below 1200 and are miserable that I just want to take and shake out of their martyrdom. I was a diet-martyr, too. "Look at the skimpy, unsatisfying meal I'm eating. I want to cry and eat a doughnut but that must mean I'm on the right track because miserable = weight loss." It was like some kind of sadistic badge of courage, the more unhappy I was the more I was sure I was doing what I should, even though the scale and measurements were telling a different story.

In just a couple weeks I have lost more on primal than I have in two months with a Personal Trainer and SAD calorie restrictions, and I feel FANTASTIC. It still takes some concentration to avoid the sugary treats that roam my workplace, but this is 1,000 times easier than anything I've ever done before and I don't feel like I'm depriving myself. Dinner used to be exactly 4 ounces of chicken breast, cooked without any fat, and a cup of broccoli (also without any fat). Dinner now is a nice steak with veggies and some butter, and I feel fully satisfied after.

I guess I just wish they'd find the way to be happy while being healthy, too. I wish someone had slapped me upside the head years ago with this knowledge.

monkeydharma

The disparity comes from the rest of your lifestyle.

A lot of primal/paleo followers are also fitness buffs and all that exercising requires mounds of food to keep the weight on. On the other hand, office workers who don't work out much still need to watch caloric intake whether they are paleo/primal or not.

A true hunter/gatherer diet is PlantStrong (lots of veg, easy on the meat), therefore you can eat a lot of (low calorie) foods and not gain weight. If you think that a real hunter/gatherer had haunches of mastodon on the plate every night with only a little knob of veg for accompaniment, then calorie-watching is a must. Most paleo/primal followers place emphasis on to much high-caloric foods: meat, protein drinks, fat, nuts etc. You either have to burn it off in unnecessary exercise - or not eat it in the first place.

Your body can give you a rough rule of thumb: if your hunger and weight gain/loss are in a balanced stasis - then your macro percentages and calories are in the sweet spot. For you.

MikeFlyMike

another interesting angle on the "your BMR requires X calories"...

Most people ingesting grains, sugars, low quality food in a box and other toxins, (and/or low fat), are unable to extract much nutrition from their food. While they might be eating 3000 calories a day, they can still be malnourished.

The goal is to eat enough food and make sure the body is able to process it as fuel and nutrients. I try to eat enough to satiate me and the right kind of stuff to fuel my body with both energy and nutrient.

overfences

Most people ingesting grains, sugars, low quality food in a box and other toxins, (and/or low fat), are unable to extract much nutrition from their food. While they might be eating 3000 calories a day, they can still be malnourished.

THIS is key right here. I think the main reason people are getting fatter and fatter (apart from the fact that sugar/wheat/corn ingredients have skyrocketed) is because they are craving nutrients that they are NOT getting from the SAD.

Many of the nutrients added in after they've been stripped out (like in breakfast cereal) aren't even bioavailable.

Cerebrus189

What's with all the threads today about people stuck at 1300 calories, or hell - 800 calories (!?!?) per day? That's one meal for me a lot of the time. HELL, I can make a 900 calorie salad without blinking! I know that we all have to find our own way of doing things, but I really wish I could just shake people and make them understand that Primal/Paleo is easy and healthy and you actually get to eat vast amounts of food and be happy.

My salads are typically between 800-900+ calories a day too.

I typically eat to hunger which sometimes can be around 2200 calories a day. I expend usually around 2300-2800 (BodyBugg proof) for a day depending on if I work out or not. Even with eating that much, I typically don't gain while eating Paleo. Most of those extra calories come from fats too.

I eat what I want and it works for me. I do indeed feel bad for people who feel restricted to eat less than 1200 calories, but it's because I know eating that few of calories doesn't typically give me weight loss based on my body type and lifestyle, not joyfully anyway. When I lose the most, I'm eating around 1500-1800 calories a day (to hunger) with about 70% fat. At the high end, that's a 500-calorie deficit still. At one point I was restricting calories to around 1550 every day, but it gets old having to restrict it based on calories alone. I'd rather just eat what I want to eat, and focus my protein intake on building muscle. Because I'm within my healthy goal weight window, I don't worry as much about my weight like I did when I weighed 34 lbs more. My priorities have changed at this point.

People, as I have found, must find it on their own and embrace it in their own way. You're fighting a losing battle on that point. I've been doing Paleo for about 9 months now, and I think 3 or 4 people have adopted it out of dozens that's I've talked to about it. Even so, 4 converts is a good number considering some are diabetics, or have autoimmune diseases.

sarbar71

I came over from the Eat More to Weigh Less crowd, and I'm having a really hard time with coming in so far under my allotted 1800 daily calories (that's with a 400 calorie cut - my maintenance is 2200 when I don't work out). I've had to really struggle to get over my 1460 BMR some days.....thank goodness for 200-calorie packets of almond butter! I'm actually worried that my hair is starting to fall out again, and it was just growing back in after 6 weeks of eating at maintenance.

And guess what.......after 1 week primal + 2 weeks of strict paleo I haven't really lost anything. I'm actually a half pound above the weight I maintained while eating a 2200 calorie SAD diet.

This just goes to show, that there is not ONE right way of doing things. What works for one person, will not always work for another. Some people need more calories than others to feel satisfied and be at optimum health. Others gain weight when increasing calories above a certain point. That's why I choose not to judge others for their food diaries, calorie intake, or whether they eat SAD or primal/paleo. Instead, I choose my MFP pals based upon whether they are mutually supportive, nonjudgmental, and whether we share the same long term goals - to be happier and healthier overall.