The paleo diet and calorie counting

The short answer: it depends. *laugh*

You can eat badly the "paleo way" just as quickly as you can on conventional/ Standard American Diet. Nuts are high fat and high calorie, so they can add up quickly, as an example.

I find that if I actually buy grass-fed and finished beef, pastured/ wild pork, chicken that foraged for its feed, and so on, it's expensive enough that I eat less of that and really increased my veggie intake - a plate that's 80% veggies and 20% meats is generally going to be lower in calories, by default. But the source of the meat becomes a LOT more important, and seasonal eating is pretty key.

So, it CAN be really healthy, but it's less healthy if it's used as an excuse to up meat intakes but the meat is conventionally raised - cows that feed on grain pass that on to you, after all (My boyfriend struggles with this part, which is why I mention it.)

I love my oats - I like to make a batch of steel-cut once a week and eat on them the rest of the week - I just make sure that the rest of the grains are out of my life, and ditched the beans. I just try to think "Ok, if I were a caveman, what would I have access to? What would get me filled and be easiest to get to most regularly?" Once I start thinking about it in those terms, it becomes a lot easier to figure out what and how much to eat

Like I said: not everyone does, since it's been in the news a lot lately, and not everyone does their full research. It really depends.

If you are going to eat oatmeal, it's really not the paleo diet, so don't call it that. I believe if you are going to follow something, follow it, don't make up your own rules. If you are going to make up your own rules, eat what makes sense (high protein, lower carb, whole foods, etc). And yes, to lose weight you have to be at a calorie deficient. Just like on Atkins you can eat a pound of bacon and 4 12oz steaks a day (which by the way, so not healthy) and not lose weight because you ate too many calories.

My suggestion is to not follow a particular plan. You don't need to. Eat your fruits and veggies, lean proteins, limit unhealthy fats, limit white carbs and eat at a calorie deficient. I say this because as soon as you "get off" the paleo diet (even if it does work for you) you'll slowly put the weight back on. If you eat healthy and "bad" things in moderation you can keep the weight off forever. Which to me sounds like a much better plan...

I'll need to look into this paleo diet and see what it's all about.

Been Paleo for almost a year now. When I started off I was calorie counting just because the diet was so different from my previous eating habits. I didn't want to eat too much, but I also wanted to make sure that I was eating enough! I don’t hardly ever log any more, mainly because I have gotten it all down that I know what I can/need to eat and I am pretty comfortable with it. I would say to just do what you are comfortable with, but if you are doing it right, you don’t really have anything to worry about either way...

:drinker: Best of luck to you!

(and careful posting about Paleo on the main forum... you are inviting the swarm of vegans to come start protesting... :laugh:)

I don't have to count calories eating a LCHF wholefoods diet -- not because the calories in the food I'm eating don't matter -- but because my diet is just naturally satiating. But I counted my calories for months and months just because I was afraid I'd backslide and even now I've started logging my calories again for the holidays just as a reminder to keep things in check.

It's hard getting used to eating until I'm full to be honest because in the past if I was full and satiated it meant I ate a massive amount of calories to get there so I like to log every now and then to be sure my calories aren't out of control.

A similar question came up recently in the low carb forum and this was my response to that thread:

"It's been a couple of months since I've counted carbs or calories and I'm still losing weight. It's not that calories don't matter it's that for a lot of people eating a low carb diet is just a naturally satisfying way to eat.

My calories are anywhere between 1,000 - 2,000 a day and my carbs are usually well under 50g although the days I indulge in more fruit than my usual berries they're much higher. I think it's working for me still because I don't eat the low carb diet products (Joseph's bread, Dreamfields pasta etc.) or make all of the low carb recipes for breads, pancakes and that sort of thing.

Meat with the fat and skin on, all the non-starchy vegetables I want, a bowl of berries almost every day and as much fat as I can possibly add to each of my meals. I cook in lard, butter and olive oil and often add more than I really need like why fry my eggs in 1 tablespoon of butter when I can use 2 -- that sort of thing. I use cheese, sour cream and heavy cream a lot too. I eat until I'm absolutely full (sometimes stuffed just because it tastes so good) and then I don't eat again until I'm hungry. So I usually eat 2 high calorie meals a day (500 - 800 calories) and maybe a 300ish calorie snack just because I like to eat at night.

It feels like I eat an absolute ton of food and none of it's deliberately low calorie which is why I think they say that calories don't matter. Eat bacon, eggs and cabbage with a bowl of berries for breakfast and then follow that up with a big steak w/ butter and a nice salad with as much full fat dressing as you like and then maybe a big serving of sour cream and onion dip with veggies for a snack later and it really does seem like calories don't matter. No disgusting 0 calorie frankenfoods, dipping your fork into salad dressing on the side, or putting your fork down between each bite, drinking a glass of water before you eat, going to the gym so you can "afford" to eat more or any of the other weird little tricks people come up with -- just a whole lot of delicious food -- that's probably only about 1,600 calories total for the day even though none of it is diet food and all of it seems pretty indulgent.

Calories do matter but if you eat the right foods you don't even need to think about it, the same with carbs."

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/37-primal-paleo-support-group

Check out the group's forum for more info and answers!

Thanks everybody for the replies I'm gonna calorie count at least to start with - until I get the hang of the portions and all that.

My bad Kristen, I was actually gonna word it differently but I forgot.

Becka, I never said I'm not doing this as a weight loss diet, like I said in my OP my stomach doesn't handle grain products nor dairy products all that well. So I'm doing it for my health.

Thanks for the warning Phily, I'll be careful next time hehe

Kristen re-read what I wrote. I never said that you said you were doing this for weight loss. What I said was that Paleo is not intended as a weight loss diet. As such, if you are looking to lose weight, you need to continue to count your calories if you are looking to lose weight. If you are not, then no need to calorie count.

I know this is going to difficult for everyone to hear but one of the points of paleo is to NOT calorie count. It's not about how many calories you eat, It's all about the TYPE of calories you eat.

Carbs (specifically simple carbs which make up the majority of the average American diet) release into the bloodstream and raise your insulin levels. When your insulin levels are raised your body stores fat. By cutting out all processed carbs out of your diet you are causing your insulin levels to stabalize and your body starts using fat stores instead of those carbs for energy. So while eating tons of fat might be unhealthy for your heart, eating nothing but meat, fruits and veggies, seeds and nuts, will cause your body to use fat for energy instead of carbs. FAT doesnt make you fat, SUGAR makes you fat. I never count my calories and eat paleo whenever I'm hungry and I've been losing bodyfat for the last few months. I definitely excersize and lift weights, but I never count my calories.

I understand that a lot of people think it's "calories in, calories out" but that doesn't change the fact that 1000 calories of carbs is far worse than 3000 calories of protein. Just continuing to say it doesn't make it true. Your body does not do the same thing with protein and fat that it does with carbs. Replacing simple carbs with protein and fat will cause your body to stop storing fat and start using fat as energy. Yes, you can lose weight by working with a calorie deficit, but a lot of the time your body is using whatever calories are available as energy and that includes muscle. So what would people rather do, just lose weight or lose fat? Because if you want to lose fat than your weight shouldnt matter.

The video is pretty long but I find it really interesting. It explains the general idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDneyrETR2o