My experience going 'paleo'

The best part of my experience was that there was no calorie counting involved, and everything was measured in your hands-- a serving of protein was the size and thickness of your palm, and fill the rest of your plate with as many veggies as you want.

As long as you're in a deficit, yes. You can eat as many veggies as you want. If you're eating veggies in such an amount that results in a surplus, you'll gain weight (just like any other foods in a surplus). The number of calories you're consuming DOES matter.

I don't believe in restricting any foods that I don't have an allergy or intolerance to. I think it's unnecessary for weight loss and extreme.

That being said, here's some groups that will have like-minded people:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-group

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

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/621-the-primal-life-tips-from-the-cave

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/438-primal-paleo-challenges

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/852-paleo


Edit: Typo. :grumble:

i'm almost positive our paleo ancestors drank alcohol. just sayin

The best part of my experience was that there was no calorie counting involved, and everything was measured in your hands-- a serving of protein was the size and thickness of your palm, and fill the rest of your plate with as many veggies as you want.

As long as you're in a deficit, yes. You can eat as many veggies as you want. If you're eating veggies in such an amount that results in a surplus, you'll gain weight (just like any other foods in a surplus). The number of calories you're consuming DOES matter.

True, but it would be a ridiculous amount of veg to eat enough for a calorie surplus, not impossible, but surely not easy to do.

Hey all,

From January 2nd to January 24th, I tried out my first "Whole30" for the paleo diet. I cut out all processed foods, grains, dairy, alcohol, beans, and added sugar.
What did I eat then? Lots and lots of lean meats and veggies, fruit, nuts, coconut products, etc. The best part of my experience was that there was no calorie counting involved, and everything was measured in your hands-- a serving of protein was the size and thickness of your palm, and fill the rest of your plate with as many veggies as you want.

It was something that, as a social eater and social person, was pretty tough to maintain. I lost 5lbs in 3 weeks, again, by eating however much I wanted as long as it followed those guidelines. I'm not suggesting this as something that's permanent, and it's definitely not for everyone, but it helped me to reshape how I thought about food (as fuel!!). My husband is also gluten intolerant, so it was a pretty easy transition for our house.

I slept better, had more energy, lifted heavier, and didn't have the afternoon slump! I've added back in a little dairy and some added sugars (and of course some days are better than others, cake is delicious after all), and feel pretty great.

I'm curious if anyone else has tried 'paleo' or Whole30? Or just likes to eat clean too? Would love to swap recipes!

This is what I have been MOST curious about. If there's no calorie counting involved, then why do MFP?

---

(p.s. My husband is doing paleo and as a result I have "recipes" i guess you could say by default. I don't have time to write anything here but you are free FR me and then to peruse my Food Diary. Mostly around my dinners you'll find paleo'd meals. However sometimes I add things to his paleo meals like today for instance I added two things to make it into a "torta" sandwich. DISCLAIMER: In my newsfeed I am quite open about my feelings on the difficulty of his transition as perceived by me who is NOT paleo-ing. I have supportive friends and one of them even happened to be a paleo person when my husband decided to start his kick. I've found it to be extremely difficult to watch him put himself thru that as well as to tolerate his moods and other changes. Also I'm trying to eat right according to MY plan and it affects me. For that reason it's all in there sometimes. So judge for yourself if it's worth risking seeing me vent at times to have access to those food ideas. :flowerforyou:)

Hey all,

From January 2nd to January 24th, I tried out my first "Whole30" for the paleo diet. I cut out all processed foods, grains, dairy, alcohol, beans, and added sugar.
What did I eat then? Lots and lots of lean meats and veggies, fruit, nuts, coconut products, etc. The best part of my experience was that there was no calorie counting involved, and everything was measured in your hands-- a serving of protein was the size and thickness of your palm, and fill the rest of your plate with as many veggies as you want.

It was something that, as a social eater and social person, was pretty tough to maintain. I lost 5lbs in 3 weeks, again, by eating however much I wanted as long as it followed those guidelines. I'm not suggesting this as something that's permanent, and it's definitely not for everyone, but it helped me to reshape how I thought about food (as fuel!!). My husband is also gluten intolerant, so it was a pretty easy transition for our house.

I slept better, had more energy, lifted heavier, and didn't have the afternoon slump! I've added back in a little dairy and some added sugars (and of course some days are better than others, cake is delicious after all), and feel pretty great.

I'm curious if anyone else has tried 'paleo' or Whole30? Or just likes to eat clean too? Would love to swap recipes!

great work. i'm glad you found what works for you!! and the fact that you are being respectful to your husbands allergy is great.

I have not tried this particular diet myself but it sounds very refreshing! I'm glad you enjoyed yourself!

i'm almost positive our paleo ancestors drank alcohol. just sayin

Fermenting fruits and grains (making beer out of it) is one of our oldest means of preserving food. Last I knew, archeologists had found beer-making stuff in the middle east 1000's of years before the Egyptians, whose commoners drank beer as the largest calorie source in their diet (built the pyramids on the stuff).

I'm doing the Whole30 right now. It's been three weeks as of today. I did it because I needed something to break my crazy addiction to candy. It sounded extreme but it was just what I needed. I was eating 500-700 cals a day in CANDY and certainly not losing weight (even though I was in a deficit - didn't make a whole lot of sense in my mind since a deficit should eventually equal weight loss but whatever).

My experience so far has been okay. The first couple weeks were difficult - cravings, lack of energy, hating everyone and wanting to kick puppies. But this week something just kinda snapped. Energy is here, finally. I feel great. I'm retaining strength in my training. And the best part - cravings are gone, I don't care about food, not even all that hungry over all. I'm not normally one to advocate any sort of deprivation regimen if it isn't needed but dang, I might stick with this or a paleo style of eating most of the time. I finally feel GOOD and I'm seeing results (clearer skin, less bloat, no indigestion, improved stamina and strength, better sleep, some fat loss, flatter tummeh, etc).

Did anyone threaten to divorce you or want you banished from their life during that time? Do they still seem to carry resentment over however they may have felt they got treated during that time? Just wondering because I felt that way and said those things while watching someone close to me through this transition period which I'm not sure he is completely through but pray to God he is. Hope you are on smooth sailing now....and stay that way. :flowerforyou:

I eat low carb paleo/primal due to allergies and PCOS/insulin resistance. I've been eating this way for around 8 months now.

I think the first thing to clear up is that there is no one way to do paleo or primal. There are countless books, all containing different variations on the theme. We are all our own N=1 experiment, so it's really a matter of finding what works best for us as individuals. Some of us eat a lot more carbs than others. Some eat a lot more fats. Some of us eat dairy, some don't. Some count calories, others don't want or need to. Some of us favour gentle exercise, and others are CrossFit maniacs. Some are eating this way to ease serious health problems, and others are quite healthy. Some are losing weight, others aren't. There's a whole spectrum of different applications of "paleo" or "primal" ways of eating....I think of this as being similar to how there are different sorts of vegetarians and vegans.

I absolutely count ALL my calories, as they do indeed matter for me. I'm still overweight. I also watch my protein intake because if left to my own devices, I don't usually make it to where I need to be. Tracking works for me. I am hormonally challenged, though certainly not anywhere near as bad as I was, so I've got a different situation than someone who is already lean and in great shape hormonally.

I'm not in favour of dietary dogma of any sort--in fact, it creeps me out to no end! Similarly, I'm not a gung-ho paleo cheerleader, nor am I one of those people who calls it my "lifestyle". I eat this way out of necessity, otherwise I find myself kind of unwell. I do feel great these days, by the way! I have been rather successful at managing my blood sugar and clearing up a whole bunch of other issues I was having, which were mostly related to my food sensitivities.

I view paleo/primal ways of eating as a framework for how I choose my food, rather than a strict set of rules I must follow. The bottom line is that I eat what I know nourishes me and makes me feel good, what I can afford, and what I want to eat. I'm the only one who can be the judge of that.

The paleo/primal boom has been good for me in that I don't have to feel like a total freak because I can't eat certain foods. There are tons of great recipes, and lots of really interesting research and discussion about the nutritional aspects involved in eating this way, so I like that about it. However, I could really do without all the "caveman" discussion and the evangelical, judgemental weirdness that is demonstrated by so many of the paleo/primal enthusiasts.

Did anyone threaten to divorce you or want you banished from their life during that time? Do they still seem to carry resentment over however they may have felt they got treated during that time? Just wondering because I felt that way and said those things while watching someone close to me through this transition period which I'm not sure he is completely through but pray to God he is. Hope you are on smooth sailing now....and stay that way. :flowerforyou:

Naw - husband is doing it with me. He had worse cravings and mood swings than me. We spent a lot of time *****ing about what we couldn't eat. He was a jerk to the kids and me sometimes but he quickly realized what he was doing and apologized and worked to change his attitude. I'm not gonna say it was a cakewalk - there were times we were both ready to say eff it and eat all the foodz. But we made it through the rough weeks and seriously feel so much better now. He's actually talking about continuing this way of eating because of how good he feels. *zomg*

I started the 4 hour body slow carb diet thing a year ago. It's paleo without fruit but adds beans for "slow" carbs. No milk. No grains. Have lost all my weight doing that. I liked it because it was simple: eat whatever a caveman had available to him in whatever quantity you want. Don't care about calories. Working out is not required (I lost 28 lbs before I did any kind of exercise whatsoever). The concept is not about caloric deficit, it's about eating what your body ate for 75,000 years. Made sense to me and the concept was simple enough to follow. I do track calories now (have been for 9 months, only 1 month with MFP) but only because I am a data freak. I do not regulate my intake based MFP calories. I do make adjustments based on micro nutrient deficits.

And cheat day is awesome. Eat whatever you want in any quantity. My first cheat day I ate a whole razzleberry pie with a pint of Graeter's vanilla ice cream. For breakfast. Another cheat day I ate only Hostess Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Cherry Pies, Sno Balls and Cinnamon Rolls (the day they announced they were shutting down). That was 5,000 calories of pure sugar. And I felt like crap all day. But I liked it. Did not want any of those things again. Cheat day should be a part of every diet. I think it is the singular aspect that has kept me on this diet for so long. Anything I crave during the week, I make a note and get it on Saturday.

I don't knock anyone's approach to losing weight. Quite the opposite. I try most of them from an experimentation and curiosity standpoint. I did ketogenic for a while. Tried intermittent fasting. Did Paleo for a couple weeks. They all seemed to work just fine but did not fit me. The only experiment that did not work was low calorie. Very low calorie. I went down to 1,400 cal / day (my BMR is 2,900 cal / day) for a couple of weeks and actually gained weight. And got a gut. I was definitely in starvation mode. That was bad.

Maybe that's the most important message: do what works for you and what you are comfortable and happy doing. And don't be afraid to experiment.

Enjoy the ride.

I'm so pleased to see so many responses, and especially all of the ones that talk about your own weight loss and nutrition journeys. I especially loved the post about us all being an N=1 for our health and wellness-- so true. I know folks who are "paleo" (or their version of whatever that means) and in phenomenal shape, and I also know strict vegans who are in phenomenal shape. It's pretty amazing what our bodies can do.

Along the alcohol vein of conversation, I'm sure that our ancestors must have dabbled in fermented fruits, but without organized agriculture (since we're thinking cave-folk), it's unlikely that it was a major factor before civilization. I LOVE a good beer though, I should have mentioned that! Haha, alcohol was one of the first things that I brought back into my diet after the Whole...23 I did. Might not be the best idea, but having a glass of wine or beer is something that makes me happy.

I'm all about the happy
I'm trying calorie counting for the first time in years, mainly because I realized I overdo it... I could see people going nuts with, well, nuts, and gaining weight on "paleo" (it's happened), but thankfully I stuck with the veg. SO SO happy to hear that others are having success with whatever type of clean eating works for them! Thanks so much for the discussion, all!

You're awesome. Everything should be all about the happy.

and girl, drink that beer and don't give it a second thought. I've been "Paleo" for about a month now, but mine still includes peanut butter because I like it. It also includes a bit of parmaggiano reggiano and kefir. It also includes sweet potatoes. Do what makes you happy and gives you the results you want - end of story.

Thanks for starting this thread and your great post!

i started an elimination diet in mid january 2013, cut out soy, sugar, eggs, corn, gluten, dairy, and peanuts. i did that for 3 weeks and liked how i felt and what i saw and was a little too comfy to add things back to see if i had food intolerances.

i did though, and found that gluten makes my WHOLE mouth itch!!!! lips, cheeks, tongue..... and sugar, it gives me a raging headache that lasts about an hour, and is always localized to one spot in my head.

so, i just kept eating the way i was. i was FINALLY losing weight, after over a year on MFP, trying every single style of diet and work out, two rounds of p90x, months of stronglifts, trying the cardio bunny route........ then jen ( the_dizzle) started talking about whole30. it sounded very similar to what i was doing, only NO rice or beans were allowed, and you're allowed eggs.

so, i tried out eggs whites, no reaction, and i decided to follow her....... it's been 68 days now. i'm down over 13+ inches and almost 17 lbs. i feel great. i like watching the scale go down, and i like not having cravings or being hungry and thinking about food all day, LOL!! i like not keeping track of calories, though on occasion i will record what i ate to check macros.

over spring break i am slowly going to switch my kids eating as well. they will be allowed more carby foods/ snacks, but i want them off the sugar/ gluten train too!!!

The best part of my experience was that there was no calorie counting involved, and everything was measured in your hands-- a serving of protein was the size and thickness of your palm, and fill the rest of your plate with as many veggies as you want.

As long as you're in a deficit, yes. You can eat as many veggies as you want. If you're eating veggies in such an amount that results in a surplus, you'll gain weight (just like any other foods in a surplus). The number of calories you're consuming DOES matter.

I don't believe in restricting any foods that I don't have an allergy or intolerance to. I think it's unnecessary for weight loss and extreme.

That being said, here's some groups that will have like-minded people:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-group

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

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/621-the-primal-life-tips-from-the-cave

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/438-primal-paleo-challenges

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/852-paleo


Edit: Typo. :grumble:

I don't mean to disagree with you but my husband who spent lots of time researching maintains that no you do not need to be worrying about calories, "deficits" and the like. This is part of my frustration/fear of it. Unclear rules and people seeming to be in direct contradiction with one another?

Can you help me understand why one paleo person would say one thing and another would say what seems to be the complete opposite?:flowerforyou:

There does seem to be an incongruity here. I tried primal for about 3 or 4 months. When you go on the Primal web forum, there are lot's of posts about people still having to count calories or they gain. This was also my experience. Meats, nuts and seeds are all calories dense as are some fruits.

In the end, I didn't find a major advantage to eating this way and found it somewhat restrictive and it didn't give me the advantage of eating without counting, as so much of what's written claims. So, I went back to IIFYM.

I'm so pleased to see so many responses, and especially all of the ones that talk about your own weight loss and nutrition journeys. I especially loved the post about us all being an N=1 for our health and wellness-- so true. I know folks who are "paleo" (or their version of whatever that means) and in phenomenal shape, and I also know strict vegans who are in phenomenal shape. It's pretty amazing what our bodies can do.

Along the alcohol vein of conversation, I'm sure that our ancestors must have dabbled in fermented fruits, but without organized agriculture (since we're thinking cave-folk), it's unlikely that it was a major factor before civilization. I LOVE a good beer though, I should have mentioned that! Haha, alcohol was one of the first things that I brought back into my diet after the Whole...23 I did. Might not be the best idea, but having a glass of wine or beer is something that makes me happy.

I'm all about the happy
I'm trying calorie counting for the first time in years, mainly because I realized I overdo it... I could see people going nuts with, well, nuts, and gaining weight on "paleo" (it's happened), but thankfully I stuck with the veg. SO SO happy to hear that others are having success with whatever type of clean eating works for them! Thanks so much for the discussion, all!

You're awesome. Everything should be all about the happy.

and girl, drink that beer and don't give it a second thought. I've been "Paleo" for about a month now, but mine still includes peanut butter because I like it. It also includes a bit of parmaggiano reggiano and kefir. It also includes sweet potatoes. Do what makes you happy and gives you the results you want - end of story.

Thanks for starting this thread and your great post!

Totally agree! (whut??lol) Find a good zone of healthy food for optimal nutrition that you can enjoy and stay with. If it feels like it's too restrictive and like a penance, you won't stay with it. Of course, this is barring any tolerance or sensitivity issues. I'm am fortunate as I don't have any.