PALEO: pros, cons and whatever else you may think?

PROS:

It can work well and quickly for weight loss
No need for the hassle of calorie counting
Can help regularise cravings
Can help with digestive discomfort

CONS:

Restrictive food choice
Lack of cake
Can be expensive
Can be hard to implement into day to day life
Did I mention lack of cake?

Does not compute.

Good lord. Another one.

You need a calorie deficit but you don't need to actually count calories on a conscious level to achieve that.

Unconscious competence as an end goal? Anyone? No?

I'm taking my ball and going home.

IMO, if you take some who has been obese for their entire life, and told them to go onto a Paleo diet, calorie counting will still be needed on average. For those that are calorie conscious from previously counting and are educated, I would think that they would have at least a decent idea how many calories they're consuming. Those that have done it for a while, probably won't need it. But saying that simply going on Paleo will eliminate any need of calorie counting as a blanket statement makes very little sense.

You learn through time and effort how much calories you're consuming within a margin. Not because you all of a sudden cut grains and diary.

No. I'm sure some obese people who have never counted calories and adopt a paleo diet (probably for the wrong reasons) would overeat, but I venture to guess that some of them would do just fine. Especially the ones who are adopting it due health issues, where weight loss becomes a bonus (or if you believe IIFYM is the ONLY way, you believe that they are healthier due their weight loss, not weight loss due to becoming healthier). It's a heck of a lot easier to go over your calories eating oreos and drinking mountain dew than it is eating meats, veggies and healthy fats.

I get what what it means to stay in your macros. What I am saying is that FOR ME, it's easier to stay there if I eat a Paleo-ish diet. And, when you are in a lower calorie area, it's easier to keep in your macro (calorie range) by cutting out the refined and highly processed stuff.

If I eat what I'd venture to guess is a reasonably normal diet of typical foods, it's harder to stay full and within macros. Again - this is my experience.

I actually did the calculator for the IIFYM website and it puts me at 1450, which is a bit higher than I aim for. Maybe on a higher calorie range it would be a little easier.

In any event, I am trying this for autoimmune stuff and not just to lose weight. I am sure I lose weight eating 1200 calories of crap.

Exactly. You can employ IIFYM in the context of any diet. You can do IIFYM while following the Mediterranean Diet. You can do IIFYM while eating paleo. You can do IIFYM while eating a raw food diet. You can do IIFYM while cutting, maintaining, or bulking.

Dr. Seuss anyone?:laugh:

Point taken but I think half the attraction of things like Paleo / Atkins / Generic Diet is the fact that they usually (although admittedly not always) allow a person to achieve a calorie deficit in a way that is easier for the individual than counting calories or weighing their food etc (although they may not be marketed that way primarily.)

Except it doesn't work. If you think MFP is bad, you should check out the various Paleo/Primal forums - they are full of people wondering why they aren't losing weight after dropping a stick of butter in their morning coffee and wolfing down a pound of "grass fed" bacon.

I lol'd, but sadly, this is true. "Natural" does not mean "eat all you want."

I don't see how anyone can overeat on a Paleo diet. Part of the reason I like it is because there is pretty much nothing that I care to overeat.

Of course, that could be part of the reason why I don't follow it 100%. Catch 22 and all that.

Part of the reason I like it is because there is pretty much nothing that I care to overeat.

That's the walking talking definition of "deprivation".

anything that labels carbs and dairy as "bad' is idiotic IMO...

Expanding on that, anything that labels dairy as bad but sweet potatoes as good is completely non-sensical.

To the OP

Do it with your crossfit box. Itll be fun doing it with everyone else and having their support. The food is delicious. There's nothing unhealthy about the paleo way of eating. it's just hard to say no to the "fun" stuff.

Any diet that has a name is silly.

So, say there is a way of eating that masses of people follow for generations. It's healthy and sustainable. Then, someone comes along and gives this way of eating a name, say for example, the Mediterranean Diet. Now this time proven healthy diet is suddenly silly? I don't see the logic there.

But there is no such thing as the "Mediterranean Diet" in real life. It only exists as a marketing concept in books and diet programs.

Hell, there are at least three distinct "Italian Diets" alone, never mind all the other ethnic groups ringing the Med.

Exactly. The "Mediterranean Diet" just doesn't exist as a natural thing anywhere. It's a fad diet.

IIFYM is not a diet. It's a general nutrient intake strategy. Just like "counting calories" is not a diet with "good" and "bad" foods. IIFYM is literally "make sure you consume nutrients in the quantities supported by science."

I recently looked at the recipes there. the next time someone mocks a cauliflower recipe....:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: