Not losing weight on Paleo diet

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cass_goh
cass_goh Posts: 2
in Food and Nutrition
Hello everyone. This is my first time posting.

I’ve been on Paleo for a month and I have not lost any weight at all. I cheat on the weekends, cut down on fruits, exercise at least three times a week but still no weight loss.

My typical meal in a day is
Breakfast: 2 Hard Boiled Eggs
Lunch: 2 vegs and 1 meat (usually chicken or fish) / fried fish soup (without noodles)
Dinner: A serving of meat (chicken/pork) and vegetables.

Could I be doing something wrong?

Any advise?
«1

Replies

  • bigbootycutey
    bigbootycutey Posts: 20 Member
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    track your calories
  • GillianMcK
    GillianMcK Posts: 401 Member
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    How many calories a day are you having, is it possible you're not getting enough to kick your metabolism into burning calories??
    Can't see your diary but don't think I would be eating enough based on your post.
  • dunnodunno
    dunnodunno Posts: 2,290 Member
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    Do you measure your foods on a digital scale? If you cheat on the weekends & don't measure your foods or track calories then you could be throwing your progress through the week out the window.
  • Greytfish
    Greytfish Posts: 810
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    It's probably not what you're eating, but with what and how much? And "cheating" two full days a week may be less than 20% of your time, but if you're eating very little M-F and eating a large volume of calories on the weekend it can be 50-70% of your weekly calories - that's not cheating, that's just overeating.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    and here we go- what you eat is less important in weight lose than how much you eat.

    paleo is good and all- but you still have to eat at a calorie deficit.
  • twixlepennie
    twixlepennie Posts: 1,074 Member
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    How many calories are you eating? Are you staying within your allotted calorie amount? Are you measuring out portion sizes? 'Paleo' in itself is not a weight loss plan. In order to lose weight, regardless of what you eat, you need to be eating at a calorie deficit.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    You're eating too many calories. Doesn't matter what kind of food you're eating if you're consuming too many calories.
  • LishieFruit89
    LishieFruit89 Posts: 1,956 Member
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    Fruits are yummy and where is the fat in your diet??
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
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    Hello everyone. This is my first time posting.

    I’ve been on Paleo for a month and I have not lost any weight at all. I cheat on the weekends, cut down on fruits, exercise at least three times a week but still no weight loss.

    My typical meal in a day is
    Breakfast: 2 Hard Boiled Eggs
    Lunch: 2 vegs and 1 meat (usually chicken or fish) / fried fish soup (without noodles)
    Dinner: A serving of meat (chicken/pork) and vegetables.

    Could I be doing something wrong?

    Any advise?

    Totally agree with the calorie deficit rule. In order to lose weight you need to be eating less calories than your burning (but not too many less) 300 calories less than you burn is healthy. Much more and you will lose weight but not necessarily in a healthy way.

    Calorie deficits don't discriminate between body fat and lean mass. If your not getting enough fat and protein and too much carbs you will probably start to loss the weight from your lean mass (muscle/bone/tendons/organs).

    If your eating paleo are you also exercising? remember the great thing about any low carb high fat/protein diet is to will be helping your body build lean muscle. after only a month don't get too hung up on the scales.

    The main things to look at are 1) how do you feel (do you have any more - or less energy) 2) has or is your body composition changing.

    Keep with it (keep a check on what your eating) and do some decent exercise (resistance training, HIIT and sprints) you can also do cardio but I wouldn't spend too much time on it what you get back from cardio is little compared to what you get back from the one's I've mention.

    Good luck.
  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
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    My servings used to be really large. One serving of meat could be a 16 ounce steak, an 8 ounce breast or a 3 ounce wing. Who knows?
    Invest in a food scale and start weighing things. You might be surprised at how much you're really eating. No worries about what you eat - just stay in a deficit and work to meet your macros.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    Hello everyone. This is my first time posting.

    I’ve been on Paleo for a month and I have not lost any weight at all. I cheat on the weekends, cut down on fruits, exercise at least three times a week but still no weight loss.

    My typical meal in a day is
    Breakfast: 2 Hard Boiled Eggs
    Lunch: 2 vegs and 1 meat (usually chicken or fish) / fried fish soup (without noodles)
    Dinner: A serving of meat (chicken/pork) and vegetables.

    Could I be doing something wrong?

    Any advise?

    Totally agree with the calorie deficit rule. In order to lose weight you need to be eating less calories than your burning (but not too many less) 300 calories less than you burn is healthy. Much more and you will lose weight but not necessarily in a healthy way.

    Calorie deficits don't discriminate between body fat and lean mass. If your not getting enough fat and protein and too much carbs you will probably start to loss the weight from your lean mass (muscle/bone/tendons/organs).

    If your eating paleo are you also exercising? remember the great thing about any low carb high fat/protein diet is to will be helping your body build lean muscle. after only a month don't get too hung up on the scales.

    The main things to look at are 1) how do you feel (do you have any more - or less energy) 2) has or is your body composition changing.

    Keep with it (keep a check on what your eating) and do some decent exercise (resistance training, HIIT and sprints) you can also do cardio but I wouldn't spend too much time on it what you get back from cardio is little compared to what you get back from the one's I've mention.

    Good luck.

    This post contains a lot of misleading or incorrect information.

    A blanket "300 calorie deficit is healthy; more is not" is ludicrous. There's a difference between the maximum calorie deficit a 5' 130 lb woman can run vs what a 6'2 375 lb man can run.

    Fat intake is not muscle-sparing. Protein is. If you're getting sufficient protein, there will be no significant difference in lean mass loss whether you're eating relatively high carb or low carb assuming an isocaloric diet.

    Detecting any actual change in body composition within a month, especially where weight has not changed, is virtually impossible to do. All of the common methods of body fat estimation are very low precision. They are helpful to show trends over extended periods of time, particularly when weight changes significantly. With zero weight change any body comp changes will be far smaller than the error of the measurement process.
  • StaceyJ2008
    StaceyJ2008 Posts: 411 Member
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    First of all, The Paleo Diet is more of a lifestyle change and should be looked at it as such. Do not look at it as a diet. The cheating, well, if you are cheating on the weekends and not simply just having a cheat meal, that could be the issue. Also, exercising is important.

    From what you described in your post, it didn't look like to me you were eating enough. You need lean proteins, high but good fat filled oils like olive oil, and vegetables. Fat doesn't make you fat.

    I suggest you digging deeper into researching the Paleo plan. Invest in a Paleo cook book and develop your meals that way.
  • parkscs
    parkscs Posts: 1,639 Member
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    I agree with what Jonnythan said regarding caloric deficits, protein being LBM-sparing, etc.

    There's really nothing wrong with doing a paleo diet but you should consider logging your food daily (using a food scale for accuracy) and watching your caloric intake. There's nothing that says you can't eat paleo foods and still watch your caloric intake. For that matter, who says you can't eat paleo foods and still aim to hit certain macros each day?

    For some people, keeping carbs low while eating foods that are rich in protein and fats is sufficient to allow them to lose weight, because they will naturally create a caloric deficit due to the satiety of the foods they're eating. But that's not for everyone and oftentimes it only works for a window of time. If you want to do paleo, you're better off keeping a food log and watching your caloric intake/macros while still eating paleo-friendly foods.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
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    First of all, The Paleo Diet is more of a lifestyle change and should be looked at it as such. Do not look at it as a diet. The cheating, well, if you are cheating on the weekends and not simply just having a cheat meal, that could be the issue. Also, exercising is important.

    From what you described in your post, it didn't look like to me you were eating enough. You need lean proteins, high but good fat filled oils like olive oil, and vegetables. Fat doesn't make you fat.

    I suggest you digging deeper into researching the Paleo plan. Invest in a Paleo cook book and develop your meals that way.

    Agreed. A good eating style to look at is primal blue print.

    You may need to try a few different ones and find what works best for you. The main thing is to stay healthy.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    Options
    Hello everyone. This is my first time posting.

    I’ve been on Paleo for a month and I have not lost any weight at all. I cheat on the weekends, cut down on fruits, exercise at least three times a week but still no weight loss.

    My typical meal in a day is
    Breakfast: 2 Hard Boiled Eggs
    Lunch: 2 vegs and 1 meat (usually chicken or fish) / fried fish soup (without noodles)
    Dinner: A serving of meat (chicken/pork) and vegetables.

    Could I be doing something wrong?

    Any advise?

    Totally agree with the calorie deficit rule. In order to lose weight you need to be eating less calories than your burning (but not too many less) 300 calories less than you burn is healthy. Much more and you will lose weight but not necessarily in a healthy way.

    Calorie deficits don't discriminate between body fat and lean mass. If your not getting enough fat and protein and too much carbs you will probably start to loss the weight from your lean mass (muscle/bone/tendons/organs).

    If your eating paleo are you also exercising? remember the great thing about any low carb high fat/protein diet is to will be helping your body build lean muscle. after only a month don't get too hung up on the scales.

    The main things to look at are 1) how do you feel (do you have any more - or less energy) 2) has or is your body composition changing.

    Keep with it (keep a check on what your eating) and do some decent exercise (resistance training, HIIT and sprints) you can also do cardio but I wouldn't spend too much time on it what you get back from cardio is little compared to what you get back from the one's I've mention.

    Good luck.

    This post contains a lot of misleading or incorrect information.

    A blanket "300 calorie deficit is healthy; more is not" is ludicrous. There's a difference between the maximum calorie deficit a 5' 130 lb woman can run vs what a 6'2 375 lb man can run.

    Fat intake is not muscle-sparing. Protein is. If you're getting sufficient protein, there will be no significant difference in lean mass loss whether you're eating relatively high carb or low carb assuming an isocaloric diet.

    Detecting any actual change in body composition within a month, especially where weight has not changed, is virtually impossible to do. All of the common methods of body fat estimation are very low precision. They are helpful to show trends over extended periods of time, particularly when weight changes significantly. With zero weight change any body comp changes will be far smaller than the error of the measurement process.

    After a month you can notice body composition changes. I remember after the first month I started eating low carb / high protein fat.

    Guess how I noticed - my belt got looser and my shirt didn't huge my belly as much.

    If it's your body, you're with it every day I think after a month you notice!!!!
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
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    Also you're right it is protein which will spar muscle, but in the 3 main macronutrients the list should be protein, fat and then carbs.
  • cass_goh
    cass_goh Posts: 2
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    Hi all,

    Firstly, thanks for all the advice shared.

    Well, my BMR is about 1,380 according to Harris Benedict formula and my Active Metabolic Rate is about 2,141. Subtracting 500 calories for weight loss, I believe my calories intake a day should be about 1,640.

    My current daily calorie intake averages about 1,500 a day. Should I increase my calories intake slightly as I am afraid that my body is going into starvation mode and decreasing my metabolism rate or should I go for a calories deficit as advised by many?

    I am trying to incorporate more fats into my diet and limit my cheat day to once a week or maybe as suggested, to have cheat meals instead of cheat days so that my efforts don't go down the drain. I don't consume fruits anymore.

    I exercise at least 3 times a week with Beachbody Insanity as my base workout. I am wondering if I should change my exercise regime as well.

    Thanks all!
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    Per your numbers above, those generally should put you in a caloric deficit. Do receive further help you may need to answer the following questions:

    What do you weigh?
    Do you exercise, what kinds?
    Do you have a food scale? ($10-$20 in Walmart or Amazon.com)
    Do you measure and log your food accurately?

    If you are logging , can you set your diary to public so people can get some idea what you are eating?

    From what you stated about cheat weekends, and if you possibly are not logging your food due to being on paleo, you could be eating higher than maintenance and therefore not losing weight.

    Finally how long have you been weighing? Same time of the day everytime? Due to water accumulation , etc you may need to observe your own body's trends over time to realize when your weight is decreasing
  • Norefjell
    Norefjell Posts: 1
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    How much water are you drinking?
    Are you tracking food down to ounces or grams for your cheat days/meals?

    Starvation mode is more myth than reality for dieting and does not really apply unless a person is fasting beyond three consecutive days. I have been doing Keto since Thanksgiving of 2013 and aim for 3 liters plus of water a day. Water intake can make the difference. Measure, weigh and log everything you consume, then make adjustments accordingly. It's the best way to dial-in the issues holding you back.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,020 Member
    Options
    Hello everyone. This is my first time posting.

    I’ve been on Paleo for a month and I have not lost any weight at all. I cheat on the weekends, cut down on fruits, exercise at least three times a week but still no weight loss.

    My typical meal in a day is
    Breakfast: 2 Hard Boiled Eggs
    Lunch: 2 vegs and 1 meat (usually chicken or fish) / fried fish soup (without noodles)
    Dinner: A serving of meat (chicken/pork) and vegetables.

    Could I be doing something wrong?

    Any advise?

    Totally agree with the calorie deficit rule. In order to lose weight you need to be eating less calories than your burning (but not too many less) 300 calories less than you burn is healthy. Much more and you will lose weight but not necessarily in a healthy way.

    Calorie deficits don't discriminate between body fat and lean mass. If your not getting enough fat and protein and too much carbs you will probably start to loss the weight from your lean mass (muscle/bone/tendons/organs).

    If your eating paleo are you also exercising? remember the great thing about any low carb high fat/protein diet is to will be helping your body build lean muscle. after only a month don't get too hung up on the scales.

    The main things to look at are 1) how do you feel (do you have any more - or less energy) 2) has or is your body composition changing.

    Keep with it (keep a check on what your eating) and do some decent exercise (resistance training, HIIT and sprints) you can also do cardio but I wouldn't spend too much time on it what you get back from cardio is little compared to what you get back from the one's I've mention.

    Good luck.

    This post contains a lot of misleading or incorrect information.

    A blanket "300 calorie deficit is healthy; more is not" is ludicrous. There's a difference between the maximum calorie deficit a 5' 130 lb woman can run vs what a 6'2 375 lb man can run.

    Fat intake is not muscle-sparing. Protein is. If you're getting sufficient protein, there will be no significant difference in lean mass loss whether you're eating relatively high carb or low carb assuming an isocaloric diet.

    Detecting any actual change in body composition within a month, especially where weight has not changed, is virtually impossible to do. All of the common methods of body fat estimation are very low precision. They are helpful to show trends over extended periods of time, particularly when weight changes significantly. With zero weight change any body comp changes will be far smaller than the error of the measurement process.
    Just too add, carbs are also protein sparing especially in a deficit.

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