Success stories to share?

Hi everyone! I'm looking to be inspired! Does anyone have some fun post-Paleo lifestyle success stories ? How much did you lose? How long did it take? Has it been easy to maintain? Are you still 100% Paleo at maintenance, etc, etc. My goal is to lose 65-70 pounds. It sure would be nice to do it by the end of the year, but that might be unrealistic. Thanks!

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  • Posts: 124 Member
    Times I kept to strict Paleo and fell into ketosis, I lost as much as 13 lbs in a week even when I was not obese...talk about fast! Sadly I lost most of my weight doing the vegan/vegetarian thing back in the day which was far too much sugar. Of doing just 2 weeks of Paleo, I have seen a drop in my A1C. Will kepp you posted as to what my A1C is in April after sticking to about 3 months of primal/paleo. Hope you get the 60 you want off in the healthiest way possible!
  • Posts: 51 Member
    sorry, what's A1C? :-)
  • Posts: 4 Member
    I have been eating Primal/Paleo (mostly Paleo) for about three months now. For the first two months I wasn't really exercising much (maybe once a week), and I wasn't tracking my progress at all. One month ago I brought a used treadmill and a scale. I have been running 2-3 times a week for 30 or so minutes at a time, and I play dodgeball once a week. Since I started keeping track (1 month exactly), I have lost 9 lbs (I weigh myself once a week, on Friday mornings). I'm certain that I've lost more since I started eating Paleo, but I'm just not sure how much.
    So far, the real success has been how I feel and how motivated I am to keep going. I feel really good and don't feel much of an urge to eat non-Paleo foods. I've really come to terms with the fact that this is how I should eat, and this is how I will eat going forward. I also don't feel deprived in any way, and barely feel like I'm 'working' to lose weight.
    My immediate goal is 30 lbs, but my ultimate goal is somewhere closer to yours. And now that I'm tracking myself and I see how 'easy' it is to do it, I really do feel confident that I'll get there!
  • Posts: 3,037 Member
    OP: In another post you mentioned your current macro settings. If you have substantial weight to lose you might want to reconsider your ratios (just my opinion). It's unlikely that you need 40% protein and lower carbs make everything easier. Personally, I would find 40% fat far less than I need and not satiating enough. I'm not saying that it won't work for you, but it's my opinion that fat should be a minimum of 50% and for anyone with metabolic disorders (such as obesity) even higher.

    I'm still a work in progress and I've been ketogenic Primal/Paleo for over a year and a half. I will be Paleo for the rest of my life. Never cheat with wheat. How long it takes to lose all the weight doesn't matter. I did lose the first 60 pounds rather quickly, but it's much slower now. Some of that is because I was following MFP calorie recommendations in the beginning and it had me undereating substantially; oops. I don't have any goals dictated by the calendar anymore. How I feel is all that matters. I suspect my last 13-20 pounds (I'll let my body decide where to go) will take up to 2 years to lose. It's not a race.

    My detailed success is under the pinned "Success Stories".
  • Posts: 5,600 Member
    sorry, what's A1C? :-)

    A1C (or, more accurately, hemoglobin A1C, or hbA1C) is the measure of your blood glucose levels over a period of time. Basically, how well you're able to control your blood glucose levels. I'm not totally sure how it works, but it's a single test and is supposed to be more accurate for looking at your levels overall than just the glucose numbers.
  • Posts: 93 Member
    For the first 5 months, I lost 25 pounds eating only Paleo with no calorie tracking. Then I added exercise and lost 15 more pounds over 2 months.

    A1C tests are used primarily for those who are diabetic (either Type 1 or Type 2). I'm Type 1 and switched to Paleo in order to use less insulin. After 3 months on Paleo, my A1C went from 7.5% to 6.1%. Then it went up a little to 6.8% but my most recent test was in November '13 and it dropped again to 6%. Overall, I've been on Paleo for 18 months, I use 90% less insulin, cholesterol is normal, and I've lost 40 pounds reaching my ideal weight while toning up and building muscle. My heart rate has gone from 76 too 44 thanks to routine vigorous exercise. I usually eat strict (90-95% Paleo) daily.

    Paleo works. Just need to stick with it, set goals, motivate yourself to succeed and never give up :smile: Good luck Karen.
  • Posts: 258 Member
    I went paleo in August 2009 and by January 2010 I had lost 46 pounds and more than 10 inches from my waist alone. I didn't really measure anything else so I don't know my total inches lost. I maintained my weight loss until I became pregnant with my son. After his birth I quickly lost and was only about 15 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight. Unfortunately, extended breast feeding led to some nutritional imbalances and living in Alaska lead to very low vitamin D levels. I started to gain some weight since the one two punch of my body being depleted of nutrition and low vitamin D was bad for my thyroid function. A year later, I have weaned my son and am working with a new endocrinologist to get my hormones in check. With all that, I am still less than I was before paleo and have maintained a 20 pound loss.
  • At the top of the group there is a pinned topic about success stories that you might want to check out :)
  • I started eating paleo (albeit not strict at times) and doing crossfit one year ago. I have currently lost almost 40lbs and am the size I was in grade 9 of high school. It does work if you stick with it.
  • Posts: 836 Member
    Started Crossfit feb 2013....and then started paleo in april. Was 80/20 paleo for most of 2013. I have lost about 30 lbs since Feb 2013. Paleo was big part of it. I am modifying it a bit right now and more like 60/40. I am doing Carb Cylcing right now to try to lose my last 10 lbs and really get the fat down to see the muscle I have built over the past year. HOWEVER I find myself very selective about the non-paleo things i have added in. It isnt too much. And I did just order and receive from paleo wraps (coconut) that I am excited to try tonight.

    So I am using the things I learned with strict paleo in a more modified way now. And I feel great!
  • Posts: 27 Member
    I've only been doing primal since the beginning of January, so I know it's probably premature to post a "success story". But for me, the biggest victory has been the fact that I haven't binged on sugar and carbs - I haven't even WANTED to - since I started. It was not unusual for me to eat entire boxes of spaghetti or pints of Ben & Jerry's in a sitting. Ugh. But since starting primal, I really think my increased fat intake has made all the difference in the world - I feel really satisfied after meals now, and I haven't craved sweets or soda at all. Doing primal plus logging my food with MFP has made me a lot more mindful about what I'm eating, and I love it!
  • Posts: 324 Member
    I've been Paleo/Primal for about a year and a half. I'm about 90% strict with it. Do NOT do gluten ever (I learned I was seriously intolerant to it), and have discovered that I now can't do corn either. I do have occasional dairy like milk (not often), yogurt, and cheese. Dairy doesn't bother me, so I gladly eat cheese. I will very rarely have beans or rice, and homemade barley or rye bread (my husband is a chef, and very knowledgeable as to the proper way to soak/prepare things so that they don't bother me).

    I've lost about 3/4 of my weight since eating this way. It's not hard to stick to. I know how I feel when I accidentally ingest something with gluten or processed, so I have no desire to do so. It's just become life now.

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