First of all welcome to our group. I think the best thing to do when starting out is to buy yourself a good book on Paleo with has guidelines and lots of recipes to get you started. There is a section here with recommended reading material to help you.

You can start right away today, this minute. If you want to be successful in Paleo you must be prepared to give up wheat and minimize your sugar intake and start increasing your vegetable, fruit, meat, chicken, eggs, fish and water intake. Do that and you are half way there. Good luck and don't stress over it as it is simply a matter of getting rid of additives, preservatives and useless food out of your diet and eating healthy fresh food.

Welcome! There are a million websites, a good place to start is Mark's Daily Apple.

I've been living Paleo since July... LOTS of free books on Amazon relating to the Paleo lifestyle. I've learned so much in a short amount of time about my own body. I have finally found a lifestyle that makes me healthier and that I can live with! Wish you all the best!

ClutchBone wrote: »

Welcome, read up and get cooking, this stuff is tasty and easy if you ask me.

^this. I've been Paleo for over 2 years and while I'm at a standstill with losing weight since last Christmas (due to under-eating and loss of lbm, and just plain stubbornness..) I am in the best health of my entire life and my child has also had huge health benefits. It's an easy lifestyle to commit to for life imo. I love the food I eat, learning new skills in the kitchen, and trying new foods.

To ClutchBone: Thanks for the reply and advice. I won't give up. I will continue to eat all Paleo and hope for better results in the coming weeks.

I've been playing with Paleo for several months, and after a visit to a digestive health specialist who recommended low carb for my digestive ailments, have been better about sticking to it the past couple of weeks
Great books are "It Starts With Food," "The Primal Blueprint," and "The Paleo Solution"
Google "Paleo" and you will find all sorts of great info!
When I need to make dinner, I'll do a search for example "Quick Paleo chicken recipes" and find lots of ideas!

welcome newbies!

famuv5ive wrote: »

cindytw- thanks for responding. I am trying full on Paleo. NO pizza or pancakes. I did make my own Paleo muffins, but ate them sparingly. I am mostly eating grilled chicken, salad, and omelettes. I eat basically chicken, eggs, spinach, swiss chard, kale and mushrooms. I had a visit with my diteician yersterday (who recommended Paleo). On my scale, I gained weight, on hers I lost weight. She focused on the number on her scale, but I use my scale obviously much more often. I think she is not recommending the right foods. She suggests egg omelettes with whole eggs rather than egg whites. There are so many more calories in the whole egg. In addition, my cholesterol is 220, so I am trying to stay away from high cholesterol foods. I gave up cheese and dairy (which I love). I really don't know what to eat... :-(

Whole eggs = complete proteins, which you want. Some still advocate egg whites added to one complete egg to cut back on unnecessary fats, I do not. You really do not need to worry about Cholesterol at all if you are eating correctly, every cell in your body produces it and it is necessary for everything in your body to function. What you are saying is your Lipids (LDL's) are high but 220 is not high at all, if your LDL's are high and you are eating a bad diet without veggies they can become oxidized and then they are an issue. All the current science is behind this and it is not something to worry about although it is still believed by the general populous and the media and Big Pharma will push it to promote sales of their drugs.

I hear what you are both saying (Clutch and Akimajuktuq), but I am also afraid tha the whole egg has so many more calories that egg whites. I am really trying to stay at my 1200 a day goal, so it is very difficult to choose what to eat.

I'm with everyone else on the whole eggs. One whole egg has 70 calories. If you ate 2-3 eggs they would make very little difference in your calories but provide so much nutrition it is well worth it.

If you are just starting out, worry about the food, not the calories. A lot of people find they can eat more on paleo because their bodies are not as stressed. Track out of curiosity, not out of trying to stay below X number. Learn how good nutrition treats your body. Starting at 1200 cal is going to make you faileo.

Great food choices except the apple for breakfast. More protein for breakfast would be of benefit as well. Try not to get too tied up in the calorie counting area and focus more on becoming healthy.

Day 18 of Paleo and you do seem to be doing really well. How have you managed to quit alcohol, sugar, cheese and bread so easily? The health benefits will be amazing and I admire your determination.

Obsessing with the scale and panicking because you gained a pound after starting Paleo is not helpful. The body fluctuates every single day by as much as 5 pounds, even more. You did not lose a pound because you gave up whole eggs. Sorry you didn't. And you will find that 1200 might make you lose a bit quicker now.... because you will be losing lbm too. Yup, looks great on the scale but is a fail for your body composition, metabolism and overall health for the long term. Been there, did it. Everything you think you know about "dieting" failed before right (as in you gained the weight back)? When you come to Paleo it's time to check those myths at the door.

With 30 pounds to lose you should NOT be eating 1200 calories... or do you mean you want to lose15 pounds of fat and 15 pounds of muscle? Let me guess you have entered the goal to lose 2 pounds per week?

If you insist on starving you won't like much of the advice you get here, or at least from me. But don't worry, I'll give up and shut up soon.

There are other ways to "cut corners" or "be the healthiest you can be". Cut the sugar. Eat enough. Have a healthy, active lifestyle. Get rid of the scale. Measure your body. Listen to your body. Be committed to health (not a number on a device). Have patience.

You are all giving great advice and is sounds so do-able. And yes, I am trying for a quick fix at losing the weight....but I do want to keep it off and I do want to be healthly. I will forget about the quick fixes and really try to focus on health and hopefully this will work out. I'm trying not to give excuses, but between full time work, three kids, preparing dinner the second I get home, checking homework reading with my son and preparing night routines, once I am done with the daily schedule, it is about 8-8:30pm and from being up at 6am, I am pooped and all I want to do it sit onthe couch and unwind. The last thing on my mind is exercise. I try to get up from my desk every hour or so at work to walk a minute or two, I try to take the stairs rather than the elevator. I'll even jog in place in my house for a few minutes just to get some calories burning, but I don't have time to schedule exercise (and I will admit, a HUGE part of me doesn't want to...)

Thank you everyone, please don't stop giving advice, I am truly listening to every word. :-)

Akimajuktuq, I for one love your replies. Straight to the point and you are helping put me back on track and I am so pleased OP is listening as we can all learn a lot from you.

I was on a healthy lifestyle forum once and those beautiful people listed all the diets they had been on. It was heartbreaking as between them they had done every diet imaginable and each person put the weight straight back on and some extra as well. The basic fact is "diets don't work." The only reason I left that site, along with many others, was that it became a paid site.

Famur5ive, say nothing to your family about what you are doing but simply and quietly introduce fresh, healthy foods into their diets. Very hard to convert people who are not interested but children (and your husband) will gain so much from your style of eating without even noticing the difference. My family eat what I eat but have not given up bread. Over the years, I have had them drinking all kinds of juices and loving them and they don't even notice some of the more healthy choices that I make whilst cooking.

As I said before, you are doing really well and it will get easier but please move away from the diet mentality completely and concentrate on healthy eating.