Paleo old hats... do you count calories to shed fat?
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Bernadette_
Posts: 7
Inaugural post, yay!
For those of you who have been following a Paleo/primal lifestyle for awhile (maybe 4-6 months as a guideline), do you find that you still need to count calories to drop fat?
Some background: I've been eating paleo for over a year now, I CrossFit 4-5 times a week, and even though my food quality is good I think the problem is that I just eat too much. I tracked calories for maybe 6 months out of the last year, and here I am again, back to the same thing. I kind of despise calorie counting and weighing/measuring, but it looks like that's what I need to do to make progress.
I'm not necessarily looking for advice, more for people to commisserate with. Anyone else in the same boat... Good food quality but still not seeing progress?
Here's to a New Year, in which we will reach our fitness and body comp goals
For those of you who have been following a Paleo/primal lifestyle for awhile (maybe 4-6 months as a guideline), do you find that you still need to count calories to drop fat?
Some background: I've been eating paleo for over a year now, I CrossFit 4-5 times a week, and even though my food quality is good I think the problem is that I just eat too much. I tracked calories for maybe 6 months out of the last year, and here I am again, back to the same thing. I kind of despise calorie counting and weighing/measuring, but it looks like that's what I need to do to make progress.
I'm not necessarily looking for advice, more for people to commisserate with. Anyone else in the same boat... Good food quality but still not seeing progress?
Here's to a New Year, in which we will reach our fitness and body comp goals
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Replies
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Rather than count calories, review your proportions. You may be eating too much calorie-dense foods like meat, and not enough calorie-sparse veggies. That happens to me a lot - I drift. We can eat the right foods, but if we are pounding down too much steak, coconut oil and items of that ilk, rather than eating a lot of plants with smaller portions of protein - we'll still have weight problems.0
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I have the same problem. If given free reign, I'd eat way too many paleo "snacks" the majority of the time, and too many starchy veg and fruits (mmmm sweet potatoes). I still calorie count, but if I limit myself to one starchy veg and 1-2 fruits a day my calories stay pretty low without a lot of effort.0
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In the book Primal Blueprint, for those who wanted to lose weight there was a suggestion for macro nutrients based on calories.
Firstly work out daily calorie need...BMR plus activity (then minus 500 or 1000 calories). Work out protein need based on lean body weight (sorry can't remember the factor). Decide on carb intake between 50gms to 100gms and the remainder of calories should then come from fat.
protein calories + carb calories + fat calories = daily calorie needs (minus 500 or 1000cals for weight loss).
Carbs and proteins = 4 cals per gram. while fat = 9 cals per gram.
So say I needed 1200cals per day to lose weight then based on my lean body weight I determined 90grams protein, 50grams carbs and the rest was fat..
360 + 200 + 640cals of fat (= 71gms fat) = 1200cals.
=
This is how I first worked it how so as to ensure I wasn't over eating.
I no longer need to do it, I have a fair idea of portion sizes for the proteins I eat, know what my fat intake is and how I get my fats, and carbs are usually 1 serve of fruit a day plus lots and lots of veges. I also now let hunger and satisfaction levels be my guide. Some days I may eat a more or less but the other days I catch up.0 -
I do Primal Blueprint with the added discipline of the information in the book called "S.P.E.E.D.: Evidence Based Weight Loss" works well for me.0
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Thanks everyone
monkeydharma - I'm definitely dealing with the 'drift' issue!
demuralist - I'll look into the SPEED thing, it looks interesting, and I love nutrition geek stuff0 -
I count calories, yes, but I'm more concerned with keeping my macros in line (15% carbs/30% protein/55% fat) and in eating clean, unprocessed, and (whenever possible) grass-fed, cage-free, wild and organic.0
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Rather than count calories, review your proportions. You may be eating too much calorie-dense foods like meat, and not enough calorie-sparse veggies. That happens to me a lot - I drift. We can eat the right foods, but if we are pounding down too much steak, coconut oil and items of that ilk, rather than eating a lot of plants with smaller portions of protein - we'll still have weight problems.
We are all different. For me, eating lots of fat, lower protein and carbs is how I shed fat. My body is very sensitive and too much protein or carbs (yes even vegetables) makes me stall and maintain due to too much insulin.
I don't count calories, I keep my macros in certain percentage goals.0
