My Journey to the Paleo World...

I have been chunky since i was little. Never been grossly obessed but my highest weight was 260 lbs. Mind you i’m only 5’7 but i don’t look that bad… except i always have layers of fat in my belly. i love food and still do just until recently i started to changed my lifestyle and that introduced me to the world of Paleo Nutrition. I started 3 weeks ago and my weight was 237 lbs. and it drastically changed by body. been doing some research and kyle defoor made some really interesting points regarding our human body. my goal is to get to 180 lbs by the end of this year. Is that impossible? not sure… but it’s feasible… i only eat 2X day, works 10-12 hours 6day/week but i still manage to run 2.5 mile 3xwk. No more sugars and carbs but there are times i still crave those unhealthy goodies…

I just started documenting my progress started 5/9/10. 223 lbs… currently on Day 9 i’m 219.6 lbs.

the reason i started these thread for i started get side tract and loss my focus towards my goal. I will update this thread every week with a picture of my current weight. In that it will encourage me more to pursue my goals in life. NEVER BE CALLED FATSO AGAIN… EVER…

Pointers would be greatly appreciated… thanks…:smiley:

At some point you’ll need to introduce carbs. Sure, stay away from sugar and processed crap, but whole grains and complex carbs are good (and good for you).

Remember, it’s all about creating a calorie deficit.

Good for you, and stick with it. About three years ago I had blown up to 291 lbs, after being a life long college and high school athlete (I just got lazy and let myself go). I had a life changing experience and decided to do something about it. I now hover between 175 and 180 lbs and have run several marathons and various other things I never thought I would be able to do, even when I was a serious athlete.

My one word of caution, is that it is in no way good to only eat twice a day. Never miss breakfast, and five to six meals a day is the best rule to jump start your fat burning. Carbs are good, but only those derived from true whole grains or fruit. Stay away from enriched flour of any kind, hydrogonated oils and high fruictose corn syrup.

Good luck.

I made the shift to Paleo this week myself. I already lost most of my weight (went from 285-180 today) in the span of a year without going Paleo, but I wanna get to a lean 160, and I’m hoping that it can get me there.

I’ve adhered to the diet pretty well, but I kind of struggle to keep my calories low (1500 a day, but I often get to 1800-2000), especially with so much “raw” food, like fruits and nuts which instantly mean a snack in my mind. Been drinking lots of water to curb snacking. I like the appeal of the diet’s “naturalism”, it just makes you feel more caveman! If anything, I’d say it seems worth it so far just for the placebo effect. :smiley:

Always been kind of a naturalist/survivalist type, so I guess I’m already drawn to that kind of thing. I’m here with ya buddy. All you need to do is devote yourself to it, and never lose your commitment. You have a bottomless reservoir of motivation, you cannot be sapped, even if you think you’re running dry. A bad day is to be expected now and then, hell you can even recover from a bad week, but the important thing is to never, ever quit.

This might be odd to say, but anymore, I exercise on the weekends and have to “push” myself to go shoot once a month, that’s a complete 180 from where I was. In my mind, I feel I’m training harder and better if I’m running as opposed to putting rounds on target.

Good luck, and remember, we’re all with ya, keep posting the pics, it helps keep you on track.

thanks for the tip guys…:wink:

i need to update this thread…

currently i’m 219.0 on Day 15. i have been doing a lot of push ups and training. although i did not loss a whole lot of weight but i believed i gain more muscle mass. i am faster, leaner and more mobile than before. not to mention a year ago my waist line was size 42 now i can fit on 36. My wife brought the camera with her so i can’t post my actual weight from the scale. Here’s my latest picture taken last friday training wearing a 26 lbs vest and all the bells and whistles and have no problem with it for 4 hours of constant motion.:stuck_out_tongue:

you gotta love my new diet… beats the salad diet by a mile…:smiley:

If you are going to paleo grains are out no matter what people say about whole grain goodness nonesence. If you buy into paleo part of the belief is that only after man started growing and eating grains did we start with diabetes and cancers. If you have not read the book I would. Also consider the primal blueprint and look at the web sight called marks daily apple. Bottome line is its the most simple diet meat fruit veggies nuts and seeds. I said all that to say grains are bad. Good luck and it will change your life.

I started with a direction towards Paleo with absolutely no real interest in going strict Paleo. At first, it seemed a bit overwhelming dropping all grains (bread, rice, pasta, tortilla, cake, pastry), diary (cheese, yogurt), and sugar (sauces, deserts and juices).

First, I made a conscious attempt to eat less grains. Avoided ordering pasta, rice, bread, bean based meals at restaurants. Started out by eating half as much rice/pasta/bread at home if the wife prepared it, and substituted it with fresh vegetables and meat. After a few weeks, it became easier and easier to drop grain-based foods altogether from meals. I can eat entire meals without grains, dairy, sugar, etc. without feeling like I’m missing out on something.

I can’t do it for every single meal. Sometimes it’s just not practical. But, my overall diet is far more Paleo than it was when I started. If I can do Paleo for even 4 of 5 of my meals, it’s a lot better than the USDA food pyramid, tax-payer subsidized, grain-based diet I was on.

The one thing that will keep me from going strict Paleo is the no fermentation product (vinegar and alcohol) rule. I’m not a big drinker, but I gotta have my pickled vegetables and vinegar.

Lunch today… not quite Paleo, but much better than a plate of fettacini alfredo or fried rice and orange chicken.

Korean BBQ Short Ribs
On a bed of fresh spinach, bell pepper, red and white cabbage, and avocado with a chili paste, vinegar and sesame oil emulsion.

Simpler Times Pilsner - $2.99 per 6-pack at Trader Joe’s.

Strawberry Cupcake - $2 :rolleyes: from the local baker… a treat for my toddler. Thought it would look really out of place in between gun and a can of beer.

Glock 35 w/ TLR-1 - nightstand gun

Well…

Starving people don’t develop diabetes.

And cancer is a disease most commonly associated with living to old age.

Good thing Paleo man was stunted and starved, and died at 35.

I bet he didn’t even realize how fucking healthy he was before he died of malnutrition at 5’2" at age 35.

Thats because he probably got trampled to death trying to kill a bison with a spear.

120mm I don’t think what you are saying is based in fact. At least not jiving with what I have read.

I am not “paleo” but I think I understand what 120 is talking about.

As I stated in the Crossfit thread earlier. Paleo is A way to become more aware of what you eat and be able to make better choices for yourself. There are again, arguments both for and against it that are very convincing. Everyone needs to be ready to admit, as previously stated, your way is not THE way only A way.

There are some very good portions of the paleo method of thought, but occasionally some people go overboard and seem to follow the diet as a zealot as opposed to someone who is openminded to what the goal really is. Is the goal to religiously follow a set rule book and you are guarunteed dominate your sport physically? Or is it to be aware and make better decisions in order to better support your training objectives?

Rick

Bull poopy. The only part of your body that requires any form of sugar at all is your brain, and even then the equivalent of 4 teaspoons of sugar worth is more than enough to keep it running.

You do not ever at any point HAVE to reintroduce carbs you feel you function better without them. For myself, I learned that I suffer from IBS and so the choice to reintroduce certain foods was in a way already made for me.

Wow fitness and “nutrition” is almost as bad as religion and politics :smiley:
To the OP good for you I was at 240+ and now and am 175, it can be done!

No, they are not. No food is inherently “bad”, unless you are eating something that is giving off gamma radiation or something similarly absurd.

Hey 120mm, My thoughts exactly. The human body is pretty much worn out at 40. We live longer than that with better quality of life now because of technology, modern medicine etc.

But 40 is when men’s testosterone levels plummet, our eyes go bad, we get crepitus in our knees. We are more suceptible to injury and it takes longer for us to heal from them. In a primitive society with no dental care, by 40, you’ve probabaly lost some teeth already. By 40 we’ve had kids, and probabaly lived long enough to where they can (physically) take care of themselves (in a primitive society) and no lnger need us.

Sounds horrible but around 40, we’re ready to die. (Again, in a primitive society).

My 2 cents.

Gobakus, complex carbs are the fuel for our muscles. We need them. Simple scientific fact. Without proper levels of complex carbs, over time, our body begins to feed off itself by breaking down lean muscle mass to use as fuel. Can someone dispute that? Just asking.

I don’t think paleo is the do all end all by any means, but I think it’s a great guide to help us avoid heavily processed foods. A lot of health problems and cancers we have today can be linked to all the processed foods we eat and diabetes is a result of consuming too many simple carbs. We need carbs for fuell and energy but the carbs humans consumed 5000, or even 100 years ago were much different than what many people consume today.

A sugar is a sugar is a sugar. ALL carbohydrates must be broken down into the same basic components simple components(fructose, glucose, sucrose, galactose) in order to be utilized as energy.

There is one and only one part of your body that must run on sugar based energy, and that is your brain, and the amount you need can actually be gleaned through gluconeogensis because it is such a small amount(though i wouldn’t recomend it because a single serving of any carb would be more than sufficient).

Every other tissue in your body can be run off of fat based energies. Your body needs protein to repair and maintain protein based structures(hair, skin, muscles, bone, etc.), your body needs fat to repair and maintain fat based structures(the cell wall of pretty much every cell in your body), maintain hormone production, and for energy. Your body does NOT need carbohydrate matter to repair or maintain any tissue in the body, and does not NEED(which is not to say it can’t utilize) carbohydrates for energy production/usage.

What I’ve basically found thru my food quest is that any diet that has a word other than “balanced” in front is a fad, and prob just someone trying to sell you a program,book etc. Eating a balanced diet with the RIGHT kind of protiens,carbs,fats and sugars is what will do you well.

Crazy shit like eating like a caveman or taking all meats or animal products out of your diet is putting other personal issues above a good diet, and short changing yourself in the end.

I MUST MAKE THIS

Not trying to pile on but I have also read that cholestoral may become an issue with the Paleo diet, especially if high cholestoral runs in your family.

Glad it’s working for you OP and others that are doing it, just be careful.