100% Paleo....I just cannot do it

[thopkins22]

I really think that most fat people would not BE fat if they cut out all fast foods and soft drinks.

Those things alone are the root of problems for many overweight people I know. It is unbelievable how much soft drinks some people put down in a 24 hour period."

Absolutely. I've tied my weight very directly to soda consumption...even the diet sodas don't seem to be better. But transition to water and the weight melts.

I rarely(<1 meal a month) eat fast food. I don't eat processed food(other than soda,) rather I eat whole foods, I cook most of my own meals from scratch, and so forth. I very rarely eat deserts. But when I go six months drinking only water, coffee, and tea I lose twenty pounds, when I drink soda those pounds come back in about two months without any additional exercise. I never gave up whisky, nor will I...but it's carb free so it's practically health food right?

The lesson is obvious...I just need to make it a lifestyle choice to severely limit the amount of carbonated sugar water that goes down my gullet.

[brickboy240]

I went from sugared sodas to the diet ones. I think the diet ones are worse because I swear the aspartame was making me hungry all the time.

Went to only drinking carbonated mineral water.

Yes...that move alone has helped me immensely.

I tried a can of Coke Zero a few months ago and barely finished half the can before throwing it out. I don't even crave the stuff at all anymore.

-brickboy240

[Averageman]

I've read several books on the Paleo diet. Here is what I took away from it.
I'm not going to eat like a Caveman, the idea of dropping down on all fours in a stream and having a handful of raw pollywogs, crawfish and cattail root isn't going to cut it.
BUT....!
I can take the information in the books I have read and use some logic and make smarter choices.
Eat fresh meat and seafood, if I can watch it being cut; that's good enough for me.
Eat more fresh vegetables, if I have to pick it out of the vegetable isle and take it home and cut it myself; that's good enough for me.
Have no more than a handful of fruit a day.
Drink lots and lots of water, a small amount of coffee and treat yourself to a vodka on ice a couple of times a week, again; that's good enough for me.
Don't
Eat anything with more than three ingredients on the label.
Eat legumes.
Eat or drink anything with wheat or yeast.
Eat anything with Sugar or any other sweetener on a label.

The point I am trying to get is that you can eat really well and lose a lot of weight if you do these things and exercise. Even if you begin my starting with moderate exercise.
Don't think of it as a diet, think of it as making wiser food and portion choices.
You can modify this as you go. Hit a sticking point?
Adjust to more lean choices and reduce the fat. Chicken and Fish is going to show more weight loss than steak; but you're going to need a steak now and then as a treat.
I can only tell you what has worked for me, YMMV.
You don't have to look at this thing as an overnight do or die effort. The ongoing moderate changes we make are the ones that are the easiest to keep.
Enjoy the journey don't get stuck on getting to the destination in a week or a month or even six months.

[brickboy240]

Still working on adjusting my diet.

I am eating legunes and some wheat products....just not all the time.

Black beans and peanuts have fiber and protein and do not affect my digestive tract in negative ways. Also....not eating them all the time...the other key.

I love my oatmeal in the morning. Steel cut oats with a dash of agave nectar and a handful of raisins or cranberries is just my morning routine. I don't think it will make me fat. LOL

For dairy, I have gone to almond milk on my cereal. Since I only eat cold cereal on weekends....this is not a huge dent in my diet. I still eat yogurt now and then - 1-2 servings a week tops. Again...I doubt this will make me fat and the proteins and other benefits of these products are beneficial.

Still do not miss soft drinks one bit. I know it sounds strange but once you do without them...you get where you not only do not crave them but when you try them again...I doubt you will finish a whole can. I tried a can of Coke Zero last weekend and threw it away after half. I just cannot take soft drinks anymore and I am glad.

I still probably eat way too much fruit but hey..it is naturally occurring food and whole, so I figure I could be eating much worse than fresh fruit.

By slowly adjusting my diet over time to include mostly whole foods and more natural foods...man....I can honestly say I have not had ANY digestive problems, I have much more energy and just overall feel better.

My seasonal allergies have also diminished and the strange stiffness and aches and pains in some of my joints have also gone away. I cannot remember the last time I took Advil, sinus medicine or an antacid. Weird, huh?

The feeling is hard to describe but just an overall better feeling....hey..at age 47....I'll take it! LOL

-brickboy240

[Polymerhead]

I love paleo. I don't eat anything processed, unless I'm cheating (handful of M&Ms on the side table as I type this).. I cheat a good amount though, and I couldn't care less about the dogma behind it. I eat lots of meat, unprocessed veggies, etc. I stay away from wheat & corn & dairy except that I eat a fat-free chobani every morning for breakfast. It's a lower-calorie diet and your body has to work harder to get to the calories. I take a multi vitamin. I do cardio 4x a week. I've lost 30 lbs since starting in may. It works for me and I'm completely ok with eatin this way for the rest of my life.

I absolutely feel better, less bloated, less tired & I look better too. If you don't like paleo then great. Do something else. But if you're doing nothing, eating crap & never working out, then you're a very sad person for dismissing something that works for someone else. It doesn't sound like that's the case here though.

[Ty_B]

I love paleo. I don't eat anything processed, unless I'm cheating (handful of M&Ms on the side table as I type this).. I cheat a good amount though, and I couldn't care less about the dogma behind it. I eat lots of meat, unprocessed veggies, etc. I stay away from wheat & corn & dairy except that I eat a fat-free chobani every morning for breakfast. It's a lower-calorie diet and your body has to work harder to get to the calories. I take a multi vitamin. I do cardio 4x a week. I've lost 30 lbs since starting in may. It works for me and I'm completely ok with eatin this way for the rest of my life.

I absolutely feel better, less bloated, less tired & I look better too. If you don't like paleo then great. Do something else. But if you're doing nothing, eating crap & never working out, then you're a very sad person for dismissing something that works for someone else. It doesn't sound like that's the case here though.

Yogurt and M&Ms are not in the paleo diet, therefore you are not on the paleo diet.

Good thing it's complete BS or you'd be in trouble.

You're happy with your results, and you are spitting in the face of the paleo diet, but you're doing some cardio and chasing it with highly refined and processed candy, therefore the key to physical fitness is M&Ms and cardio . . . bro. Bro-science to the rescue.

Wait till you read somewhere that full fat dairy is better for you than fat free. Happened to me a few weeks ago. Turned everything upside down.

[misanthropist]

The day they discover paleolithic man had access to whey isolate, micronized creatine monohydrate, espresso, Alberta Premium and coke zero, I'm in. Other than that most meals at my place are probably paleo-compliant anyway, not that I care. Bu I mainly live on lean meats and green vegetables as it seems to be easier to keep my body fat down that way.

Of course paleolithic man didn't have access to broccoli either, and nobody seems to mind, so maybe I'll just start saying I'm paleo-compliant as well. It would be equally true.

[BrigandTwoFour]

Another thing I have found is that it is fairly expensive. The meat and produce areas of the grocery store are the most expensive areas.

I have thought about this before. This is a pretty common reason people give up, or buy the more processed foods.

What does that say about us? There could be a solid argument made that we have all gotten too used to buying cheap "food" and have lost the context for understanding what actually goes into producing real food. My wife and I had to sit down and rethink our financial priorities a few years ago, and we agreed that eating higher quality sources of real food was important to us. A lot of our "extracurricular spending" was reduced in favor of maintaining healthy savings/investment accounts and our diets.

[black22rifle]

These links have changed my mind on paleo. I have come to the conclusion that as long as i am getting my daily protein,dietary fat(SF,MUF,fish oil), and fiber it really doesnt matter what food i eat since i do not have any food allergies and by doing this i eat those "non paleo" foods in moderation since they do not contain much of what i need for my macros anyways, but i still get to enjoy them.

OP watch this vid and read the links it may help you out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=BMOjVYgYaG8

http://www.outlawfitnesshq.com/why-g...t-bad-for-you/

www.outlawfitnesshq.com/the-paleo-diet/

[WillBrink]

I love paleo. I don't eat anything processed, unless I'm cheating (handful of M&Ms on the side table as I type this).. I cheat a good amount though, and I couldn't care less about the dogma behind it. I eat lots of meat, unprocessed veggies, etc. I stay away from wheat & corn & dairy except that I eat a fat-free chobani every morning for breakfast. It's a lower-calorie diet and your body has to work harder to get to the calories. I take a multi vitamin. I do cardio 4x a week. I've lost 30 lbs since starting in may. It works for me and I'm completely ok with eatin this way for the rest of my life.

I absolutely feel better, less bloated, less tired & I look better too. If you don't like paleo then great. Do something else. But if you're doing nothing, eating crap & never working out, then you're a very sad person for dismissing something that works for someone else. It doesn't sound like that's the case here though.

You're not eating as your paleo ancestors did and if you stood on your head and claimed it made you smarter and lose weight, I'd dismiss it. Following fad diets based on pseudo science is sad.