My experience with the paleo diet after two weeks

We started a weight loss competition at my work two weeks ago, where the final weigh-in will be held at the end of June. There are two teams of ten members each, and the team that loses the highest percentage of weight (and a separate contest of who loses most body fat percentage) wins. One of the team leaders joked that I had no reason to join, because I was skinny enough(153 pounds, 5'5, slender frame). Well, there is a thing called being skinny-fat, and my body fat percentage was 26.

I had always wanted to try the paleo diet and permanently incorporate it into my lifestyle after hearing about it so much on these forums. I cut out all sugar products (bye bye cola, double-double coffee and jujubes) and all flour/wheat products. I've spent every day learning new soup recipes (how else can you ingest a variety of vegetables on a daily basis?) and the proper way of cooking meat. No more take outs, cantine food or frozen food.

The first weekly weigh-in, the opposing team leader couldn't believe I lost a full four pounds. I lost the same absolute weight of members who weigh 250, so I was the clear winner that week percentage wise (even won a prize).

My initial goal is to reach a body fat percentage of 17. I don't want to give up the paleo thing at the end of the contest but make it part of my lifestyle permanently and become fat-adapted. These four pounds already have made a difference, because the F1 and H1 exercises are easier to execute then before.

I'll post updates in the following weeks.

You are already falling into the worst part of the Paleo diet: super low carb.

For your competition that will be helpful because you will lose lots of WATER weight, but for an athlete that is not ideal. This is a one-off message, I am not about to spend time arguing over this, but I do want you to know more about how your body actually works, and why you need carbohydrates, and how much you actually need for performance purposes. That will help you make good decisions. There are a lot of discussions here where I have gone into detail, and I simply don't have the time for that anymore. If you ask, maybe someone will help you

find those discussions.

The best part of paleo is the removal of trash foods, and the addition of lots of veggies. These are the dietary modifications that make the biggest difference, and you need to keep those as a part of your lifestyle no matter what you do. This, I totally 100% approve of.

Whatever you do, good luck and good health to you.

it's very simple. the brain/body needs glucose for energy. deprive it of glucose, and you'll soon be experiencing all kinds of problems.

You are already falling into the worst part of the Paleo diet: super low carb...

 

There are a lot of discussions here where I have gone into detail, and I simply don't have the time for that anymore. If you ask, maybe someone will help you find those discussions...

 

No worries, I'll look through this forum and refine my approach if necessary (and post about it in later updates).

gravy said:

it's very simple. the brain/body needs glucose for energy. deprive it of glucose, and you'll soon be experiencing all kinds of problems.

It really isn't that simple. The body when deprived of glucose will create it by other means and shift to ketones. In fact carbs are the only macro you can live without

Don't let this downplay the importance of carbs for performance and optimal nutrition though. Ketosis in my opinion and most others is not an optimal state for the body.

For importance it is imperative that you know what you need and get it. Josh's advice around the forum is pretty much spot on.

Success must be measured on the correct time horizon.  The entire concept of "dieting" typically leads to failure because people must change their habits over the course of years not weeks to succeed.  A very good article appeared in the NYTimes titled "A Mathematical Challenge to Obesity" reporting on Carson Chow's research, the article states:

Also, there’s a time constant that’s an important factor in weight loss. That’s because if you reduce your caloric intake, after a while, your body reaches equilibrium. It actually takes about three years for a dieter to reach their new “steady state.†Our model predicts that if you eat 100 calories fewer a day, in three years you will, on average, lose 10 pounds — if you don’t cheat.

Another finding: Huge variations in your daily food intake will not cause variations in weight, as long as your average food intake over a year is about the same. This is because a person’s body will respond slowly to the food intake.

Based on your goal of changing from 26 to a goal of 17 percent body fat two months should be your first milestone only on the path to success.  I would also check Wikipedia's article on dieting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieting to avoid the common pitfalls encountered.

Paleo diet may work for you, eat a LOT of greens.  I would be most interested to see your results at 6 month intervals over the next 3 years.  Longer term goals make sense when you consider how much longer you plan on using your body.  A person in their 30s should plan on being in robust health into their ???

It really is that simple. If someone is a strength athlete then why would s/he want to be in a state fat catabolism or protein catabolism? You even stated that your body is operating suboptimally if you are low carb; even worse if zero carb. The choice is simple. Have proper glucose intake or start having health issues.

gravy said:

It really is that simple. If someone is a strength athlete then why would s/he want to be in a state fat catabolism or protein catabolism? You even stated that your body is operating suboptimally if you are low carb; even worse if zero carb. The choice is simple. Have proper glucose intake or start having health issues.

Yes, carbs are good in correct doses is simple, but in simplifying complex systems we often create slight misunderstandings of these processes that eventually add up. The entire picture is incredibly complex; there are trillions of molecules that are constantly interacting. If possible, it is usually better to impart a complete rather than partial understanding of a subject.

It should be noted that paleolithic diets technically don't really have anything to do with low carb. The macro nutrient composition of preagricultural societies varied greatly depending on availability. The Kitavians are an example of a tribal culture that gets 70% of their calories from carbs in the the form of starchy tubers and fruit. 

Getting refined grains, sugars, vegetable oils and industrial processed food out of your diet will do wonders for your health (and your waist line), but you can still get lots of carbs at the same time.