Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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Hi guys and girls,

First of all I am 100% paleo type food guy so I understand the concept of food quality etc but maybe not the best way to implement it.

I know paleo doesn't really mean low carb but if you increase your good fats and still eat high carbs (sweet potato, yams etc) then surely calories matter.

I need to lose 10kg for sport. However I am not fat at all. I under10% body fat, train double sessions 2 days on one day off, train for speed and power with no excess high intensity cardio and balance it out with moderate volume cardio at lower intensity.

What model should I stick to?

High fat (coconut nut creams and oils etc) and limit carbs?

Higher carbs from yams and sweet potatoe etc and don't add excess fat eg snacking on nuts and seeds

or what?

Please help. I just can't lose weight although body composition is fine. I find myself switching week to week between higher and lower fat

edited Apr 13 2012 at 13:05

tdgor
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asked Apr 13 2012 at 5:33

Rob
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Weight-class sports? – Satchmo Apr 13 2012 at 6:04

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Calories matter no matter what your macros. – peter Apr 13 2012 at 7:48

peter · Answer 1 · 2012-04-13 07:57:04Z UTC

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Mate, you are as thin as you are going to get. Sub 10% body fat, you don't have 10kg to lose, unless you want to lose muscle, because that's all you can really lose.

Just throwing figures out there, but, if you weigh 100kg, 10% body fat = 10kg. Your lean mass is 90k. Say you get your body fat to 7%, that means you still have to lose 7kg of lean weight. Can you really see yourself losing 7kg of muscle. I would hate to lose even 1kg of muscle.

What sport do you need to lose 10kg, if you don't mind me asking?

answered Apr 13 2012 at 7:57

peter
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I agree with Peter but just out of interest, Rob, how much do you weigh? – Warren D Apr 13 2012 at 9:03

Hi Peter, unfortunately I am a crossfitter. i know i am not going to the world games or anything but i want to perform the best I can. I am coming from a background of rugby union where I was 112kg and a winger (fast dude) I know if i lose weight I will lose muscle size and absolute strength but hopefully I can maintain or increase relative strength and perhaps even increase power. I know CrossFit has a bad name/rep in some circles but if you don't actually train crossfit and train around your skills in crossfit and just compete I think you can be quite competitive. – Rob Apr 13 2012 at 9:16

Warren I weight 97kg down from 112kg but I have not lost an kg for about a year. 10kg over 100 pull ups is 1000kg extra work – Rob Apr 13 2012 at 9:17

My calcs will be pretty close then. 6-7kg of muscle is a lot to lose. It would probably be a lot easier to just get stronger with what you have already got? – peter Apr 13 2012 at 10:39

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Does this mean that Crossfit has finally reached the tipping point? Has it become a cult? A sport in its own right? I started drinking the Kool-Aid in 2004 and didn't stop until very recently. Early on, I used Crossfit to prepare me for a dangerous job. It seems that now, Crossfit may just prepare you for Crossfit. Rob, you may have a serious case of CKS - Compulsive Kipping Syndrome. If it's important to you, go for it, but it seems a bit crazy to sacrifice hard earned, productive muscle just to have a faster "WOD" time. – Ralph Furley Apr 13 2012 at 12:31

Corbab · Answer 2 · 2012-04-13 06:38:47Z UTC

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You might want to consider some kind of carb/fat cycling; high-carb on your training days, high-fat on your recovery days. If you're under 10% body fat, you will almost surely sacrifice some muscle in the process of dropping that much weight.

Supposedly (marksdailyapple had a great article on it today) you can eat low-carb all the time (and even IF) if you develop a fat-burning metabolism, but that will negatively effect your performance in the short term.

answered Apr 13 2012 at 6:38

Corbab
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	And the long term. Mark has low carb books to sell, so of course he is going to say you eat low carb all of the time. Pretty sure he wouldn't have done anywhere near as well at his endurance sports when he was younger if he followed his current diet. – peter Apr 13 2012 at 7:55
	Thanx Corbab and Peter. I know you can perform some what well with carb restriction when your body adapts. However on high end glycolitic sports you just need carb – Rob Apr 13 2012 at 9:21

Valai · Answer 3 · 2012-04-13 13:32:01Z UTC

You might want to check out Lyle McDonald's Ultimate Diet 2.0. It looks like you're the type of person he wrote it for (already very lean, and trying to maintain strength). I've got it and he gives you enough biological underpinnings to understand why he sets up the protocol the way he does. At worst, it will at least give you some ideas on how to go forward.

He seems a little hostile toward Paleo, so I just wouldn't talk about if you ask questions on his forum. I don't see a reason why you couldn't do the protocol Paleo. You just might have to stretch the term a bit (e.g. use some dextrose to make the ~1000g carb feed easier).

Losing weight BUT NOT leaning out ie losing weight for sports

3 Answers