As a recovered calorie counter/fat phobic that's been eating pretty strict paleo for four months, I have given up my numbers obsession.

I no longer weigh myself, count calories or pay attention to how many grams are in what.

At 30, this is the first time I have felt "freed" from my obsession with what I weigh and eat and how "fat" I am.

I don't know how much weight I've lost since going paleo, but I know that I've dropped 3-4 inches off my hips, 2 inches off my waist (maybe more now) and had to replace my wardrobe completely.

I eat what I want when I am hungry. I'm not looking for quick results, but rather long-term health and well-being.

My recommendation? If you were obsessed with calorie counting/gram counting on a SAD (standard American diet), avoid going into macro nutrient/ratio counting on paleo. It's still a number obsession if you are prone to it.

Eating paleo has forced me to listen to my body and I had never done that before. It's been a real life-changing thing for me and I hope it can be that for you too.

I was a bit fat phobic as well when i started. Don't stress over it & don't feel that you need to jump straight in to a high fat diet.

Just slowly ramp things up (increasing fat intake), your mind will follow as you start to accept that fat (good fat) is okay.

Plus if you introduce your new diet slowly, you body (digestion) will have an easier time adjusting to new foods & the change to macronutrient percentages.

good luck

I have similar issues with eating fat. All my life it has been drilled into any thoughts on food choice that fat is E.V.I.L. and probably the worst thing you could put in your mouth. What I find to be a huge help when faced with eating the fats I know I need for health is to consciously think of what would someone such as Robb Wolf or Mark Sisson say if they were standing there... it sounds completely mental but it works! Focusing on the logic of it rather than the emotional knee-jerk puts it back into perspective, for me at least. It is as if the intelligent part of my brain is giving permission to the childhood part that has always been told "No." I came to the Paleo mindset on my own and am still going it alone in a family of four. I have found that, while they are not (yet) willing to join me, they still love me and support my choice to achieve better health :^) and when I find myself staring at a spoonful of coconut oil and battling the inner voices, they will remind me of all the nutrition reasons I should put that on my vegetables. In a weird way it works. Until the next time :^) As they say, baby steps...

hey julia! first of all, how amazingly brave of you to start paleo after the challenges you've faced! you are amazing!

the biggest challenge here i think is searching your heart out for why you are so terrified of food... is your weight something that's been an emotional battle for you? history of bullying or abuse? sometimes it helps to sort out why we are fighting so hard to protect ourselves through our food choices and why we attach so rigidly to our "eating rules."

i know it's hard, but you really can't manage your weight without dealing with your inner demons first. my suggestion is to pursue emotional healing and relief first, and then you can deal with weight and food choices. the truth is? no food is evil, we just learn how to make better choices when our heart is healed and in the right place. good luck!!!

Don't get suckered into believing that calories do not matter. They do. But you shouldn't count them, because it is impossible to accurately know how much calories were absorbed by your digestive system.

You should try to eat something that helps you eat less. Low carb paleo is an excellent method. But it may not work for you. So don't think of it as a panacea. Yes paleo is important, but it is not the only low toxin high nutrition diet and glucose is not a toxin, however much you may here of it.

First is to get healthy. Eat a low toxin high nutrition diet, which is paleo. That itself will cause you to lose weight. I actually started to lose weight when I started to eat full meals. Otherwise I was snacking too much. Starvation is opposite of health.

Once you start to feel good, then you can try to get on with reducing weight not before.

The best starting method is to eat around 80gms of carbs and 70gms of protein. Normally glucose requirement is fixed by brain and neurons, so 80gms is sufficient. Protein should be at least around 1.5gms/Kg of lean body weight, that is minus fat. Rest will be fat. Also keep carbs+protein:fat at 1:2. So if your energy requirement is 2400kcal, then 800kcal will be carbs+protein. Note fiber is counted as fat not carbs. If you don't want to go higher in carbs you can go higher in proteins, to match the limit. Ofcourse all numbers are approximate.

The 2400kcal in the example is your basal matabolic rate, which you can calculate from http://exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html.

You may think eating this much will cause you to gain weight, but believe me you will be surprised.

Once you have upped your diet to your expected BMR, then you can reduce your caloric consumption to around 500kcal not more, with one cheat day, where you eat an excess of 500kcal. The reduction should be in fat, and increase on the cheat day should be carbs.

On the other hand you can try leangains. But I would say start leangains when you have achieved basic level, ie you are eating to your BMR.

Paleo doesn't mean you can eat as much as you want,calories still matter. Just limit your greed and cut the snacks and your good to go.