Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

2

Been following paleo for around 6 weeks now...first three weeks were amazing looked a lot more lean felt fantastic and had insane energy levels. Started feeling tired last week and now i feel like crap and look fat again! Anyone any ideas?

Typical day of diet: 4 eggs 2bacon . aberdeen angus burger with veg. and avacado . chicken breast with veg. . steak with veg and sweet potatoe . cottage cheese and avacado . May snack on nuts and fruits also supplement omega 3

also weight train 3 days a week and cardio on off days with day off on sundays!

edited May 15 2012 at 20:33

April S.♦
11.9k●1●13●49

asked May 15 2012 at 19:30

joe
21●1

4

Overtraining probably, halve your exercise and see how you feel. – Bread-Eating Beelzebub May 15 2012 at 19:31

1

How much cardio are you doing? "Cardio" can be running 5 miles or walking briskly for 20. It makes a difference! When I started doing HIIT and weights, I had to pretty much stop running/cardio bunnying. It was just too much for my body and I did a faceplant. – NewEra May 15 2012 at 21:22

1

I disagree. 3 days a week of lifting and 3 of cardio is no way overtraining- it's underrating carbs and/or protein. – foreveryoung May 15 2012 at 23:26

It very well could be overtraining, like Melissa said. Every body is different, and although she gave the days... she never said how much she does, or how long in the day she trains. So who knows? – Esther May 16 2012 at 4:53

Yep. Cardio and VLC or LC is murder. – NewEra May 16 2012 at 14:19

D.K. · Answer 1 · 2012-05-15 20:21:30Z UTC

I) Get your complete thyroid panel done. Sometimes low carb diets can slow your thyroid down.

II) If you insist on going to the gym so often, do more intense exercise in half the time. Cut out the cardio completely and stick to weight training since you're not eating enough carbs to replenish your glycogen reserves. 3-4 times a week @ 30-40 minutes is more than enough for weight training. By doing cardio on top of weight training on top of low carbs, you'll never build up muscle mass. Your body will fight you to stay fat in order to survive the physical punishment.

Harlow · Answer 2 · 2012-05-15 21:20:15Z UTC

2

My guess, from the limited info here is that you are over-training. But we need more info if you want better answers.

How is your sleep? What exactly are you doing for cardio? Why are you training so heavily, weightloss, competition, trying to look better naked (what I am getting at here is what are your goals?)

answered May 15 2012 at 21:20

Harlow
341●1●2

	My apologies! Current goal is fat loss to reveal abs. Cardio is 5mile run in the am on off days. Weight training is focussed around compound lifts....similar to 5x5 i guess. Sleep was excellent...however seems to have declined in the last week, waking several times extremely hot and agitated. If it is overtraining what would be the solution? How long to take off from training and diet for recovery etc. thanks for the reply :) – joe May 15 2012 at 22:11
	That helps. I would do the following (Please look at my assumptions) 1) I would keep the weight training as-is Assumptions: Your sessions consist of 7-12 min warm-up (maybe jumping some rope, or quick body weight circuits or drilling with the bar) and 30-45 min of lifting with resting in between and loading unloading plates, something to that effect. 2) Cut back on the cardio. If you are working on complex heavy lifts and are only taking one day a week to rest/recover your are really taxing yourself. Take more than one an actual rest day. ... – Harlow May 16 2012 at 22:57
	2) continued...I have coached a number of people who seem to plow through the first 3-4 weeks and then plateau out. Usually they are over training. Most People think that if a little bit of something is good for you then a lot of that same thing must be GREAT! Not the case. 3) If you are keeping a log of your food intake go back and see if you have subconciously chnaged anything since your first 3 weeks (calories, time of meals, more carbs pre-workout instead of post, etc...) From time to time I do this and it helps me level set once in a while. – Harlow May 16 2012 at 22:58
	4) Make a concious effort to get your sleep back on track. This is where your social life may take a hit. When you get good sleep Sun-Thurs then stay out until 2AM fri-sat you are really undoing alot of the hard work you've been doing all week. (I know I am guilty of this from time to time). Are you taking any ZMA or just magnesium? It may help you sleep. – Harlow May 16 2012 at 22:58

paleopete · Answer 3 · 2012-05-15 23:28:04Z UTC

1

sounds like what Mark Sisson would call "chronic cardio". IF your doing that much you gotta add some more carbs. Try a carb re-feed and maybe do one day of sprints instead of 3 days of "cardio"

answered May 15 2012 at 23:28

paleopete
255●7

N.M. · Answer 4 · 2012-05-16 00:40:09Z UTC

I am in the exact same boat as you! I have no idea what I am doing wrong... quick question: are you male or female? I'm not used to posting on these so I'm not sure how to tell who the original poster was, but anyway, the point of that question is that I recently found out that my testosterone levels are slightly low (I am female) and I was reading up on it and it says that low testosterone could cause weight gain, decreased energy, etc in women (maybe in men too, but I didn't really read up on that). Honestly, I'm not sure what to do about low testosterone levels, but maybe check your hormone levels and go from there with your doctor? It could have something to do with it. My friend gave me the link to your post because I have been going through the exact same thing lately with Paleo and am on the brink of giving up! I did lower my cardio (I was doing spinning 5-6x/week) and upped my weight training, but these changes are too recent to say that I see any difference.

Acumen Athletics · Answer 5 · 2012-05-16 00:51:27Z UTC

1

Have you tried placing your carbs in all 3 windows (pre, intra, & post work out)?

answered May 16 2012 at 0:51

Acumen Athletics
1,701●1●2●9

	No....usually just carbs post workout! I have a scoop of dextrose and a couple of sweet potatoes with my pwo meal. Pre wo. Carbs tend to make me feel sluggish and with intra (iv sipped on dextrose) i tend to crash after a short period...feeling weak and get the shakes...im guessing from the huge insulin spike....so i tend to stick to pwo carbs only – joe May 16 2012 at 6:52
	I got the same effects when using straight dextrose (crash & shakes 15-20 mins after ingestion). Dextrose is to rapid for my body. You can experiment with a small box of raisins. – Acumen Athletics May 17 2012 at 1:33

joe · Answer 6 · 2012-05-15 19:35:09Z UTC

0

Was just about to post that...i forgot lol Yes thought i may be overtraining so i took 4 days off....still feel crappy if not worse :/

answered May 15 2012 at 19:35

joe
21●1

Klaud · Answer 7 · 2012-05-15 20:41:23Z UTC

0

How is your sleep?

answered May 15 2012 at 20:41

Klaud
353●1●5

Gone from being full of energy to drained and fatty looking again :/

7 Answers