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Hello Paleo Peeps.

I started Paleo a couple years back and had great success with CF/Paleo. I had fallen off the wagon and I'm trying to get back to where I was.

5'9 154lbs 20% BF

Goal....145lbs 15-17%

Here are my issues:

Been paleo 90-95 % for 3 months with no real weight loss. No gluten, dairy, sugar, cut artificial sweeteners except xylitol. Recently cut my black coffee too to see if there was a bloat response..sadly there was. Lots of chicken, leaner beef and turkey. I used EVOO and Coconut oil but it tends to really skyrocket my HDL AND LDL. Even my blood sugar is out of whack..

Sample diet

Breakfast:100 grams lean protein, few almonds, apple snacks protein, veggies, jerky, nuts and sometimes a a small amount of dried fruit water tea

Lunch-100 grams lean protein, EVOO,Kale/Spinach Nectarine water

Dinner-100 grams protein, 1/2 avacado, little CO ,Spinach protein powder with a few cherries tea/water

*I do have 1 cheat meal a week. I used almonds, jerky and dried fruit as snacks..

Workouts...Trainer thought I was over training so now I do 4 Heavy weight wod's, walk as much as possible(5-9 miles a day) and throw down one met-con a week. Happy to add more exercise in but trainer felt it was doing more harm than good. I feel like a fluffy bloated marshmellow.

My stress is high thus high cortisol. I try to get 8-10 hours of sleep but my cortisol wakes me up a few times a night. Thoughts?

Can a person with stressed adrenals, high cortisol and low testosterone lose weight? I'm open to reading any books you guys suggest but I own the Paleo Solution and Primal Blueprint.

Thanks..

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Before giving an answer, give me a decent breakdown of your eating habits in a day, or week, depending on your consistency. – RaiseFitness Jul 13 at 22:58
I just edited my question to include a sample day..but I admit eating probably too much low carb protein powder. I also don't measure my EVOO or coconut oil... – Stressed Jul 13 at 23:15
300 g. protein a day seems like a lot for someone dieting. I agree, you might also think about cutting back on the fruit and nuts for 2 weeks to see if that helps as well. Good luck! – Wowza Jul 14 at 1:02

3 Answers

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Ok, based on your updated information, I would first drop the nuts until you are at your ideal weight. They are calorie dense without adding any true nutritional value to your diet. Nuts are full of Omega-6, so although they are considered paleo, they are not a nutritious powerhouse. Make sure you are getting some Omega-3, DHA like salmon or some other fatty fish. Also, since they are mentioned often, they are probably hyperpalatable to you (as to myself). Dried fruit might also need to be dropped until you are where you want to be. I also am not an advocate of snacking because if you are already eating 3 times per day, you are never more than 5-6 hours from a meal. If your meals are decent, you shouldn't feel hungry in between, and if you feel hungry, cut back on the carbs a bit, so you can get more fat-adapted. As for your training, could be overtraining a bit, but without actually observing, can't really tell. I would recommend a couple heavy weight days and a couple lighter weight, higher intensity days. Might add some short sprint intervals on a treadmill after your heavy weight days. It will definitely boost your fat burning.

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Thanks man. I'll change it up add in a bit more IF. I tend to get VERY hungry every 2-3 hours so perhaps my protein/veggie amount needs to be increased. Is 2-3 table spoons of EVOO enough or too much? Perhaps I need more to appease hunger.. Still much to learn.. – Stressed Jul 13 at 23:45
If you are getting hungry every 2-3 hours you are NOT fat-adapted. What that means is that as your body burns through glucose and glycogen, it then sends a signal to your brain that you are out of food and that you need to eat. As you get fat-adapted you will be able to go hours without hunger pains. Add more fat and protein to your meals. Also giving up the dried fruit will help speed the process. Personally I am not a fan of adding that much EVOO, but it won't hurt. I prefer butter and coconut oil, but at least EVOO is monounsaturated. Still need those Omega-3 DHA. – RaiseFitness Jul 14 at 2:11
Disagree about the nuts not being a powerhouse. Some nuts are pretty uniquely high in electrolyte minerals, which can be important for low carb (Although theres also berries/fruit for that, dairy, coconut water, and spinach/collard & turnip greens high in electrolyte minerals, and especially spinach of those greens, so one could get it from other places if one was thoughtful). But agreed that snacking probably isnt helpful for weight loss, and for that specifically & nuts are calorie dense. – Jamie Jul 14 at 4:38
I am not saying that nuts are bad, but for someone trying to lose weight, they are a common roadblock and everything good in them can be found better in other sources. – RaiseFitness Jul 14 at 6:15
Let's talk about Fat Adapted...Should I drop all fruit and concentrate on larger portions of protein/fat only 3 times a day? Do I simply tough out any hunger I might feel or are raw veggies ok to snack? I am programed to eat 5-6 times a day due to a body building mindset. – Stressed Jul 14 at 14:35
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Not that this is necessarily bad, but I see a lot of fruit. Dried fruit, in particular, is easy to overeat. Vegetables are a much better source of micronutrients without the excess sugar (which might explain your poor blood sugar control).

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Word. Dropping dried fruit asap. Thanks for the advice. – Stressed Jul 13 at 23:52
Yeah dried fruit isnt good. Better to eat actual low sugar fruit like berries (except blueberries which are higher sugar), it will fill you up more with less sugar involved - if your going to eat fruit. – Jamie Jul 14 at 4:30
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The lowest sugar fruit to eat is - blackberry, raspberry, cranberry, boysenberry, lemon, lime & some melons. The highest sugar way to eat fruit is dried fruit and juices. Apple is also somewhat high in sugar.

Id ditch the apple and dried fruit for sure, look into the lower sugar fruit. Lemon,lime, or a little unsweetened cranberry juice is a good low sugar way to beef up your waters taste.

Xylitol and zero calorie sweetners can induce hunger.

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Jamie~ I was uner the impression that apple was on the low glycemic food list. I can certainly change it up but thought I was doing that right. Frustrating to say the least. Thanks for the info.. – Stressed Jul 14 at 11:20
Hmmm, actually your sorta right. Apple is 12-13 grams sugar per cup versus 9 grams for boysenberries, so apple aint too bad really. Certainly nothing compared to banana or pineapple. Guess it will depend a bit on the type of apple though as well. Sorry to get that bit a little wrong. Oh, and I missed one gem off the lowest sugar of all fruits list BTW: Strawberries. Yum! – Jamie Jul 14 at 13:52

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