Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Hi there folks. The name's Cricket, and I'm new to the Paleo community, started in roughly April this year while I was over in Los Angeles, and like most people I'm aiming to lose weight and become healthier in the process. SO, I'm pretty much going to ask the PH community to do what alot of people request and ask you guys to HACK MY BODY. (Prepare for a long post... I apologise in advance)

Now, I've got the literature to refer to (Cordain's The Paleo Diet, The Paleo Solution & The Primal Blueprint) and understand the basics of living a Paleo lifestyle, I've cut out all grains, legumes, refined sugars and dairy. For the first few months I experienced some great results, with energy spikes, clearer skin and just a better attitude. I also feel that the diet change helped rid me of my night terrors, which were plaguing me for the past 6 years.

Since I've been back in Australia, I kind of fell off the rails a bit for the first month to my shame. But I've brought myself back from the dark side.

There's plenty of stuff out there for me to read by me onesie, but I find that I need a bit of guidance and support... as 99% of my friends are skeptics of it and still cannot comprehend how good it can be... my parents are the same.

Ok, enough of my crap, time to get down to business.

I'm a 22 year old male. I would say I lead a rather active lifestyle, as I very much enjoy training in many avenues (I was introduced to Paleo by my Capoeira instructor in LA). I'm currently sitting at roughly the 70kg/154lb mark, and at 15% Body Fat. I've been experimenting with a 16/8 I.F. since I returned back to Australia, but in LA I was usually eating 5 - 6 times a day.

First, lets look at diet.

Upon waking up I would have a cup of coffee with 2 Tsp of Coconut Cream.

I would then train for 30mins whilst fasted and then eat roughly an hour afterwards, this would be my first meal of the day (lets call it 10am for a point of reference). I would eat a considerable amount consisting of 250g of Kangaroo, 64g of Walnuts and 250mls of Egg Whites w/scoop of Ultimate Nutrition Vegetable Greens (to cover bases) and 2 TBSP of Psyllium Husk. The at roughly 6pm I will eat another meal of 200g Kangaroo, 60g of Walnuts, 2 Cups of Broccoli and another dose of Veggies Greens.

Right now this is a Keto experiment, thus the lack of fruits and veggies, but throw in a medium banana, 2 cups of cooked spinach and an apple and we're pretty which sitting at what I would eat standard. There was a time when I would throw in a Sweet Potato post workout but I didn't feel like I needed it.

It works out to roughly 1570 Calories a day, with 25g Carbs, 93g Fat & 146g Protein. I can run off this pretty comfortably and not feel hungry.

Now for the training regimen. For 3 weeks I was doing Ripptoe's Practical Programming, but that has changed to a more intense circuit style. Here goes.

7am - Fasted Cardio 30 Minutes Jump Rope - 30/30

9am - 16kg Kettlebell Circuit Circuit One - Tabata (20sec on/10sec off) Kettlebell Goblet Squats - four rounds Kettlebell snatches - eight rounds Time: 6 min

Circuit Two Kettlebell swings - 30sec two-hand, 30sec right-hand, 30sec left-hand, 30sec alternate swings Kettlebell Cleans - 5 right, 5 left, 4 right, 4 left, 3 right, 3 left, 2 right, 2 left, 1 right, 1 left, then back up to 5 each side. 60 Reps total with No Rest

Circuit Three Turkish get-ups - 5min continuous Kettlebell Body Circles - 20 each direction Time: 8 mins approx.

Tuesday & Thursday

7am - Fasting Training - 16kg Kettlebell 25 Kettlebell Squat Pulls 25 Burpees 25 Alternate Arm Kettlebell Swings 20 Kettlebell Squat Pulls 20 Burpees 20 Alternate Arm Kettlebell Swings 15 Kettlebell Squat Pulls 15 Burpees 15 Alternate Arm Kettlebell Swings 10 Kettlebell Squat Pulls 10 Burpees 10 Alternate Arm Kettlebell Swings *Complete for Time

8pm - Bodyweight training 20 Prisoner Squats 20 Pushups 10 Jumps 10 Inverted Rows 20 Forward Lunges (10 reps per side) 15 Close-grip Pushups 5 Chin-ups or Inverted Rows *Repeat 3 times & Complete for time

As you can see (personally) pretty wild. Some may consider this over training, but we'll see.

Supplementation wise it is as follows: 2000mg Fish Oil capsules - 3, Vitamin D3 - 1000IU, Vitamin E - 400IU, Life Force Multi (No Iron) HCL w/Pepsin, Vitamin C - 300mg.

That's pretty much the down low on my Paleo way. I'm still trying to decide as to whether or not to keep following the IF pattern or to go back to the eating 5/6 times a day.

Thank you so much to all of you who manage to stay all the way through this gargantuan bastard, and I really look forward to hearing your opinions.

Cheers

~ Cricket

flag	asked Jul 24 at 2:22 Cricket 237●7

	Great to have another Aussie on board! There are loads of us over here - not sure where you are, but there are three or four meet-up groups here... – Suz - Paleo Oz Jul 24 at 4:14
	Suz. I'm based in Brisbane :) – Cricket Jul 24 at 4:46

Kathleen · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-21 14:57:57Z UTC

From personal experience, as soon as I drop calories or carbs too low just about any amount of exercise (and especially intense exercise like you are doing) leads to overtraining. Ketogenic diets and fasted training may work well for you (they seem to for lots of people on this forum) but pay attention to your body. Are you able to maintain/increase workout intensity? Are you full of energy and warm all the time (vs. tired, unmotivated and cold)?

As for diet, is there a reason you are eating so many nuts (and walnuts in particular)? Nuts are generally high in omega-6 (walnuts especially). I would suggest getting those calories from something else (fattier cuts of meat, butter or coconut oil if staying in ketosis is your goat, or from fruit/starchy vegetables if you find that you need the carbs to maintain performance).

Why the egg whites? All the nutrition is in the yolk. I would suggest switching to whole eggs. Paleo is generally about eating whole, unrefined/unprocessed foods... Which brings me to my next suggestion: consider eating more non-starchy vegetables (lots of variety!) and reduce the amount of supplements that you are taking. When each bottle runs out, wait a little while before replacing it to see if you notice the difference. Personal experience shows that most supplements are wasted money.

Finally, the training loofa pretty good, but I didn't see how many days per week you are doing the first workout. Since your goal is weight loss and health, 4 days of training per week is more than sufficient (M/Tu/Th/F is a good split). Off days are key since that's when your muscles are rebuilding and getting stronger. And finally, staying active and sitting as little as possible between workouts is actually more important.

RaiseFitness · Answer 2 · 2012-07-24 02:55:36Z UTC

Exercise amounts looks intense but manageable. As long as you have the energy for it, keep it up. Calories looks too low for your bodyweight and activity level. I am not a fan of a consistent eating window, but I also am not a fan of 5-6 meals per day. I eat twice a day most days, but sometimes 3 times. About once every 7-10 days, I eat just once. You should play around with your eating some, but given your activity you probably need closer to 2500 kcal per day, and at least 2000. Add most of that in fats and carbs. Your protein is adequate, but you could add some there.

Pgil · Answer 3 · 2012-07-24 03:28:35Z UTC

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Agree with the above post but will add that you are taking yourself out of a fasted state by having coconut cream with your coffee. I think that is a small variable but still worth acknowledging if a fasted state workout is your goal.

answered Jul 24 at 3:28

Pgil
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	good catch on that. – RaiseFitness Jul 24 at 3:37
	Very good catch. Noted. Its more to kick start everything. I usually will wait an hour so my body should have burnt through it by then. But I will be sure to note it :) – Cricket Jul 24 at 4:51

Hack my body…

3 Answers