Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Hi Im 31 year old female, started paleo 11 months ago. I have 2 kids 1 year old and 3 years old. Im 5'4 and was 128 before having kids. After starting paleo I successfully lost all of the baby weight and got back down to 128 to 130 and maintained that weight for several months. At this time I was paleo pescaterian and still feeling tired all the time. I decided to add in meat to see what happened. My energy went up, but so did my weight. In 2 months I gained 9 lbs and feel so fat. I feel like I felt when I was 8 months pregnant. I feel uncomfortable in my body. My diet stayed pretty much the same except for adding meat. I have not been able to exercise as much as I would like because I had some complications from the pregnsncy and have been on disability. At the same time I added meat I also started to add in some exercise. Walking 3 miles 3 times a week and some other light exercises at home that are safe for me to do, in addition to heavy cleaning and chasing after to energetic kids. I know meat contains a lot more fat, so I have adjusted my carb intake to 100 carbs or less per day. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions.

I eat 1800 to 2000 calories a day

Typical meals

Breakfast- eggs and smoked salmon

Lunch big kale salad with leftover protein either chicken, salmon, beef etc.

Dinner Steamed vegetables with some protein, usually grass fed beef. I eat a lot of tomato based sauces.

I eat a square of dark chocolate every few days and snack on sunflower butter and carrots, hard boiled eggs, etc.

Thanks for the help.

flag	asked Aug 7 at 23:38 monaLisa 1,744●1●4●14

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I'm wondering if there have been other changes, like related to breastfeeding, or return of hormonal cycle? Also, since you've added exercise, could this be partly lean mass? – Ambimorph Aug 8 at 6:17

julianne · Answer 1 · 2012-08-08 00:10:27Z UTC

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You may have added a lot more calories in the form of fat. It is easy to do. Even adjusting carbs down often does not help. Here is a post you might find useful on protein requirements with charts on how much protein and fat is in different protein foods

http://paleozonenutrition.com/2012/08/07/how-much-protein-should-i-eat-protein-fat-amounts-in-fish-meat-eggs-poultry/

answered Aug 8 at 0:10

julianne
2,377●3●9

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thanks, this is very helpful. I never really felt right about the eat as much fat as you want mentality, but a lot of people preach that here. – monaLisa Aug 8 at 4:50

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The protein requirements aspect of this post are spot on, and very well supported. I'm highly skeptical about the calories in, calories out logic supporting the fat aspect, though. – Ambimorph Aug 8 at 6:11

I would love someone to show me some sound science that proves excess fat calories don't get stored as fat. Where else would they go if you overeat them? – julianne Aug 8 at 23:08

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@Julianne- there have been studies on precisely that. What they find is that even though Atkins/ketotic style diets do not advocate calorie restriction, people tend to eat less calories anyways, and that it is the protein specifically that elicits a hormonal response tell you you're satisfied. – foreveryoung Aug 9 at 17:03

If you eat excess calories from fat, you'll get fat. – foreveryoung Aug 9 at 17:04

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Luke · Answer 2 · 2012-08-08 05:39:50Z UTC

I think the eat as much fat as you want is more applicable to non-grain fed meats. I get the impression that if your meat isn't pastured then you should be seeking trim cuts. Even then I think the whole fatty cuts thing would be more ideally suited to wild animals as a protein source rather than the big fat domesticated ones we eat.

Perhaps the exercise is causing undue stress on your body and leading to weight gain as it was introduced at the same time. How about your sleep?

Irene · Answer 3 · 2012-08-09 09:11:03Z UTC

i think u should experiment on yourself, cut the meat / fat back a little and see if it makes a difference? and keep carbs as low as possible, i read a success story recently where a girl had lost a massive amount of weight by cutting her meat and fat consumption, while staying very low carb, good luck with it

Hack my Weight gain since eating meat.

3 Answers