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I am 27, 5'5, ~100 lbs, small frame and relatively lean (my Tanita monitor says I oscillate between 11-13% Body fat but i don't really believe that) with trouble spots that i want to be rid of.

I have been pretty intense with my workouts and watching what i eat since early 2010 and lost quite a bit of body fat (@ 17% body fat in March 2010) but not Paleo (ie i was consuming 'complex carbs' such as oats, barley, as my main carb source etc). Since going ~85% Paleo in Jan 2011, I lost a few more lbs of body fat and generally feel great, eg that my hungeris much more regulated (don't need frequent meals, don't get ridiculously hungry, don't need a huge amount of food to be satisfied, etc.), as long as i didn't just come out from a workout. The first month or so were fine but since about late Feb/March, I have been getting severe cravings for sweet things (ie waking up in the middle of the night and search the kitchen for sweets). I don't stock any dessert at home but there is always that bottle of honey or something lying around in the corner of that drawer. I have generally lost a taste for starch (e.g., pasta, pizza, bread, etc.) but sometimes i cannot stop thinking about desserts and EVERY trip to a coffee shop with a pastry display is a BATTLE of willpower. Everytime there is left over muffins or brownies in the office from a meeting, i will not be able to resistm, even if i've just eaten breakfast or have home brought healthy paleo lunch with me. I am wondering why? I didn't seem to have a problem with this before going Paleo, why is it that i would generally have less interest in other types of starches but not for dessert type sugars (but increased lack of control)?

Lately i have been indulging in HUGE slices of cake once a week from Suzie Cakes, i always feel like crap after ,and i know i will but I'll still eat it!! What is wrong with what I'm doing? I haven't really put on weight but it has definitely affected body composition in certain places.

I work out 5 days a week, min 2 hrs (2 hrs cardio or 1 hr cardio/plyo + 1 hr weights/strength). 2 hr cardio always includes intervals and it will be 1 hr spin + 1 hr kbox or 1 hr spin + 1hr boxing; sometimes it will be 1 hr spin + 1 hr swim). Sometimes I'll do a third hour of yoga for stretching.

I plan to eat anywhere between 1100-1500 of healthy calories on a normal day (days w/o cakes) but I end up grazing on sweets which brings my calories to 1400-2000 calories. I typically plan to get about 1-2 table spoons of healthy fats, 35-65 grams of protein (depending on whether i strength train) into my diet. I realize that i may not be adding enough healthy fats into my diet but is that the only issue?? I have tried to add more table spoons of fat into frying meats for my meals but I find that I still have a desire for sweet things afterwards. Please help!!!

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 For a long time I made low carb or paleo treats. I can finally live without them, but they got me through. Frozen berries in cream is kinda like ice cream. Coconut bark or just dark chocolate with some almonds is what I did often. you might need to add some starch like sweet potato/potato/white rice... – Dave S. May 11 2011 at 19:29
I find that when I eat salty carbs like bread or potatos I still have a taste for sweets ;) But cream with berries sounds good. I've read through the rest of the site but an a bit confused by what 'cream' means? Is this the heavy cream that comes in a carton in the dairy section? Do you freeze it before you mix it in with your berries? – gimmeMoreLiver May 12 2011 at 5:06

13 Answers

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It sounds to me like you're creating a large calorie deficit with your workouts, and you have no real weight to lose. It's no surprise to me that you are having intense cravings for sugar.

I'd add fat and low GI carbs PWO....maybe some low-fructose fruit like melon or berries.

Do you really feel like you have fat to lose at 5'5" 100lb? I just can't imagine that...but your best bet will probably to create a much smaller calorie deficit.

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I have considered there's too much of a deficit. However, when I travel, i don't workout as much and eat similar amount of calories, i will put on weight!! Also, my workouts remain strong (e.g., both cardio endurance, power, and strength). Since going Paleo, the only performance decrease i've noticed is muscle endurance with max weight (e.g., i'm able to do less reps of max weight i'm able to lift with good form, but the max weight has gone up). But this makes sense since less carbs == less glycogen stores. The way my performance is, makes me think that i don't need more calories... – gimmeMoreLiver May 12 2011 at 5:13
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I have always thought that if you are basically healthy (sounds like you are), having an intense craving means that you are deficient in something in your diet or pushing your body too hard. The craving usually leads you to eat some kind of food that is high in calories and immediately satisfying (cake, chocolate, ice cream) when in fact your body is craving some nutrient(s) or is overly taxed.

I agree with other posters that, just based on the numbers, 5'5" 100# doesn't sound like you have much to give away, in fact you might be underweight. Trying to lose weight from here might not really be feasible/sustainable. Trying to get and remain below 10% body fat is getting into body builder territory, which is usually not sustainable/healthy and requires some radical short-term techniques that might not be too good for you.

Some people say that lots of cardio when you are relatively thin can encourage your body to retain weight, your body does not want to lose its stores since it expects to do major cardio work every day, and every day it is begging you to restore its sugar and starch sources.

Instead why don't you try to gain 5 pounds of muscle, which should help your appearance and "trouble areas". Replace the sweets with proteins and a little bit of fat, which should be satisfying and keep you out of the coffee shops.

Or, cut back on the cardio, and instead go for long walks and decrease the overall intensity of your days, and see if that causes any favorable changes.

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So keep the strenght and decrease the high intensity cardio? Its so additive, i'm a true endorphine junkie. I'm hesitant to increase protein intake since i am happy with the amount of muscle i have. I'm a mesomorph and build muscle easily. WIth the amount of lifting I do per week (2 days of weights, 1 day on the TRX, and some body weight), I am afraid that my arms will get bigger as I am already upper body heavy. I think I just need to eat more fat; i know it works but I guess its still a psychological thing of thinking that fat will make me fat, though i know better. Thanks for your response! – gimmeMoreLiver May 12 2011 at 5:26
I think that in your response above you have shown you know exactly what the answer is. Eat more fat. As to the exercise, that's your choice. If you want to maintain that level of cardio your body will probably require you to retain more body fat, although with the margins you're playing around in, it's all very precise. It strikes me that you have a choice. Reduce the cardio & lose the fat or keep the cardio and keep the fat. – David McC Oct 7 at 15:24
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Echoing Forrest, do you really have fat to lose? Even though I'm a guy and obviously we're built differently, I'm 5'4" and 139lbs and I feel like I'm pretty close to where I want to be - whenever I've been as low as 130/135lbs it becomes unsustainable and people tell me that I look gaunt...

My suggestions would be to decrease the amount of exercise you are doing drastically - 2 hrs for five days a week is just too much unless it is low intensity. Increase fats. If you crave sweet things then maybe incorporate something like creamed coconut into your diet - loads of healthful fats with a wonderful sweetness, and very filling. Creamed coconut and berries would make a great dessert.

1100-1500 calories is probably fine for your current weight, but not with the amount of exercise you are doing.

Good luck!

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I really don't think i need so many calories though, when i work out less, my weight starts to creep back up i feel. By creamed coconut, do you mean coconut milk that comes in a can? Would Whole Foods have this? I have the So licious coconut milk but that doesn't have much flavor, nor very much calories. – gimmeMoreLiver May 12 2011 at 5:28
Creamed coconut comes in a solid block that you can heat up so that it softens. It is packed full of calories...this is the brand I buy, just to give you an example of the calories: windmillorganics.com/product-272-4.html - one 200g pack provides 136 grams of fat and 1328 calories. – Jason May 12 2011 at 9:18
Jason, this is not sold in the US :) Oh well go figure, London is awesome ;p – gimmeMoreLiver May 13 2011 at 5:02
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Echoing everyone else. I'm 5'5" @ 130 lbs and medium framed. The least I've weighed, I think, is 110lbs and had a few nicknames at the time suggesting I needed to put on some weight.

I think probably you're not meeting your body's food needs considering your level of activity. There are some days when I undereat (it just works out that way) and CRAVE carby things until I eat some real food. Eat more. Maybe cut down on the activity. Or both.

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I find that what's 'too thin' is largely cultural though, I get comments here all the time that i'm too thin but in London i mostly get compliments :) – gimmeMoreLiver May 12 2011 at 5:42
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 I think you're not hearing the message though. It's not criticism of you body size. You say you have a problem with horrible cravings that are making you do something you say you don't want to do. We are saying that maybe you are not eating enough and your body is screaming at you for MORE FOOD and/or less exercise. No one cares if you are thin. We care that you are happy and healthy and can resolve an issue that appears to be be bothering you quite a bit. – Shari Bambino May 16 2011 at 2:07
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Eat (lots) more saturated fat like tallow and lard. It's only healthy and doing that will curtail your cravings for carbohydrates of all kinds including sweets.

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Hi Richard, right now I'm doing Coconut oil and butter (Kerrygold), I may switch out the butter to ghee, because I am a bit lactose intolerant; Tallow and lard sound good but I'm not quite sure what a good source is. Do you order from USwellness meats.com? – gimmeMoreLiver May 12 2011 at 5:43
I buy pastured pork fat and beef fat and render them myself. Locally they are both available at farmers markets. – Richard N May 12 2011 at 11:43
The body makes the saturated fat that it needs out of carbohydrates if the fat isn't ingested and it's felt that low saturated fat diets may cause the cravings for the carbohydrates for this reason. I eat lots of saturated fat and don't crave sweets. – Richard N May 12 2011 at 13:02
cassandra- I just noticed you're in San Francisco too. You can buy the fat or already rendered lard from Marin Sun Farms at the ferry building on Saturadays. You'll need to order the fat beforehand but I think they sell the lard. – Richard N May 12 2011 at 13:07
Oh ok, I was just looking at their website today. Is there an advance of Pork/beef fat over Butter/Ghee? – gimmeMoreLiver May 13 2011 at 4:59
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ditto on the need more fat, add a whole avocado with a bit of olive oil drizzled on it with salt/pepper for a quick fat booster thats good and healthy (home made mustard is also great with the oil)

a bit of coconut meat, coconut cream, coconut milk could also help add more fat.

coconut mixed with a bit of butter (ghee) and almond butter always cuts any cravings I have.

between adding any/all of those three suggestions to your current diet, should help reduce cravings.

I'm 5'2 and 123lbs and my goal is 120, 115 lowest...but i'm already being told i'm skin and bones....they dont see those trouble spots, so I get it!! Exercise to tone, adding some muscle might balance some things out for you.

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Yup I've got muscle; i build muscle easily so i don't worry about that, its the fat that's coverying the beautiful muscles below!! I Love nut butters in general; I used to be eating more of that but recently cut it out due to 1) too much O6, 2) i would do macadamia nut butter, which has very low 06 but portion control was an issue, TOO yummy, 3) good nut butter is really expensive and doesn't last that long! I will try more coconut meat and cream. I do find that eggs fried in coconut oil is more satiating than eggs fried otherwise.. thanks for your answer! great suggestions :) – gimmeMoreLiver May 12 2011 at 5:49
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You said you were 85% paleo. That's the problem. The 15% of bad is whats starting the cravings and then you indulge and it's a vicious cycle. Go truely 100% low-carb paleo with no cheats for a month and all of this will go away. I was a huge dessert person with a crazy sweet tooth. I though paleo was going to be impossible because I just couldn't live without my desserts and snacks. But I gave it an honest effort (not easy!), and now all of that stuff just disgusts me. I have no cravings, I don't miss anything (other than a philly cheesesteak), and never even think about indulging. When there are snacks at work I just feel smug because of all the people who just can't resist. It's a great freedom, but you need to make the transition, so that your body learns to be without it.

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That is a good point Miked. The 'cheat', 'treat', mechanism just doesn't work that well for me, once I start to think about desserts, and allow myself something once every few days, indulge myself -- feel sick after indulging, tell myself never again, in a few days, i'm comtemplating when I can indulge myself again, and i start to think about it more and more often -- I just need to NOT think about it and go cold turkey. How long did it take 100% effort for your cravings to go away? – gimmeMoreLiver May 16 2011 at 0:31
I don't remember when my cravings went away. The first 3 weeks of Paleo were really hard for me but I was more preoccupied with lack of energy than I was with no sweets. Then when I started feeling awesome I just didn't think about treats. It's more that the cravings just faded and I never really noticed. – miked May 16 2011 at 3:42
@gimme...I totally get what you're saying here. I have found since July 2012, that I think about sweets constantly after I started with ice cream. – Aili Oct 20 at 19:56
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I know this is late, but 5'5 and 100lbs is pretty low, more so if thats mainly muscle and not body fat...BMI 16.5!!! I know BMI isn't everything, in the case of someone athletic and muscular it would be HIGHER than your average person.

I'm 5'3 and 106, people tell me I am "skinny", even though I am muscular, I also have BED from years of disordered eating, I too have the very same amount of calories, and though my workouts are smaller, I have EXACTLY those cravings, and I put weight on in an instant..

with 2 hour workouts and only eating 1100-1500 there is NO WAY you are eating enough,

You say when you work out less your weight creeps up, I imagine this is because your body is crying out to gain weight as such a low BMI is stuggling to support itsself on what you're giving it and the pressure you're putting it under.

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Its interesting how SO much of cravings is psychological. I thought i wanted cake and bought some from Whole Foods, cut myself a big slice after my workout thinking it would be oh so satiating, but it was really disappointing and now my stomach hurts, and now all I want is some liver fried with veggies. I think part of it is just getting over what you THINK you want from old habits and realize that you don't really want something. I went from a 2*alcholic drinks/night to less than 1 *drink/week now, it took me a few months when i realized that I need to cut booze consumption to when I implemented it, at that point, it was really easy. Sometimes now, i'll pour myself a nice glass of red wine and I'll have a few sips and I won't feel like it anymore; same thing with bread-based, pasta, type things. I hope that it is a phase thing too with sweets & cakes ;)

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I think i have hacked this. I stopped all workouts for 4 days while eating as I usually do and had minimal sugar desires. Yesterday, I resumed my usual workout (1 hr cardio + 1 hr weights), had a high protein/fat/LC (50gm carbs) meal afterwards but I still experienced intense sugar cravings that led me to eventually eat honey by the spoonful in the middle of the night!!! Any thoughts on why this workout would lead to such a craving even after a pretty big post workout recovery meal? Cardio + weights would appear to be a pretty standard workout for someone who is pretty athletic...

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 an HOUR of cardio plus an HOUR of weights is not "normal." unless you are a professional athlete being paid to perform, you should listen to the dysfunction in your body. i empathize with the adrenaline/endorphin boost one gets from working out, i really do. in your position, i would radically refigure my workout program and tinker with it until you find a balance of sufficient workout "high" vs tolerable food cravings. if you are doing 2 hours' worth of working out, you're not working very hard. my first step would be to cut the time spent working out waaaay down and jack the intensity up. – paleonyc May 30 2011 at 20:46
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 Exactly. Wow. That's a lot of work. I consider myself "pretty athletic" and would not consider that to be standard at all. It's no wonder you were famished and shoveling food into your mouth. Unless you have marathon or other training goals (which you should then "program" your food intake for), I would change this workout regime up completely. – Tom R. May 30 2011 at 22:12
Interesting to hear different perspectives, thanks! I guess at my gym, i have many gym mates which are as fit (performance wise) as I that workout like I do (2x back to back), so i am beginning to think that it is commonplace; but i guess maybe they are not eating LC/VLC so do not suffer from the sugar cravings? They also are not particularly lean so I am guessing their bodies can more easily recover from said workouts... ' – gimmeMoreLiver May 30 2011 at 22:43
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Can i ask a question for "Miked" and others who are contributing...when you guys say abstain and get your body used to being without...we are speaking specifically about White sugars, refined sugars anything like that correct?

What about Stevia? Honey? things like that? will these keep the body in the sugar craving mode?

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 ALL sugars. Honey is sugar. Fruit is sugar. Stevia is not sugar. If you want to stop craving sugar, you have to kick it like an addiction. Some people (like me) have to go really low-carb for a while to do it. However, I wouldn't recommend cutting carbs to the bone if you work out like the OP does, and you have no weight to lose; or your body will rebel, and like you see here - you will eat cake. – g. Aug 7 2011 at 22:00
So no fruit? No stevia? really???? – Paleo4ever Aug 8 2011 at 0:17
well, do you want to be a slave to sugar or not? stevia is ok to transition, but you're really better off trying to lose your taste for sweet stuff, particularly if you're feeling overly attached. but small amounts of naturally sweet food are ok for some people. – g. Aug 8 2011 at 1:42
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 sugar is a bad friend, babe. sugar won't do you any favors. sugar will act nice to your face, but will stab you in the back. DTMFA. – g. Aug 8 2011 at 1:43
@Paleo4ever, Welcome! – The Loon Aug 8 2011 at 19:34
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that is a lot of exercise for very few calories you are ingesting. at your height, you need about 1,400 calories a day just sitting- this is for your bodily functions- breathing, heart beats, digestion.

i am very thin, too, but i think you should cut back on the exercise. i don't do any more than 20-30 minutes a day. i used to do the 2-3 hours in the gym when i was an exercise addict and then binge because i was so hungry. it just doesn't work long term. it really messes up your relationship with food.

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Have you studied the metabolic pathway of ketosis? This is why the paleo diet can be challenging. Check out Nora Gedgaudas and Mark Sisson. Read Rosedale. It will take up to SIX weeks for your body to adjust, but you will feel so much better on a very low carbohydrate diet. See "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living by Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek. I am opposed to artificial sweeteners, but do a small amount of stevia. I am diabetic and the VLCD has kicked the butt of that problem! I also have much more energy. I agree with those above about your weight and height. Also, Mark Sisson explains why chronic cardio is so devastating. When you stress your body that way, (and our Paleo ancestors did not) you secrete cortisol, and this hormone makes you HUNGRY! Simplified explanation....the books by the authors above have given me many answers. The encouragement here on the internet has given me hope. Thank you for sharing and good luck!

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