I have been doing CrossFit and eating (slightly modified) Paleo for about 2 months. I've lost 17 lbs, while gaining muscle. I was about 25 lbs overweight when I started this new lifestyle...so, much bigger than you.

I mentioned my modifications to my Paleo diet because I think those modifications are what's helping me to loose weight. First, I do still have a small amount of milk in my coffee. Also, I eat more fruit than most primal eaters (because, I am still trying to acclimate to eating veggies after a lifelong hatred of most of them. I need my produce but cannot, still, stand for too much of it to be vegetables). Because I am bending a couple Paleo rules, I feel I had to bend a couple more to ensure I loose weight:

• I only eat nuts or nut butters 1 time per day.
• I eat leaner meat than most on this diet
• Finally, I track calories (not fat) via an iPhone app called Lose It.

I feel great. My body is changing shape (in a very good way). I'm loosing inches galore. 'And, again, I'm loosing weight.

Once I get to my goal weight range, I will likely slowly add in more healthy fats as I continue to try to cut back on sugars from fruits and that last little bit of dairy.

I am a novice. However, what I am doing is working for me. I think you have to do the same. Track what you are eating, make some small changes, and make Paleo work for you.

Robb Wolf (in the Paleo Solution) said that "if you stick with the plan 80%, you'll get 95% of the benefits." I doubt Mr. Wolf sticks to that ratio. Yet, at least he admits there is some wiggle room for those of us who need it.

Following the plan at that ratio and obtaining a high level of success has certainly proven true for me...for the time being, at least.

I hope this helps. Best of luck to you! --Sam

First off, what are you eating?

Also, if you're adding tons of fat to everything, you might want to restrict that a little. In the end, calories do count. Its debatable how much they influence weight loss, but they definitely 100% play a role.

In addition to the other good answers here, also fruit can easily stall weight loss or cause weight gain. May want to watch the fruit intake.

This is just my personal experience, but I also felt kind of full and bloated when I started eating Paleo. I still feel that way occasionally if I eat too many snacks (healthy snacks, but too many of them) throughout the day. However, I was surprised to see that I hadn't actually gained weight, even when I felt like my stomach was bigger. In fact, I've lost some weight over the last couple of weeks, even though I've had days when I know I ate far more than my required calories for maintenance. So your weight may not be as bad as you think.

On the other hand, I know how you're feeling. It doesn't matter whether I think I'm doing the right thing for my body - if my stomach feels big, I feel lousy about myself. My husband thinks I'm nuts, because he says that I still look great and the scale says that I'm not doing anything wrong, but I just can't stop feeling bad. I am, however, slowly learning that a day or two of eating a little less than my maintenance levels and doing a little exercise (I also CrossFit) makes me feel great again. So I'm teaching myself to think about the "big tummy" feeling as being temporary, rather than being a symptom of doing something wrong. I don't know if that helps at all, but at least you know other people are having the same experience.

"Eating Paleo" can mean different things depending on your original source of information (Primal Blueprint, The Paleo Diet, etc.) and your own personal adherence/perception of what is or isn't paleo.

You could help us provide better advice if you defined what Paleo means to you.

In my own body, I've noticed the following relationships between food and weight gain (in the context of a wheat/grain free, O6 veg oil free, processed food free diet). These are all purely based on my personal experience and should be viewed as n=1 examples.

Dairy products = gain weight (makes sense if you think about who is supposed to be drinking milk)

Fruit = weight loss (I know that this isn't the case with many, but I ate about 5-6 servings/day and was dropping weight like it was going out of style)

Nuts = weight gain (easy to overindulge, so it's better to only have a couple options around like almonds and macadamias)

Fatty meats = weight loss (It is a lot more satisfying and helps keep the craving monster from rearing it's head)

2-3 big meals a day = weight gain

Multiple small meals/snacks spread through day = weight loss

Two reasons that you might be gaining.

Keep track of what you eat, and you will see the calories add up. And you should define strict, because you could be eating strict primal, strict paleo, etc etc.

Alcohol will inhibit your weight loss most of the time. But some people can get away with it. If you happen to eat dairy on your diet, it will make weight loss even slower.

In a positive light, maybe if you are building muscle from Cross-fit? If you are pretty thin for your body, maybe the paleo lifestyle is building muscle, which is awesome! Especially if your clothes are still fitting. I wouldn't work about 10 pounds too much. Because of women and our hormones, our weight fluctuates a lot anyways.

I would absolutely cut out all alcohol. Since you haven't said what you are eating, generalizing saying you are being VERY good about it, if you are truly paleo, Alcohol is an absolute no no. Stay low carb, no fruit and make sure you are getting enough fat...Lots of high quality meat, whole eggs, green leafy veggies, fats like coconut oil, avocado, EVOO and make sure that you are eating Protein with every meal, and no alcohol. It is possible you are gaining muscle doing crossfit that many days a week. I would take measurements of your body to find out where you are gaining, but that's about all i can offer without seeing your meal plan.

Tim facebook.com/bigtimsprimaljourney