I'm sorry you're having trouble. I'll offer what advice I can. First, I am an ex-Crossfit Trainer (Level 1, worked at two gyms) so I have some experience, and I've done every diet from Paleo, to Primal, to WAPF, to modified Paleo, etc.

First thing that might be happening is over-training. If you are beating yourself up faster than your body can recover, it will have a stress response and put on weight. This can happen when you get stronger actually, because you can handle more loads, and activate more muscle. More muscle activation requires longer recovery. Try to get lots of sleep (9 hours a night would be a good target...I know it seems impossible, but it is the ideal). If you're fatigued from lack of sleep, over-training, or both working together, you'll eat more too.

The other thing I can think of is that you're not going all out on Paleo. Even a little bit of extra sugar will mess with your insulin, and if you add to that the high fat intake of Paleo, you're in trouble. It's sort of either or. If you're okay going cold turkey, do totally Paleo or find another diet that works for you.

If you're more comfortable doing a gradual approach, back off from the aspects of Paleo like low-carb, and focus on eliminating all processed sugars (and most other sweeteners) and any refined grains. It is also really important that you get rid of ALL processed foods (my rule has always been that the ingredients label should have nothing but whole food items on it: no preservatives, no sweeteners, no 'natural flavor' no coloring). Our bodies store toxins in fat, and these chemicals stress the body out, which can also cause it to store fat. You might still be eating dairy, whole grains, legumes, etc, but focus on eliminating processed foods, sugars and white grains. Once that is taken care of (a month or two), then start thinking about doing the other parts of Paleo (higher protein, low carb, higher fat intake). Also, keep in mind that Paleo works best when its mostly vegetables. That doesn't always come across in discussions of the diet.

With all that said...stressing about food will make it a problem, no matter how healthy. I know it's not fair, and I went through that where I was eating healthier than everyone I knew, but I was always worried about what I was eating, and I was sick all the time. Once I figured out how to relax but still eat well, things improved a lot.

Sorry for the long response. I hope it's informative. I know what you're feeling and have had similar frustrations. Focus on rest and recovery from CrossFit, and check that there is zero added sugar, zero processed foods, and worry less about the other stuff until that is nailed down. Good luck.

When I first started Paleo, I did not lose any weight, and actually gained a couple of pounds despite no change in exercise. I found that I had to lose the carbs in order to lose weight on Paleo. And before all you haters down-vote me, notice that I said "I" not ALL or EVERYONE.

Crossfit makes you fit unquestionably, but it doesn't necessarily make you look good naked or feel your best. A lot of LC/paleo eaters seem to experience fat gain, exhaustion, etc while doing Crossfit or other high-stress/high-cardio exercise regimes.

I'd say you have two choices; go back to what you were eating before when you looked better (or approximate it 'paleo'-style), or stop doing Crossfit and see if that helps.

The key to being lean is NUTRIENT TIMING. Carbs are fuel for working our muscles, and they must be treated that way. Eat carbs when our glycogen stores are already filled and it gets turned to fat...and it doesn't take much to fill our stores.

The basis of a diet (when leaning out) should be lean protein and green veggies. PERIOD. Don't be afraid of healthy fats also to help cell function (omega 3). SALAD SALAD SALAD - and mix in veggies to make it fun (balsamic and olive oil for dressing)

Carbs should be used strategically around your workouts, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE X FITTING. These workouts are extremely tough and you will need carbs to refuel glycogen.

www.paleodietevolved.com discusses nutrient timing and how to strategically plan meals in the blog.

Weight loss needs synergy = healthy foods so body has fuel AND cells function correctly, healthy foods at the right time to properly fuel what doing. The body also needs exercise so we can increase metabolism and also release other fat burning/muscle building hormones.

By having a clean diet of mostly protein and veggies, this is priming the body for muscle gain when we do eat carbs peri/post workout.

I've frequently had to lose weight quickly while maintaining strength/fitness levels due to some of the activities I have been involved with in the past. The only thing that I have ever seen work almost universally for folks at my gym has been a rather complicated carbohydrate loading / cycling methodology. It's not exactly paleo but it does work, and is what many folks who need to make weight (boxers, wrestlers) as well as bodybuilders use as a method of reaching contest/competition weights without compromising too much as far as fitness goes.

There is tons of information available on the internet. I tend to find http://www.skippypodar.net/Fitness/carbcycling.html to be the most readable.

This is my experience too. I joined crossfit at when I was stuck at 19percent bodyfat for over 2 years (couldn't get below that) I hoped crossfit would change that. However, what happened is I gained muscle and fat. I now am 20 percent body fat and have a tummy roll. So I may just quit crossfit and go back to what I was doing. I go to crossfir 3-4x/ week. My diet hasn't changed. I meal plan and was already eating clean (grow my own veggies, shop locally, etc.) Same sleep patterns. So I don't understand why I'm getting fatter.

Actually Steve is dead on. Almost any 18 year-old virgin weightlifter can eat junk food, get 4 hours of sleep a night, and still lift weights and will gain muscle and lose fat. The vast majority of 38 year-olds will not be able to do this. They will have to set a goal - loss fat, gain strength, get a certain time in a race, etc. - and gear their training, diet and recovery towards this. There will be rare exceptions who have great genetics and/or the time and resources to train like a professional athlete, but if you have to ask if you're one of those people, you aren't one.

Set a goal, work towards it, discard what doesn't move you towards that goal and retain what does. If Crossfit isn't giving you what you want, try something else. It doesn't mean Crossfit is bad, it doesn't mean you're bad - its just not working FOR YOU.

it sounds like perhaps you are overtraining, ravenously hungry as a result of it, and still overeating even though you are doing it with different and/or better foods then you may have been eating previously. The higher fat content of a typical paleo diet will provide more calories with a relatively smaller volume of food and this increases exponentially as fat intake increases seeing as a gram of fat holds 9 calories to the comparable 4 calories of carbs and protein. You could try eating high or even very high fat but understand that the body will still need to be presented with a caloric deficit in order to lose weight, so those fat calories will need to be consumed at the exclusion of calories from other sources. There may be many who espouse consuming fat in unlimited quantities as long as its from approved sources and that calories dont need to be counted, but for most people the less than favourable body composition that results from doing this speaks for itself. Understand that what I am presenting here is to establish a guideline and measure for your caloric needs and does not need to be rigidly followed, just to get a sense if you are coming in anywhere around the range or where things may be off.

I would suggest:
- get together some calculations of your daily caloric maintenance needs based on age, weight, bodyfat percentage and / or LBM, and activity levels
- get your macronutrient ratios in order so you understand how many calories need to come from each. By way of example, if your goal is to eat 50% fat / 35% protein / 15% carbs and your caloric maintenance requirement is (im guessing based on a height of 165cm) 1850 per day, decreasing 20% for weight loss you are at an intake goal of 1480, lets call it 1500 calories - that breaks down to:
- 83 g of fat (50%)
- 131 g of protein (35%)
- 56 g of carbs (15%)
You can shift these macro ratios around to your preference but I would go for a minimum baseline of at least 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass with multiple crossfit sessions a week

A poster above also mentioned carb cycling which you can try: eating minimal carbs and higher fat on non-workout days, and the opposite (more carbs, lower fat) for glycogen replenishment on workout days, just as long as you keep the day's caloric target in mind.

To help the body from going into adaptation and keep hormone and metabolism levels from plummeting and staying there, which is a definite possibility on long stretches of dieting, once a week, (I do Saturdays as thats the day I do my most intense/heavy workout) you could try eating at or 20% above maintenance calories with less fat and more carbs, maybe equal percentages of all 3 macros or even lower on the fat.

I dont know if you have tried or considered any of these things but I think you may find at least some of this helpful in figuring out what is going on. Best of luck to you and keep at it!

Sounds like this other question....

http://paleohacks.com/questions/73738/hack-my-cortisol#axzz1cPjFnA00

Too much crossfitting???

I'm having this exact problem! I am eating better than ever and look the worst I ever have. I've built muscle, there's no doubt about that, but I've put on lots of fat, too. AND FAST. I look awful now, and feel worse about it. I'm just about ready to throw in the towel on this whole crossfit thing. I love it, but it's not worth it. I don't eat grains at all, and have dairy only about once a week now, usually full fat cheese. I still eat berries, and let myself have a bit of chocolate every once in a while. I eat plenty of protein and veggies.

I'm just at a loss.

pear shaped = good apple shaped = bad

Pay attention to what you are eating. Crossfit usually makes you very hungry so it is very common to overeat or to include high starch food like tubers to feel fuller which are very detrimental to the objective of loosing weight. For my part I have been doing Crossfit for 7 months and was recently putting on some belly fat and talked to a friend of mine about it and he made me realize I was overeating specially on tubers like sweet potatoes.