Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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I recently sat in the BodPod at my University, and the results were not pretty. If you have read any of my other posts, my BF tested back in August and came out around 20%...apparently this was botched because according to my BodPod results I'm 155 pounds and 28.1% body fat (when I was on birth control I was 149 and 29.3%...so WTF?!) Soon after my first test I started into Paleo with hopes of finally leaning out and being happy with myself.

I need to figure out WHY Paleo is not working for me...

I was following the Primal Blueprint from May-June then tried Robb Wolf's 30 Day challenge back in July/August. Since then, I'll have one good "cheat" a month....maybe. I tried cutting dairy, but found this didn't effect me at all (and I use whey after my workouts). I don't eat it daily other than the whey...maybe 1-2 times a week.

I Crossfit weekly, have an active job, I ride my horse 3-4 days a week, take my dog on a 2 mile walk 3-4 days a week, walk everywhere on campus, and spend more time laying on my bed sleeping than I do partying/drinking. I eat low carb and have drastically reduced my portion sizes in the last few weeks. Ive messed with IF, coconut oil and zero carb...

CAN ANYBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IM DOING WRONG?! I don't intend to start eating conventionally again because I feel like crap when I stray, even for one night...but its tough for me to put all this effort into eating Paleo if I still can't stand looking in the mirror...

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I have started in on "Zoning" my daily intake. What do you think about this?

edited Dec 1 2011 at 16:56

asked Dec 1 2011 at 16:02

Hoover
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Are you ever hungry? If not, it's possible you're still eating enough to maintain your weight. – Beth-WeightMaven Dec 1 2011 at 16:22

I am hungry quite often – Hoover Dec 1 2011 at 16:26

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I disagree with the exercising too much answers - unless I'm misreading your post. You are only crossfitting once per week and the rest is a lot of walking/riding. Is that correct? That doesn't seem like overtraining to me. – Dave S. Dec 1 2011 at 16:28

i guess i should rephrase...i crossfit 4-5 days a week, i'm beginning to compete within the month so cutting back/stopping is a bit difficult – Hoover Dec 1 2011 at 16:30

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I no longer disagree then! That much xfit is very likely to cause stress/cortisol issues. You may have to resign yourself to not cutting much fat until after competition... – Dave S. Dec 1 2011 at 18:10

Paul Jaminet · Answer 1 · 2011-12-01 16:52:39Z UTC

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Hi Michelle,

The first thing you have to do is eliminate hunger. I'm guessing you're probably too low carb and need to add some starches, and the other factor that's likely to contribute to hunger is micronutrient deficiencies. It's good to supplement.

That alone will probably fix the issue. Hunger is evidence that your body feels "starved" in some way and so it will try to conserve energy / hang onto it. You have to nourish yourself adequately to persuade your brain that it's safe to let go of fat.

answered Dec 1 2011 at 16:52

Paul Jaminet
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what would you recommend supplement wise? im on a super tight budget...so as much as id like to spend on lots of wonderful supplements, i cant always do this. – Hoover Dec 1 2011 at 16:55

Here's our recommended supplements: perfecthealthdiet.com/?page_id=1066. If you are on a budget, try a multivitamin, an extra multimineral with good calcium and magnesium amounts plus trace minerals, and vitamin D3 as needed. Eat liver and other organ meats, fermented vegetables, bone broth, potatoes, shellfish and seafood, and sulfur-rich plants. – Paul Jaminet Dec 1 2011 at 17:13

im afraid of organ meats....ive never tried them...but ive heard they taste pretty awful. how do you cook them so they taste good? – Hoover Dec 1 2011 at 17:32

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Michelle, get the Jaminet's book ;). perfecthealthdiet.com It's a must-read! At a minimum, go check out his blog there ... lots of good stuff, including recipes! – Beth-WeightMaven Dec 1 2011 at 17:36

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(And just because it's lunchtime ...) I do have a minor quibble with Paul's suggestion that you must "eliminate" hunger. I think you need to avoid overswinging the pendulum so much that you're never hungry because you're actually eating more than you need. A little bit of hunger at mealtime is IMO a good sign. And as Ben Franklin more or less said, hunger is the best sauce ;). – Beth-WeightMaven Dec 1 2011 at 18:01

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Dave S. · Answer 2 · 2011-12-01 16:15:41Z UTC

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Be happy with yourself first. Everything will then fall into place. Resolve to be healthy first and allow your body to change at it's own pace. Unfortunately, only you will be able to figure out what is blocking you. I might suggest that stress/cortisol could be a problem for you. (or any number of other things)

Remember that paleo is a template for self-discovery, not a one size fits all.

answered Dec 1 2011 at 16:15

Dave S.
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+1 It took me 2 years of paleo to figure out I thrive on 60+ grams of starchy carbs a day. And I started taking more rest days, everything got better. – Ben Dec 1 2011 at 16:19

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Rest days are very important for me too. If I don't have recovery time, my body goes into adrenal fatigue and everything goes downhill. – Nance Dec 1 2011 at 16:21

Nance · Answer 3 · 2011-12-01 16:17:30Z UTC

You sound very active but you also sound stressed--and I guess I would be too.

The problem is, health improvements are not possible if you're stressed. So, take a deep breath, see what others have in the way of ideas and do whatever works for you to relax.

Wow, I just saw Dave's answer but I think I'll post mine too.

Smile, laugh, relax and meditate about what's important in life. Then, continue the gradual process toward the body you want. And remember, the fine-tuning takes a lot longer than the rough work.

EDIT: You know, this could be the dreaded slowing of metabolism because your body is as determined to cling to your body fat as you are to get rid of it. If so, relaxing is even more important and eating enough fat will help coax your system to let go of the fat. Have you considered a leptin reset?

Clayton · Answer 4 · 2012-01-03 23:02:33Z UTC

Michelle~ I have to agree with Dave S. and a few others. I am in the same boat you are in...can't seem to lean out....but I SEVERELY believe it's because I stress over the way I look like you are doing. I've read all your posts because I'm searching for those same answers and my heart goes out to you truly. But I have come to the conclusion that it's stress. The Paleo Diet, the way it is written, says unlimited amounts of fruits and veggies. If you are stress free or can learn to keep your stress levels low then you can eat what you want and still feel good. Stop stressing over the way you look and focus more on keeping your stress levels down. It sounds like you're releasing too much cortisol. Keep in mind your body needs cortisol for gluconeogenesis (turning protein into glucose). And if your blood glucose levels are low, you would secrete more cortisol to counter it, which in return would make you put on weight or keep weight on. Robb Wolf even describes a client of his who was only CrossFitting 3x a week and was lean and healthy. Then she signed up for a competition and started going to CF 6x a week and put a tire on in her midsection. Don't overdo it. Get more rest days and listen to you body...it's obviously fighting you back and telling you to calm down. Add more carbs to your diet, you will be full and feel less stress. The worst that could happen is that it doesn't work. But I have felt better mentally when I started to focus on eliminating stress. When I was on vacation, I ate whatever Paleo foods I wanted and had awesome abs.

Caitlin · Answer 5 · 2011-12-01 16:22:11Z UTC

Stay away from the scale and body fat measurements. You may also need to do an ASI test to find out if you have adrenal fatigue. It sounds to me like you are exercising too much. I would cut the crossfit for a while. Go to sleep every night at 10 pm. You could also try the Leptin prescription on JAckKruse.com

Brad · Answer 6 · 2011-12-01 16:40:14Z UTC

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Have you tried using Fitday to discover how many calories you're eating on a typical day?

answered Dec 1 2011 at 16:40

Brad
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A few weeks a go I did a diet analysis project for my nutrition class....some days I'd eat around 1600 calories, some days it would be around 2100.... lately(last 2 weeks or so), its been around 1400-1600 calories daily. – Hoover Dec 1 2011 at 16:42

miked · Answer 7 · 2012-01-03 23:08:51Z UTC

I know nothing about how the BodPod does its measurements, but I can guarantee you that if you're not doing a full MRI there are assumptions and estimates that it's reporting. I wouldn't be surprised if it's only accurate to +/10% even though it reports precision to the 0.1%. If you have any documentation on how it works, what the measurements it makes are, the accuracy of those measurements, all of that, let me know and I'll see what I can figure out. But other than an MRI there is no measurement of body fat percentage that I trust.

Rather than go by a number and get all stressed which raises cortisol (as does restricting calories), try to relax and just wait for it all to work. Even if the "numbers" are getting worse, how do you look? How do your clothes fit?

Also - you're doing way too much. You don't say what kind of crossfit you're doing, but if it's mainsite-style workouts, they're too long. If it's short and heavy strength training, then I'm happy with it.

Why isn’t this working?! : EDIT

7 Answers