Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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So I am a 230lb 5'10" guy who works out on a regular basis. My understanding is that my base caloric needs should be around 2,700 and with my work outs I burn about 700 calories in an hour 3 days a week. The rest of the days are a crap shoot, it could be 200 it could be more.

I'm trying to find a simple (as in the same foods all day everyday) diet plan that will give me 3,000 calories without over loading me in protein (greater than 260g) or fat. Also I eat a lot of sweet potatoes now but that's going to get expensive as the costco at by my house has stopped selling the 10lbs for $4. :(

My goal is to drop down to 195lbs, I've seen 200lbs before but I've gained since then.

My Current meal plan:

Post Workout (07:00)
Scrambled Eggs 5 Large Eggs (using coconut oil to cook this), Sweet Potato 2 Cups, Almond Milk 8 oz,

Lunch (11:30)
Sweet Potato 2 Cups (baked sweet potatoes chunks with olive oil), Chicken 9oz (Grilled with pepper, cayenne pepper, and hot sauce),

Snack 16:00
Sweet Potato 2 Cups (same), Chicken 9oz, Flax Seed 4.5 tbsp,

Dinner (20:00)

Almond Milk 8 oz,
Chicken 9oz,
Romaine Lettuce 2 Cups,
Broccoli    1.5 Cups,

flag	asked Jan 10 2012 at 3:57 madflojo 21●1●3

	Important facts you missed: estimated bodyfat; and type of exercise (I only mention the latter because 700kcal of squatting will ramp up your metabolism for days afterwards; cardio will not). If you're going full-paleo as you seem to be, 'number of calories' isnt such a big deal. Take if from someone who's been on around 2800-3400/day for 2 months, weighs 170lbs (now), and lost roughly 22lbs. Its quality not quantity (too much or too little) – heavyarms Jan 10 2012 at 15:43
	Body Fat is a tough call for me, I started (long ago) weighing 380lbs so I have a lot of excess skin that makes it hard to judge my body fat % but i think its somewhere in the 30s – madflojo Jan 11 2012 at 3:45

Eric · Answer 1 · 2012-01-10 07:41:56Z UTC

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Get rid of the flaxseed and almond milk.

Make sure you are getting Vitamin D and FishOil.

answered Jan 10 2012 at 7:41

Eric
22.5k●1●17●68

Just curious, but why get rid of the almond milk? – Clint Jan 10 2012 at 16:50

Silk Almond Milk Original Flavor contains all-natural almond milk, which is filtered water and almonds. Other ingredients include all-natural evaporated cane juice, calcium carbonate, sea salt, locust bean gum, gellan gum, sunflower lecithin, d-alpha-Tocopherol (natural vitamin E, zinc gluconate, vitamin A palmitate, riboflavin), B-2, B-12 and D-2. Flavorings such as vanilla and cocoa are added to Vanilla and Dark Chocolate almond milk flavors, respectively. – Eric Jan 10 2012 at 17:23

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Eat some raw almonds and water for a better effect. Or simply water as almonds are something to limit due to PUFA content. – Eric Jan 10 2012 at 17:25

Jeff · Answer 2 · 2012-01-10 08:24:31Z UTC

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Why do you think your base caloric needs, at 5'10", would be 2700 kcals? Especially if you're trying to lose 35 pounds.

What kind of workouts are you doing to burn 700 kcals/hr? That's pretty high, like cardio at a HR of 160+ for an hour. You may be overestimating your calorie burning.

I'd also ditch the almond milk and flax seed.

If you're lifting weights I'd check out the leangains approach.

You may consider substituting some of the chicken for some grass-fed ground beef, you may be able to find it reasonably priced.

And to get even more tweaky, if you make mashed sweet potatoes (by boiling) instead of baked, they will not spike your blood sugar nearly as much which could be helpful in weight loss.

answered Jan 10 2012 at 8:24

Jeff
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	Check out the metabolic calculator at exrx.net. Try to get fat percentage via skin fold measurement or those impedence weighing machines. BMI is pretty bad at predicting fat. – anand srivastava Jan 10 2012 at 9:45
	I went off the metabolic calculators from livestrong, spark people and exrx.net and they all averaged 2700 for a sedentary life style. In regards to the working out I am doing a Martial Arts based Interval workout, and Yes my hr is averaging about 170 sometimes higher for at least 40 minutes then 20 minutes at 140 - 150. Why ditch the almond milk and flax seed? Flax seed seemed like a real easy way to add some calories. – madflojo Jan 11 2012 at 3:50
	Flax seed is extra PUFAs that aren't gonna do all that many good things for you. Also, I guess I'm confused why you want the extra calories when you say you're goal is 195 lbs – Jeff Jan 11 2012 at 4:40
	Well if you figure for my body size I need to eat 2700 and I burn at least 700 3 days a week that adds up to 3400. So if I eat 3000 than I am -400 calories on my workout days. In my past I've been eating about 2300 calories so I've been suspicious if I've not been getting enough calories. – madflojo Jan 11 2012 at 15:00
	Do you know if it's possible to extrapolate that study to beetroot, carrots, parsnip, celery root etc.? – Hemming Oct 29 at 19:07

anand srivastava · Answer 3 · 2012-01-10 06:30:44Z UTC

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Try out PHD. The Rice will help you :-). I would say avoid the almond milk. The almonds should be cooked (roasted) before eating. Almond milk would be made from raw almonds not good at all.

Look into Leangains approach.

answered Jan 10 2012 at 6:30

anand srivastava
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JayJay · Answer 4 · 2012-01-10 16:42:10Z UTC

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I'd throw in some ground beef for the stir fry instead of chicken if your looking to keep it cheap....I'm kind of confused as to your goals??? Why do you want to limit your fat?

If you wanna lose weight, but retain lean muscle mass I would go low carb and keep hitting the resistance exercise. If you are just trying to get enough calories on the cheap then I suppose white rice and potatoes are the flavor of the day.

Either way I would replace some of that chicken with high fat beef.

answered Jan 10 2012 at 16:42

JayJay
18.6k●6●28

	I've been eating lean meats and low fat for a while now, but then again I haven't been losing as much for a while as well. What would the downfalls of increasing my fat be? And my goal is to get enough calories to keep losing weight while burning the higher amount of calories in my work outs. I also want to add muscle instead of burning muscle for calories. – madflojo Jan 11 2012 at 3:57
	The downfalls to increasing fat? Can't really think of any. As long as your fats are "paleo" then they are a good source of energy to buffer/replace your carb load and switch your gears to burning fat rather than carbs as fuel. – JayJay Jan 12 2012 at 16:50

JitzGrrl · Answer 5 · 2012-01-10 17:50:48Z UTC

The difficulty with an every-single-day menu is that you're more likely to run short on a few nutrients, and at least in my metabolism, that leads to binges as my body seeks out those nutrients. But, that said, since nobody's yet answered your question, here's a stab at it:

Protein- 5 eggs, 1/2 lb grassed beef, 1 can red salmon or 1.5 cans sardines, 1/2 lb further meat of your choice

Veggies- 3 cups spinach, 1 c carrots or squash or sweet potato, 1 head broccoli or cauliflower or 1/2 head cabbage. And any more you want- eat as many veggies as you want!

Fat- 3 Tbsp grassed butter, 3 Tbsp coconut oil, 1-2 oz goat or grassfed cow cheese. On calorie deficit days, remove all but 1-2 T fat, just enough to cook with

Starches- fill the rest of your calories with safe starches: white rice, tapioca, peeled potatoes, green plantains.

Optionals- a piece of fruit every day is fine. Dairy/yogurt can stand in for some of the starches if you tolerate them well.

Thomy · Answer 6 · 2012-01-10 13:50:20Z UTC

Another trick would be to puree some steamed vegetables with fat (lard, tallow, coco) and add it to your meal. The resulting cream has lots of calories and tastes delicious. (maybe add some salt)

A good way to increase your daily calorie consumption.

Ideas on a 3,000 calorie meal plan?

6 Answers