I'm kind of amazed by the number of people here advocating a strict calorie counting regime. I've lost 30 lbs of baby weight, plus 25 lbs of pre-baby weight without counting calories. (If you're nursing, by the way, be careful about being on a strict calorie-restricted diet.)

Anyway, I found that my scale doesn't really budge if I'm eating nuts much at all, but I can eat bacon often and lots of fat from coconut oil and avocados and olive oil and non-lean meat, and do great.

I know that's only my own n=1, but I feel like it's important to put out there that calorie counting doesn't work for everyone. I've fought my weight my whole adult life, and calorie counting never worked for me. It just created a starve-binge cycle, and I went from being "overweight" at 135 lbs to being overweight at 175.

It's not how many carbs the Hershey kiss has, but what the insulin response is to those carbs. Are there signs of any metabolic derangement or autoimmune disease? Some people secrete insulin just from tasting something sweet, others don't.

If there is a chance of metabolic derangement, there many be some leptin resistance at play here. Dr. Jack Kruse has an excellent program for resetting leptin sensitivity on his website. (Leptin is secreted by the fat tissue to tell the brain about how much energy is stored in the body. Some people develop leptin resistance where their brain down-regulates receptors for leptin and therefore more of it is needed to signal the brain its time to stop eating.) For more details on leptin signaling, leptin resistance and how it may be foiling weight loss efforts, Chris Kresser has an excellent podcast on this topic.

Paleo is a great tool, but Chris uses the analogy of it being a blunt tool. A lot of people need refinements to the Paleo diet based on their genetics/biochemistry. This is where using the Paleo Physician's Network to find a local doc you can work with may be a great idea.

Lastly, I'll just add, Paleo is not a weight loss diet, its about better health. Yes, a lot of people lose weight in the process, but people who take on Paleo with the sole purpose of losing weight usually end up disappointed. Focus on feeling better and in time, the weight issue will sort itself out. Read some of Jason Seib's work for more regarding this.

Look at the total calories, and cut a little. maybee the nuts?

a hershey's kiss will spike insulin where a piece of fruit won't (at least not to the same degree). if you're consuming a primarily paleo diet your insulin levels shouldn't have spikes...which explains why you don't have the sugar highs and lows. The minute you start consuming foods that affect insulin negatively your weight loss with plateau or could eventually start gaining weight again...this I know from experience. if in doubt, check out the glycemic index on fruit and a piece of chocolate candy.

take a deep breath. panic is not good for your cortisol levels.

did you measure yourself when you started? your body will take time to redistribute weight before you will see a drop on the scale. the most important things to look after are your sleep and cleaning up your food choices. once you get that down buy a food scale and start tracking and experimenting.

there is no one right way; just a right for you way.

You are doing great. There are a lot of benefits other than weight loss to the Paleo diet. I am ok with the one hershies kiss. I would prefer it is higher quality. However I like the portion control portion of it.

I would check on sleep. Try and sleep 7.5 hours a night if possible.

Also up the walking to 5 times a week for 30 minutes. Also add some weight lifting to the scheme of things. Even if you start small on the weight lifting. Keep up the good work.

Much of the 9 lbs is likely water weight. Carbohydrates support water retention and since you dropped most of the carbs, you drop water weight quickly. I would keep track of your food using fitday.com or a phone app, just be precise to see exactly what you are eating and how much. Too much or too little can wreak havoc. Sometimes the body can read too few carbs as stress and hold onto fat as well. Everyone is different. I would also say enjoy your Hershey's kiss if that helps you stay away from other crap…..Don't worry about being militant.

Paleo isn't always a weight loss plan, but it's also not a quick fix for weight loss when it is. Hang in for 30-45 days and then assess how your clothes fit, how you look in the mirror and how you feel.

If you search around here, you'll find many threads about initial weight loss, which will all generally explain how when shifting away from a SAD/carb-heavy diet for the first time you're losing mostly water. It's pretty much the norm to drop quite a few pounds right off the bat (just as it would be relatively rare to lose ten pounds of actual fat in that same amount of time).

In my experience, going forward the best thing you can do is be open to making adjustments, using paleo as a framework and the suggestions/experiences of others as a guide. If you're going about things in a certain way, and a couple of days go by, and you seem to be stuck, then make a slight course change. Adjust the ratios. Eat a little more; eat a little less.

At the end of the day, the exact recipe I followed would mostly not work exactly for you. It's like that with almost everything. You've entered into the lab. Let your personal experiments begin. In my opinion, that's the start of doing paleo right.

17 Reasons on MDA is what I always refer friends to if they aren't losing weight. I'd definitely drop the chocolate, or try converting your habit to a small piece of high quality dark chocolate.

Intermittent fasting worked like a charm for me and on the days I'm too busy to cook or haven't had time to shop, it's a great way of emulating our ancestors.

As for too much fat? Eeeeeh, fat isn't exactly a harmful substance. I've got to disagree with BC there. Maybe cut the nuts, though. I've found they're easy to eat too many. And calories still do have context. If you're not burning through what you eat over the day (basic body functions and activities) then even the fat may become an enemy to your weight loss goal if you're still consuming more calories than you need.

Good luck! :)

The first few lbs. were most definitely water weight. You're body is now most likely adjusting. As far as feeling sick, are you sure you're eating enough?

Ditch the Hershey Kisses... regardless of what you may think, one Hershey Kiss can spike your insulin levels and make it impossible for your body to go back into a proper state of ketosis that it once did when you were 100% strict paleo. Also, how much fat are you consuming? You must keep in mind that while your body shed all the weight at first (because it was using that stored fat from carbs as energy), your body is now starting to adjust to the new diet. It sounds like, since you are 9 lbs lighter, you need to eat as though you are now 9lbs lighter. Eat more green leafy veggies, leaner meats (cut out the bacon for a while, or moderate it) and cut back on the almonds. Only a handful of nuts should be consumed in a day, especially if you eat 3 or more eggs a day.. because of the fat. Too much fat, like anything, isn't good either. Hope this helps.