As always, if there’s any issues, e-mail or call me.
As some of you have found out, there’s an adjustment period to cutting out grains/sugars/high GI carbs. Some of you have added back in some high GI carb sources to get your energy levels up, and that’s great.
For those of you who are looking for more than small body composition changes, try to monitor and limit the amount of high GI carb sources you’re bringing in, even if it’s just fruit. A whole lot of fruit is, well, a whole lot of sugar. Limit your intake to enough to maintain energy levels throughout the day/workouts.
So, especially for our weight loss people, try shifting some of those carbs to your post-WO meal (so you’ll have less at your meals, but about the same overall).
Don’t jump the gun on big-time carb reduction, and certainly not calorie reduction. Give yourself some time to get used to the change in food sources, and then start stepping down those carbs.
Jake – what is some good post workout carbs other than fruit that we can be munching on? And is there a ‘time frame’ in which your body needs these carbs/proteins that you need after the wod?
So a little frustrated because I weighed myself and saw that I had gained weight, probably from drinking this weekend, but still I have never weighed this much in my life especially while being on a diet and working out this much. I signed up for fit day and think it will help a lot.
B- Banana with Almond Butter, Coffee little milk and all natural sweet leaf calorie free sweetener
S- Two egg whites
L- Broccoli and Carrots with Hummus two pieces of Sliced Turkey
Already over the prescribed amount of carbs! I guess bananas and carrots have a lot of carbs because I am already at 53gs and I was really trying to stay under 50.
Oh well, I will stick with it and try to maybe eat half bananas and half apples in the future
Made it past the biggest obsticle of the week without messing up too terribly. Superbowl Sunday. Only had 2 slices of pizzs, 1 beer, and about 4 mini Mr. Goodbars. Could of been a lot worse.
Hey Brittany – It’s good that you started using fitday. I don’t want people obsessing over calories, but you need to have a good idea of what you’re eating.
Don’t try to jump straight to 50g carbs/day. Shoot for sub-100 or 75g.
It isn’t hard to ditch one calorie dense food (sugar) for another (fats from nuts/meat) when you switch to Paleo-style eating. It’s easy to snack on nuts all day and bring in tons of calories.
I’ll take a look at your fitday after you’ve got a few days in there. In the meanwhile, try to get down to 100-75g carbs, and don’t go wild with nuts/nut butters.
Just gonna say..nuts without salt suck! I know paleo people are nut crazy…I almost hate them, they leave my mouth dry and I’m extremely thirsty afterwards. Anyways, thats my personal opinion about nuts. I envy you if you love them.
Stuff I’ve been eating:
B – usually have eggs (2) I had paleo pancakes once
S – oranges/peaches/ or blueberries
L – salads with chicken or pork with organic mango salsa
D – pork or fish or chicken or paleo beef stew with lots of veggies, either stir fry or zucchini and squash or asparagus
Nikki – I know some of the guys at the gym have done sweet potatoes, or a sweet potato/apple sauce mash after WODs. By mash I mean the two mixed up to a consistency of mashed potatoes. I think the time frame is within 1 hour of working out.
Brittany – I did Paleo for a bit starting in Nov or Dec and gained some weight. For me, I was eating twice as much protein as usual and think that caused the lbs to pile up.
Food:
B – 2 eggs, 1 oz ham, 1/2 orange
L – pork bbq, salad
S – zone bar after work
D – probably baked pork chop with some veggies
S – something before bed
I posted this question at the end of week 1, but I think maybe it was too late in the discussion to get a reply…Is anyone else having a hard time getting in 1g protein per # of body weight. This is a lot of protein!!! I feel like I constantly have to be gnawing on a meat product….
Too, I was wondering are pistachios ok, they are a tree nut?
0445- Boiled Egg
0900-Two Egg whites, 2 pieces of bacon, 2 slices of grapefruit
1230-Salad and lunch meat, Almond Butter
1400-Pistachios
1600-2 small Paleo Meatballs
TBD…Does this sound ok? I feel like I am starting to doubt some of my choices this week just because I feel good and am not miserable…
Have any idea how much protein you are getting in per day? These are general guidelines, you could certainly go with much less, I’d guess as little as .5. If you were doing the “Zone”, you’d likely be having less, more along the lines of 80-90g a day. We’re certainly not doing the zone, but just gauging things by a more strict but still moderate protein/carb diet.
I realize that’s a little high, but you’re likely shifting some calories from carbs to protein because of your carb sources/amounts.
I’d say if you’re getting in some lean protein source at every meal, handling the carb changes well, and feeling good/seeing some results, don’t sweat it!
I am consuming about 80-100g protein at the end of the day. I am worried too about the fat intake…the fat intake seems high, but it is from recommended items such as almond butter and nuts!?!
I’m on fitday.com and have decided to open up my profile for public viewing. I am very much still learning and am being extremely honest on this sight so be gentle on me if you comment! I am posting in the journel as well and will continue to do so. Maybe by showing what I am doing it can help someone else. I was totally amazed at the amount of carbs in some foods so I am still adjusting foods so that I feel satisfied but stay within limits of where I want to be.
Some foods I have to custom make for the values and some I find the closest match available. They are not always listed in the order eatten either. I write down foods and update the log when I can.
I too was VERY surprised at how many carbs are in some foods, especially fruit. I had been 75% paleoing for about 2 months before now so I think I’m going to go for the carb reduction. This is rally hard because I don’t like veggies very much. I typically only like them raw and i LOVE fruit so this is going to be hard.
Also, B-man, if you are ready this I am going to try and slow the drinking even though this will be VERY hard.
Mackenzie, given the spelling in your last comment, you may be drinking right now.
Melissa, I think your protein intake is fine. As far as fat goes, yea, it’s easy to overdo it. Just don’t go crazy with the nuts and whatnot, go for as much lean meat and vegetables as you can, and bring in the nuts/nut butter to keep hunger at bay.
Stop it Mackenzie, you’re making me proud. I don’t think it’s fair to expect that you cut drinking out entirely, but it won’t hurt you to give it a shot to see how you feel.
Your nutrition challenge is not only a way to learn to eat better, but also an experiment on yourself. How I eat and what I do may not necessarily work for you, but the challenge establishes a good base-line for everyone and you can all build on that.
So, I’ve been tracking in Fitday and looking back on the past week, I’ve realized my fiber content is dwindling between 15 and 30 grams a day, when I used to get 50-60g/day. Obviously cutting out whole grains of all kinds is cutting out a big source of fiber, but I was thinking with this level of vegetables I would still get at least the RDA 25g/day.
Kind of the same deal with vits/minerals. It’s hard to get things like Vit C, A, and Potassium without some fruit.
Any opinions on this? I read through a Paleo diet book and the author (Dr. Loren Cordain) was okay with unlimited carbs after you get your ~150-200g. of protein a day, which in examples equaled something like 140g of carbs for a woman. So is the reduction in carbs just for weight loss?
Nikki- that main reduction in carbs is to get you out of that high GI area. If your fiber intake has dropped off that much, start adding more green vegetables to get back to your starting level of fiber intake: just don’t add grains or more fruit.
Also, we all need to have some protein in that post-workout meal we have been talking about. This is your 1 meal a day where you can be a little looser on carb type. So, if you want to make a smoothie with fruits and fruit juices, that’s okay. Add 30% protein to it. Although it is not strict Paleo, I use whey protein powder. Newer research shows that adding a protein source to that post workout meal increases muscle healing between workouts. Just remember, you need to consume this meal within an hour, and preferentially within 30 minutes. If you creep out of that time period, you risk invoking that insulin response from those carbs.
John and Kat – sounds good on post workout carbs, I will move most of my carb intake to after the workout and try to limit my fruit intake during the day to minimal or none.
PS…John, there is a Nikki and a Nicole (haha..I totally was lost by your response for a minute until I realized you were replying to Miss Nicole) it’s all good though, I think their is like 20 John’s at the ‘Space’…=)
Forgot on my last post…overall I feel pretty good, I get a bit tired after work, but not to the extent that I was feeling when I was eating worse. Things I miss the most are chocolate and cheese, however the cravings have gotten better. I realized that I am a ‘snacker’ whenever I am sitting at home doing nothing, I have a tendency to grab a peice of cheese or something small and just snack..going Paleo, carb and calorie counting has elimanated that. I don’t truly miss the alcohol, only on social outings makes it tough, but since I am ‘old’ anyways (over 30) now I can’t hang like I could when I was 25 anyways, so I tend to have 2 glasses of wine and it’s a party….
As many of you are hopefully finding, your diets have been carb-centric. Lots of bad things happen to your body when you have a lifelong diet that focuses on carbohydrates as your main macronutrient source.
For Nicole: unfortunately for you as a female, you have caloric requirements that are significantly less than most males. Because of this, you have less leeway to waste your calories on bad foods. I know it makes it more difficult, but you have to be a bit more choosy when choosing your carbohydrate sources. We have been about carbohydrate reduction because most American diets are too carbohydrate heavy to sustain good health.
Up the veggies and you should meet your fiber requirements while staying beneath your carbohydrate numbers. You can still eat oranges and bananas and other fruit to get vitamins, just back off on the fruit and up the vegetables.
So this is weird, I noticed yesterday by obsessing over how many carbs I was taking it (staying at 75) I ended up not getting enough calories. Also, has anyone else noticed that a large part of their pie chart for caloric intake is dominated by fat? It is mostly the almond fat from the almond butter I eat with my breakfast, but is that ok? My chart says I have eaten mostly fat and protein is that, it might have said that because I didn’t eat very much yesterday as I stated earlier, so maybe of what I was eating I guess the almond butter took over, but still.
7:30- 10 Almonds a couple Dried Apple Rings
10:00–Apple Almond Butter
11:00- 2 Egg Whites
12:30- Spinach and Arugala Salad, with Chicken, Beets, 3 Strawberries, a few slivered almonds
later on – Broccoli with hummus
Is it ok to have a small amount of almonds with each meal as I have done today, as long as I am not like bingeing on like 50 of them thorough out the day?
There have been a lot of questions concerning fats lately. We’ve been taught to think that fat is bad for us, but that’s not the entire truth. As you shift your diets away from carbohydrates, you’ll be replacing a lot of those calories with fats. As long as you are taking in good fats (almonds fall into this category), you’ll be okay.
Zone principles dictate that you take in macronutrients in a 40/30/30 ratio of carbs, proteins, and fats. I’m not suggesting the Zone for anyone because it’s a pain in the butt unless you know exactly what you’re doing, but if your intake is somewhere close to the aforementioned ratio, you’re doing just fine.
Personally, I will take in as much as 50% of my calories via good fats and I do fine in terms of energy and performance.
So, Melissa asked me today about pistachio nuts, and initially I refuted her assertion that they were fine. Well I came home to do a little research, and this is what I found: strict Paleo folks don’t advocate pistachio nuts because they are pretty high in Omega 6 fatty acids. Those that are strict on Paleo are really into the ratio of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. Although this is a valid concern, it is not one that we think you guys need to get too wrapped around the axle about. In short Melissa: grab those pistachios and grub down.
Another method of eating that I have found helpful is the Primal Blueprint. If you want to do a little more research on the relationship between Omega 6′s and Omega 3′s, check out their website at http://primalblueprint.com/.
Brittany, I feel the exact same way…I’m logging nowhere near the calories I thought I would, but I’m full. I guess this is good? According to my activity log with Fitday, I’m eating about ~800-1000 cals less than I’m burning.
yea, i am full so maybe this will work out because my meals are heavily composed with vegetables so i guess the caloric intake isn’t very high.
Matt- Thanks for those websites that almond article put me more at ease, anyone who has almond qualms read it. Apparently eating them in moderation helps you lose more body fat. wooooot
How about cooking with red wine? The alcohol will be burned up, its made with fruit, but are the sugars bad? I have a really good recipe that is paleo except for red wine in the marinade, thoughts?
You guys are doing way better than I am… i can not shake the fruit. I am used to having at least 1 apple and banana, and most likely strawberries everyday. Some days I eat way more. That is what is really had for me right now. I like veggies… but fruit is so much tastier! I have been good about getting rid of breads and cereals, I have even cut out a lot of dairy (which makes me sad because I love a glass of milk). My carb intake is still high because of all the fruit. For example today I had:
6:30 – 5 egg whites+1 whole egg and 4 pc of turkey bacon and a banana and some milk (i know it is a lot but normally i can’t even snack until around noon)
10:00 ish around 100g of carrots and celery and 1 tbsp peanut butter (yeah i went for the peanut butter)
12:30ish 5 mini marshmallows a handful of almonds and a cup of blueberries.
I actually stretched the blueberries for about an hour, but with just that I have my carbs up to 84g!!!
I am hoping next week I don’t cave and go on a bread eating binge. See everyone at the gym.
Hey guys- thought I might post another recipe tonight. Lila and I made this on Sunday, and it stretched into lunch on Monday for both of us.
Buffalo Chili:
1-2 pounds ground buffalo
3 jalapeno’s- diced
1 onion- diced
1 bell pepper- diced
2 cans tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1/2 jar salsa
1 sweet potato- cut into small cubes
3 large carrots- chopped.
Saute the buffalo, jalapenos, onion, and bell pepper until the meat is browned. Then add to the rest of the ingredients in a large pot. Let simmer for an hour or so.
As a side note: be careful when picking out your salsa. Many of them are just chopped veggies and peppers; which is fine. Others have all sorts of sugars and such in them.
Today has been a rough day for cravings. I’m holding tough. I thought I would post my mushroom spinach soup recipe. It’s very good and for those worried about getting enough fiber…trust me..this will help with that. It’s also very tasty.
3 cups low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped cauliflower florets
1/2 cup chopped broccoli florets
1/2 onion diced
1 teaspoon peeled minced ginger (I cheat and use the jarred ginger)
2 teaspoons minced garlic (again, I cheat and get the jar)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
10 white button mushrooms, cut into bite sized pieces
2 cups packed, chopped fresh spinach
pepper to taste
toasted pumpkin seeds, for garnish (optional)
1. Bring the chicken broth to a boil in large saucepan and add the califlower, broccoli, onion, ginger and 1 tsp of the garlic. Cook over medium heat 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the remaining 1 tsp garlic and saute for about 1 min. Add the mushrooms and saute for about 3 mins or until they are soft. Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach.
3. Remove the chicken broth mixture from the heat and allow to cool for about 10 mins. Working in batches, transfer the broth and vegetable mixture to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
4. Return the broth mixture to the pot and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Stir the spinach and mushrooms into the hot soup. Season to taste.
5. Sprinkle toasted pumpkin seeds on top.
Any paleo root vegetables you all can thing off that would be a good sub for potatoes (aside from sweet potatoes) I plan on making a roast later this week in the slow cooker. I’d like to cram as many veggies in that pot with them as possible and normally some red potatoes would go great with a roast. However as we know potatoes aren’t exactly low-carb friendly
Ryan parsnips would probs be good, maybe beets or turnips? But definitely parsnips.
Thanks for the recipes, I’m going to use those soon.
I was talking to Heather and Diane tonight about a vague recipe I use for breakfast, and I figured I’d share it. It does have a little fruit in it, but breakfast has been the hardest for me to get used to if I’m not going to eat eggs every, single day.
.25-.5 apple, either raw, or sometimes i use baked or sauteed
4 oz. or so cooked shredded/chopped chicken breast
1 celery stalk chopped
.5 avocado chopped
a pinch of: coriander, ground ginger, cloves, nutmeg
lots of cinnamon, and some vanilla extract.
either cold, or sometimes i’ll microwave it for a bit.
Tastes like breakfast to me, and it’s been easing my transition into caveman-like big cold hunks of meat early in the morning.
Things are going well, though, aside from late night sugar cravings.
Everything has been going pretty well, Mackenzie and I made a paleo feast last night and paleo treats (carob, coconut oil, almond meal). They were very tasty except that I thought Sweet Potatoes were a splendid thing to eat, but one cup has 58 carbs! So when plugging it into fitday I obviously went over my carb restriction goal, but whatever you win some you lose some. No more sweet potatoes for this girl. I also started having half an apple with almond butter for breakfast and turkey instead of a whole one, and my carbs have been way lower today so far. I also cut out extra almonds and dried fruit as a snack and upped the chicken in my salad and I think my pie chart seems better rounded.
b- .5 apple, almond butter, 3 slices of turkey
s- 2 egg whites
l- spinach, arugula, beet, strawberry, almond, and chicken salad
s- broccoli and carrots with hummus (not paleo but I can’t shake it)
I’ve returned from Houston. It was good, non-paleo times.
Thanks for the recipe, Nicole! I’m going to try it out this week. Here’s the chicken I made yesterday during my snow day:
Rub achiote paste over a whole 5-6 lb chicken, squeeze two lemons and one orange over it in the roasting pan, then stuffed them in the chicken. cover. 350 for an hourish
Should I focus more on the Carb (sub 100g/day) and Protein (1g/#body weight) than on the Fat and Calories? If so, what should I eat to get up to my body weight in Protein? I don’t think I can eat that much all day every day.
Calories – between 1700 and 2000 per day.
Protein – 29 to 31% of my graph, which is 117 – 135g.
Carbs – 20 to 25% of my graph, which is 100 – 140g.
Fat – 41 to 49% of my graph, which is 84 – 127g. (I eat a lot of peanut butter).
Stuff I’ve been eating:
B – 2 eggs with 3 slices of bacon (or 1 oz ham) and 1 orange, or omelets w/ ham, cheese, mushrooms.
L – 4 oz of lunch meat, apple and pb. Caesar salad with double meat. Today was stuffed chicken breast (stuffed with apple, dried cranberries, pecans)
S – zone bars
D – tuna one night, stuffed chicken breast from above.
WOD – no difference. I’ve been eating like this for about 3 years – I don’t expect to see a difference in performance during the challenge. If I do, that is a welcomed surprise.
I noticed someone was talking about paleo pancakes earlier. Jake and I make them using the 2 banana, tbsp almond butter, 1 egg recipe. They’re really good. Sometimes I add some unsweetened applesauce if the mix is looking too stiff, or some cinnamon for extra taste. I would recommended these; however, be mindful there is a shit ton of carbs in bananas (around 30g). If you go for paleo pancakes be sure your side is a protein (sausage, bacon, egg, etc) instead of another carb added on top of the cakes (blueberries, strawberries).
I’m gaining weight, but my pants aren’t feeling any tighter, so hopefully it’s muscle. Who knows, I feel good and my WOD’s are improving, that’s all that matters. My typical food day is as follows;
7AM – 3 eggs (fried, poached, scrambled or in an omelet with mushrooms, green peppers, onions, etc.) I’ve started to add pepper and sriracha to give it a little kick. Handful of almonds, and triple strength fish oil pill.
11AM – 5/8 of a salad (Romaine, spinach, hard boiled eggs, celery, carrots, green pepper, banana pepper, cucumber, shaved almonds, broccoli, cauliflower, with either tuna, flank steak, chicken breast, salmon, ham, turkey, with balsamic vinaigrette.
3PM – Remaining 3/8 of salad mentioned above.
7PM – Monday night I broiled a flank steak, roasted brussel sprouts and added a sweet potato. Here’s where it gets interesting. I made the paleo sheperd’s pie (http://cfscceat.blogspot.com/) night witch was pretty good added some sriracha again to make it less bland. Last night was our anniversary so we went to Julep’s (highly recommend) it’s tricky making good decisions when going out, but I think I made the better bad choice. Started with the foie gras, followed with a tuna/crab/avacado/apple salad which was awesome, then for my entree I got the duck breast over sweet potato puree and roasted brussel sprouts. Sounds like I was pretty disciplined right? We’ll I didn’t mention we split a bottle of wine and creme brulee, oh well. Tonight I am planning on the chicken stir fry (http://www.downanddirtypaleorecipes.blogspot.com/).
I’ve tried to put my meals into fitday.com but became frustrated because I couldn’t find the food I ate so, I’ve yet to log my meals. Any tips to make this process easier would be much appreciated.
I only ask because I see all this carb restriction in your posts and from others. If this is your first foray into prehistoric eating then I would, as Jake has said many times, concentrate on eating quality foods first before anything else. Eating quality foods means consuming the natural gifts from the earth. If you couldn’t pick it or kill it then don’t eat it.
I’ve been to the gym many times and I can assure you that, no matter what the body fat measurements said, most of you are not fat. If you have excess body fat that you would like to lose it will not come any faster if you skip the steps that have been laid out. If you choose to skip steps (i.e. cutting your carbs whilst trying to up your food quality) you may find yourself at a point where you are binging on bread instead of apples when you hit a carb crash because of all the reduction you are not adapted for. Do step 1 for 2 weeks. Then move on if, and only if, you are not becoming as lean as you would like. I’ve been doing this for many moons, so trust me, this is how it works.
I’m being preachy but I want to remind everyone participating that this is not a diet. This is not Weight Watchers, this is not South Beach, this is not the grape fruit-rice cakes-deer urine-diet-secrets-to-shapely-buns-and-thighs. This is the way you should probably eat for the term of your natural life. If you would like to live long, move your body around at an older age almost as pain free as you do now, and maintain lean body mass well past the point where most Americans do then you are going to have to continue to do what you are doing now forever.
Eat more meat. Stop being afraid of fat.
Sincerely,
The jerk who visits the gym twice a month, sits at the desk, and makes mean faces at all of you.
Also, I’ll revise my previous protein requirement. First, just make sure you’re eating protein at meals/snacks. Looking around, somewhere around .8g/pound of lean body mass (not total mass as I stated before) will be a good place for many of you who are looking to lose weight. Those of you who aren’t looking to necessarily lose weight, but improve body composition, can likely go higher. But really, unless your protein numbers are way under, don’t sweat it, especially if you aren’t experiencing any issues.
I probably have 1.5g/pound of total body weight, so I’m a little biased. Then again, I’ve been trying for years to get up to 200# so I can be at the top of my weight class. So when you see me eating any non-Paleo item, it’s because my goals don’t involve body composition or weight loss. Just being able to perform better than the other guy.
holy crap..i ate 119g of protein today…wow!
5 slices of turkey bacon and 1 egg for B
8oz steak for dinner
1oz almonds
7 slices of ham
…that is how i ate all the protein
i didn’t know i had it in me
Ashamed to say I fell off the horse today, ate like complete crap. I’m a sucker for going out with people. Anyway for all of you who have held strong keep it up, I ate like crap today, performed/felt even worse. It sucks but tomorrow is a new day so I’ll be starting back on square one this time I plan on doing it right.
oh my gosh it sounds like we are in AA. ryan, my name is mackenzie and I am an addict…for good food. so no worries, its only week 2, you have plenty of time. plus is it makes you feel any better i’m drinking red wine right now.
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You guys made it – Week #2!
As always, if there’s any issues, e-mail or call me.
As some of you have found out, there’s an adjustment period to cutting out grains/sugars/high GI carbs. Some of you have added back in some high GI carb sources to get your energy levels up, and that’s great.
For those of you who are looking for more than small body composition changes, try to monitor and limit the amount of high GI carb sources you’re bringing in, even if it’s just fruit. A whole lot of fruit is, well, a whole lot of sugar. Limit your intake to enough to maintain energy levels throughout the day/workouts.
Also, now’s a good time to start looking at post-WO nutrition. Your body responds to carbs a bit differently after workouts (more info here: http://robbwolf.com/2008/11/03/post-wo-nutrition/)
So, especially for our weight loss people, try shifting some of those carbs to your post-WO meal (so you’ll have less at your meals, but about the same overall).
Don’t jump the gun on big-time carb reduction, and certainly not calorie reduction. Give yourself some time to get used to the change in food sources, and then start stepping down those carbs.
Jake – what is some good post workout carbs other than fruit that we can be munching on? And is there a ‘time frame’ in which your body needs these carbs/proteins that you need after the wod?
So a little frustrated because I weighed myself and saw that I had gained weight, probably from drinking this weekend, but still I have never weighed this much in my life especially while being on a diet and working out this much. I signed up for fit day and think it will help a lot.
B- Banana with Almond Butter, Coffee little milk and all natural sweet leaf calorie free sweetener
S- Two egg whites
L- Broccoli and Carrots with Hummus two pieces of Sliced Turkey
Already over the prescribed amount of carbs! I guess bananas and carrots have a lot of carbs because I am already at 53gs and I was really trying to stay under 50.
Oh well, I will stick with it and try to maybe eat half bananas and half apples in the future
Made it past the biggest obsticle of the week without messing up too terribly. Superbowl Sunday. Only had 2 slices of pizzs, 1 beer, and about 4 mini Mr. Goodbars. Could of been a lot worse.
Hey Brittany – It’s good that you started using fitday. I don’t want people obsessing over calories, but you need to have a good idea of what you’re eating.
Don’t try to jump straight to 50g carbs/day. Shoot for sub-100 or 75g.
It isn’t hard to ditch one calorie dense food (sugar) for another (fats from nuts/meat) when you switch to Paleo-style eating. It’s easy to snack on nuts all day and bring in tons of calories.
I’ll take a look at your fitday after you’ve got a few days in there. In the meanwhile, try to get down to 100-75g carbs, and don’t go wild with nuts/nut butters.
Just gonna say..nuts without salt suck! I know paleo people are nut crazy…I almost hate them, they leave my mouth dry and I’m extremely thirsty afterwards. Anyways, thats my personal opinion about nuts. I envy you if you love them.
Stuff I’ve been eating:
B – usually have eggs (2) I had paleo pancakes once
S – oranges/peaches/ or blueberries
L – salads with chicken or pork with organic mango salsa
D – pork or fish or chicken or paleo beef stew with lots of veggies, either stir fry or zucchini and squash or asparagus
Nikki – I know some of the guys at the gym have done sweet potatoes, or a sweet potato/apple sauce mash after WODs. By mash I mean the two mixed up to a consistency of mashed potatoes. I think the time frame is within 1 hour of working out.
Brittany – I did Paleo for a bit starting in Nov or Dec and gained some weight. For me, I was eating twice as much protein as usual and think that caused the lbs to pile up.
Food:
B – 2 eggs, 1 oz ham, 1/2 orange
L – pork bbq, salad
S – zone bar after work
D – probably baked pork chop with some veggies
S – something before bed
I posted this question at the end of week 1, but I think maybe it was too late in the discussion to get a reply…Is anyone else having a hard time getting in 1g protein per # of body weight. This is a lot of protein!!! I feel like I constantly have to be gnawing on a meat product….
Too, I was wondering are pistachios ok, they are a tree nut?
0445- Boiled Egg
0900-Two Egg whites, 2 pieces of bacon, 2 slices of grapefruit
1230-Salad and lunch meat, Almond Butter
1400-Pistachios
1600-2 small Paleo Meatballs
TBD…Does this sound ok? I feel like I am starting to doubt some of my choices this week just because I feel good and am not miserable…
Hey Melissa,
Have any idea how much protein you are getting in per day? These are general guidelines, you could certainly go with much less, I’d guess as little as .5. If you were doing the “Zone”, you’d likely be having less, more along the lines of 80-90g a day. We’re certainly not doing the zone, but just gauging things by a more strict but still moderate protein/carb diet.
I realize that’s a little high, but you’re likely shifting some calories from carbs to protein because of your carb sources/amounts.
I’d say if you’re getting in some lean protein source at every meal, handling the carb changes well, and feeling good/seeing some results, don’t sweat it!
I am consuming about 80-100g protein at the end of the day. I am worried too about the fat intake…the fat intake seems high, but it is from recommended items such as almond butter and nuts!?!
I’m on fitday.com and have decided to open up my profile for public viewing. I am very much still learning and am being extremely honest on this sight so be gentle on me if you comment! I am posting in the journel as well and will continue to do so. Maybe by showing what I am doing it can help someone else. I was totally amazed at the amount of carbs in some foods so I am still adjusting foods so that I feel satisfied but stay within limits of where I want to be.
the link to my profile is:
http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=rogerswabbit
Some foods I have to custom make for the values and some I find the closest match available. They are not always listed in the order eatten either. I write down foods and update the log when I can.
I too was VERY surprised at how many carbs are in some foods, especially fruit. I had been 75% paleoing for about 2 months before now so I think I’m going to go for the carb reduction. This is rally hard because I don’t like veggies very much. I typically only like them raw and i LOVE fruit so this is going to be hard.
Also, B-man, if you are ready this I am going to try and slow the drinking even though this will be VERY hard.
Mackenzie, given the spelling in your last comment, you may be drinking right now.
Melissa, I think your protein intake is fine. As far as fat goes, yea, it’s easy to overdo it. Just don’t go crazy with the nuts and whatnot, go for as much lean meat and vegetables as you can, and bring in the nuts/nut butter to keep hunger at bay.
Stop it Mackenzie, you’re making me proud. I don’t think it’s fair to expect that you cut drinking out entirely, but it won’t hurt you to give it a shot to see how you feel.
Your nutrition challenge is not only a way to learn to eat better, but also an experiment on yourself. How I eat and what I do may not necessarily work for you, but the challenge establishes a good base-line for everyone and you can all build on that.
So, I’ve been tracking in Fitday and looking back on the past week, I’ve realized my fiber content is dwindling between 15 and 30 grams a day, when I used to get 50-60g/day. Obviously cutting out whole grains of all kinds is cutting out a big source of fiber, but I was thinking with this level of vegetables I would still get at least the RDA 25g/day.
Kind of the same deal with vits/minerals. It’s hard to get things like Vit C, A, and Potassium without some fruit.
Any opinions on this? I read through a Paleo diet book and the author (Dr. Loren Cordain) was okay with unlimited carbs after you get your ~150-200g. of protein a day, which in examples equaled something like 140g of carbs for a woman. So is the reduction in carbs just for weight loss?
Nikki- that main reduction in carbs is to get you out of that high GI area. If your fiber intake has dropped off that much, start adding more green vegetables to get back to your starting level of fiber intake: just don’t add grains or more fruit.
Also, we all need to have some protein in that post-workout meal we have been talking about. This is your 1 meal a day where you can be a little looser on carb type. So, if you want to make a smoothie with fruits and fruit juices, that’s okay. Add 30% protein to it. Although it is not strict Paleo, I use whey protein powder. Newer research shows that adding a protein source to that post workout meal increases muscle healing between workouts. Just remember, you need to consume this meal within an hour, and preferentially within 30 minutes. If you creep out of that time period, you risk invoking that insulin response from those carbs.
I could be wrong but I believe the carb reduction is more aimed at restoring proper insulin control within your system then weight loss.
John and Kat – sounds good on post workout carbs, I will move most of my carb intake to after the workout and try to limit my fruit intake during the day to minimal or none.
PS…John, there is a Nikki and a Nicole (haha..I totally was lost by your response for a minute until I realized you were replying to Miss Nicole) it’s all good though, I think their is like 20 John’s at the ‘Space’…=)
Forgot on my last post…overall I feel pretty good, I get a bit tired after work, but not to the extent that I was feeling when I was eating worse. Things I miss the most are chocolate and cheese, however the cravings have gotten better. I realized that I am a ‘snacker’ whenever I am sitting at home doing nothing, I have a tendency to grab a peice of cheese or something small and just snack..going Paleo, carb and calorie counting has elimanated that. I don’t truly miss the alcohol, only on social outings makes it tough, but since I am ‘old’ anyways (over 30) now I can’t hang like I could when I was 25 anyways, so I tend to have 2 glasses of wine and it’s a party….
As many of you are hopefully finding, your diets have been carb-centric. Lots of bad things happen to your body when you have a lifelong diet that focuses on carbohydrates as your main macronutrient source.
For Nicole: unfortunately for you as a female, you have caloric requirements that are significantly less than most males. Because of this, you have less leeway to waste your calories on bad foods. I know it makes it more difficult, but you have to be a bit more choosy when choosing your carbohydrate sources. We have been about carbohydrate reduction because most American diets are too carbohydrate heavy to sustain good health.
Up the veggies and you should meet your fiber requirements while staying beneath your carbohydrate numbers. You can still eat oranges and bananas and other fruit to get vitamins, just back off on the fruit and up the vegetables.
So this is weird, I noticed yesterday by obsessing over how many carbs I was taking it (staying at 75) I ended up not getting enough calories. Also, has anyone else noticed that a large part of their pie chart for caloric intake is dominated by fat? It is mostly the almond fat from the almond butter I eat with my breakfast, but is that ok? My chart says I have eaten mostly fat and protein is that, it might have said that because I didn’t eat very much yesterday as I stated earlier, so maybe of what I was eating I guess the almond butter took over, but still.
7:30- 10 Almonds a couple Dried Apple Rings
10:00–Apple Almond Butter
11:00- 2 Egg Whites
12:30- Spinach and Arugala Salad, with Chicken, Beets, 3 Strawberries, a few slivered almonds
later on – Broccoli with hummus
Is it ok to have a small amount of almonds with each meal as I have done today, as long as I am not like bingeing on like 50 of them thorough out the day?
This might help people with some ideas of what to eat:
http://crossfitoneworld.typepad.com/look_better_naked/
This also might help. Eat more meat. Stop being scared of fat:
http://downanddirtypaleo.blogspot.com/
There have been a lot of questions concerning fats lately. We’ve been taught to think that fat is bad for us, but that’s not the entire truth. As you shift your diets away from carbohydrates, you’ll be replacing a lot of those calories with fats. As long as you are taking in good fats (almonds fall into this category), you’ll be okay.
Zone principles dictate that you take in macronutrients in a 40/30/30 ratio of carbs, proteins, and fats. I’m not suggesting the Zone for anyone because it’s a pain in the butt unless you know exactly what you’re doing, but if your intake is somewhere close to the aforementioned ratio, you’re doing just fine.
Personally, I will take in as much as 50% of my calories via good fats and I do fine in terms of energy and performance.
whew.
already up to 54 carbs today…geez this is hard. I think i’m going to bring in my fit day at the end of this week and see what you guys think.
by the way, how many nuts are too many nuts?
Doing good… ready for week two.. and less snow!
B= 4 eggs with spinach
L= Handful plain almonds & banana
PWS= Post workout shake w/ tablespoon of PB thrown in.
D= Spinach salad w/ Asparagus & green beans & tuna steak.
So, Melissa asked me today about pistachio nuts, and initially I refuted her assertion that they were fine. Well I came home to do a little research, and this is what I found: strict Paleo folks don’t advocate pistachio nuts because they are pretty high in Omega 6 fatty acids. Those that are strict on Paleo are really into the ratio of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. Although this is a valid concern, it is not one that we think you guys need to get too wrapped around the axle about. In short Melissa: grab those pistachios and grub down.
Another method of eating that I have found helpful is the Primal Blueprint. If you want to do a little more research on the relationship between Omega 6′s and Omega 3′s, check out their website at http://primalblueprint.com/.
how many calories should we be eating? I feel like fit day is lying to me but for the last few days it seems oddly low…
Brittany, I feel the exact same way…I’m logging nowhere near the calories I thought I would, but I’m full. I guess this is good? According to my activity log with Fitday, I’m eating about ~800-1000 cals less than I’m burning.
yea, i am full so maybe this will work out because my meals are heavily composed with vegetables so i guess the caloric intake isn’t very high.
Matt- Thanks for those websites that almond article put me more at ease, anyone who has almond qualms read it. Apparently eating them in moderation helps you lose more body fat. wooooot
How about cooking with red wine? The alcohol will be burned up, its made with fruit, but are the sugars bad? I have a really good recipe that is paleo except for red wine in the marinade, thoughts?
You guys are doing way better than I am… i can not shake the fruit. I am used to having at least 1 apple and banana, and most likely strawberries everyday. Some days I eat way more. That is what is really had for me right now. I like veggies… but fruit is so much tastier! I have been good about getting rid of breads and cereals, I have even cut out a lot of dairy (which makes me sad because I love a glass of milk). My carb intake is still high because of all the fruit. For example today I had:
6:30 – 5 egg whites+1 whole egg and 4 pc of turkey bacon and a banana and some milk (i know it is a lot but normally i can’t even snack until around noon)
10:00 ish around 100g of carrots and celery and 1 tbsp peanut butter (yeah i went for the peanut butter)
12:30ish 5 mini marshmallows a handful of almonds and a cup of blueberries.
I actually stretched the blueberries for about an hour, but with just that I have my carbs up to 84g!!!
I am hoping next week I don’t cave and go on a bread eating binge. See everyone at the gym.
0530: 1 boiled egg
0930: 2 egg whites/ 4 slices grapefruit
1230: white fish/ small salad/ brussel sprouts and carrots
1430: almond butter
1730: pistachios
1900: Paleo turkey chili
Thanks John for getting back to me about the pistachios…I think I will finish up the bag I have and then convert back to almonds!
Hey guys- thought I might post another recipe tonight. Lila and I made this on Sunday, and it stretched into lunch on Monday for both of us.
Buffalo Chili:
1-2 pounds ground buffalo
3 jalapeno’s- diced
1 onion- diced
1 bell pepper- diced
2 cans tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1/2 jar salsa
1 sweet potato- cut into small cubes
3 large carrots- chopped.
Saute the buffalo, jalapenos, onion, and bell pepper until the meat is browned. Then add to the rest of the ingredients in a large pot. Let simmer for an hour or so.
As a side note: be careful when picking out your salsa. Many of them are just chopped veggies and peppers; which is fine. Others have all sorts of sugars and such in them.
Today has been a rough day for cravings. I’m holding tough. I thought I would post my mushroom spinach soup recipe. It’s very good and for those worried about getting enough fiber…trust me..this will help with that. It’s also very tasty.
3 cups low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped cauliflower florets
1/2 cup chopped broccoli florets
1/2 onion diced
1 teaspoon peeled minced ginger (I cheat and use the jarred ginger)
2 teaspoons minced garlic (again, I cheat and get the jar)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
10 white button mushrooms, cut into bite sized pieces
2 cups packed, chopped fresh spinach
pepper to taste
toasted pumpkin seeds, for garnish (optional)
1. Bring the chicken broth to a boil in large saucepan and add the califlower, broccoli, onion, ginger and 1 tsp of the garlic. Cook over medium heat 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the remaining 1 tsp garlic and saute for about 1 min. Add the mushrooms and saute for about 3 mins or until they are soft. Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach.
3. Remove the chicken broth mixture from the heat and allow to cool for about 10 mins. Working in batches, transfer the broth and vegetable mixture to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
4. Return the broth mixture to the pot and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Stir the spinach and mushrooms into the hot soup. Season to taste.
5. Sprinkle toasted pumpkin seeds on top.
Makes 4 servings.
Any paleo root vegetables you all can thing off that would be a good sub for potatoes (aside from sweet potatoes) I plan on making a roast later this week in the slow cooker. I’d like to cram as many veggies in that pot with them as possible and normally some red potatoes would go great with a roast. However as we know potatoes aren’t exactly low-carb friendly
Ryan parsnips would probs be good, maybe beets or turnips? But definitely parsnips.
Thanks for the recipes, I’m going to use those soon.
I was talking to Heather and Diane tonight about a vague recipe I use for breakfast, and I figured I’d share it. It does have a little fruit in it, but breakfast has been the hardest for me to get used to if I’m not going to eat eggs every, single day.
.25-.5 apple, either raw, or sometimes i use baked or sauteed
4 oz. or so cooked shredded/chopped chicken breast
1 celery stalk chopped
.5 avocado chopped
a pinch of: coriander, ground ginger, cloves, nutmeg
lots of cinnamon, and some vanilla extract.
either cold, or sometimes i’ll microwave it for a bit.
Tastes like breakfast to me, and it’s been easing my transition into caveman-like big cold hunks of meat early in the morning.
Things are going well, though, aside from late night sugar cravings.
Rutabagas would work as well Ryan.
Everything has been going pretty well, Mackenzie and I made a paleo feast last night and paleo treats (carob, coconut oil, almond meal). They were very tasty except that I thought Sweet Potatoes were a splendid thing to eat, but one cup has 58 carbs! So when plugging it into fitday I obviously went over my carb restriction goal, but whatever you win some you lose some. No more sweet potatoes for this girl. I also started having half an apple with almond butter for breakfast and turkey instead of a whole one, and my carbs have been way lower today so far. I also cut out extra almonds and dried fruit as a snack and upped the chicken in my salad and I think my pie chart seems better rounded.
b- .5 apple, almond butter, 3 slices of turkey
s- 2 egg whites
l- spinach, arugula, beet, strawberry, almond, and chicken salad
s- broccoli and carrots with hummus (not paleo but I can’t shake it)
I’ve returned from Houston. It was good, non-paleo times.
Thanks for the recipe, Nicole! I’m going to try it out this week. Here’s the chicken I made yesterday during my snow day:
Rub achiote paste over a whole 5-6 lb chicken, squeeze two lemons and one orange over it in the roasting pan, then stuffed them in the chicken. cover. 350 for an hourish
Should I focus more on the Carb (sub 100g/day) and Protein (1g/#body weight) than on the Fat and Calories? If so, what should I eat to get up to my body weight in Protein? I don’t think I can eat that much all day every day.
I put my stuff on a blog: http://dyan2.wordpress.com/
It has my FitDay stats and workouts on it.
Oh. Almonds.
Target sells a 32oz tub of raw, unsalted almonds for $8-9.
Here are my fitday stats:
Calories – between 1700 and 2000 per day.
Protein – 29 to 31% of my graph, which is 117 – 135g.
Carbs – 20 to 25% of my graph, which is 100 – 140g.
Fat – 41 to 49% of my graph, which is 84 – 127g. (I eat a lot of peanut butter).
Stuff I’ve been eating:
B – 2 eggs with 3 slices of bacon (or 1 oz ham) and 1 orange, or omelets w/ ham, cheese, mushrooms.
L – 4 oz of lunch meat, apple and pb. Caesar salad with double meat. Today was stuffed chicken breast (stuffed with apple, dried cranberries, pecans)
S – zone bars
D – tuna one night, stuffed chicken breast from above.
WOD – no difference. I’ve been eating like this for about 3 years – I don’t expect to see a difference in performance during the challenge. If I do, that is a welcomed surprise.
I noticed someone was talking about paleo pancakes earlier. Jake and I make them using the 2 banana, tbsp almond butter, 1 egg recipe. They’re really good. Sometimes I add some unsweetened applesauce if the mix is looking too stiff, or some cinnamon for extra taste. I would recommended these; however, be mindful there is a shit ton of carbs in bananas (around 30g). If you go for paleo pancakes be sure your side is a protein (sausage, bacon, egg, etc) instead of another carb added on top of the cakes (blueberries, strawberries).
I’m gaining weight, but my pants aren’t feeling any tighter, so hopefully it’s muscle. Who knows, I feel good and my WOD’s are improving, that’s all that matters. My typical food day is as follows;
7AM – 3 eggs (fried, poached, scrambled or in an omelet with mushrooms, green peppers, onions, etc.) I’ve started to add pepper and sriracha to give it a little kick. Handful of almonds, and triple strength fish oil pill.
11AM – 5/8 of a salad (Romaine, spinach, hard boiled eggs, celery, carrots, green pepper, banana pepper, cucumber, shaved almonds, broccoli, cauliflower, with either tuna, flank steak, chicken breast, salmon, ham, turkey, with balsamic vinaigrette.
3PM – Remaining 3/8 of salad mentioned above.
7PM – Monday night I broiled a flank steak, roasted brussel sprouts and added a sweet potato. Here’s where it gets interesting. I made the paleo sheperd’s pie (http://cfscceat.blogspot.com/) night witch was pretty good added some sriracha again to make it less bland. Last night was our anniversary so we went to Julep’s (highly recommend) it’s tricky making good decisions when going out, but I think I made the better bad choice. Started with the foie gras, followed with a tuna/crab/avacado/apple salad which was awesome, then for my entree I got the duck breast over sweet potato puree and roasted brussel sprouts. Sounds like I was pretty disciplined right? We’ll I didn’t mention we split a bottle of wine and creme brulee, oh well. Tonight I am planning on the chicken stir fry (http://www.downanddirtypaleorecipes.blogspot.com/).
I’ve tried to put my meals into fitday.com but became frustrated because I couldn’t find the food I ate so, I’ve yet to log my meals. Any tips to make this process easier would be much appreciated.
Brittany- How long have you been eating paleoish?
I only ask because I see all this carb restriction in your posts and from others. If this is your first foray into prehistoric eating then I would, as Jake has said many times, concentrate on eating quality foods first before anything else. Eating quality foods means consuming the natural gifts from the earth. If you couldn’t pick it or kill it then don’t eat it.
I’ve been to the gym many times and I can assure you that, no matter what the body fat measurements said, most of you are not fat. If you have excess body fat that you would like to lose it will not come any faster if you skip the steps that have been laid out. If you choose to skip steps (i.e. cutting your carbs whilst trying to up your food quality) you may find yourself at a point where you are binging on bread instead of apples when you hit a carb crash because of all the reduction you are not adapted for. Do step 1 for 2 weeks. Then move on if, and only if, you are not becoming as lean as you would like. I’ve been doing this for many moons, so trust me, this is how it works.
I’m being preachy but I want to remind everyone participating that this is not a diet. This is not Weight Watchers, this is not South Beach, this is not the grape fruit-rice cakes-deer urine-diet-secrets-to-shapely-buns-and-thighs. This is the way you should probably eat for the term of your natural life. If you would like to live long, move your body around at an older age almost as pain free as you do now, and maintain lean body mass well past the point where most Americans do then you are going to have to continue to do what you are doing now forever.
Eat more meat. Stop being afraid of fat.
Sincerely,
The jerk who visits the gym twice a month, sits at the desk, and makes mean faces at all of you.
Yes, what Matt said. He’s my weight loss sensei.
Also, I’ll revise my previous protein requirement. First, just make sure you’re eating protein at meals/snacks. Looking around, somewhere around .8g/pound of lean body mass (not total mass as I stated before) will be a good place for many of you who are looking to lose weight. Those of you who aren’t looking to necessarily lose weight, but improve body composition, can likely go higher. But really, unless your protein numbers are way under, don’t sweat it, especially if you aren’t experiencing any issues.
I probably have 1.5g/pound of total body weight, so I’m a little biased. Then again, I’ve been trying for years to get up to 200# so I can be at the top of my weight class. So when you see me eating any non-Paleo item, it’s because my goals don’t involve body composition or weight loss. Just being able to perform better than the other guy.
holy crap..i ate 119g of protein today…wow!
5 slices of turkey bacon and 1 egg for B
8oz steak for dinner
1oz almonds
7 slices of ham
…that is how i ate all the protein
i didn’t know i had it in me
and 31 carbs!!!! this is like the magical day haha
Ashamed to say I fell off the horse today, ate like complete crap. I’m a sucker for going out with people. Anyway for all of you who have held strong keep it up, I ate like crap today, performed/felt even worse. It sucks but tomorrow is a new day so I’ll be starting back on square one this time I plan on doing it right.
oh my gosh it sounds like we are in AA. ryan, my name is mackenzie and I am an addict…for good food. so no worries, its only week 2, you have plenty of time. plus is it makes you feel any better i’m drinking red wine right now.