PB By and For the Ladies

Hi Mark!

Not sure if anyone has suggested this yet, but if they have, let me add my voice!

So ... I have noticed a rather disturbing trend of women on the forums who are discouraged and frustrated. They are not seeing the weight loss they hoped for, or they are struggling with some issues that the men aren't. See NSWM's thread "Is It Even Possible for Women to Lose Weight on the PB?"

As much as I adore your advice, I think maybe we could use some female input from Grok HQ. Do you think your wife would be willing to start a Q&A thread for us Primal ladies? Or maybe a blog post on her daily routines? Or maybe one of the ladies in your employ would be willing to chime-in on the forums or in a blog post?

I see a lot more discouragement among the female grokstars than among the males, who seem to be tripping along pretty merrily eating a lot of good phatty meat and veggies, doing their sprints and Heavy Things ... while us ladies tend to focus on fruits and Primal baked goods and chocolate. Possibly some of the disenchantment is a result of the guys' amazing fatloss success stories, which are so wonderful, but which may not be realistic, in terms of the quick timeframe, for us ladies - with our different metabolisms, hormones, cravings, and activity levels.

Anyway, I'd love to get a female perspective on the PB.

:) Jazmin

[QUOTE=jazmin;257232]Hi Mark!

Not sure if anyone has suggested this yet, but if they have, let me add my voice!

So ... I have noticed a rather disturbing trend of women on the forums who are discouraged and frustrated. They are not seeing the weight loss they hoped for, or they are struggling with some issues that the men aren't. See NSWM's thread "Is It Even Possible for Women to Lose Weight on the PB?"

As much as I adore your advice, I think maybe we could use some female input from Grok HQ. Do you think your wife would be willing to start a Q&A thread for us Primal ladies? Or maybe a blog post on her daily routines? Or maybe one of the ladies in your employ would be willing to chime-in on the forums or in a blog post?

I see a lot more discouragement among the female grokstars than among the males, who seem to be tripping along pretty merrily eating a lot of good phatty meat and veggies, doing their sprints and Heavy Things ... while us ladies tend to focus on fruits and Primal baked goods and chocolate. Possibly some of the disenchantment is a result of the guys' amazing fatloss success stories, which are so wonderful, but which may not be realistic, in terms of the quick timeframe, for us ladies - with our different metabolisms, hormones, cravings, and activity levels.

Anyway, I'd love to get a female perspective on the PB.

:) Jazmin[/QUOTE]

Great idea!

definately seconded :)

I also agree. I actuallly still think that perhaps too much fat and too many cals. Marks base of the pyramid is veggies and fruit, not fat.

Fourthed!

[QUOTE]I see a lot more discouragement among the female grokstars than among the males, who seem to be tripping along pretty merrily eating a lot of good phatty meat and veggies, doing their sprints and Heavy Things ... while us ladies tend to focus on fruits and Primal baked goods and chocolate. [/QUOTE]

i'm not sure that is true...

Wonderful idea!

[QUOTE=jazmin;257232]Hi Mark!

Not sure if anyone has suggested this yet, but if they have, let me add my voice!

So ... I have noticed a rather disturbing trend of women on the forums who are discouraged and frustrated. They are not seeing the weight loss they hoped for, or they are struggling with some issues that the men aren't. See NSWM's thread "Is It Even Possible for Women to Lose Weight on the PB?"

As much as I adore your advice, I think maybe we could use some female input from Grok HQ. Do you think your wife would be willing to start a Q&A thread for us Primal ladies? Or maybe a blog post on her daily routines?[/quote]

She has a couple of posts.... I can't look them up right now but you can probably find them.



[quote=]a lot of good phatty meat and veggies, doing their sprints and Heavy Things ... while us ladies tend to focus on fruits and Primal baked goods and chocolate.[/quote]

Ummm, then wouldn't that be both the problem and the solution. I mean really? If someone is "focusing" on fruits, primal baked goods and chocolate.

Possibly some of the disenchantment is a result of the guys' amazing fatloss success stories, which are so wonderful, but which may not be realistic, in terms of the quick timeframe, for us ladies - with our different metabolisms, hormones, cravings, and activity levels.

Also, Carrie's experience is that one of someone who has *always* been fit and healthy and weight trains with a personal trainer (a former or current body builder) 3-4x per week, does yoga and plays hard. I'm not sure that's going to be helpful for those who are frustrated, disenchanted, struggling....

[quote=] I actuallly still think that perhaps too much fat and too many cals. Marks base of the pyramid is veggies and fruit, not fat. [/quote]

I tend to agree. iirc, he and carrie tend to do about 50% of cals from fat, 30% from protein and 20% from carbs. Carrie gets around 2000 cals/day but has an activity level that few of us match. I know it's not popular around here....there is this 'I should be able to eat however much primal food I want and notgain/still loose weight" but it's just not realistic. In an evolutionary environment, our food would not typically be unlimited.

that's why I *do* find it helpful to track intake occasionally. It's easy to eat too much when access to food is *so* easy and little effort goes into procuring said food.

Before everyone jumps on me, I'm not saying it's just cals in/cals out. I'm saying that calorie balance is a factor, nutrient ratios, activity levels and even epigentics (going back to the fetal period) all play a role. But still....fix the basics first: primal nutrition, macros, micros, primal fitness, too much fruit, dairy, chocolate, "primal baked goods"...

You guys are probably right that I overfocused on what people are eating and/or I mischaracterized what women are up to on the PB. Not my intention. I was ineptly trying to say that it seems like the ladies (of course myself included) deal with different concerns and cravings than the men. Cultural indoctrination? Innate biological need to store a bit more fat for child-rearing than men, thereby driving us to eat more sweet things and exercise differently/less? Or maybe none of the above, and I am seeing something that isn't there.

Either way, I would like to hear some female wisdom from above. I think a forum section for female concerns with a couple of sticky threads for Q&As from the the grokettes would be great. Around the forum, in women's journals, requests for advice, and so on, I have come across a certain level of discouragement/frustration/confusion about fatloss plateaus, etc. If what we need is Wife of Grok telling us to just clean up our PB diet and we will see results, then great. I'd just like to hear it from a woman. I'm not sure this 80/20 idea works as well for us as it does for the men - or maybe the problem is that I see Mark's wife (and others) and think I can get there by being 80/20. If I can't, that's fine, but then I would like to hear from her (or another lady in the organization) what it REALLY takes to get where she is.

I do think there are some things that are uniquely female that may impact how one does on the PB. And even though Mark's wife, or possibly women who work for him, are in a different boat than I am, in terms of their long-term health and fitness levels and their current exercise routines, I still think what they have to say could be more relevant to me than ANY man's perspective on fatloss and exercise. Women and men are quite different creatures biologically, in some respects at least. And I think it could prove helpful to hear how some of the women in the organization eat, how they exercise, etc.

If in the end, all it shows us is that most women can't look like Mark's wife without hours per week with a personal trainer or having been in shape for years already, then that's fine. At least we would know that it takes a bit more than Moving Around Slowly and Lifting Heavy Things occasionally and Sprinting once in a while and eating 80/20 to get to where she is. Some (most?) men, might be able to get there without a personal trainer, etc., just following the PB as is. If it takes all this extra work for women to reach this point, it would be nice to hear it, so (I) can stop kidding myself that I will end up looking like Mark's wife without heroic measures and personal trainers.

And I will definitely look up Carrie's (?) blog posts ... they may answer all my questions. But even if they do, I would still like to see a "Chicks' Concerns" section of the forum, with frequent participation from ladies at Grok HQ.

;) J

As one of those frustrated women I agree. Some of my lack of amazing success is my own fault, and I take full responsibility for that, but some of it, I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I've been Primal for 3 weeks now and I've lost ZERO pounds. VERY frustrating!!