Can primal & zone co-exist? ish? page

[LittleNappingLion]

Okay, so i'm an experimenter at heart

I've been primal since last November & have been doing just fine, no outrageously awesome success stories or anything (just small personal ones). Then a friend of mine who's been on Zone was talking about how well he's doing and I became a little envious When I mumbled, "maybe I should try it, primal of course" he jumped & said, "oh my god, I've heard that paleo-zone is like, the fast track to being a supreme being, you should do it."

So I did. This is my second week & I ate all my normal foods but in zone proportions. Now here's the question, can they co-exist? On zone I have to eat 108g of carbs a day (broken up into 5 meals). I keep seeing the words "insidious fat gain" pop into my head! lol So 108? Thats more than double what I was eating on a regular basis before! Is that bad? So i've essentially reversed my fats & carbs (all veggies/fruits) as each 3block meal in zone has 27g carbs & only 1 tsp butter/fat (or 9 almonds).

Week one I lost 4lbs, but was craving butter & bacon (lol). Now on week 2 I've started craving (bad enough that I momentarily contemplated shopping for/baking from scratch) cupcakes, donuts, pie, ice cream and all SORTS of things that i haven't given a nod to in 6 months or really that I even like that much to begin with! WTF?!!!

so what do you guys think?

[jqbancroft]

It sounds like doing a combo will make you compromise both diet plans. But that might not be a bad thing. Everyone's body is different so if you find a happy place between the two and you're losing weight, then it sounds like the right idea. I don't care for the zone compared to the simplicity of primal, but to each his own.

Also, if I were you, and the many meals thing is working for you, I'd keep the protein/carb ratios but up your fat. Also, Mark says 100-150 is fine for carbs for maintaining, so 108 definitely won't make you have "insidious fat gain" Also, you might consider that primal would have worked better for you if you weren't in keto! A lot of people find they lose more weight when they eat more 50 gram of carbs.

Good luck on your venture!

[LittleNappingLion]

Also, you might consider that primal would have worked better for you if you weren't in keto! A lot of people find they lose more weight when they eat more 50 gram of carbs.

Really? I hadn't read/noticed that! Maybe that was my problem! lol you know someone did mention that maybe IFing until 3 like i had been might make me feel better & that was certainly right!
thanks!

[mayness]

I don't know hardly anything about the Zone, but I listen to Robb Wolf's podcasts and I've heard him mention various paleo-zone plans a bunch of times. I think I remember him saying that for weight loss, he recommended cutting the carb blocks in half, and replacing them with fat blocks. (Are blocks based on calories? If not, it seems like you'd end up eating more this way, which is odd.) He's got an article about the Zone, but it costs $2.75. http://www.cathletics.com/zen/index....products_id=58 Maybe there's also some info in his old blog posts.

This is probably not at all helpful, lol, but I tried.

[unchatenfrance]

Yes, if you're already at an average weight and have weaned yourself off the grains and sugars, and want to lean out that extra little bit more, ketosis may not work at all.

[kennelmom]

I would hear Robb Wolf talk about blocks of this and blocks of that and counting almonds with regards to paleo-zone and my eyes would glaze over. Too complicated and I get great results with unweighed/unmeasured primal.

[Daemonized]

The macros that the zone is suggesting don't sound crazy to me, but eating five times a day sounds like a pain to me. I am an IFer and also a follower of lean gains and being primal though so that might not mean much. Being a lifter you hear about a lot of buys eating five or six "small" meals a day. But the problem is that five or six small meals can become a few small ones and some medium sized ones.....toss in a big one now and then and before long they wonder why they are gaining fat when they are eating clean and good foods.

[lizch]

I followed the Zone diet on and off for several years. It was an excellent springboard for me into Primal eating. I really don't think there are vast differences in the eating plan...Zone like PB suggests filling up on fat if you've met the daily carb/protein requirements and are at a healthy weight. Zone emphasizes lots of low GI veggies and fruit and no sugar. It does, however, include whole grains and, as Daemonized said, regular meals and snacks. Interestingly, I had instinctively dropped the snacks even before hearing about primal. PB and Zone both emphasize insulin control and both prefer workouts that aren't crazy cardio.

For me the biggest advantage of PB over Zone has been not worrying so much about exact breakdown of every meal. I used to enter every single meal into a planner and adjust to hit the right ratios. I was successful at weight loss and maintenance, but who wants to live with that level of obsession with food? Every time I stopped recording intake, I'd gain weight. Primal has given me easy guidelines and less to obsess about. I don't record anything anywhere, I eat well, and I'm very much at a stable point. I can imagine that people who NEED numbers to guide their eating might do better with Zone or Zone/PB mix.

[Russ]

I find that any other diet makes me hungry . . . some diets you can lose just as fast, but you're going to have the bacon / steak / egg cravings like mad

[healthseekerKate]

I followed the Zone (more or less) for around 8 years before I stumbled on PB a few months ago. Ever since, I've been doing my own hybrid of Zone-primal. I really like what primal brings to the table -- no more forcing myself to eat small meals even if I'm not hungry -- I feel free to fast if I'm not in the mood to eat. Otherwise, the foods that I've been eating and the ratios haven't really changed much.

lizch said:
>> For me the biggest advantage of PB over Zone has been not worrying so much about exact breakdown of every meal. I used to enter every single meal into a planner and adjust to hit the right ratios. I was successful at weight loss and maintenance, but who wants to live with that level of obsession with food? ... I can imagine that people who NEED numbers to guide their eating might do better with Zone or Zone/PB mix.

The Zone offers several different levels of analysis, so all of the measuring and counting is *not* necessary. I have always gone the lazy route, and followed the recommendation that for each meal, protein should be about the size of the palm of your hand (for men, 4 oz.; for women, 3 oz.), and then you fill the rest of your plate with nonstarchy veggies, and add some healthy fat. That's it. No measuring or counting required.

The one thing that has turned me off of Zone recently is that Sears is starting to veer in the direction of producing psuedo-healthy junk foods... as if low-glycemic pasta, cereal, protein bars and bakery are actually good for you! :P

Zone bagels and cinnamon buns
http://www.zonediet.com/Shop/ZoneFoo...breakfast.aspx

Hanging around these forums reminds me to stick with whole, real foods.