First Month Primal complete-Need help page

[BikerPike]

Yesterday was one month I've been following Primal Blueprint ways. I have some questions that I hope others of you might help with.


The time I have read and reread parts Primal Blueprint trying to learn, adapt and get the hang of it. I've done 2-3 IFs of 17-19 hours last three weeks.


I have seen some success in quality of life issues but after first week my weight has stayed the same. I've decided to ditch the scale for month of November try to live Primal the best I can and reevaluate.


I've weighed and measured my food. Have followed the program 95+% not eating one non primal meal the whole month and I'm frustrated. I need some help to figure out what I can change up. I need/want to see some progress with body fat loss.


Where I came from: started losing weight 4/03 and lost up to 97 pounds and have stayed mostly in a 10 pound window of that last 2 years. My home scale shows body fat ranging from about 19.6% to 20.4% most days. I have been dunked to calculate body fat in past and my scale was within 1% so I figure it is pretty accurate may be a little low by 1-2%. I have high lean body mass for a women my age (48 next week) and height.


Since 4/03 I ate low carb for about first 1.5 years then more of a paleo diet for athletes so lean meat, low fat, fruits and veggies but some what society thinks are more healthy grains before and after working out. I avoided white stuff..sugar, white flour, white potatoes, ect. for the most part.


I participate in triathlons and last two years my big race for me was Ironman (swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, run 26.2) and did my last one 8/30 this year. It meant that I would bike ~35 hours and run ~24 hours a month plus swim and yoga. I was a endurance athlete but from what I read in Primal Blueprint I ran and biked at HR under 75% most of the time which is where Mark suggests it should be in law #3.


First week I did lose weight I was finishing eating up the low fat food I had in my house. Second week and beyond I bought new full fat food and ate that ordered grass fed meat, bought nitrate free bacon, free range eggs.


Thoughts I have floating around my head why I'm not having more success at losing body fat:


For 6 years did a lot of cardio and takes awhile to have my body adapt to burning fat. Does a lot of cardio teach your body to store fat?


Exercise I'm doing lots less running and biking more walking, I've working on adding in sprints and strength training last 2 weeks. Could it be the plain math of doing less excercise burning less calories is effecting things?


Eating full fat food, means less food equals same calories for meat and fat of my diet which is the vast majority of what I eat. I do not feel hungry very often but struggle with mouth boredom and wanting to eat.


Do I really need to just eat less calories and keep counting them?


The past week my average calories broke down as follows:

C: 76 grams 15%

P: 109 grams 23%

F: 132 grams 62%


For the past month I ran 8 hours & biked 16 all was easy other than sprints running, walked 14, did some strength training P90X, crossfit.


This month I plan to up my crossfit/P90X type workouts, walk a lot and keep my running and biking easy & not to much and do sprints.


I'm committed now to doing the program best I can but I'd like to feel I'm making progress.


I appreciate any help you can give me.

[PrimalK]

Perhaps you need to lower your carb intake? I know that 75g is in the sweet spot range, but it could be that this differs for everybody. For me, at the moment, I'm aiming to eat 0-50g a day, for accelerated fat loss - my lowest has been 9g, my highest 35g.


I can't think of anything else, but I'm sure others will come along with ideas!

[MariaNYC]

Hmm, the only idea I have is that, since you have relatively low BF to begin with, you might want to consider lowering carbs even further, like below 50g. Try just walking maybe 30 mins every day and lifting something heavy, i.e. no running or biking. I don't think it's always less exercise=less fat burn. Because if you're exercising a lot, your body starts to think times are hard and starts storing fat.

Anyway, that has been my experience with it. When I first started PB at 5'2" and 125lbs, I was not overweight by any means, but had fat to lose and muscle to gain. I aimed to keep my carbs under 30g and was able to see immediate fat loss.

[chima_p]

Holy.

Crap.


What an amazing achievement!


A 48 year old female tri-athlete with 20% bf after losing 100lbs! Wow!


What more can you ask for really?


Well whatever it is, my guess is that you are over trained. Your body is probably wondering what the heck it's trying to get away from. You are exercising for more than an hour a day. Take a couple weeks off. Refuel your muscles (higher carbs). If you are worried about weight then reduce fat a little bit. My guess is you will gain a few pounds but prob muscle that your body has been catabolizing for fuel during your marathon workouts.


Then after 2 weeks get back at it. Readjust your macros back to what they are now and you will be refreshed and have more energy.


You just need a break.

[MariaNYC]

chima_p: "Refuel your muscles (higher carbs). If you are worried about weight then reduce fat a little bit."


were you kidding?

[BikerPike]

Chima: I took 4 weeks off swimming, biking and running after my Ironman to allow myself to recover fully. I'm doing much less than I normally do so I don't think I could be over trained.


Primal & Maria: I have thought about lowering carbs a bit. I am still doing some bike racing most weekend so my carb average can get higher as I eat more before and after my race. But I will try to get it closer to 50.


It's a balance to enjoying what I like and losing weight some stuff I'm not going to give up. Cyclocross is fun fall only sport in my area and I see it as a good intense workout as it lasts 30-40 minutes.


Still debating if I should continue weighing & measuring food and tracking with Calorie King or drop all that along with the scale and do it more intuitive which is probably more enjoyable.


Drop Dairy? Reduce dairy?

[chima_p]

Ummm.. no?


According to % given above BikerPike eats about 2000 cal.


So if she increases carbs to say 125g then reduces fat to say 115g then she has the about the same cal content.


All well within PB.


Remember she is an athlete not a new to exercise couch potatoe.

[bonesheal]

Dr. Harris (not affiliated with PB but his system is similar) lists the parts of living paleo in order of importance on his website, http://www.paleonu.com/get-started/ (the following is lifted directly from his website):


1 Eliminate sugar (including fruit juices and sports drinks) and all flour


2 Start eating proper fats - Use healthy animal fats to substitute fat calories for carb calories. Drink whole cream or half and half instead of milk.


3 Eliminate grains


4 Eliminate grain and seed derived oils (cooking oils) Cook with butter, animal fats, or coconut oil.


5 Get daily midday sun or take 4-8000 iu vit D daily


6 Intermittent fasting and infrequent meals (2 meals a day is best)


7 Fruit is just a candy bar from a tree. Stick with berries and avoid watermelon which is pure fructose. Eat in moderation.


8 Eliminate legumes


9 Adjust your 6s and 3s. Pastured (grass fed) dairy and grass fed beef or bison avoids excess O-6 fatty acids and are better than supplementing with 0-3 supplements.


10 Proper exercise - emphasizing resistance and interval training over long aerobic sessions


11 Eliminate milk (if you are sensitive to it, move this up the list


12 Eliminate other dairy including cheese- (now you are "orthodox paleolithic")


If you can do step 1, that is about 50% of the benefit and alone a huge improvement on the standard american diet (SAD) By about step 6 you are at about 75% , by step 9 about 80% and at 10 you are at 99% for most people.

[glorth2]

I don't want to get in trouble but I'm going to say...you're 48. Maybe this is where your body wants to be. I'm 40 and don't seem to be able to drop below 200lbs. (I'm not hardcore). You know what? I look and feel great. Not going to sweat it.

[chima_p]

Cyclocross? Isn't that one of Heracles' labours?