She-Groks Only.......... cuz it works different for us page 5

[Nady]

Going to try this again~ So far, I've typed out two long posts that vanished into ??? Anyway~ I'm 62 and so far, have gone from eating instinctively (teens, 20's & 30's) to trying to 'improve' my diet by making breakfast *the most important meal* I crashed off the pounds I gained from that~ Then I tried several months of vegetarianism~ I gave that up when I decided the recurring dreams of pot roast were my body's cry for help.

Then some demon from hell invented the pasta and bread making machines and CW sold me on the idea of *complex carbs* being healthy. Yeah, right~ took me several years before I finally broke my addiction with a fast that oddly enough, miraculously also healed my severe eczema (that the doctor said wasn't caused by diet ) Seems I'm gluten sensitive and grains, even corn, trigger an outbreak.

So, after several other diet oopses, menopause, and stress eating, I'm going back to what worked in the first place for me~ meat, veggies, one meal (most) days~ And here I am~ getting back to basics and looking forward to learning and sharing!

[TheDarkMistress]

The thing I noticed was that my relationship to the food is changing. I have a list of things I know make me feel good. I put them on my plate, eat them, then I'm done. I FEEL done. I don't want more. The desserts aren't calling for me. My mind is focused on the people and the events, not on the food. Isn't this the better goal, better than just being skinny but having to fight a losing inner battle against the need to eat?

Maybe I will never see a true image of myself in the mirror. Maybe I will never look good or feel comfortable in a bikini. ....

I am really enjoying being able to just get on with the business of living, to heal my relationship to food, to gain the vitality I should have. Maybe someday I'll look in the mirror and see something else, but maybe right now I'm starting to see that it doesn't matter. Does this make any sense?

Anyway, I like this thread because I'm pretty sure there are other middle-aged women around here who do understand and who know it's kind of a big deal.

Totally get you (...though I applaud Stacy for reaching her personal goals. Doesn't make them my goals, but I think she looks really athletic.)

I've lost 25 pounds with no struggle, no deprivation, no hunger, no yo-yoing. I feel awesome. My relationship to food is completely changed. Food has no mysterious power over me. I eat it if I'm hungry and I want it. There is no compulsion to finish a bag of cookies to get them out of the house (WTF??). I think I was starving for fat. No more losing battle, as you said.

I have more to lose, but I am confident that being more compliant with the Primal way will be successful.

Oh, and sbhikes you definitely look different each week. Aren't we looking at about 5 weeks there? It seems unrealistic to expect an amazing total transformation in such a short period of time. For me anyway, it took years to gain this weight and I want to be sure it's gone forever. I expect it to take time to get to my personal best.

[weird fish]

So you ladies are loving the Primal Transformation (Frank Sabia's) story today right? Lol! I think it's an amazing success story, but I can tell you that being female and 47, and having adhered to Primal 95/5% for 7 months, and lifting heavy 3x/week for the last year, there is NO way I have come close to those types of results! And it's not to take anything away from Frank, what he did is amazing, it's just that I have to laugh sometimes to when I see the posts from mostly men who have very quick results, and then come across as if we women aren't trying hard enough, or don't have enough willpower. There's no doubt in my mind that women just metabolize fat differently, and that our hormones make it much more difficult to shed excess fat. Mark has written that it's 80% diet, 10% working out, 5% sleep, 5% stress. I think that's true for men, but for women I'd say it's 60% diet, 34% hormones, 5% working out, .05% sleep and .05% stress. But I am not making excuses, and I will continue the Primal lifestyle and fitness plans, I feel great, look much better and run rings around my 20 something counterparts in the energy, fitness and strength dept. Just wish I could get rid of my belly and look really good naked!

Really, it's 100% hormones (and how they affect energy expenditure), and diet, working out, stress, and sleep are the things that affect hormones. Stress and sleep are probably a lot closer in their importance to diet than .05%, particularly stress. And I might even lump sleep (deprivation) in with stress. Many people don't develop any kind of metabolic disorder until they have to face an enormous bout of prolonged stress. Stress probably impacts hormones about as much as diet does.

[Jac]

Really, it's 100% hormones (and how they affect energy expenditure), and diet, working out, stress, and sleep are the things that affect hormones. Stress and sleep are probably a lot closer in their importance to diet than .05%, particularly stress. And I might even lump sleep (deprivation) in with stress. Many people don't develop any kind of metabolic disorder until they have to face an enormous bout of prolonged stress. Stress probably impacts hormones about as much as diet does.

Yep, this ^. Until I get a handle on dealing with stress, I'm not getting anywhere. Of course, overeating or eating sugar COMPOUNDS stress, so my 'usual' response of eating crap actually puts me into a complete tailspin. That's were I've been for the last few weeks . . .spinning . . . spinning . . .spinning. I'll catch the damn tail after Christmas

[Finnabair]

Thank you for the women's thread. I'm 57, female, 5'4", 127 pounds this morning, down from 134 when I started Primal eating.

Problem........... the guys on this board eat TONS of food and talk about it FREQUENTLY. I can't do that and keep my weight down. Can any female unless she's a marathon runner or cyclist??

I'm having the standard issues of many women my age. Sleep issues, heart palpitations, drifty mind, too much to do and not enough time, stress, etc.

[extravert]

I've just started, but the one thing i am skeptical about, (and would be more so even if i had fibromyalgia) is all the meat. In the past my favorite style of healthy was like a primal, except grains, (the best grains) instead of meat, (well, some meat sometimes). Now, (agreeing that our grain quality has been completely sabotaged, and watching my sister deal with gluten intolerance, which runs in families), I have decided to go the primal route as a trial. So my possible advice to you, [COLOR="rgb(46, 139, 87)"]tomi[/COLOR], is to juice your lunch with a bevy of (mostly veggies) maybe some fruit, apples perhaps, then everything else as usual. Again, I don't have fibromyalgia, but this route with the juice lunch might be both more female friendly and more autoimmune friendly, and more weight loss promoting for sure!. Make sure the ingredients are organic! Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist, do your own research, but this method works for me. I love juicing at lunch, I've got great recipes, just ask. I use a breville juicer, (personally)

[Paleobird]

Problem........... the guys on this board eat TONS of food and talk about it FREQUENTLY. I can't do that and keep my weight down. Can any female unless she's a marathon runner or cyclist??

And then tell you your "starving yourself" and your metabolism is going to crash if you only eat 1500 a day. I think we as women need to get our heads around the idea that we just don't need to eat all that much food. Portion sizes in restaurants are insane and if we try to duplicate that at home, it's simply too much. You can't serve yourself and your SO the same size plate of food and expect to lose weight.

[jo]

And then tell you your "starving yourself" and your metabolism is going to crash if you only eat 1500 a day. I think we as women need to get our heads around the idea that we just don't need to eat all that much food. Portion sizes in restaurants are insane and if we try to duplicate that at home, it's simply too much. You can't serve yourself and your SO the same size plate of food and expect to lose weight.

I agree that a woman should not expect to eat the same as a man who is bigger than her, but in defence of some of the people you are referring to, I myself found that on 1500 my weight stayed stubbornly stable, when I raised it to 2000 I started to lose, so it does happen to us females too, especially if over exercising as well. I suspect this is related to leptin.

[zoebird]

oh, it's bonkers. I eat 1500-1600 cals on a given day. Today, if i plug in my fit-day numbers (it was a crazy day), i probably sit around 1200. For serious.

I haven't starved myself or fallen over dead. Some days are low (around 13-1400) and some days are high (1800-1900, maybe even breaking 2000). And it's driven by so many factors. Most days it is 1500-1600. it's not an issue.

just eat well, eat until you are satisfied, and make sure it's not TOO low. e.g., i wouldn't do 1000 cals for too long, but it's an ok way to start the process -- two, three weeks, maybe even a month. If you don't end up trying to eat the cat.

but i also don't think it's necessary to go that far down, and i don't think that every woman is going to be where I am, or higher or lower necessarily. How can i say? i'm just me. you figure you out, right?

[zoebird]

in re: meat.

for the most part, I only eat meat once a day. I usually have two meals and one "snack" -- if I feel like having a "snack." Breakfast is eggs, sometimes with veggies and fruit, sometimes with one or the other, and sometimes just eggs. Dinner is meat plus vegetables. Usually mid-day ish (or really, around 3:00), I have some fruit, nuts, and tea. Sometimes, I might be so bold as to have veggies with avocado dip or some such. Or sometimes just an avocado and tomato together. They go well together.

I find this works well for me. Some days, I just have one meal and a snack. Usually that day is sunday. I'll have a huge-old breakfast. It's massive. Sometimes there is bacon or sausage, usually not. Just eggs and a lot of veggies. Then, sometime later in the day (since that meal is usually later in the morning -- like 10:30 or 11 anyway), possibly around 6 or 7 or maybe even 8, i'll have berries and coconut cream, sometimes with chopped brazil nuts and sometimes with chocolate.

i'm finding i don't eat so much chocolate these days.

anyway, that's pretty much me. it's straight forward. It's not "all that meat" really. I don't eat much. today, I probably had the equivalent of a chicken breast. maybe a little more. But really, not much at all. It was mostly vegetables. It usually is mostly vegetables. And I only had a bit of dried papaya today (no sugar, it's like leather! LOL) and then some nuts. That was today. No breakfast even.

So, like, whatever.

Do your thing.