New to Primal and have a question page

[canuckgrl]

I just got my Primal Blueprint book last Thursday and have already started trying to adjust my eating habits. I am sure I will eventually get to this in the book - but I am wondering how much fat I am supposed to be eating daily?
Thanks!

[iniQuity]

A buttload! this concept was very tricky to me at first and I was very hesitant to do it. I won't get into percentages and such but here's some way to get more fat:

cook with coconut oil, bacon (i let my bacon cook and release a bit of oil/grease, then add whatever protein I'm cooking or if I'm not having bacon I'll use some saved up bacon grease) or butter. Eat avocados. I'm not really into nuts so I don't eat them myself but some people here do.

Fat isn't always easy to see so visualizing it on your plate is tricky, there's fat in meats and such so we're just adding a bit more through oil/butter/ghee. Also, coconut milk is a good source of fat, if you currently do any type of shakes you'd be wise to switch coco milk for regular milk...

This thread will fill up quickly...

[JohnOTD]

I have been wondering this myself. I've been doing about 60-70% fat, 20-30% protein and the rest carbs. Varies daily.

[canuckgrl]

Thanks for the replies :-)

seems a little freaky to eat that much fat. After doing the math I have come up with this:

I have a lean body mass of 104lbs.
Active with my 2 young kids but not really a lot of the time for the gym or 2 hour hikes. So I went with the 0.7grams of protein/lb of lean body mass.
I am aiming for 1500 calories/day to lose about 6 lbs/month

so does this sounds correct:
511 calories from protein (73g/34%)
200 calories from carbs (50g/13%)
789 calories from fat (87g/52%)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[JohnOTD]

Well, I would simply say: don't count calories

The thing about going primal is to be picky about WHAT you eat, not HOW MUCH you eat.

Just make sure you get some meat with your veggies and cook it in good oils (or use good oils for salad dressing) and you should be just fine. Do what feels natural to you.

Personally, I'm doing an extended IF 'phase' currently, and probably for about 2 weeks. I eat one meal a day and have water the rest of the day. Yesterday I had a coconut milkshake (Half can of coco-milk, splash of heavy cream some blueberries or a dash of cocoa powder), 3 eggs and 5 or 6 strips of bacon. Today was 4 eggs cooked in an ungodly amount of butter. I've been eating this way for about a week.

Once I'm done with my extended IF 'phase' I'll most likely be doing two meals a day. Breakfast will be meat and eggs (steak, bacon, what-have-you) and maybe some greens thrown in for good measure. Dinner will be a big-piece-a-meat and 1 or 2 veggies that = about half the size of the meat. Some days I may sub a salad (BAS) for the dinner. Higher carbs on occasion should keep the body from getting used to a VLC diet.

Just cook everything in good oils or animal fat, eat a lot of meat (and don't avoid fatty cuts, and eat the fat!) and depending on your plan for carbs (50 seems pretty VLC to me) eat veggies accordingly.

There's no reason you CAN'T count carbs or calories or get down into the nitty gritty of percentages. But who really WANTS to do that?

What has two thumbs and hates calorie counting? This guy!

[verdilak]

No, you are doing it wrong. Check out this post on my blog for why less calories do not = weight loss: http://retrospectivecaveman.blogspot...inloss-is.html

[JohnOTD]

No, you are doing it wrong. Check out this post on my blog for why less calories do not = weight loss: [/url]

Whilst you correctly assume that one of my goals is weight loss, you missed where I said this is temporary. I've been doing it for a week and will continue for another two. I highly doubt my body will adjust to that in such a short amount of time.

[verdilak]

Whilst you correctly assume that one of my goals is weight loss, you missed where I said this is temporary. I've been doing it for a week and will continue for another two. I highly doubt my body will adjust to that in such a short amount of time.

Yeah, I stayed on this thread too long and didnt see that you had posted before I threw in my 2 cents. Sorry about that.

[Grumpycakes]

No, you are doing it wrong. Check out this post on my blog for why less calories do not = weight loss:

The subjects in that study were all obese. Tell those of us who have 10-15 pounds left to lose that we can do it eating above maintenance on fat and protein and you'll get some heavy disagreements. The body really does not want to be obese, so when it is fed properly, it will shed fat. However, in terms of living in the wild, carrying around 15 extra pounds could be very beneficial in lean times, so lean times must be simulated in order to lose it.

[Laurel730]

I am starting the primal diet, this is my first week and I really want to know what i could eat if I will be exercising or hiking? or how much i should eat