I ate WHAT? page 2

[Earthy Mama]

I second this. The Slim Jim's need to go, too.

Yes indeedy, need to make my own jerky. It's pretty fan-freaking-tastic. Need to send hubby to store tomorrow

[Jena]

You'll probably find that for the first few weeks you get really hungry while your body adjusts. Just go with the flow for this first while, then look at reducing your calories after you begin to feel a bit more stable. It was months and months before I lost any weight eating primal, but I did't gain during that time either.

I also couldn't IF up until recently, but my body let me know when I was ready to challenge myself.

This. I definitely ate "too many" calories for the first couple of weeks, but my body adjusted. I've lost about 37-40lbs in the last 6.5 months by being primal. I don't count calories or carbs. I am usually pretty low carb, but have been mixing in some potatoes and the occasional white rice lately and haven't gained. My advice would be to stay low card primal for a few weeks. Don't worry about calories too much. I'm willing to bet if you do that you'll lose a few pounds at least with little effort.

[Earthy Mama]

This. I definitely ate "too many" calories for the first couple of weeks, but my body adjusted. I've lost about 37-40lbs in the last 6.5 months by being primal. I don't count calories or carbs. I am usually pretty low carb, but have been mixing in some potatoes and the occasional white rice lately and haven't gained. My advice would be to stay low card primal for a few weeks. Don't worry about calories too much. I'm willing to bet if you do that you'll lose a few pounds at least with little effort.

Thank you for the encouragement! I know what bad things I ate today to make the cals so much, will cut those out and focus on just eating the good stuff. I have a gut feeling that a big part of it is just from my body adjusting.

[Damiana]

Oh god no. Primal is not a free pass to eat all the fat and meat you want. You can, but you'll get fat just like on any other diet.

[serenity]

Yeah, you can't just eat as much as you want. I did that when I first started, and, although I lost weight at first, especially after I started IFing, I ended up gaining it all back and then some. (I suspect that the extra weight gain was caused by the 24-hour fasts, which messed with my metabolism. Long fasts are not for every woman. Now I only do 14- to 17-hour fasts.) Now, I'm just getting back to my pre-primal weight. You have to control how much you eat, and if you're like me and like to eat a lot, tracking your calories and macronutrients isn't a bad idea. Keeps you grounded in reality, you know.

[Earthy Mama]

Yesterday's eating was MUCH better and I was pleasantly full. The first day was a big trial but I feel great now

[Bosnic]

There's a difference between the amount of calories you consume, and the amount your body utilizes from food. Keep that in mind.

[Louisa655]

When I went primal about 6 months ago, I hit it hard with low carb and became fat adapted really fast. I was only eating 2 meals a day with a total of 900-1200 calories per day. I lost 17lbs, and 11" very quickly. Over the past few weeks, I've been so busy with work, school and Christmas approaching, that I haven't been tracking my foods, or weighing myself. I've been eating more carbs (sweet potatoes, a night out at a sushi restaurant) and have felt really great. I'm going on pure intuition now --- eating more one day, and eating less the next. I still only eat two meals a day. Anyway, my point is that my body seems to like when I 'mix things up'. I went clothes shopping today, and I slid into size 8's on the bottom, and moved from medium to small in some styles of workout clothing. Nice. So, it's nice to see that the body seems to be enjoying and benefitting from a 'less rigid' approach to my 'natural flow' approach. It's nice to know that you can have some rice and a little potato soup and not experience any weight gain. I'm still amazed at how my body recomp continues to evolve enough though my weight seems to be stable. The body is a very impressive machine.

[PrimalMama]

It takes about 14-30 days of strict primal to get really used to this WOE, get rid of most non-primal cravings, etc. In that transition period, I'd say eat as much meat, veggies, fat, aka REAL FOOD as you want. (It helps that primal food is harder to overeat than CW food, but it certainly isn't impossible!)
BUT... along with that, it's also really important to re-evaluate your macros once you're sticking to real, primal foods, especially if weight loss is a goal. You may or may not be able to lose or feel awesome (or whatever your goal is) whilst eating "as much as you want."
My personal long-term goal is to eat real food at least 80% of the time. I eat when I'm hungry, don't eat when I'm not, and while eating, I slowly enjoy my food and pay attention to how full I am - I eat to a point of being satisfied, but not over-full.

re: bulletproof coffee.
a. it's not really bulletproof if you're putting sugar in it.
b. As far as I understand it, Dave Asprey's recommendation is to substitute breakfast with a bulletproof coffee, not to have one WITH breakfast. I could be misconstruing that, it's possible... but I personally will do JUST a bulletproof coffee most work mornings. On weekends, when I tend to wake up later (and hungrier) and make brunch, I'll have his upgraded beans with some grass-fed heavy cream instead of butter, or with less butter than if I were drinking the coffee alone.

hope that helps

[Earthy Mama]

When I went primal about 6 months ago, I hit it hard with low carb and became fat adapted really fast. I was only eating 2 meals a day with a total of 900-1200 calories per day. I lost 17lbs, and 11" very quickly. Over the past few weeks, I've been so busy with work, school and Christmas approaching, that I haven't been tracking my foods, or weighing myself. I've been eating more carbs (sweet potatoes, a night out at a sushi restaurant) and have felt really great. I'm going on pure intuition now --- eating more one day, and eating less the next. I still only eat two meals a day. Anyway, my point is that my body seems to like when I 'mix things up'. I went clothes shopping today, and I slid into size 8's on the bottom, and moved from medium to small in some styles of workout clothing. Nice. So, it's nice to see that the body seems to be enjoying and benefitting from a 'less rigid' approach to my 'natural flow' approach. It's nice to know that you can have some rice and a little potato soup and not experience any weight gain. I'm still amazed at how my body recomp continues to evolve enough though my weight seems to be stable. The body is a very impressive machine.

I hope this will be me soon! Following intuition will be my goal with eating and I hope that happens in the coming months. My problem is I over-eat simply because I'm bored so I want to make sure I'm not way over-doing it.

Congratz on your success!

It takes about 14-30 days of strict primal to get really used to this WOE, get rid of most non-primal cravings, etc. In that transition period, I'd say eat as much meat, veggies, fat, aka REAL FOOD as you want. (It helps that primal food is harder to overeat than CW food, but it certainly isn't impossible!)
BUT... along with that, it's also really important to re-evaluate your macros once you're sticking to real, primal foods, especially if weight loss is a goal. You may or may not be able to lose or feel awesome (or whatever your goal is) whilst eating "as much as you want."
My personal long-term goal is to eat real food at least 80% of the time. I eat when I'm hungry, don't eat when I'm not, and while eating, I slowly enjoy my food and pay attention to how full I am - I eat to a point of being satisfied, but not over-full.

re: bulletproof coffee.
a. it's not really bulletproof if you're putting sugar in it.
b. As far as I understand it, Dave Asprey's recommendation is to substitute breakfast with a bulletproof coffee, not to have one WITH breakfast. I could be misconstruing that, it's possible... but I personally will do JUST a bulletproof coffee most work mornings. On weekends, when I tend to wake up later (and hungrier) and make brunch, I'll have his upgraded beans with some grass-fed heavy cream instead of butter, or with less butter than if I were drinking the coffee alone.

hope that helps

When reading through success stories I've noticed a pattern.
1.) People feel great right off the bat.
2.) People feel great the first week and have carb flu the next week.
3.) People feel horrible the first week/half and then their energy skyrockets.

So, I've prepared myself (mentally) to understand it's going to be a hard transition for a while now, but I'm going to power through it and not give up!
Day 1 was the only day I used sugar LOL, haven't had it since. Day 1 and 2 I ate 3x a day. Today I skipped to 2 a day. Everyone's right when they say everything on this diet is really individual with how many prot/fat/carbs you can eat, and how long you can IF and this and that and this and that LOL. Definitely a new adventure and I'm learning something new every day about how my body is reacting to this lifestyle.

BTW, does WOE = way of eating? I've been trying to figure that out, I'm usually good with abbreviations but this one has taken me a while haha!

Thanks! I think most of that was rambling LOL!