Do I need to watch my portions? page

[Moey4164]

I just started Paleo about 2 1/2 weeks ago and feel great but my weight loss is slowing down. I eat two eggs with uncured ham steak for breakfast, 2 cups frozen fruit with coconut water for smoothie as snack. Lunch is 1 handful of baby spinach and one handful of Bibb lettuce then tomatoes, cukes and 1/2 avocado. Supper is roasted veggies and about 6 oz. of lean meat. I drink only water all day like 200 oz., I just don't know if I am going overboard somewhere. Would love any input some of you may have. Thanks so much and have a great night.

[Philmont Scott]

You have been Paleo for 2.5 weeks, and you are concerned about your weight loss "slowing down" already?

How often have you been weighing yourself? First step should be to put the scale away for a few weeks at a time. Once you understand the natural up and down that your weight will probably have from day to day, you can probably weigh yourself more often. But if you are concerned about your rate of loss already, you probably need to give yourself a break.

I found that charting my weight in a spreadsheet helped me to see the longer term trend, rather than the day to day up and down. For myself, I bounce around within about a 4 pound range, even if I am not "gaining" or "losing". If you have been going for 2.5 weeks, at a steady state rate of 2 pounds per week, that's only a 5 pound total loss that you might expect so far.

If you are thinking that 2 pounds per week is not enough for you, put it in perspective. That would be 100 pounds per year, if you could keep it up.

My own loss was over 50 pounds, over 8 months. Then, when I was very close to my SECOND goal, I stopped being quite as focused on eating carefully, and I leveled off for the next 5 months. Sometimes I weighed almost every day, and other times I went weeks between measuring. If I zoom in, it looks like it bounces all over the place, but when you zoom out, it is a clear, straight line drop.

Good luck. Keep with it.

[JennGlob]

If you are really needing to lose weight, I would cut back on the fruit and coconut water. Fruit is good for you, but that snack is a sugar bomb. If you want a snack, eat some veggies or do a cup of fruit and a few nuts, or cheese. When I snack, I try for fat, protein and maybe a few carbs.

[Moey4164]

Well thanks for informing me. I obviously don't have any patience and the more I read about Paleo, I just assume that the weight will fall off. I was weighing every 3 days because I was so excited to see the number drop but decided to go weekly, because I figured if I was going offtrack, I could adjust. I suppose I should shut up, enjoy the ride and check in with the scale occasionally. Thanks for the perspective!

[Moey4164]

See I HATE fruit so I thought if I blended it up with coconut milk or coconut water, it would be my way of getting fruit in my diet. I will try the nuts or cheese. Thanks so much

[JennGlob]

Especially, when trying to lose weight you can actually forgo fruit altogether. Plus, there are plenty of great offerings in primal, don't eat something you don't like. Now don't go wild on the nuts, or cheese. Calories do matter, so use good sense

[EagleRiverDee]

Well it looks to me like you already *are* watching your portions. In all honesty, I couldn't tell you what I eat in a day in terms of handfuls or ounces. I eat when I'm hungry. I stop when I'm full. I focus on protein and fat. I don't even bother to portion out vegetables or greens- they're calorically negligible and only have good nutrients. The only thing I limit is fruit because it is higher in sugar and will create an insulin response. If you're really hungry mid-morning, you probably need to eat more at breakfast.

[MissJecka]

You've only been at it for 2.5 weeks. Come back when it's been months without movement in the scale. And, please, for the love of your health and mentality - stop weighing yourself so often.

[the_walrus0]

I do agree with everyone here. I've only been primal for a week but I have been a scale-slave for 7+ years and I decided when I started this journey I was going to give it at least two months before even worrying about the scale or weight loss. I'm surprised I haven't cracked and taken a peek at the scale, but I promised myself this wasn't going to be another obsessive, frantic 'last attempt' style effort. It's about eating what's good for you.

I was a little worried at first about counting my calories but since introducing more fats, meat and veggies I'm not eating as many nuts, fruits and 'snacky' foods that I was last week. I looked over what I ate yesterday and I ended the day at about 2500 calories, which for me is maintenance. It's 100 times better than the nightly 3000+ calories binges, combined with whatever else I'd eaten that day.

Beyond that, I'm trying to fix the problem, not the symptom. This amount of weight doesn't happen to someone who's eating the right foods and treating their body right. I've got 100+ pounds to drop and it's because of my binge eating disorder, which is being caused by a lack of satiation and tons of sugar and grains in my SAD diet.. Or something like that. All I know is that after just 1 week I'm feeling awesome and I can feel the pressing thoughts of food slipping away, where it used to consume me.

Another thing you have to remember is that patience really is a virtue. I spent a lot of time reading the success stories here, but you have to think that even for those people the weight didn't really just 'fall off', even if that's how they described it. If you're overweight for many years and finally find something that works I imagine at the end of the journey it can feel that way since it's finally off, but the weight isn't literally going to 'fall off'. It will take time, especially the closer you are to a healthy weight.

[iconoclast79]

200 oz of water? Um, wtf?

More fatty meat, no more coconut water.