Not losing weight on Primal plan page

[Katchup57]

Hi, I'm 10 days in and not losing any weight on the primal plan so far. In fact, I've gained half a pound. About me: Female, 5'2, 250lbs, early 30s. I'm exercising 5 days a week doin Insanity (crossfit-esque workouts), burning about 500 calories a session (45 min a day).

Typical day (what I ate today):
Breakfast: 2 eggs, broccoli, tomatoes
Snack: pistachios
Lunch: salad with chicken, no dressing
Snack: pistachios
Dinner: 2 eggs, turkey bacon, 1/2 avocado
Total food calories: 1665

Yesterday:
Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 slices bacon
Lunch: red curry w chicken, no rice
Snack: almonds
Dinner: Cobb salad w ham and turkey, no dressing
Total cal's: 1383

I'm averaging about 1300 -1500 calories in food/day, about 50 carbs per day, burning 500 cal's 5x per week, drinking about 70oz of water per day.

Any ideas on what I could be doing differently?

[thewildirishgirl]

Patience. Give it a few weeks. You're trying to undo years and years and years of unhealthy eating. Your body won't change overnight. I had a really slow start for the first couple of weeks, and then lost steadily. You can do this! You might also consider scaling back on those intense workouts as your body adjusts. I'm sure it's all a huge shock to your system right now.

[afsjesse]

First of all, ditch the nuts. Many people can't eat them while they're trying to lose weight. Eat an apple or have a piece of meat. Second, up the fat!!! From the two days of eating that you posted, the fattiest thing you've eaten is 2, count them, 2! pieces of bacon. You need more. Eat more beef and bacon. Throw in some extra coconut milk into that curry sauce! Be generous with the EVOO that you're using for that salad. Have an extra slice of ham! I think that'll solve your problem! Good luck!

[jgrohol]

I agree with the above comments. Up your fat intake just a bit, and of course the good fat. Add some olives to those salads too and some shredded carrots. Get some almond milk and/or coconut milk to drink or use in the food. Also, 10 days may not nearly be enough time to see a difference. Your body doesn't have to react that quickly to fat loss. I'll say one thing, once your body kicks in gear and starts, you'll see the lbs drop week after week. As long as you stay on that path of eating. If you were a heavy carb/grain eater, it can take a few weeks to settle into the fat burning stage. This is where you aren't "hungry" every few hours from the insulin response and that you are actually burning fat for your fuel. You'll get it, you'll feel it one day when you don't get the weak shakes/sweats and you have energy longer. You'll also feel your hunger feeling go to just a little rumble in the tummy rather than that "I need to eat NOW" feeling.

The workouts don't need to be overly extreme like cross-fit to burn fat. You need to re-write that part of your memory. The little things like taking the stairs or parking at the back of the lot instead of the front go along way. I can almost guarantee you aren't enjoying 100% of those cross-fit exercises. Most of it has to feel like work. Remember to exercise in a fashion where you have fun and to also play more. Simple exercises that take up just a small part of your day can go a much longer way than over-exerting yourself in intensive exercises. You don't have to feel worn out, sore, tired, or exhausted after a workout for it to be effective.

Remember to listen to your body. It has a great way of giving you signs of what it needs. It knows when it needs fluids and it knows when it needs food. You do not need to hammer your body with water all day. If you're thirsty, drink. If not, not necessary to drink a lot. Just the exception of drinking a little more while working out (although your body will tell you it's thirsty rigth away!).

You are doing it, you are communicating on this forum, therefore you are on a great path already. Just remember to be patient!

[Ayla2010]

Yes listen to your body, stop when it says you have had enough, and don't eat if not hungry.
Also time is important.

[AngryKiwi47]

Hi, I'm 10 days in and not losing any weight on the primal plan so far. In fact, I've gained half a pound. About me: Female, 5'2, 250lbs, early 30s. I'm exercising 5 days a week doin Insanity (crossfit-esque workouts), burning about 500 calories a session (45 min a day).

Typical day (what I ate today):
Breakfast: 2 eggs, broccoli, tomatoes
Snack: pistachios
Lunch: salad with chicken, no dressing
Snack: pistachios
Dinner: 2 eggs, turkey bacon, 1/2 avocado
Total food calories: 1665

Yesterday:
Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 slices bacon
Lunch: red curry w chicken, no rice
Snack: almonds
Dinner: Cobb salad w ham and turkey, no dressing
Total cal's: 1383

I'm averaging about 1300 -1500 calories in food/day, about 50 carbs per day, burning 500 cal's 5x per week, drinking about 70oz of water per day.

Any ideas on what I could be doing differently?

Are those net calories? IE, calories consumed after exercise has been taken into account. Sounds to me like a classic case of not eating enough.

IMHO, you shouldn't be counting calories. I'm actually a little confused as to how the MarksDailyApple Nutrition board is all about macros, calories and the like rather than be about eating real food, and eating real food intuitively. Ditch the scale, ditch calorie counting and just eat whole foods.
Seriously. I think you'll find most of the "Success Stories" came without calorie counting. Hell, Mark even created the PrimalBlueprint so people would be able to get down to and maintain a healthy weight and live a healthy lifestyle without counting.

[peril]

Too much stressful exercise. Read The Primal Blueprint. You need time to recover from high intensity exercise.

But most important - you don't get healthy by losing weight, you lose weight by getting healthy. Relax, take it easy by moving slowly often and eat for health. You'll lose the weight once you work out what it takes to get you healthy

[BigJilm]

Maybe add some fish oil (omega 3) supplements

[Sandman]

Some people enjoy that much intense exercise on a regular basis. I would probably only want that once or twice a week.

I agree with others that increasing your fat intake will help you become fat-adjusted.

Great job on your first 10 days. You sound very motivated and "locked-in" to improving your health. I imagine that in another 10 days, you'll be feeling great. Weight loss will certainly follow...

[nixxy]

You're not eating enough. You're 250lb and female (I'm 220lb, but younger than you). Your BMR is likely near mine, which is 1800 or so. In fact yours is likely nearer 1900. To maintain your weight (with no exercise) you'd be looking at around 2400cals. You shouldn't eat below your BMR (~1900), especially not when you're exercising 5x a week.

Doing this for a long period of time IS what down-regulates your metabolism. (Not that crap about needing to eat every 3 hours to make your metabolism fast, that's shit, this is about long term metabolism regulation).

Look through this forum long enough and you'll find plenty of stories about women who ate too few calories for too long and have found they've down-regulated their metabolisms and worst of all, they're STILL overweight because you end up in a vicious cycle of getting your calories lower and lower, and further messing everything up.

I started at 282lb, and I lose a lot of weight initially by not eating enough. Probably my first 20lb I lost while only eating around 1200 calories a day. But not only is it miserable, it doesn't work for very long. It's also difficult to get all your nutrient needs in so few calories.

Now at 220lb I make sure I get 1800 minimum, on a lifting day I might eat 2400.

You'll hear a lot of things and you'll read a lot of things... some women do eat very little and can lose weight doing so. But I just personally recommend you don't go down that path, especially when you're willing to exercise, as you obviously are.