What does 1900-2000 calories/day look like on Paleo diet page 3

[OneDeltaTenTango]

What do you mean?

What I mean is that the fruit loops, canned peas, glazed donut, fiber one cereal, white bread, peanut butter bar, and glass of canola oil are all on the really, really unappetizing list for me.

[dilberryhoundog]

Hi I hope this helps but it is only my opinion (altho alot of info mark provides made it easy for me to come to this conclusion.)

I find there is something far better than "myfitness pal" or "fitday" or a set of kitchen scales or an internet forum at deciding the amount of calories you need at any point in time, its been around for many thousands of years and everybody has access to it. It's called:

Your sub-conscious hunger response.

there is only a caveat or two:
*one needs to provide it with the right food signals (pretty much eat off the primal blueprint allowed food list and avoid the foods off the do not eat list)
*one needs to not consciously seek to control this reflex, our concious minds don't have the resources to effectively control what is a survival response (like breathing)

If we trust our hunger response like this, it will reach a point where it will give us our perfect body composition and hour by hour perfect energy/nutrient requirements automatically. All "we" have to provide is the will power to avoid anything that will upset this balance (sugar, bad carbs, seed oils, poor sleep, no sun etc etc).If your body is on a bit of binge go with it, likewise if it is doing its own IF thing.

A great analogy for this is your humble family car. There is precise science that makes an engine run (fuel/air ratios, ignition maps etc etc.) and in every engine this is different. BUT we don't need to know the science all we need to do is put Petroleum in the tank and the engine will do the rest for us. Just don't put Deisel or Kerosene in the tank.

No Doubt this will cause a wave of upset with all the people on this board that believe in controlling your CICO, I don't mind take it or leave it. All that I'll say is that it has worked very effectively for my family, in a little over 3 months I have lost 25kgs (55 pounds) and my wife has lost 15kgs (33 pounds).

[Bifcus]

200 calories, 200 ways:

What Does 200 Calories Look Like?

The thing that detracts from these sort of pictorial representations of calories, is they so often lack context. For example, when I look at that picture of kiwifruit, I am thinking how many Kiwi's is that? Maybe 2? But of course a typical Kiwi fruit is 40 calories so that is probably about 5 kiwis. Not helpful for me at all in visualising it. Likewise the pat of butter. The way it is shaped it could be a whole 250g packet, or a 1cmx1cm x0.5cm cube. I can't tell. There are bunch of those sites. I once found one which had a picture of a measuring cup of rice with the label 'a cup of rice x calories'. Ummm.

Thanks to those who put in their actual consumption, with calorie counts. That is much easier to visualise even though it doesn't have pictures.

[Annieh]

What I mean is that the fruit loops, canned peas, glazed donut, fiber one cereal, white bread, peanut butter bar, and glass of canola oil are all on the really, really unappetizing list for me.

Oh, sorry to be dense. I couldn't agree more.

[AngryKiwi47]

The thing that detracts from these sort of pictorial representations of calories, is they so often lack context. For example, when I look at that picture of kiwifruit, I am thinking how many Kiwi's is that? Maybe 2? But of course a typical Kiwi fruit is 40 calories so that is probably about 5 kiwis. Not helpful for me at all in visualising it. Likewise the pat of butter. The way it is shaped it could be a whole 250g packet, or a 1cmx1cm x0.5cm cube. I can't tell.

Picture also provides the weight of the object. An ounce of butter - 28g - is pretty easy to guess by hand or on the end of a spoon. Likewise, a medium apple is around 120-140g - so the pic is 2-3 apples.

Thanks to those who put in their actual consumption, with calorie counts. That is much easier to visualise even though it doesn't have pictures.

150g uncooked rice.
Two salmon fillets.
Mixed vegetables.

Two tablespoons almond butter.
Four small bananas.
Blueberries.
Carton of cottage cheese.

2000kcal. I added three chocolate balls to make 2300. Easy.

[smithfamily99]

Here is what my avg meals look like:

Breakfast:
- Paleo Frittata - current version has diced ham, mushrooms, and shallots (pie slice size)_
- 3 pieces of nitrate/nitrite free bacon
- Shake - made with 1 scoop of vanilla primal fuel, 3 frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries and 1/2 avacado - 1 tiny scoop of stevia for good measure
- Advocare Spark drink (which has take the place of diet soda)

Lunch:
- Paleo spaghetti (made from zucchini) and sauce with italian sausage, grass fed beef, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, bell pepper, basil, a little olive oil
- spinach salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, 2 tbls of chopped pecans, 1 c fresh strawberries

I will probably have 2 TBL of almond butter as a snack later on, but that's not a standard snack.

I haven't figured out dinner tonight yet, but it will probably involve grilled chicken and a salad (probably with an avacado), half a glass of red wine and a salad.

As of lunch, myfitnesspal.com calculates my numbers at 1427 cals, 67 g carb, 114 g fat, 47 g protein.

Any thoughts on my choices? I literally have not lost a single pound in 4 weeks of eating like this and although I love it, I need to see some results. Oh, here are my stats - I'm 5 ft 5 in, 180 pounds - not a ton of exercising going on (walking a bit, doing squats and lunges, etc...), plenty of stress with working FT and 2 kids.

Thanks!
Molly

[Annieh]

Wo, Molly. That food looks delicious but it would be a LOT for me at only one inch shorter than you.

Not to be critical but you did ask for help. I think breakfast would be adequate with the ham frittata, maybe add the bacon if extra hungry but I can't see the need for a shake AS WELL as all that.

Lunch sounds fabulous, but again I would probably not eat BOTH the spaghetti dish and the hi-energy salad on the same day unless I had worked out or skipped breakfast.

Almond butter is a great snack but I'm surprised you feel the need for it after eating this much already. Since your stated aim is to lose stored body fat, I would suggest omitting this for now. Maybe here would be a good time to have that shake if you really do need something.

Chicken and salad would be fine for dinner but the wine might also compromise weight loss.

So, my assessment - ditch the shake, wine and almond butter. Scale back the bacon, pecans and olive oil (for now - you will need them later when you have reached your goal). Keep up the walking and squats, perhaps add some weights. Good luck.

[Neckhammer]

I don't calorie count, but I know I eat approximately this for around 2000 calories....

3-6 eggs
1lb of meat
1/2-1 lb of veggies
a couple pieces of fruit

[Unicorn]

Unless those are tiny portions of food, I think you are eating far more than 1400 cals/day. I found that I really needed to measure my food for about a week to get a sense of how many calories I was consuming. Especially for things like meat sauce. 1/2 cup of meat sauce is a really small volume.

Here is what I ate yesterday for 1405 calories:

Breakfast: Fasted, with tea (plain)

Lunch: Salad with

3 cups lettuce/cabbage
2 Tb olive oil
1 HB egg
1/2 avocado
1/2 container sardines (minus the oil)
3 Tb sunflower seeds

Dinner:

1 cup sauteed kale
1 slice bacon, crumbled in the kale
1 slice cheddar cheese
4 oz hamburger
1/4 cup macadamia nuts.

And that's it, for 1400 cals. No way I could have gotten 1 more salad, strawberries, 2 slices of bacon, a frittata, meat sauce, and a protein shake in there for the same number of calories.

Granted, I am doing nutritional ketosis, and so more of my cals are coming from fats. I think you need to re-evaluate protein size.

For me, the fact is I need to stay hungry for a good long period of time to lose weight. Hence the fasting through breakfast. I also have to stop eating when I am 'done' with what is on my plate, not necessarily when I am full. Fullness sometimes takes a good 20 minutes after I eat to kick in. It is far too easy for me to overeat fruits, and then I have more sugar cravings and overeat the other foods too. I need to be careful with nuts and only eat high fat ones like macadamias, as those provide satisfaction in a small serving size.

I am also 5'5" 169 lbs this morning (YAY!), and have been primal/paleo for a good 2 years. I have found it very easy to maintain on this WOE, but as a working FT mom of 2 kids, I needed to really push to start to bring the weight down. Nutritional ketosis helped me lose about 10 lbs last year, and then I gained it back after some health issues. I am now moving the arrow into the 'weight loss' mode by going back into ketosis.

[MissJecka]

I don't count Calories anymore, but I think I eat around 1800+ Calories daily. Also, I'm female, 5'6", currently around 140 pounds, and I'm 27 years old.

Breakfast: 2 slices bacon, 2 eggs and at least 1 cup of veggies cooked in the bacon fat, raw cheese on the side. Sometimes a starch like sweet potato. If I'm really busy, like yesterday morning, I'll make a smoothie using half a can of coconut milk (~350 calories just from that!) with frozen berries, whey protein powder, and some vanilla extract.

Lunch: My own big-ass salad (lettuce, spinach, carrots, cucumber, mushrooms, a protein like a can of tuna, hard-boiled egg, bacon, olive oil). If I have one on hand, I'll add half an avocado to this.

Snack, if I'm in the mood for one: Spoonful of almond butter, or some dark chocolate, or a handful or two of nuts. If I want something savory, usually it'll be raw cheese, baby carrots, or even bacon.

Dinner: At least 6 oz protein (chicken, ground beef burger, etc.) with a starch (sweet potato, white potato, sometimes rice if I don't have anything else on hand) and a fat (usually a sauce made from coconut milk or just plain ol' olive oil or butter melted all over it... or, again, if I have it on hand, avocado). Always always have a dark leafy green salad on the side.


The most Calorie- and nutrient-dense foods I eat regularly are coconut milk, raw cheese (the only dairy I consume), and avocado. To the OP: buy yourself some of those and you will never struggle with eating too few Calories or nutrients.

Nuts/nut butter are good, but I easily overeat that stuff so I try to limit myself to only a few spoonfuls a week; although, sometimes I splurge and make primal baked goods or primal pancakes, which feature mostly almond flour. Again... I try to limit that.