am I the only one?
(16 posts) (7 voices)-
Jedi
MemberI spend time daily on these forums, learning loads and being encouraged by people's transformations.
I have been 80-90% primal for about six months and have experienced no changes whatsoever. In fact in the past couple of months I have managed to gain some bodyfat, not sure how.
I have avoided sugar for the past 30 years and have never eaten fast food regularly, always focussed on real food . For the past couple of years I had been eating probably under 100gr of carbs a day and that was mainly veggies, some pulses, tubers, oats etc.... so becoming primal wasn't a huge change. I gave up marathon training a year ago and have been lifting very heavy weights for 4 years. I have IFd regularly during the past 6 months and work out very consistantly.
I do still eat raw milk daily in coffee and occasional french cheese or kefir. I have the odd glass of wine and dark chocolate a couple of times a week.
I have had bronchitis and a cold during the past primal 6 months and have not noticed any health improvements or increased energy or any benefits from being primal. I have researched much over the past 4 years and do find the PB scientifically compelling but I don't see any personal advantages, and have even gained a little bodyfat over the months.
Am I the only one here with this experience?
Posted 4 months ago # -
Indiscreet
MemberThere's a lot of variables at play here.
Coming from a healthy background, your transition to Primal was less dramatic than someone who has been stuffing their face with french toast, waffles and fast food for most of their lives. Put simply, going Primal was a tweak for you, whereas for someone it's a total lifestyle change. You can't expect your results to be comparable (as I'm sure you realise).
There's also the matter of hormones. Women tend not to get such dramatic results as men, on the whole, since oestrogen likes us to hold fat. I'm not sure how old you are, either, but ageing plays a big part (especially once a woman gets into menopause territory).
It's obviously frustrating and I'm in the same boat, to a certain extent. I've always held a lot of fat below the waist (I'm not fat, but I definitely "got back" not to mention thighs...*sigh*) and have never in my 42 years managed to shift it. I'm not sure I ever will, especially now that I'm older. I've always weight trained and have been experimenting with low carb on and off since the 90s so Primal is not a massive change for me either.
Finally, are you getting enough sleep? I know I tend to skimp on sleep because it's hard to fit everything I want to do into a day and sleep 7-8 hours. However, skimping on sleep isn't great for hormone levels and can encourage the body to retain fat.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Jedi
MemberI sleep 8 to 9 hours a night
B 2 eggs and 60gr bacon in CO, coffee + tbs milk or IF
coffee+ milk
L huge salad, lambs lettuce, cucumber, fennel, slice or two of bell pepper + protein like chicken, salmon, sardines etc 1-2tbs walnut oil
coffee+milkD omelette or rabbit and broccoli or salmon and cauliflower, or lamb and leeks, sausage and chard etc etc
carbs tend to be around 30-60gr per day
I am not overweight, very lean upper body and all extra fat is on legs.
I would like to lose the last 3-4kg but not a big deal, just disappointed that i see no advantages to PB, but i did realise i was just tweaking the diet.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Indiscreet
MemberYeah, lower body fat is a b**ch. I am leaner in the upper body than the woman who teaches spin at my gym, yet she has matching legs, whereas I have big wodges of fat either side of my hips and on inner thighs. I feel like an magician's assitant who got sawn in half then got stuck back on the wrong set of legs. Meh.
3-4kg is not much for someone who needs to lose 30kg, but for people like us who are basically in shape, it's very tough to get rid of.Posted 4 months ago # -
syzchan
MemberHey Jedi,
I had lecture once by a Plastic surgeon and I recall him saying that in some people, there are pockets of fat that are not just not affected by exercise or diet, e.g. the only way to lose it is by liposuction =P
I'm kinda in the same boat, I still have a bit of fat in the midsection that I would like to get rid of since abdominal fat is the greatest risk factor for cardiovascular disease. But at the same time, I'm wondering if it's something that I'll just have to live with.
Instead of measuring your PB success on what you do/don't lose, ask yourself how you feel? I may not be able to lose that last little bit, and in fact gained a few pounds, but am okay with that since I feel so much better mentally and energy-wise on PB. Plus it's also helped me deal with some eating and body issues.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Raphael
MemberThat's physically impossible! Unless, like mentioned above, you were in outstanding health to begin with. Most of us weren't.
Anyways, I too have a problem dropping the last few pounds. I think that this is the point where you really have to fight your body for it by lowering carb intake even further, eating less calories, working out harder, etc.
Posted 4 months ago # -
one_eye_mike
MemberI went primal about six months ago, hard core, no cheats. Went full on eating lots of good quality fat, etc and I gained ten pounds. It was a slow and insidious but it happened. Going primal solved so many digestive issues for me that there's no going back but.....eating lots of fat and not worrying about total calories is out for me. I have to strictly control my calorie intake and keep pretty close tabs on it with a app on my iphone. The weight I gained is starting to come back off so I'm in a good place at this point.
Posted 4 months ago # -
animalcule
MemberYou're probably not seeing many changes because you were already mostly 'there' (except for the marathon training).
Also.. don't all women have persistent deposits of body fat in certain areas, no matter their diet or level of exercise?
I've had a fat butt since I was 13 years old and 89 lbs, and I assume I will always have it (and it will get fatter as I age, carbs or no carbs).
Posted 4 months ago # -
maba
MemberSame here Jedi. I have actually put on weight (115 when I started and 118-119 now) and I haven't noticed any reduction in measurements off late either. But then again, I'm not as strict as many here. I eat dairy, raw when available and eat far too many almonds, indulge in dark chocolate and berries often. But this past week I did the survival challenge and cut down on all those and have seen no changes, if anything I think I'm up a pound (but that's probably the normal day-to-day fluctuation).
Looks like you've been "Primal" even before you switched to PB. And I've read on another thread that your BF is 17 or 18%. That's something I can only dream of. Then again, I haven't been focusing on the fitness front much. I used to do a lot of cardio before going Primal and now it's mostly "Move slowly". Like Indiscreet says, since you were pretty Primal even before, you may not have seen the changes that people eating SAD have.
I have stubborn belly fat but much less than what it used to be when rice was the mainstay of my diet. The less said about my thighs and derriere, the better. My BF is 26-27%. Although I haven't seen the weight-loss many have experienced here, I think I'm definitely healthier than before. No more post-meal sluggishness. I can IF for close to 24 hours. No more sugar/carb binges (nut-binge, yes). At this point, I'm mainly concentrating on eating healthy since we want to start a family and am not too concerned about fat-loss.
I don't think I have added much to what others before me have. But just wanted to share that I too haven't seen any weight-loss.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Jedi
MemberRaphael, I didn't say I have outstanding health, just that I have seen no health changes/improvements on PB, as Maba said I wasn't far off PB anyway
Yes, Maba, despite Ifing a lot and around 1600 cals per day I have gone up to around 20%BF, which is still fine. I still think PB make sense, though. My lack of thyroid, probably slows things down a bit despite finally seeming to be on a good dose of thyroid meds.
One eyed Mike, I too have to keep a real track on what I eat and very rarely cheat.
I will do a week without dairy to see.Posted 4 months ago #
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