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-   -   Anyone Else tried Primal Diet with Great Success? (http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=800398)

ottog1979 11-06-2013 10:08 AM

Anyone Else tried Primal Diet with Great Success?
 
Anyone not have it work well?

Here's my story, started in January 2013:

The diet in one easy nutshell:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-p...#axzz2fGaVV1k8


For the past 3-5 years, I’ve felt 5-8 pounds overweight and bloated. Tried to lose it solely on the calories in/calories out equation while eating “well” (which I did). Unlike 10 years ago, I just couldn’t exercise enough to get that little extra off. By January, I was tipping the scale at 170, 10 pounds heavier than the weight I really felt good at and heavier than I’ve ever been. I was frustrated.

So, while talking with a business friend of mine in December, who’s similar age and very athletic, he told me about the Primal Blueprint or “Paleo” diet he was on that gave him great success. Most generally, it espouses that while humans have been around several million years, agriculture only about 10,000. Humans are not fully adapted to all the grains in our diet. Instead, we remain hunter/gatherers. The biggest principal of the Paleo diet is don’t eat/avoid grains. This was hard for me (OK, after all the carbs-for-runners regimen, it was SUPER hard). When he first told me about the diet I said “Yeah, whatever… that’s not going to work with me.” But a month later, I figured, what the hell and tried it. The Primal Blueprint suggests a 3-week challenge wherein you try the diet for three weeks. If you don’t like the results, change back. I could do that.

I’ll tell ya, the first 1-2 weeks is pretty hard. I had to give up cereal for breakfast (the hardest thing). You’d be surprised also, how much junk (and carbs) you give up by just avoiding grains. The diet is a little bit like Atkins. The first week, I absolutely craved bread, crackers, cereal, pasta, you name it. But, after the second week, it started to be no big deal. Even better, I had lost a solid 3 pounds by then. Also good, I wasn’t counting any calories at all nor going hungry. If I was hungry, I ate: vegetables, fruit and meat (a lot of it). Bacon several times a week for breakfast, eggs, cottage cheese, nuts, cheese, berries of all kinds, fruit, avocados… Most of my meals now consist of meat & some kind of vegetable. Other than alcohol, I try to avoid sugary stuff (but, I’m not perfect). Beer was one grain food I just wasn’t going to give up (ever!).

Equally amazing, I found it super easy even while eating out at restaurants. You can eat almost anywhere and still eat the diet. Order the hamburger but skip the bun. Salads, fish & other meat dishes. Oder an extra side of vegetables instead of that rice, mashed potatoes, pasta or bread. It’s easy. In-N-Out burger even serves a “protein” style Double-Double (no bun, lettuce instead).

So, I’ve been on the diet since January. I’m down that full 10 pounds (after about 3 months) and feel great. Definitely, I cheat now & then. I’m not a good strict dieter. General rules of thumb work much better for me with a little cheating now & then just for fun. I’ll still have that bowl of cereal now & then. The cereal is great going down but strangely, 30 minutes after, I feel like crap – bloated and wishing I hadn’t indulged.

If you’re into the science, there’s some discussion about how carbs convert to sugars the easiest and if not used immediately are stored as fat. Eating more fat, however, teaches your body to use & burn it better. Thus, you begin to burn more fat even while eating more of it. Previously, as long as your body was getting tons of carbs that convert quickly to sugars, it didn’t need to bother looking to stored fat for energy. It just craved the next carb fix that was coming. Hence the craving cycle.

Anyway, I’m a true believer and can’t believe how easy it was to take of 10 pounds and feel better while still eating lots of good stuff (steak, seafood, bacon, avocados, etc.). That’s been my experience…

PS: I haven’t bought any of this guy’s books or any supplements. Just took info from the website.

This CBS article below speaks the truth.
(http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505269_1...n-doctor-says/)

fly135 11-06-2013 10:41 AM

I eat massive amounts of oatmeal loaded with fruit and topped with yogurt as a daily breakfast. I also eat tons of fruit and get loads of sugar from fruit. My other main diet is roasted chicken, roasted veggies, and olive oil. With that diet dropped tons of weight without even thinking about what I eat. Recently I've been freezing bananas and running them through a pasta extruder with other frozen fruits to make ice cream.

I have no problems with grains putting on weight. I love bread. Costco makes this great Olive Oil Rosemary bread that I coat with Pesto, thin sliced tomatoes, and grated Parmesan then broil. When I eat bread for breakfast I make my own fruit topping in the blender instead of jam, which is nothing more than sugar with a hint of fruit.

You can really eat a lot and lose weight if you just keep fruit juices or other sugar laced drinks out of your diet. Pretty much the same with any foods loaded with sugar or corn syrup.

I will chop a couple red potatoes, a yellow onion, bell pepper, garlic cloves, broccoli, portobello mushrooms, carrots, yellow squash, zucchini, etc... Toss it in a bowel, splash with olive oil, and salt with steak seasoning, put it on a pan and bake. Get a Costco roasted chicken and between the two I can eat at least 4 dinners.

For me... losing weight and eating healthy is all about making it yourself. If you are too lazy to cook you lose weight. And if you do you are eating healthy. I haven't been to a restaurant or fast food place in the last 4 months. This morning I hit the scale and registered 141, and I'm just under 5-8.

I also eat a lot of honey. I personally think that eating a lot of fiber somehow allows you to consume more sugar type carbs without it turning into fat. Because I am getting a lot of sugar carbs from fruit in my diet. In addition I juice greens like collards or kale, then do things like blend some of the pulp back in to kick up the fiber.

Never once have I counted a calorie. Disclaimer... I'm not a foodie, so I can eat the same stuff everyday. Some people just enjoy food so much it's hard to get a handle on a diet. But in my experience if you just still to a few basic principles you can eat a lot without paying much attention to quantity.

Oh and it helps to have a cable park to hit a couple times a week.

dezul 11-06-2013 11:03 AM

All this diet talk is making me hungry.

dezul 11-06-2013 11:10 AM

My personal experience and view is do whatever works for you. Everybody is different. Learn how your body burns energy and put it to work. For me, I am 5'9 and 230lbs. Over the next couple of months I plan to slim down to about 210lbs. I am going to achieve it by limiting alcohol intake, eating clean protien, and watching the carbs and fat intake. Cardio almost everyday, but I plan to vary it up. Treadmill, stairmaster, maybe both in one day. Also I plan not to consume any calories 4 hours before bedtime. It is not a difficult thing to do, it just takes discipline.

Booze will be the hardest thing to give up but my body feels a lot better after a couple of days without any booze so it won't be too difficult.

acurtis_ttu 11-06-2013 11:13 AM

losing weight will alwasy be about calories in /out...period. Any way that helps facilitate that will work.

What gets alot of people is getting their macros/micro nutirents right...too much of one thing s not good.

I'm now 37.....not a genetic freak, still like to drink beer ( I'm the douche who orders water at a bar and dumps a scopp of protien to slam aftre my 7th beer, lol), enjoy a nice steak every once in a while....but never feel like i'm on a diet. My macros have been fairly consistent for hte last 10-15 years....20% of my calories are from fat, 30-40 from protien, 30-40 from carbs (as much low glycemic as I can) . my micros arent' as good as I'd liek...but i've never been a vegetable guy...i'll struglle for the rest of my life..i decided that a long time ago.:)

I've had 6 pack abs since my early 20's......and my whoel family is overweight....dad died of a heart attack at 65.

* I enjoy physical activity.....i havent' take off mroe than a week since I was 18 fom the gym or some type of physical activity.

ottog1979 11-06-2013 11:28 AM

"losing weight will alwasy be about calories in /out...period. Any way that helps facilitate that will work."

I used to think this but am questioning it now. I am a 9x marathoner and at a minimum still run 15 miles per week in addition to a weekly wakeboarding, mountain biking, walking with the wife & dog and intermittently weight training - in short active. I know how to burn calories, count them and fuel while endurance active. As my OP stated, however, I got to the point where calories in/out just did not work for me. For me, it DOES matter what you eat (although when younger, it didn't very much). As soon as I cut the grains, the weight came off at 2 lbs per week. I have not counted a single day's calories since January and am down 12 lbs, lean, mean and feeling great. Certainly one benefit of a "no grains" diet is how much crap it takes out of the cupboard, your mouth and stomach!

fly135 11-06-2013 11:40 AM

Adam, while I can't support my claim I intuitively don't think it's all about calories in/out. I believe there is more to it in terms of how your body processes those calories. High fiber diets move food quickly through your system. That may reduce absorption of calories. The types of foods you eat may affect how calories are processed.

Yes, I know that my claims are conjecture. But my personal experience is that I can eat a lot after I switched to high fiber and my weight just dropped. My standard weight was 160-165 before I kicked the once a day coke and bowel of ice cream, while at the same time I added high fiber juicing. Then it took a dive to under 150.

Quite frankly I looked that the diet above and I could never adhere to it. Too many rules. The base of my pyramid is fruit and veggies. Then the next level is meat. I'm guessing that I'm on the low end of the protein consumption scale. Probably no more than 75mg, which I'd say is low.

ord27 11-06-2013 12:23 PM

That is a lot like the P90X diet...


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ttrigo 11-06-2013 1:52 PM

crossfit uses this as well.

phathom 11-07-2013 5:28 PM

I have done the Paleo diet, I did feel pretty good on it, but I was just constantly hungry without any carbs at all. It worked for me and I dropped some weight and felt more energetic, but eating nothing stuff on the diet got real expensive real fast.

jason_ssr 11-15-2013 7:33 AM

I agree with John and think there are other variables that influence your bodies treatment of what you put into it. I believe those influences have greater weight than the substance input itself. Its not black and white. I do believe its calories in/out, but its calories into your system, not into your mouth. And, its calories out of your system, not exercise guestimates. Endurance athletes might not be at an advantage here. Your bodies have learned to use fuel efficiently. Your goal is to burn fuel and your driving a Prius!

I do believe the processed nature of the majority of the food we eat drastically changes how our body processes the substance. I believe THAT is responsible for results like Johns where consumption volume is made irrelevent and retention becomes the driving concept.

Not saying that controlling input doesnt contribute to results, it does. But I think individuals need to look closer at how their own body reacts to certain things and going "paleo" for a time may help reprogram things, but IMO it is not necessary to sustain it to remain successful.

seth 11-15-2013 8:18 AM

I understand where you are coming from as far as calories in/out, but you need to go even further for this to be true. There is a caloric goal but you need to break that down into macros and hit those numbers/ratios for a balanced diet.

augie_09 11-15-2013 3:09 PM

love the paleo diet, I lost more way and got more trim just on the diet than I did at peak of marathon training, running 50+ miles a week.

you never get food coma after lunch and have energy for days. never realized how much wheat especially was negatively affecting my overall health. I don't care how the science works, I am fit as hell and running circles around my family. bwahahaha....

organicliving 11-19-2013 2:58 PM

My partner and I have always tried to maintain a good level of fitness which means eating well and training often and during the course of that we seem to have tried a lot of different diets, programs etc. The paleo diet has been one of if not the best, specifically the Primal Blueprint lifestyle which just seems to work really well. A lot of that has to do with the fact that its more of a lifestyle change than a diet and the support offered through the community is great which makes staying on track a whole lot simpler.

Having said that we also find it helpful to mix things up every now and then and do something different for a time but we always seem to end up back doing Paleo .


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