For most people two-three weeks seems to be that breaking point when the cravings take a sharp nosedive. You still have them, and it keeps getting easier but the big drop off usually happens at that mark. Question for you though, are your cravings there because you want the taste of the food or because you don't feel like you have enough energy without them? Lastly, and I might just be over thinking this, but I noticed you said turkey burger. If you are going to go low on the carbohydrates you gotta get aggressive about your fat intake. I don't know if you're back in MA or not, but the Stop and Shops are selling grass fed ground beef for $5 a pound. And worst case you can probably get it for a touch over $7 at Whole Foods.
I'm pretty sure that it's the former, but it's going to HURT when I have to PT like this. We're running six miles tomorrow, and I'm having serious doubts that I'm going to make it. Also, I made the changes accordingly. The commissary is closed, ($3.00 a pound burger. Good burger. Holy shit) so I was forced to go to Walmart for my ground beef needs. I'm also eating a fair amount of bacon.
I made this over the weekend and it is ridiculously good, the best thing I've eaten this month. Quick to prepare and absolutely delicious. Not the best photo, but you get the idea. (Given that I'm still in the process of losing a few kg, I'm still a little disturbed by the amount of fat in it - 1/4 cup of oil, and 1/4 cup of almond butter is confronting when I can't remember the last time I added oil or butter to anything - but it is extremely tasty.)
Fats. Like...sit and eat some guacamole and celery or something. Or some coconut butter. Those fats will fuel you.
Going with "More fat," for dinner I just had five slices of thick bacon, four eggs, (fried in that bacon fat with a little bit of skim milk) and about a cup and a half of orange juice. I'm currently out of veggies, as I underestimated how quickly I would go through them. The commissary is sadly closed on Mondays, (What kind of fucking place is closed on Mondays?) so I'm sadly going to have to stop by my friendly Walmart to pick up more spinach, cauliflower, and broccoli. And some coconut butter, if I can find it. I'm going to be getting a shitload of cauliflower; seems like that stuff can be used for anything. Just wondering - are these portions too big? I'm doing two-a-days five days a week, so I'm definitely going to need to eat a lot. In any case, I feel... strange. I'm full, and I definitely have energy now, and the cravings are gone. But it feels funny, just some weird nagging feeling that something is missing. Definitely better than the "THERE IS RICE IN YOUR WALL LOCKER. MAKE TEN CUPS OF IT AND COVER IT IN BUTTER" feeling I had a couple hours ago.
Pretty normal. Get down on some almond, sunflower, or cashew butter. Just a tablespoon or so of it, and see if that makes the "weird" feelings go away. Also - it is exceptionally difficult to overeat meat and vegetables. Really. Really. Really difficult. Until you're adding in "almond flour" and heavy cream and super heavily fat food - you should be good.
Yep, that sucked. But it didn't suck as much as I thought it would, and I'm pretty sure that it'll get better after a few more days. I've had days like this even with carbs. The difference is that I feel decent now, as opposed to then, when I felt shitty for the rest of the day. I think there might be something to this.
This place has made me very curious about paleo over the last few days, and I think I'm going to try it out. Really interesting stuff in this thread, and I just have a couple questions: -What exactly is the whole30 thing in relation to paleo? Like, what is the difference between saying "I'm going to start eating an all paleo diet today" and "I'm going to start the whole30 plan today"? -To those of you who have been doing it for a while, what is the timeline like adjusting to a paleo diet? It sounds like the "withdrawal" cravings hit pretty hard around the 2-3 week mark, but how long does it take after that to feel the full benefits of the diet? ie, when does your energy level even out, cravings stop completely, etc.
Whole30 is really strict. <a class="postlink" href="http://Www.whole9life.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">Www.whole9life.com</a> is your resource there. No grains, no legumes, no dairy, no sugar/artificial sweeteners/sweeteners of ANY kind, no night shades, no soy, no processed foods. You're stripping your diet to its most basic and barebones then rebuilding it. I would strongly encourage you to read It Starts With Food as you begin this nutritional plan. Everyone is different and it's wholly dependent on how full of sugars/grains/processed foods your diet was beforehand. For me, week one I felt like superwoman. Week two I was tired. Week three I was angry. Week four everything came together.
For the people who follow a paleo diet. What do you have for snacks during the day? I'm cutting down on grains, not following any specific diet strictly, right now don't feel like I need to change anything but just looking for a few snack ideas. Also, although this isn't exactly the nutrition thread, for those more educated than me what is the consensus on eggs with yolk vs. egg whites?
Almonds, Lara bars, hummus And vegetables, boiled eggs... Eat the whole egg. The yolk is the good part.
Pretty much anything you eat at a meal is good for a snack but in a pinch I'll have fruit, dark chocolate, nuts, Larabars etc... I'll also do the So Delicious coconut milk ice cream every once in a while. If you're just avoiding grains, I agree with shimmered that hummus is a good snack, but if you have any desire to steer the boat away from legumes as well I would do Baba ghanoush instead. I agree with shimmered that for the most part eat the yolk as well as the white, that's where all the micro-nutrients are, but if you're really looking to get anal about calorie intake, that's also where the fat is. Obviously I say fuck it, pile on the fat, but a lot of body-building types will eat just the white since it is pure protein and ditch the yolk because calorie wise it is pure fat. If you're ditching grains though eating just whites is leaving money on the table, you'll need that fat.
For most people Paleo is just a lifestyle guideline, you eat as much paleo food as you can, shrug your shoulders when you fuck up and just choose to eat junk food every once in a while, Whole 30 is a challenge to be 100% vigilant about eating only pure non-dessert paleo foods without exception for thirty days. I have serious respect for people who can complete a Whole 30, but that means no alcohol period. It also means no sugar added, so that delicious barbecue sauce I make that has about 1 gram of sugar per serving is off limits even though it really doesn't impact my health. There may be some psychological benefits to doing it for thirty days, but it seemed overall when people on the board tried it, it ended in failure. I started feeling good right away, I had no issues with energy. The real cravings lasted for about two months, it was definitely a struggle, I would have sucked dick for pizza. I'm a little over six months in now and the hardest part for me is just how convenient and available stuff like fast food is and how hard it is to eat paleo on the go, I don't really miss the flavors of grains anymore.
Just caught this, in general if you're trying to lose weight fruit juice is a terrible idea, and you definitely shouldn't be having any on a carbohydrate restricted challenge. Most of the micro nutrients and fiber from the fruit are lost in the juicing process and the end result in terms of pure weight management is the equivalent of soda. That said if it's a deal breaker don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
Yep, Shimmered nailed it (though you can do the night shades thing on Whole30 if you want). In certain ways it is stricter than a pure paleo diet, because you have to cut acceptable paleo items like wine,tequila and even natural sweeteners like pure maple syrup or honey. The Whole30 is beyond just an introduction to paleo from the physiological sense and delves into your psychological response to food and helping you discern between cravings and actual hunger. You really should buy It Starts with Food, even if you don't go Whole30 because it is very easy to read, well done, and explains a lot of the science-y (their term) stuff behind why they believe in a paleo diet.
Hey everyone.. I recently got inspired from the Weight Loss thread and was directed over here. I've decided to cut out all carbohydrates, sugars/sweeteners, pretty much everything restricted by the paleo diet.. and I'm surprisingly not that hungry by eating the follow each day and drinking only water: 1) 1 banana for breakfast w/ a cup of regular coffee(no sugar/sweetener) 2) 2 eggs for lunch cooked w/ vegetable spray PAM 3) About 50g of packaged cold cuts for dinner(usually salami) The thing is.. I live in Costa Rica and don't have access to specialty food stores like Whole Foods. You would think Costa Rica would be heaven for those on the paleo diet, but many of the fruits(even the 1 banana I eat) grown here aren't considered Paleo. An upside is that all of our beef is grass fed and relatively inexpensive, but I'm not much of a cook and was hoping to find a lunch meat that isn't too terribly unhealthy on the days I don't feel like cooking. My only goal is to stop being a fat piece of shit, so by cutting out carbs and processed sugars I'm sure I'll make some leeway by eating what I stated above.. but I'd like to know which pre-packaged meat you guys would recommend I buy if brands like Applegate aren't available to me? I bought the salami because it was a fair price and didn't have too many chemicals/random filler ingredients, but it does have a tiny bit of soy protein which I know is a big no-no in any diet, much less Paleo. Should I focus on turkey? Turkey bacon? Thank you for any advice you can give!
Alright, after PTing a few days with this diet, I'm feeling pretty good. Not quite up to what I was before, but I'm now keeping up. Tomorrow is a pretty high-stakes PFT (Physical Fitness Test - pull-ups, sit-ups, three mile run). Basically, if I get an excellent score on it, I have a decent chance of picking up meritorious sergeant. I don't want to break what I have going on, so I'm looking for ways to carb up without eating grains. Right now I'm looking at sweet potatoes, bananas, and maybe some pineapples for sugar. Is there anything else I should be aware of? I hate to cut things off, since I'm really feeling good with this.
White potato is fine too, just don't eat the skin. The way I handle it, if I want baked potato I'll to it with sweet potatoes, if I want mashed I'll do white potatoes, your mileage and preferences may vary. If you're looking for an easy, portable natural sugar punch I don't think it gets much better than Larabars. They're expensive, but awesome, I don't travel without them. If you have the time and know-how though, make your own fruit bars.
Well, I got a 275 out of 300 - got 22:03 on the three-mile, which is actually better than what I did when I was eating pogey-bait. Dunno if it will be good enough to win the board, but I definitely didn't embarrass myself. Someone said it earlier in this thread - that the purpose of this diet is to transform your mentality toward food, from amusement and indulgence to just being fuel for the furnace. Feels great.