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Paleo-style eating: first impressions

Now I know I'm not the only one.

A business acquaintance and I discovered that we both do paleo. During the conversation he mentioned how, after eating grain-free for some time, he realized that his body was talking to him. "I'm hungry. I want vegetables. No, I don't want spinach. I want a carrot." Stuff like that. Which is exactly how I am now. So it's something that you should look for after you start eating paleo -- it took about three weeks for me.

That's how I'd describe it too, your body is sending signals that were being blunted and now they are coming through clear. Your also likely re-establishing leptin sensitivity which is crucial for appetite control.


6 days into Paleo and I feel great, have had zero hunger and being very strict and it shows. Brain fog is gone and it is nice to feel satisfied after a meal yet still eat what I want.

Sweet!
 
6 days into Paleo and I feel great, have had zero hunger and being very strict and it shows. Brain fog is gone and it is nice to feel satisfied after a meal yet still eat what I want.

That's good to hear. Just wait for that 3rd week or so.
 
Small update.

I'm down to 200 even. That's a net loss of 14 pounds (down ~17 pounds of fat and up ~3 pounds of muscle) is about 8 weeks.

The hard part so far is social eating. It's one thing to eat at a restaurant and try to find something close to paleo, but it's another when you go over to someone's house and they make you a dinner that's at or near 100% non-paleo. I'm not going to be that food douche that says, "I'm not going to eat your food" or "I brought my own" to a nice social dinner. So what I do is eat something paleo about 30 minutes before I leave. Then, at the dinner I take a small portions of several items and skip the worst of it. That way I'm genuinely eating, but not eating a full meal of it (often way too much). The downside is that it doesn't take much for me to have an upset stomach or bad toilet moment when eating that kind of food. But hey, sometimes being nice to your friends means that you suffer a bit. I mean, I'm not eating paleo because "grains are murder!", I'm just trying to be healthy. So it's all good.
 
That's how I'd describe it too, your body is sending signals that were being blunted and now they are coming through clear. Your also likely re-establishing leptin sensitivity which is crucial for appetite control.
This sounds a lot like what I've gone through.
 
Got on the scale, down 7 pounds (mostly water due to the decreased carb intake) but pleased me none the less. I noticed that my midsection is tighter and I am a bit more vascular (again due to dropping water). The big thing for me is I am eating what I like, I am satisfied after a meal or snack and I am having zero cravings for the crap that made up the majority of my diet recently before Paleo.
 
Training question for any of you, are you still training as you did before starting Paleo? I ask because I have read what Mark Sisson wrote in the Primal Blueprint about training and it seems that he doesn't recommend a bodybuilding training style per say (unless I am reading him incorrectly). I am doing a modified push-legs-pull and want to get back to a modified DC style but just wanted some input from the guys following this thread.
 
Depends on your goals. I assume you are just training to be muscular and lean. If that's the case, train anyway you want, just increase carbs if you are doing a ton of lifting and you see performance drop.
 
Depends on your goals. I assume you are just training to be muscular and lean. If that's the case, train anyway you want, just increase carbs if you are doing a ton of lifting and you see performance drop.

Thanks Dale, appreciate the response.
 
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Training question for any of you, are you still training as you did before starting Paleo? I ask because I have read what Mark Sisson wrote in the Primal Blueprint about training and it seems that he doesn't recommend a bodybuilding training style per say (unless I am reading him incorrectly). I am doing a modified push-legs-pull and want to get back to a modified DC style but just wanted some input from the guys following this thread.

I've done almost nothing differently in regards to training. I still go balls-to-the-wall at the gym. Hell, a friend of mine, who has weight issues, attributed the weight loss to the fact that I worked out. I pointed out that I worked out the same before and during paleo, and that the loss only happened after changing my diet. Also, I've been consistenly putting up higher numbers doing HSS-100 at the gym since going on paleo. Mark said that if you're going to do something like that then you should increase your carb intake. I didn't. I almost never go above 150g of carb a day. Most days I'm down around 100g. But...I need to point out that I don't do hard, consistent, cardio, such as long-distance running either.

Yeah, Mark doesn't seem to advocate crazy-level weight lifting. But I like it waaay too much to stop. But I did cut back from 5 to 3 days. I should note that I just did a 1RM of squats at 365.

On a related note: just for giggles I weighed myself again this morning (when I weight, it's always first thing in the AM): 199.
 
199! That's awesome DOMS!! I'm going to train as I like to, as heavy as possible and do cardio for health and fat loss as well. I just like training that way and I believe with a Paleo approach to eating and keeping carbs around 100g a day that I can get where I want to be. Thanks for the great feedback!
 
I would definitely advise people who are going to train hard to get more carbs. Hormonally, specifically with the adrenals and thyroid, it's a bad idea. Eat organ meats, too.
 
199! That's awesome DOMS!! I'm going to train as I like to, as heavy as possible and do cardio for health and fat loss as well. I just like training that way and I believe with a Paleo approach to eating and keeping carbs around 100g a day that I can get where I want to be. Thanks for the great feedback!

It's not much, but it's what I'm doing. ;)
 
I would definitely advise people who are going to train hard to get more carbs. Hormonally, specifically with the adrenals and thyroid, it's a bad idea. Eat organ meats, too.

What amount of carbs would you recommend for those of doing just weights (me)? Or those doing weights and cardio (Anabolic150)?
 
I would definitely advise people who are going to train hard to get more carbs. Hormonally, specifically with the adrenals and thyroid, it's a bad idea. Eat organ meats, too.

Most days my carbs are from vege only so I'd say 20g and I train/cardio 5 days a week. I think by keeping your fat intake around 65-70% I don't appear to be losing any muscle. Gears help, and I have a weekly refeed around 300g of rice/sweet potatoes. I'm still 233lbs
 
Most days my carbs are from vege only so I'd say 20g and I train/cardio 5 days a week. I think by keeping your fat intake around 65-70% I don't appear to be losing any muscle. Gears help, and I have a weekly refeed around 300g of rice/sweet potatoes. I'm still 233lbs

Thinking about it, isn't that what gluconeogenesis is supposed to be for?
 
Thinking about it, isn't that what gluconeogenesis is supposed to be for?

Exactly. My workouts are still intense high volume, but the intensity and endurance of my cardio is a lot lower which makes sense.
 
What amount of carbs would you recommend for those of doing just weights (me)? Or those doing weights and cardio (Anabolic150)?

I'd go 200, 150g may be sufficient. If you start having trouble sleeping up them.

Thinking about it, isn't that what gluconeogenesis is supposed to be for?

Yup, and gluconeogenesis is hard on the adrenals as is heavy lifting. If you are doing a lower volume total body workout 3x a week 150g would be plenty I think. The other issue is that it's hard to get enough thiamin through this diet unless you house nuts and thiamin is really important for both carb metabolism and adrenal function. More of a problem for the crossfit crowd or people training at higher volumes. I do one exercise for 3 sets each of push/pull/knee dominant/hip dominant work each time I lift which takes about 40 minutes 3x a week. If you are in this ballpark I would think 150g would suffice, I generally get around 250g and maintain 185lbs easily. You could also cycle carbs as Capt'n does and carb up around workouts.
 
Cortisol stimulates gluconeogenesis in the liver. It's not necessary for gluconeogenesis, but if you are training hard and not eating carbs it is likely what will increase gluconeogenesis.
 
I've been weight lifting 5 days then cardio one day and I've been running 150g last two weeks and so far so good. Question though, how could increase carbs help sleep?
 
A lack of carbs will throw off your adrenals and/or thyroid. I think Robb Wolf covers it in that blog.
 
You can likely do ketosis long term if you aren't training glycolytically. The only problem is certain foods will fuck up your digestion if you reintroduce them fast. For what you are doing you could easily go 4-6 weeks at 20g-50g per day, but you have to keep protein low too, I think below 20% of cals. There is an awesome book called The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate living that is solid but I can't remember what number they give. This calculator seems accurate to determine macros.

http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/
 
What amount of carbs would you recommend for those of doing just weights (me)? Or those doing weights and cardio (Anabolic150)?

Good read. I'm going to re look at my carb intake. I'm a fan of backloading carbs - keeps your brain clear and optimised for earning cash ;)

There's a great Paleo Solution Podcast with Kiefer on Robb's site.
 
I ate Chinese today, think it was laced with msg ... Urgh ... Felt ill for hours :(
 
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