Paleo Weight Loss

I had a question on my last post that I wanted to address.  The question comes from Jill over at Run With Jill who's current blog picture reminds me of the streets of Denver and makes me want to run at night.  Then I checked out her profile and what do you know?!, she's from Denver!  Anyways...

Did you lose any weight or body fat on the [Paleo] diet?

I'll start by saying that I kept track of my weight throughout the experiment.  Body fat, however, I did not keep detailed track of. 

When I started the Paleo diet (Day #1), I weighed in at 170.5.  I normally hover around 175 in the off season and given that the entire week prior to Paleo was a slow transition of getting rid of the last gallon of milk, some cheese, and whatever else might go bad in the coming 30 days, I don't doubt that I was around 175 then.  But either way, I weighed myself on the same scale at 1PM when I got to work in order to keep track of any weight loss.

In the first week of Paleo, I went from 170.5 to 164.  I was averaging 1 lb lost a day and that scared me.  I honestly considered bailing on the experiment out of health concerns.  But in the end, I had no ill side effects and I felt fine.  Plus, when I was a swimmer in high school, my body weight would drop 20 lbs in two weeks, so I was used to seeing my weight change rapidly. 

In week two, while watching my weight closely I found that I had thankfully not continued the pattern.  I stuck right around 163.  If I weighed myself earlier in the day after a workout, I'd see something like 161, or if I weighed myself after eating, it'd be up towards 165, but it never went out of a normal range. 

Overall, I lost an approximate 7-8 pounds in one week of Paleo.  Then as of yesterday morning I weighed myself again and I am at 172. 

As far as body fat, I never kept an accurate measurement, nor did I track it.  However, I did notice that I was losing body fat on my stomach over the 30 days because it got easier and easier to see my abs.  As of today, I'm right back to where I was before the experiment.

WARNINGS

I am not in any way certified to prescribe nutritional advice.  With that said, I do admit that I am quite intrigued by the changes that I noticed on the Paleo diet.  I think the diet has a lot of benefits including weight management.  I did not workout until into week #2, so the bulk of the changes I saw in weight and body fat were strictly based upon my diet.  I also never intended this experiment to help me lose weight.  As I stated above, I almost quit because of the rapid weight loss and I don't mind at all that I have gained the weight back.  However, I will most likely repeat the diet once my training is back in full swing to test the effects it has on my workouts.  I may also foresee me keeping to a close-to-Paleo diet during the season in order to maintain a better energy use system and race weight.  Outside of that, however, I will be eating plenty of holiday cookies, pies, and desserts in the next week and I'm looking forward to it!

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Questions

1.  What are your plans for the holidays?
I'll be at my Mother's this year for Xmas.  I only get Xmas eve and Xmas off though, so it will be a quick holiday this year.

2.  Have you ever done a diet for weight loss purposes?  If so, which have you used?
I have a family member who has attempted so many different diets!  Every one does calorie counts, points, or some sort of portion control system.  I personally don't like the idea behind commercial diets.  Plus, they're all businesses - they want to make money!  I think Paleo and similar "going back to the old way of eating" type diets are where the most benefits are going to be found.

3.  Have you gotten all your holiday shopping finished?
I've got one present done, one en route, and the rest are still out there.  It's going to be a busy week!


Swim fast.  Bike smart.  Run hard.