Paleo is often associated with success stories of dramatic weight loss. However, you should be aware that Paleo is not a diet that only aims to lose weight! Rather, Paleo is a diet & lifestyle which addresses various facets of health. The Paleo diet seeks to address the imbalance that has developed between our modern diet and our more Stone Age bodies.
Most of the foods we find in the supermarket today contain a high caloric content and little nutrients in comparison, we then combine this with a lack of exercise, artificial light, poor sleep, ....
The body reacts to this not only with overweight or even obesity but also with hormonal disorders and diseases, and cravings. Because unlike our food, our body has not changed.
We, humans, evolved when food was scarce and life had all kinds of arduous physical activities in store. Our bodies can continue to deal with food shortages as they did in the Paleolithic era by going to fat reserves. Moderate hunger is also part of this (intermittent fasting). However, in industrialized society, humans are confronted with a surplus of food supply from supermarkets rather than food scarcity.
Combined with the nutrient-poverty of our modern food, this causes us to remain hungry.
This is because our bodies signal this to us in anticipation that we will eat more, and nutrient-rich food at that.
Basic facts about diets
Should you have the goal of weight loss in addition to the health benefits of the Paleo diet, I have a few tips for you today on how to successfully lose weight with Paleo.
However, before I get to the actual topic of losing weight with Paleo, I want to get rid of a few basic facts about dieting and losing weight.
First of all, you need to know that you can only achieve long-term success by adjusting your diet and lifestyle in the long term.
Simply going on a 2-week diet and then falling back into the old behavior pattern without gaining weight again will not work with any diet.
So be aware, if you have too many pounds on your hips, it is usually due to a wrong diet and lifestyle.
No diet will help you, because as quickly as you may have achieved success and lost weight, so quickly you have the kilos on it again or even more, as soon as you return to your old habits.
So is a low-calorie diet the key to success?
The answer is YES!
Weight management is built on input & output. As written above, our bodies are simple-minded.
While it is basically true that you lose body fat with a calorie deficit. That is when you eat fewer calories than your body actually burns throughout the day. This is supported by natural metabolism and physical activity.
What is the solution to the problem?
You should find an approach where you naturally eat fewer calories. In other words, eat less, but without actually doing it consciously.
While many diets promise to do just that, I actually only know of one diet or nutritional approach where this is actually the case and that is PALEO!
The reason for this is simple.
Paleo is more filling for the same number of calories consumed than many other low-calorie diets.
This is exactly the essential point for weight loss success with Paleo.
You will automatically eat less energy while not having to fight hunger or count calories. So your metabolism won't drop either.
With Paleo you don't even have to reduce fat or carbohydrates, because you naturally eat fewer carbohydrates since Paleo excludes the highly processed and refined carbohydrates like flour and sugar from the diet.
Tips for successful weight loss with Paleo
Now that you know a few principles for losing weight, I want to give you a few more strategies for basic habits to help you reach your weight loss goals:
#1 Eat Paleo!As I described earlier, Paleo is the most promising diet. So change your diet to Paleo.
#2 Keep your food simple!In various studies, it has been shown that simple meals lead to eating less, which in turn leads to a drop in calories. The recipes on our blog are based on this principle. I like it a little more sophisticated from time to time and also love refined dishes, but for the basic Paleo everyday life, I keep it rather simple. Especially when losing weight with Paleo, focus on high-quality proteins and healthy fats.
Eat mostly vegetables, wild fish, and species-appropriate meats, and avoid Paleo pancakes and "Paleo-compliant" cookies, as well as too much fructose in the form of fruit if you want to lose weight fast.
#3 Never starve yourself!Especially when it comes to losing weight, many think that it is better to eat less. But this is exactly the wrong approach and leads to personal dissatisfaction. Your body needs energy and nutrients.
Make sure that it gets them. If you follow the Paleo principles, you will not suffer from hunger pangs. On the contrary, you will feel satiated even though you are eating fewer calories. Healthy fats (avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, ghee, etc.) play a crucial role here.
#4 Exercise & Carbohydrates!Part of the Paleo lifestyle is exercise. Sufficient exercise is not only healthy for someone who wants to lose weight, it is part of our nature! Depending on the number and intensity of your exercise sessions, you should make sure to consume enough carbohydrates. But you can remember: Earn your carbohydrates. Exercise first, eat later.
#5 Listen to your gut!For some people, it can happen that after only a few weeks, after the scale has presented them with their successes, they gain weight again. What is the reason for this? One could refer this now only to the nutrition and to the energy balance. People eat too much. It is easy to observe in small children that they still feel a natural sense of satiety.
In adulthood, unfortunately, this is lost and we eat more than our body needs. It doesn't matter that what we eat is healthy or not. That's why it's especially important to eat consciously and to use a few little tricks to make sure that you notice again when you're actually satiated. For example, eating in front of the TV, the cell phone or in a hurry should be avoided.
This only leads to eating too much or our bodies not being set up for digestion. In the same way, it can help to use a smaller plate for your meals. Because a large plate usually also means that we make it fuller and eventually also polish off everything and thus eat beyond our hunger. You will certainly also be aware that eating slowly is healthy. Because if you gorge, you automatically eat more.
#6 More movement in everyday life!Especially the office workers among us know that they actually sit for far too many hours a day. If you then also drive to work and sit in front of the TV in the evening, you will probably have a harder time reaching your dream weight. Make sure that you don't just exercise in the gym (artificial light, often people sit in a machine again), but spread it out throughout the day.
There are more ways to do this than you might think. How about working at a standing desk, walking to work (or getting off the bus one stop earlier) or riding your bike, using the stairs instead of the elevator, taking regular standing or walking breaks with stretching, and changing your sitting position more often. In this way, you not only promote your weight loss but at the same time, you still reduce the risk of chronic diseases and improve your general health.
I have built a climbing frame at home for this purpose. This way I can shimmy from the bedroom to the bathroom.
