http://darwinstable.wordpress.com/

And I find it laughable that you ridicule the idea of cutting out sugar, yet on your own blog talk about how miserable you are not being able to drink alcohol or eat chocolate, and that you can’t wait for your “diet” to be over (I assume so you can return to the habits that made you overweight in the first place)!

A calorie deficit is required to burn body fat, but I find it far easier to achieve by eating meat and vegetables than by doing endless hours in the gym and denying myself the pleasure of a glass of wine and some dark chocolate. That’s the difference between a “diet” and a lifestyle.

Also, when I suggested that your body will use lean tissue as energy, I was more thinking of someone who had lost all their body fat! lol

Huh? Again, when did Mark mention starvation? Energy is obtained through dietary fat – please read the article.

Mark’s phyisque can be obtained if a similar person ate bread/pasta/rice in their diet, and indeed has been obtained by many a dedicated athlete NOT giving up the grain! The six pack is due to low body fat and muscle definition, and good nutrition, not the ‘paleo’ diet specifically!

Yes, a “dedicated athlete” could eat all the bread/rice/pasta they want and get Mark’s physique (Mark did it himself), but we aren’t talking about them, are we? The nice thing about eating the way Mark recommends is that you don’t have to be a dedicated athlete to get results.

You missed that whole point of my argument I’m afraid. I advocate ‘balance’ in life, not cutting things out cos someone thinks our ancestors were healthier.

I only responded because it was obvious that you had missed Mark’s point completely. You never made an “argument”, you simply spouted unsupported rhetoric in a manner that was dismissive and rude. I don’t agree with everything Mark or many other “paleo” people have to say, but I make a point not to knock something until I’ve tried it. I tried your way before, and I was just as miserable as you admit to being.

I wish you the best in your efforts, but if you find they aren’t working as well as you’d like please be open to something new. It worked for me and many others.

My take on it. . . when I want to lean out fast, I eat damned near exactly like Mark advises. And that’s really what it comes down to, you have to try it on yourself. All of this training and dieting is just a big science project – track your diet and exercise and see if it gets the results you desire. If it doesn’t, something needs to change. If it does, then you know you have something that works.

Keep the comments coming!

Greetings from Germany.

I must admit. What I’ve found from you Paleo followers is that you’re quite obsessed by this lifestlyle and nothing I, or anyone else can say, can disuade you. Which is fine by me

Just a couple of points that you’ve taken too seriously:

10 slices of bread was just an exageration to make a point! I’m not suggesting, for one minute, that this is healthy….lol… only that if you digest less calories than you expend, you WILL lose fat.

Also, when I suggested that your body will use lean tissue as energy, I was more thinking of someone who had lost all their body fat! lol

Mark’s phyisque can be obtained if a similar person ate bread/pasta/rice in their diet, and indeed has been obtained by many a dedicated athlete NOT giving up the grain! The six pack is due to low body fat and muscle definition, and good nutrition, not the ‘paleo’ diet specifically!

You missed that whole point of my argument I’m afraid. I advocate ‘balance’ in life, not cutting things out cos someone thinks our ancestors were healthier. Cos that’s utter rubbish. The problem today is that we have too much choice. We are greedy. And we arn’t active enough.

That’s it really.

But good luck to you if you choose to cut out grain and sugar from your diet for the rest of your life. That’s entirely your perogative my friend,

tusc

Julie – If you eat fish, getting enough good protein and fat is easy (sardines, salmon, mackerel, etc). Dairy and eggs are other options. Whey protein is another. If you don’t do any animal-based products, it’s probably not gonna work out. Nuts won’t sustain you alone. (and tofu isn’t exactly paleo/primal)

Calories are calories, eat less & exercise, 10 slices of toast or vegetarian, fat loss is simple.

This thinking has prevailed for the past 60 years while obesity and disease have skyrocketed. Sure, you COULD lose weight by eating 10 slices of toast, but you would be malnourished, starving and miserable. Eating meat and vegetables will keep you satisfied and your nutrient intake will usually exceed the US RDA’s.

After glycogen your body uses fat for energy. Then protein. And protein is your lean tissue ie muscles. if you’re going to be using protein for energy you better be doing some serious muscle building at the same time!!

If your body always uses glycogen first, how do you ever expect to get to fat burning without restricting glycogen? And we aren’t talking about starvation here, your body won’t touch your muscle tissue for food until right before you die. The body does use protein to synthesize glycogen, but only the bare minimum it needs for brain functions(neoglucogenesis is biologically expensive and inefficient)which really isn’t much. To do this it makes use of free amino acids from the food you eat (Mark said lots of protein)plus junk proteins that you body is constantly recycling during cellular breakdown and repair. We aren’t using protein for energy, we are using fat. As far as muscle building while paleo, did you not see Mark’s pic? Or check out Keith at Theory to Practice.

No, Michael Phelps can’t perform the way he does on zero carbs (which again, Mark never suggested..) because swimming is explosive and anaerobic. Doing explosive exercise for hours on end requires a lot of glycogen. But 20-30 minutes a day of explosive exercise (which is all most of us average humans have time for) is easily achieved on a lower carbohydrate diet. I have to wonder if you even read the article, as Mark addressed the need for athletes to eat more carbs.

As far as a deprived lifestyle, and can think of no more deprived life than one where you strap yourself to a treadmill for hours at a time, then eat small amounts of foods which put you on an insulin rollercoaster (thus making you hungrier) until you break down and go face first into the Ben & Jerry’s, become consumed with guilt, and start all over. This is what the majority of people subscribing to the low-cal, low-fat religion do. I’ve seen it and done it. It does not work as a lifestyle, and it is a lifestyle that Mark is recommending.

This should be read by everyone who thinks they are “too old” to make a change in their life.

I hope you keep commenting here at GJ, your story is a great inspiration for anyone trying to hit their fitness goals…

- Vic