January 8th, 2012 
Caroline Middlebrook This week I’ve been trying so hard to keep the carbs even lower than usual in an attempt to undo the Christmas / New Year gains and start losing consistently again and I think it backfired on me. I have been eagerly weighing myself just about every day this week and this morning on weigh day there’s no change from last week’s weight which is hugely frustrating.
I have to admit, when I started this Paleo thing I did so based on the success my neice had because she lost so much so quickly. I figured that maybe there was something going on in the science of the Paleo way of eating that made the fat come off much faster than normal so that the usual calorie counting rules did not apply. But as I blogged about yesterday this is not the case and calories do still count. Also, I must not forget that my neice did an incredible amount of exercise – twice a day most days. If she burned an average of 400 calories in each session and did 10 a week that’s 4000 calories which is more than 1lb of fat and on top of that the exercise would have given her an afterburn effect which would have gone on to burn more calories for several hours after her workouts.
I need to exercise more
I need to take my own advice and suck it up! I have looked back over the last week and I simply ate too many calories for my activity level. I can pinpoint several issues – firstly there was New Year which was fairly disastrous carb-wise but I don’t think I had enough calories to have a lasting effect on the week so I can’t blame that. Then there was the meal out Tuesday night – I can only guess the calorie & carb content of the meal and although I tried to refrain I don’t think I did a great job. But this week I’ve been having evening snack-attacks and many of these snacks have gone un-recorded. Eaten late at night I’ve not counted them but I know they’re there!
I can’t cut calories more – this will put me back into the old days of being hungry all the time. I have a big appetite. I don’t want to cut carbs more as I am already finding it difficult to keep coming up with food ideas – I’m struggling this week. I’m bored of a lot of what I have been having and need to start mixing things up. Also, if I cut calories too low I risk going into starvation mode which is a Very Bad Thing.
The absolute best thing I can do is to exercise more, there are so many benefits:
- The additional activity will give me the higher calorie allowance I am after
- Strength training in particular will give me an afterburn effect increasing calories burned
- Any exercise increases metabolism which has an overall calorie-burning effect
- I’ll get fitter for my snowboarding trip
- I’ll keep what muscle I have and may even gain a little
I’ve been putting it off. I thought I could ease myself in with the 7 small workouts and then the daily Kettlebell swings but it’s not worked out that way. The kettlebell sessions are short but tough. Once I have done some exercise for the day I find it very difficult to do more later on – I want it done and out the way so even though I have done them every day I’ve only done 2 of my other workouts and these were pretty short. It’s simply not enough.
I’m fat & lazy! There, I said it!
I’m being lazy and I know it. I don’t even have to drive to a gym as I have the facilities to workout at home. I have a good enough weights set to keep me going to many years, I have several kettlebells which can do cardio or strength depending on how I use them and I also have a massive room in which I can practice karate. I haven’t got round to that yet either. If I am completely honest with myself it is fear that is stopping me. I quit karate just over a year ago at Christmas the previous year. I had recently graded to brown belt but since hitting that grade I struggled. Everything was much faster and I couldn’t keep up – I actually felt like my skill was getting worse and not better. I stopped enjoying it.
I didn’t actually mean to quit. I was not happy with my club – nobody ever failed a grading and the last straw was when I watched a black belt grading where only 1 person failed when the standard was pretty appauling. I didn’t think I should have passed my brown belt grading and I knew that if I stayed with that club I would pass every grading including black even though I was feeling shit about my ability. I want to earn it, not just be given it because I turned up to class. So I found a new club, did a couple of trial classes then I had a stupid fall in class – tripped over a mat but I really hurt my toe! Sounds ridiculous but it was hurting for about 10 months and I never went back.
So now, I am rusty, unfit, inflexible, fat and quite frankly, terrified at just how bad I’ll be when I take it up again. However, I can be shit all by myself, nobody has to see me. I can train at my own pace in the privacy of my front room. I know I need to do it, I just need to face my fear and start.
Posted in 
Tags: 
Caroline Middlebrook is an entrepreneur based in the UK. This is her personal blog where she talks about anything that comes to mind!
You will get there love some weeks I put on weight because my muscle had gone up so remember you have started to add in your exercise so you could be building muscle which is why you have not lost anything this week. I yes went to the gym most days 2 times a day but only done 3 strength sessions a week so the rest were cardio based mainly on a cross trainer. I done the best cardio at 6am as was told it was the best time to burn that stubborn fat. On an emty stomach an then ate portage after or banana and a protein shake to help x
I have every faith in you auntie Caroline x
Weight is not the key indicator of success – much fat will turn to muscle, especially if you are exercising quite intensively. Intensive exercise is not promoted by paleo, although you will find many paleo people who do so.
Little more than a couple of miles a day walking will suffice at first. The more activity you do, the more energy you need … the more food you need … to more calories you have to ingest.
Stop snacking, too!
Finally, sleep – 8 hours, more ideally, in a black room with no digital interference. Also, no digital interference an hour before bed. Sleep! This is where the majority of weight loss is made. De-stress during the day. Working hard is one thing, but stress will keep the weight exactly where it is and all the changes in diet and activity will not shift it – a de-stressing walk in the morning or evening will do so much more than a stressing intensive period of exercise.
There is a lot more to this than calories in, calories out.
Coming back full circle, yes, total calories do matter – it matters that you get them all and don’t expend all the surplus as exercise. Your body needs that energy to repair itself.
Yes, calories matter, but counting them is not especially useful. Eating straight down the line meat, fish, shellfish and vegetables is right – this will keep you on the straight and narrow, and fill you up. You will know when you have eaten enough. Hunger afterwards? Well, don’t snack. After a few days, your hunger will reset and those meals will suffice for saiety and satiation.
Reset your diet, reset your hunger, being some gentle activity, de-stress and sleep well. That is the key to getting this to work.
@Maz, I know that’s not the case – it takes *serious* effort to build muscle and I am not there yet. If I was building muscle then I should at least be showing differences in measurements – hips & waist. I simply ate too much!
@Paul, No it’s really not muscle – not yet. The only strength work I have done is a couple of minutes of kettlebells each day. I think the last proper strength training session was the week before. I do think sleep and stress could be a factor – I am quite stressed and this affects my sleep and sometimes I sleep really badly. But I also stress about the diet not giving me results – vicious circle lol!
I shall try not to worry too much and one thing I did yesterday in response to your comment on my previous post was that I swapped my lunch and dinner over – I had the higher carb/calorie meal for lunch and dinner was much lighter and lower in carbs. I did not need to snack! So, I think moving carbs earlier in the day could be a good strategy!