On Tue, 12 Mar 2002, Jo Webb wrote:

> On Tue, 12 Mar 2002 10:08:45 -0500, Marianne Fuller
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >how depressing! I thought I read in a couple of paleo books that you never
> >have to count calories because you're eating the right sorts of food. Is
> >that really not true?
>
> I'm not saying you have to count calories, but it's definitely something to
> consider if you want to lose weight and nothing else is working.

Amen.  The assertion that calories don't matter is irresponsible
and completely without scientific support.  While it is true that
cutting calories beyond a certain point may actually slow weight
loss, by causing metabolic downshifting, it is also true that
eating too many calories will cause fat loss to stall, by giving
the body no good reason to deplete its fat stores.

It's true that calories are not the whole story about fat gain
and fat loss.  Since insulin inhibits fat utilization, elevated
insulin will prevent fat loss, even when calories are cut.  And
if insulin levels are low, fat gain will happen at a slower rate.
But in a non-diabetic, insulin levels are never so low as to make
fat gain impossible.

For those of us with obesity issues, the Holy Grail is a way of
eating in which appetite and body fat levels are in tune, as they
seem to be in non-obese people.  I think paleo foods go a long
way toward providing this, but there are still pitfalls.

> When I first started low-carbing I didn't count calories and lost weight
> regardless. It was great! But after a couple of months I stalled for quite
> a long time, and it was only when I started keeping an eye on calories as
> well as carbs that my weight loss resumed. It turned out I had been eating
> too much cheese - a very low carb food but unfortunately highly calorific.

Yep, that's one of the pitfalls, and a very common story among
lowcarb dieters.

> With paleo I find nuts and nut butters can be a problem for the same
> reason.

Another pitfall.

I like to think of it this way: Lowcarb and paleo diets are not a
substitute for caloric reduction, as far as fat loss is
concerned.  They are a way to take maximum advantage of caloric
reduction, by maximizing fat loss and minimizing muscle loss.

Todd Moody
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