Hi Trish, 

It is my husbands and my believe that paleo man probably exercised intensively while hunting, and then while that food lasted probably did little-no exercise.  I did absolutely no exercise (other than incidental) for the first 3 years of being a paleolithic eater and lost all my excess weight (almost 20kg).  Since then I have started to exercise with my husband to put on muscle as everyone keeps telling me I look too skinny.  I do a 50 min routine consisting of deadlifts, dips, pushups and chinups (I have modified some as I get the strength to do properly).  I do this once every 3 days. Since then, I have noticed better muscle definition and higher strength.  (I also get a bit of incidental walking/exercise still too)

I am now modifying my diet to match my husbands to also include intermitted fasting to try and assimilate what Paleo man *may* have done.  Day 1:  We do not eat from dinner the night before until after exercise.  We do exercise at 4pm.  We do consume water as required.  We eat a large dinner after exercise (about a kilo of meat)  Day 2: We eat as much and as often as we want.  Day 3: We reduce the amount we eat, in preparation for the next day of fasting.  Eating this way has proven (in our case at least) that muscle gain and strength comes quicker).

While I think the diet will assist in muscle development and goes well with the activity of paleo man, I don't think that the fat intake/ratio is specific to that type of activity.  I certainly benefited in many health manners as well as weight loss, with little-no exercise.  But when I started exercise the diet helped there too...

I hope this makes sense and doesn't sound too much just like waffle!

Caroline




________________________________
From: Trish Leon <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Mon, February 1, 2010 6:07:14 AM
Subject: Hunter-gatherer activity levels

Hello all:

I am trying to answer a question posed by a non-paleo eater regarding the amount of physical activity a hunter-gathering person may have had daily. 

My friend posited that the reason a hunter-gatherer was fit and could metabolize a mainly protein/fat diet was because their daily life required the expenditure of massive calories, and that their metabolism was therefore honed to that specific diet. She further questioned my daily activity levels, which honestly are not very high - certainly nothing compared to a paleo hunter. In fact, I strongly dislike organized exercise and refuse to participate in it. I walk, I garden, I play concert piano and organ 3-4 hours a day...I don't ride a bike or lift weights. I do hike infrequently, and swim when the opportunity presents itself.

I have lost quite a bit of weight eating paleo, and no longer require oral diabetes medication for my type II diabetes. 

But to bring it back to my question: do you suppose paleo people were intensely active everyday?  My thought was that they were "intensely" active while hunting and processing food stuffs, and all other times were less active so as to conserve energy. 

Thank you!

Trish
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