On Tue, 22 Apr 2003 12:46:53 -0700, Mary French <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>  I would like to drop about 10 or 15 pounds.
> I have been eating paleo for almost 2 years, and I am in pretty good shape and health.
> I am 5'5" and weigh 140lbs. which is not overweight but on the high end of healthy weight,
>and I have some visible body fat that I'd like to shed.
>How should I adjust my diet/eating to knock of the last few pounds?
>How important is overall calorie intake?  Or is it more important to count carbs?
>How do you go about that?  Any ideas would be appreciated!

Weight loss seems to be a complicated, as the body tends to inhibit weight loss
because having some extra "nutritional stores" for period of famine is a
positive survival characteristic.

And such things vary from person to person, depending on metabolism.   And
those last few pounds seem more difficult. :-)

But here is what I have found to be generally helpful:

- Exercise is helpful, not to "burn calories", but to keep one's metabolism up.
The body preserves its fat stores by lowering metabolism in times of food
scarcity.

- Diets that are medium or high in fat consistently work better than low-fat
diets for two reasons: 1) the fat is a readily available source of energy that
tells the body that it doesn't need to preserve its own fat stores, 2) eating
fat provides a longer lasting feeling of satiation that means one isn't hungry
all the time.

- The lowering the carbohydrate level, the better for losing weight, down to
about 20-30 grams per day (which is what you get from eating salads and
vegetables).

- Research suggests that staying up late increases food craving, and has a
negative impact on the hormonal system, including inhibiting weight control.

- Eating late night snacks also has a negative impact on the hormonal system.

I highly recommend getting the Paleo book "Protein Power Lifeplan" by Drs.
Eades which has excellent weight loss plans based on the Paleo diet concept,
written by doctors who run weight loss clinics.


--
Cheers,

Ken
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