I feel I may be able to offer an interesting data point in this weight loss
discussion, although my diet is not Paleo, and I have not lost a _lot_ of
weight.

At the start of last year I weighed 160 lbs. At that stage I was starting
to become mildly worried about my increasing girth, and decided to work on
it. I'm 30 years old, and a solidly built 5'3", and if I weighed 130 lbs
people would call me thin -- my target weight is between 135 and 140 (what
I weighed when I was 18).

In the best weight-loss tradition, I switched to a vegetarian diet.
I restricted myself to two meals per day (light breakfast, large evening
meal). I ate, legumes, rice, pasta, a moderate amount of bread and quite
a lot of dairy. Low fat, high carb. By October I weighed 165 lbs.
I had near-constant indigestion, low stamina, allergies and near-constant
hunger. "Serves you right," I hear you say :)

By November I had been won over by the Paleo ethos, however I did not want
to give up my vegetarian diet just yet. So I decided to become a vegetarian
Paleo-dieter :)

Since last November I have been eating only food that can be eaten raw,
although I prefer my vegetables lightly steamed. I eat half a cup of nuts
and 6 pieces of fruit throughout the day (peaches, apples and plums mainly,
but I cycle through all different fruits in the supermarket). I have a
large evening meal of eggs, vegetables and salad. I have stopped eating
potato, bread and dairy completely (except when I go out).

My weight is now about 140 lbs, and my complaints of indigestion, low
stamina and hunger are gone.

I'm sorry now that I changed my diet so radically all at once. I would like
to know how eliminating different foods affected my body. I'm certain that
cutting out bread cured me of chronic indigestion. It would be interesting
to know which of the other changes resulted in weight loss.

Yours sincerely,
Richard Archer.