On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:44:43 -0600, Ashley Moran
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> ...
> Can you not just increase your meat intake?

I could, but I already eat quite a lot of it.  Today I had a pound of beef
and a bit more than a pound of chicken, plus some eggs for breakfast.
(Then of course lots of veggies and fruits too.)  That's fairly typical,
and that is right at maintenance calories for me.

>> I do a lot of other work besides the workouts.  ...
>
> Personally I think what you're doing *is* paleo.  If a caveman needed
> a boulder moving he had to do it himself.

Agreed.  Plus I think mankind in general is getting too soft and lazy by
doing the least amount of work possible, using machines to do work that he
ought to be doing himself.

> What's not paleo to my eyes is doing one set of weights so
> you can bench press a hippo but can't hold two bags of sugar at arms
> length for more than 5 seconds.

No doubt.  That's why I'm into cross-training.  Strength that is only
useful in the weight room isn't very practical.

> ... IE, rather than thinking "what can I
> convince myself is paleo", I think "what *is* paleo and how can I eat
> more of it?"

Good point.

> No energy drinks for me!!!

Nor me.  I can't find much of anything that comes in a bottle these days
that's worth drinking (other than water).

> I'm puzzled why you lose weight.  Is this fat or muscle?  I'm 183cm,
> about 75kg and 23 years old (not sure I caught your age).

I just turned 41 last month.  I don't know for sure whether I lose mostly
fat, mostly muscle, or an even split.  I do know that if it's mostly fat,
it would have to come to a halt pretty soon.  I'm under 10% bodyfat (most
abdominal muscles are visible, veins showing on the biceps, etc.), so
there's not a whole lot of fat that could be lost, though there definitely
is a little bit here and there.

Maybe it's more to do with where I started?  Five years ago, I weight 238
lbs -- most I have ever weighed.  That's when I decided to nip that in the
bud and got serious about diet and exercise.  I've dropped down to a low
of 183 lbs, then come back up and down several times and have been
pleasantly hanging in the 185-195 range for the last year.  Recently I got
up to 203, and decided to cut back again, just about the same time I
discovered paleo eating.  I very rapidly dropped back under 200, losing 2
lbs a week consistently.  If I drop my calories down to 2500 or so, I'll
drop weight.  (I wish it were that simple for everyone -- if I could
bottle it and sell it, I could retire.)

> You don't have worn out adrenal glands do you?
> (usually indicated by fatigue, dark rings under your eyes, poor
> control of body temperature, excessive sweating, craving for salt/
> sugar among many other things)

Not that I know of.  I don't have any of those symptoms, anyway.  When I
was younger I always had a very high metabolism, and was the proverbial
"beanpole" through my teens.  I could eat tons of whatever I wanted and
not gain an ounce (much as I would have liked to).  Fast forward 20 years
and it's a whole different picture.  Weight gain is fairly easy now, but
fortunately so is weight loss.

> I only ask because it's a very common
> metabolic problem that changes your whole body shape and makes weight
> gain very difficult.  (Thyroid problems are the other common issue
> although the two often come together.)

I don't know of any problems there either.  I had a full physical when I
turned 40, and the doctor didn't seem to think anything was amiss anywhere.

--
   Robert Kesterson
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