Paleo And Exercise: A One Two Punch

I’ve been following a paleo lifestyle for a few years. I was overweight most of that time too. Heck I’m still overweight but not by much. If I was following a strict paleo diet why was I still fat? What was the huge secret I was missing? There were many reasons for my failure. Many misunderstandings I had about things. I had to dial in and find what worked best for me. Mostly though I had to get out of the cave and get active and social. Paleo and exercise go hand in hand. Today I’ll be talking about why you can’t skip the workouts.

James Carrying a Warrior Paleo — James Carrying a Warrior

Overeating

Eating a paleo diet is more nutrient dense. To anyone following the diet you know this. Even knowing this you might still be making mistakes. Grains for all their celebrated greatness are lacking in nutrients. On a paleo diet you learned to not weigh and measure your food. Eat until satiated is the prescribed wisdom. While that is great some will overeat on that. Your either used to eating a larger amount or are not sure what satiety feels like. Many have been programed to eat on a clock. Must eat at this time or that time. Must eat this many or that many meals. Trying to eat 6 nutrient dense meals in a day is not good. Do not eat because the clock says so. Eat when you are actually hungry. Eat until you are not hungry nor full.

Excess Energy

I started crossfit in December 2013. One of the first things my coach said to me was I had the diet under control now needed to use that energy. Eating strict high fat paleo gave me tons of energy. Which I did nothing with. The 24 hour globo gym bored me. I would go whole months without going. I didn’t know a single other person in there. My workouts, when I did them, were boing. I tended to use my excess energy by watching Youtube videos on the couch. Even good healthy calories end up as fat when you do nothing. While I still enjoy some Youtube it’s no longer marathons.

Paleo and Exercise

One Solution is never as good as a ton. To burn this excess energy I tried to find as many active things as possible to do. First was I joined a crossfit gym. For me the high intensity varied workouts were perfect. I show up say Hi and get to do something new everyday. I’ve seen more results from this randomized training than anything else I’ve done. My fitness level has sky rocketed since joining. Everyday I do things I could not before.

Get Active

The other big two things I do are hiking and throwing the Frisbee. I love hiking and I’m surrounded by beautiful Tennessee trails. I try to go do a day hike at least once a week now. Man has evolved to walk and run through trails. I find the time spent in nature is meditative. After a hike I always feel more calm. I keep a frisbee in my car now. I will play with it every chance I get. Stuck waiting for seats at a restaurant? Get out your disc and play a little. Play is a very important part of life that is gone in most adults. Playing is next to sleep in stress reduction. Find something you like to do and do it. Weight comes off and life quality goes way up.