Paleo for Strength athlete

[Dean Redzic]

Hello, looking to use paleo type of diet to hopefully increase my quality of life as well as my body composition.
I understand many people experience a positive change in fat to mass ratio whilst on a diet like this.

I weigh about 285 and would like to weigh the same...if not less, but more muscle less fat.

My concern is I wont be able to gain or maintain strength going through this process.

Is there a key to me being able to keep my strength up

[Dean Redzic]

Is a lot of fruit a bad idea?

How about raw milk?

[Wayne Riddle]

Main problem I see some people having with a paleo diet is getting enough calories. Might be a good idea to track your calorie intake at the start with something like Fitday at the start just to be sure of your calorie intake.

Get enough calories and you'll be able to maintain and even gain strength. Might have to add things like coconut milk or shots of olive oil to get enough calories, but try the diet first without doing that.

[Dean Redzic]

Thanks Wayne,
Do you know of any good ways (or calculators) that would help me determine the round about figure I need to eat calorie wise?

Last time I saw a nutritionist I ended up on about ~4000 and I maintained...but I was maintaining a crummy 'skinny fat' 285lb body (I think it may have been the large amount of carbs)

I am hoping to eat the same amount, but the quality food and amount of real protein will be the deciding factor of my physique.
What do you think?

[Darryl Shaw]

Originally Posted by Dean Redzic

Hello, looking to use paleo type of diet to hopefully increase my quality of life as well as my body composition.
I understand many people experience a positive change in fat to mass ratio whilst on a diet like this.

I weigh about 285 and would like to weigh the same...if not less, but more muscle less fat.

My concern is I wont be able to gain or maintain strength going through this process.

Is there a key to me being able to keep my strength up

Eat a reasonably varied diet that provides sufficient calories and carbohydrates and you shouldn't have any problems keeping your strength up.

Originally Posted by Dean Redzic

Is a lot of fruit a bad idea?

Fruit is good for you and should be eaten ad libitum.

How about raw milk?

Milk isn't paleo.

Originally Posted by Dean Redzic

Do you know of any good ways (or calculators) that would help me determine the round about figure I need to eat calorie wise?

Try these -

Interactive DRI for Healthcare Professionals.

Diet Genie Calorie Requirements Estimator.*

* Note: For best results set the macronutrient ratios to 60%, 25% and 15% for carbohydrate, fat and protein respectively.

I am hoping to eat the same amount, but the quality food and amount of real protein will be the deciding factor of my physique.
What do you think?

Calories determine what you weigh and training determines body composition. Eat well, train hard, rest and repeat and the results will come in time.

[Dean Redzic]

Originally Posted by Darryl Shaw

Eat a reasonably varied diet that provides sufficient calories and carbohydrates and you shouldn't have any problems keeping your strength up.



Fruit is good for you and should be eaten ad libitum.



Milk isn't paleo.



Try these -

Interactive DRI for Healthcare Professionals.

Diet Genie Calorie Requirements Estimator.*

* Note: For best results set the macronutrient ratios to 60%, 25% and 15% for carbohydrate, fat and protein respectively.



Calories determine what you weigh and training determines body composition. Eat well, train hard, rest and repeat and the results will come in time.

Thanks,
I know milk isn't paleo, but I have heard a couple strength athletes just adding it in to help with the strength.


I tried those calculators, one gave me 4215 and the other 3982 so I guess I should stay around the mark I was getting to before

[Arien Malec]

After a bit of Googling, I'm assuming you compete strongman, and want to maintain strength and strength-endurance for your sport.

Paleo is worth the experiment, and may help body composition, particularly if you have chronic inflammation from grains, etc. It's very unlikely to be a miracle, however.

Your best bet may be old fashioned carb cycling in a paleo setting. That is, on non-training days, eat slightly under maintenance, lower carb, and on training days, eat higher carb post-workout, aiming for higher than maintenance calories those days.

But doing body recomp while maintaining strength and bodyweight at 285# is a highly specialized topic. I doubt you can eat the # of calories you are going to need to consume and stay truly low carb on those days (there's only so much fat you can keep down). Eating higher carb on a paleo diet is a pain as well (lots of fruit, peeled potatoes, and mashed sweet potatoes). I might give Robb a call and see what he suggests.

[Dean Redzic]

Originally Posted by Arien Malec

I might give Robb a call and see what he suggests.

Thanks,
does he not post on this forum?

[Arien Malec]

Robb does not generally post here. Writing books takes away from forum activity, I guess...

[Chad Cilli]

Milk isn't paleo, but I have to admit, having removed it from my diet, and then brought it back, I recover much faster drinking milk postworkout. For months I did chicken and sweet potatoes, but there must be some factor that makes milk more bioavailable or something. Then again, sweet potatoes aren't technically paleo either....

That being said, if you're smart about your food choices, you can easily get enough calories. Especially if you go sort of pseudo paleo. I throw heavy cream into my scrambled eggs, heaps of butter into my potatoes, and olive oil on just about everything. Coconut milk is awesome too. I get the lite coconut milk and can literally drink a can at a time. The regular coconut milk is a little thick to drink straight from the can.

If you think about it, there's really no reason why can't build muscle on paleo if you're getting the calories and nutrients.