Paleo - Caloric Deficit

[RexFeral]

If anyone that is familiar with paleo or keto type diets or anyone with expereince can reply to this, I would be very grateful because I just cant find information anywhere about it. 

I am on a paleo/keto type of diet for health reasons but a positive side effect has been the incredible weight loss. I have dropped 100+ pounds. I was extremely overweight. 

Now that I have a FitBit Zip, I can log my food and see my caloric intake and expenditure and to my surprise, I always at a 500-600 calorie deficit daily. I intake about 1200-1400 calories a day but burn 1700-1900 and sometimes even 2000 calories a day. 

I begin fasting at 4:00 pm. I do this to reduce insulin levels in order to obtain a more balanced 24 hours. 12 hours of feeding, 12 hours of fasting. I am hoping that this will eventually resolve my insulin resistance since I am trying to rebuld sensitivity. 

The problem is that I just can't eat anymore. I'm not hungry. I eat three meals a day. I have a solid breakfast and then I graze. I then have a solid lunch and I continue grazing. All of those grazing snacks, equate to a meal. 

I also can not stop moving. I just have so much energy that I can't imagine sitting around in order to not burn calories. I walk in the mornings and then again in the evenings. Sometimes I can do 2100 steps. I can even lightly jog now but the energy just keeps coming. I don't know where its coming from. 

My doctor did a series of blood work on me, to check thyroid etc but everything came back perfect. I feel great. 

I'm just worried about this calorie deficit. I don't want to loose anymore weight. I am just about at the weight I want to be, which is 135. I am 5'5". I have about three pounds to go to get there but if I continue having this deficit, I will continue to loose weight right?

Should I be worried about this or will my body just platuea at some point? Any suggestions? I don't want to bring it up to my doctor because she will just try to make me eat carbs and I can't do it. I do not have any glucose tolerance left. 

[cotonpal]

I follow a keto/paleo diet and a 16/8 fasting regimen. I have lost a total of 115 pounds. I eat 2 meals a day, keep my carbs at 30 or below and I don't graze. My calorie count comes out around 1600 a day although I do not specifically aim to count calories. I just log my food most days.  Most low carb advice suggest eating when hungry stopping when full, which I translate to mean no grazing. Have you checked out the dietdoctor.com site? There is a wealth of information there about low carb eating and even the opportunity to "ask the experts" and get answers from either Dr Eenfeldt (who runs the site) and Doctor Jason Fung (the diabetes fasting expert).

[RexFeral]

Thanks for the site link! I've watched a lot of Dr. Fung's videos.

I've never counted calories either and only noticed them now with the FitBit logging.

It's just so strange that your able to get that many calories from two meals and here I am struggling with the three. The only reason I graze between my two meals is because I'm never hungry to eat a third meal so the snacks between the two meals, equate to a third meal, just copped up in pieces. I'm always full so I force myself to eat the snacks, just to be able to make that third meal in there.

I swear sometimes I will go as low as only 900 calories a day and I am still not hungry and full of energy. I'm just scared of accidentally starving! lol

I'm certainly going to ask on the recommended site.

[mengpo]

Hi

Please don't pay too much attention to a number. A 100 cal candy bar is not going to be as nutritionally dense as a 100 cal salad. Most of the nutrition in the salad will be absorbed and utilized by the body; unlike the candy bar which will be partly absorbed but mostly pass through you. The candy bar eater needs more fuel (and is therefore hungry) just to maintain basic body functions, but still has the same overall calorie number as the salad eater. If your blood work and overall health is good I wouldn't worry about the number of calories in a day. As for loosing extra weight, Paleo diets are meant to teach people to eat what the body needs, and no more, so your body should regulate itself to its ideal weight (hopefully your exercising too).

[RexFeral]

Yes, I walk briskly for an hour a day. I am finally able to jog in few minute intervals while walking since I am still not at the level where I can run or jog for long stretches.

I do that in the morning and then in the evenings, I usually take another walk, not as brisk as the morning one, for another hour.