3500 calories is how much energy is IN one pound of body fat—yes. But it takes so much more than 3500 calories to actually gain a pound of body fat. A lot of it goes towards maintaining lean tissue.

This is why I stopped believing in the calories in calories out model for weight loss. It’s not a direct exchange system.

First, you don’t absorb all the calories that you consume. Second, the energy you consume gets used in order to aide in the digestion process and other processes. So you end up storing soooo much less energy than you consume. A lot of the energy you consume goes to repairing your body.. muscle tissue.. etc. 

So don’t worry about the 3500 calorie rule! It’s meaningless.

Any weight gain/loss is just fluctuations depending on water retention, food mass, and waste mass. You gained food mass from eating a bulk of food more than usual, you gained weight from extra waste in your body that hasn’t been eliminated, you gained water weight because water is a huge byproduct of digestion and chemical reactions that happen in your body, you retained water weight because for every gram of carbs you eat you gain x amount of water, the waste you have requires water to pass through, etc. If you worked out (by walking 6 miles), there is some muscle damage so water/fluids rush to the damaged muscle tissue in order to repair it. 

The only real weight loss/weight gain happens extremely gradually and can’t be measured on a day-to-day basis. But rather as an OVERALL TREND LINE. Remember that and don’t be so stressed out about scale fluctuations. :) And I hope you enjoyed every second of that weekend! 

It depends how much school work you have. You don’t need to workout 6x a week for 1-2 hours each day. That’s a bit overwhelming and can be stressful when you feel like you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO workout. Ya know? 

I suggest picking workout days on days when you don’t have as much schoolwork to do. Weekends are great for this. On a Saturday just spend 1-2 hours outside walking around or riding your bike. If you have a track, jog on it. If you live in the city, explore the shoppes. You’ll enjoy it more than being couped up indoors or inside a gym.

You can do pilates/yoga inside your home during the week. Go to bed an hour earlier, wake up an hour earlier so you have the house to yourself and just do a quick workout in the morning before school. It will wake you up and relax you so you’re not as stressed out. 

Stick to 2-3 days of working out and focus on a clean diet. If you can get to a gym, even better.

Hell, you’re in high school. Stay after school and use their weight room. Schools typically provide busses to take you home afterward. 

Honestly, you can turn any space into a good workout. Your bedroom, your backyard. You just need initiative. There’s no such things as a “good” or “bad” workout as long as you push yourself to improve each time. Go longer, faster, harder per rep. 

Get a jump rope. Jump anywhere.

Get a bike. Bike anywhere.

Get roller blades/skates. Skate anywhere.

Yoga, in your room. In the garage. In the living room. On the kitchen counter… loljk. Or maybe ;) Outside.. etc.

Jogging/running/squats/lunges/hopping/sprinting/walking/running up and down stadium steps

Lifting weights

The options are endless. Just workout when you have time. Doing something closer to home will increase the chances of you working out than driving to a gym. Hope this helps. :)

Ah don’t worry! I failed my first time as well. I followed this 30 Day Challenge right here. With the exception of allowing myself to cook with grass-fed organic butter and put a little bit of heavy cream in my coffee.

Often times when people start a new diet they’re more focused on the weight loss aspect rather than the diet themselves. So they end up incorporating advice from various areas when they should just be focused on adjusting to a new lifestyle.

• Don’t count calories (for now). This is probably the most important one and the one that scares people to death. Calories matter in a very very general sense, but for the purpose of being successful with a new diet just don’t count. You may gain a little bit of weight, you may lose a little bit of weight. It’s okay. That can be adjusted afterward. 
• Eat when you’re hungry, don’t eat when you’re not. In the beginning it will be hard distinguishing between cravings and actual hunger. I find that my cravings set in when I’m bored or stressed. For me, it starts in my mind. When I’m hungry, the hunger sets in slowly. First my head feels a little iffy and then after an hour or two my stomach starts to rumble. It’s not super intense (like it is after a sugar crash), but it’s noticeable. When you learn your hunger signals and ignore everything else, you’ll have a good grasp on this concept. The other hard part is CHOOSING to ignore your cravings. Yes, I have to CHOOSE to ignore them. They don’t go away simple because I’m paleo. It’s harder some days than others. But when you know you’re full of good food and don’t need to eat because you’re not hungry, it becomes easier. And definitely don’t be afraid to skip a meal, or eat significantly less for a meal, if you don’t feel that hungry.
• Try not to snack between meals. Eat large enough meals that will last you until the next meal (with a good amount of protein and fat). This is a personal guideline I live by because establishing a mid-meal snacking routine is a bad habit. You’ll start craving food on consecutive days around the same time. And I don’t like that so I just try my best not to snack. But of course, gauge it. Some days you will need to snack to hold you over (especially if you’re running late or something). 
• Do not be afraid of fat. As long as it’s healthy fat, it is good for you. Fat paired with protein will leave you satiated beyond belief. Your three essential cooking fats: organic coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, grass-fed butter, and ghee. I mainly cook with coconut oil and I put grass-fed butter onto my food after it is done cooking just because I don’t like wasting it. Cook your meals in a tbspn of oil, add another pat of butter to your veggies or your meats and you’re good to go. You can also incorporate cheese and dairy into your diet, but I’d be careful with these. It’s easy to over eat in these things and rack up a lot of empty calories. The first time my attempt failed is because I tried to restrict my fat intake and only focused on eating a ton of protein with tons of veggies. Fail fail fail.
• Get rid of the “I’m just going to eat all the veggies in the world” mindset. This does not work. Veggies are great, really. But to a certain extent. They’re not as energy-dense as proteins or fats so they won’t hold you over. You’ll just get bloated if you eat veggies and not enough of the other two nutrients. Construct your meals as such: 1-2 palmfuls of meat/protein, 1-2 thumbfulls of fat, and THEN add how many veggies you can eat to make you physically feel full. But always make protein and fat more important. If you skimp on the protein and fat you’ll get hungrier faster. If you WANT an earlier dinner, then you can time yourself accordingly and eat less protein/fat and more veggies (neat trick I recently learned). If you eat more protein/fat then you’ll stay satiated longer. But of course.. there’s always a limit to how much you can eat in one sitting. 
• Watch the fruit, nuts, and grain-like seeds. Fruit is amazing and so so so delicious. But I only have 1-2 servings of fruit a week now simply because they’re so high in carbs. And fruit has the same effect on me as pasta or bread. Too much sugar can mess with the process and give you cravings/make you hungry before your next meal because of the crash. Nuts are good in moderation, but I view them as empty calories. They’re easy to overeat as a “snack”, but don’t be afraid to incorporate a sprinkle of nuts in recipes. There are a few grain-like seeds that are paleo-approved. I think quinoa is one but I’m not sure. I recommend not eating these in the beginning. Again, due to the high carb content. I personally find that too little carbs leaves me feeling like crap. And too many carbs leaves me feeling like crap. So find your happy medium. Don’t over-indulge on the sweet potatoes, or other high-carby-starchy foods until you’ve got a good grasp on your appetite. These foods are in no ways “off limits”, just be mindful of them. I found success when I kept my carb intake within a good range. Anything outside of that range makes things harder for me.
• Plan for cheat/faileo days and don’t get bogged up on mindlessly accepting a lemon starburst one random day. No a starburst is not paleo, but it’s not going to kill you either. Being really anal about a lifestyle is rather silly. Enjoy the little things. The problem is that people tend to over indulge in the little things so they turn into big things. Once a week or so plan to go out to your favourite restaurant and just order whatever the hell you want. The following week order a pizza. The following week order take out. Whatever. Keep yourself sane. When you’re out (even at special occassions/weddings/parties) don’t feel like you absolutely HAVEEEE to eat 100% paleo. Indulge in whatever is given. As long as you’re not going to house parties every other day indulging in chips and dip then it really won’t effect you. THe morning after a faileo day you’ll appreciate paleo and clean eating sooo much more because those types of days tend to make you feel sort of crappy afterward. LOL. But you just get on with your life and still enjoy the faileo moments. :)

Yeah, I think those are some of the more important basics that I kind of learned through trial and error. I’m always here if you have any more questions! :) Definitely give it another shot. 

I earned 260 points for my workout on Fitocracy!

• Elliptical Trainer +240 pts

  • 1:00:00 (+240 pts)
  • 1.38 mi; 840 cal; HR: 180… Good.

• Weighted Sit-Up +20 pts

  • 10 lb x 10 reps (+10 pts)
  • 10 lb x 10 reps (+10 pts)

Think you can beat me, or want to comment?

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