Attention (Primal & Paleo) Athletes! Learn From My Mistakes

Attention (Primal & Paleo) Athletes! Learn From My Mistakes

April 26th 2010 Posted at CrossFit, General Fitness, Jessica, Nutrition

Recently I have been blogging about the great results my husband and I have been experiencing since we began following a Primal diet (completely free of all grains & processed foods) in early March – namely weight loss and increased energy. Encouraged by one of my health icons and author of The Primal Blueprint, Mark Sisson, I decided to finally ditch the last bit of grains that were moonlighting our meals and to replace them with extra vegetables. We had greens with our morning eggs. We had more greens at lunch, and delicious buttery greens with dinner. I got into such a green groove that I was even ignoring my daily serving or two of fruit.

Yes, we ate a lot of greens! But those of you who have Zoned (or anyone who has counted food grams), know that if you were only getting your carb calories from greens, you’d have to eat bucket amounts to reach your daily requirements. We were eating as many greens as any person could, but not buckets! As a result, we were pounds lighter in a matter of weeks! Of course we were both delighted to see our flatter, more defined mid sections in the mirror, and we both felt great – more energized (which is on the verge of crazy for me) and more focused. And because we had more than doubled our fat intake, neither one of us ever felt hungry. I felt like I was finally getting closer to what some of the top Paleo crossfiter’s must feel like.


And then I did the Crossfit Total and found that I all of my PR’s had dropped significantly since I’d done the Total a few months prior. WTH! I knew I had dropped a few pounds (I was guessing fat pounds), but I was Primal now. Shouldn’t I be able to crank out the reps and move more weight? I scratched my head as I got on the scale for the first time in a week. Then I got off and on the scale two more times. Did I really lose close to 10 pounds in 4 weeks? And how much of that was muscle?

When I shared my news with Chris that day, he complained that he too had been experiencing a decrease in muscle strength. Even before he stepped on the scale, I began to come out of my skinny delirium, noticing that my handsome husband suddenly looked thin & frail. “What have I done to us!” I blurted. He too had lost over 8 pounds. I’d obviously missed something along the recent way. But what?

A few days later, we put our new featherweights to the test when we competed amongst our heavyweight peers at a local Crossfit challenge. The results: a lot of fun, with little gains. “Little” specifically describes the strength we felt, particularly during the heavy lifting event. I’d had enough. I decided to cry the blues (excuses) to anyone who would listen that day. And everyone did. Thank you Mara, George, Mike, Holly, and anyone else whose ear I rattled.

So Here’s what I Learned & Was Reminded Of:
■My mistake: I got so engrossed in something new that I forgot about the old important information I knew, like the critical role of carbohydrates in an athletes training program, particularly replenishing glycogen levels by “crab/protein” loading immediately following a workout.

For the average person (someone whose exercise includes daily walks and one or two days of light weight training), the kind of diet I was following was perfect; it’s loaded with nutrients, and because it’s low glycemic it’s the easiest most natural way to lose and maintain a healthy weight. But I’m not average. I Crossfit 4-5 days a week! Any athlete, or person who engages in regular high intensity exercise, MUST incorporate high calorie carbohydrates during heavy training days. Green vegetables are NOT high calorie carbs. How could I have forgotten that?

■How to Enjoy Fat Loss WITHOUT Losing Muscle: “Carb Loading” – Replenish muscle & liver glycogen immediately following a strenuous workout *this applies to typical Crossfit workouts (heavy lifting, sprinting, high intensity met-cons). Endurance athletes also need to reload during their workout.

■How to Carb Load: With starchy carbs and some protein. No fat. A typical ratio is 3:1 (carb: protein) – this is the only time you want to eat a higher glycemic carb, without any fat, because the goal is to absorb the insulin quickly in order to replenish the glycogen levels immediately

■WHAT to Carb Load With: Now don’t go getting all excited you pasta lovers! I am in NO WAY talking about Crappy carb loading. The best whole food carbohydrate sources include yams/sweet potatoes, bananas, pumpkin, melons, apple sauce, raisins)


A few Points to be made:
1.This proves what I’ve always stressed to my clients – DIET is accountable for 80% or more of your weight. All I did different was cut out grains (rice, pasta, corn, etc.) AND add more fat, and I lost nearly 10 pounds!

2.This also proves that when you remove Grains & Processed Carbs from your diet, you won’t gain weight no matter how much heart healthy Fat (nuts, olives, olive oil, coconut, avocado, butter) you eat!

3.Endurance athletes – there is something to be said about Fat Loading, which is basically what I was doing every day. The majority of my daily calories were from fat (I’m guessing at least 55% fat) and I was rarely hungry. I would train clients for 3 – 5 hours per day, massage one or two people a day, do a Crossfit workout, often walk 90 minutes on the golf course…) and I had sustained energy (and little hunger) the entire day.


Bottom Line
The Primal diet is GREAT. I have felt better than ever since I eliminated grains & other processed foods from my diet. BUT as an athlete, you MUST continue to “carb load” post workouts ESPECIALLY if you are following a Primal or Paleo diet because most of your carbohydrates are coming from low calorie carbs such as vegetables and low glycemic fruit.