Losing Weight Through Paleo

I'm Caitlin L. (@thekindredginger), 36. I live in Northern California and am a mom. After giving birth to my daughter in 2014, I struggled with my post-pregnancy weight loss. At 260 pounds, I decided to make some major lifestyle changes and try the paleo and Whole30 diets. It was a marathon getting here, but I've lost 120 pounds and *never* felt better.

In December of 2014, I weighed around 260 pounds after my pregnancy. I thought shaking the baby weight would be easy—that maybe, at least some of it, would just melt away. But instead, my weight was constantly yo-yoing. I knew I was worthy of more when it came to my mental and physical health.

At around six months postpartum, I got realistic and decided to come up with a plan of major lifestyle changes that would help me lose weight for good. I was determined this time. I owed it to my daughter to show her what a strong and healthy woman looked and acted like.

I Tried The Paleo Diet For 30 Days To Lose Weight—here's What Happened'

After years of attempting diets and fasting, then failing and gaining back weight I’d lost, I knew I needed to find a healthy way of eating to last a lifetime.

I began by eating paleo and had success with that. I was able to maintain eating that way most of the time for about a year, ultimately losing 110 pounds. Then I switched to the Whole30 diet—and doing it changed my life.

While doing Whole30, I discovered food intolerances I didn’t know existed, I learned how to cook with foods and ingredients that were delicious and ultra-nutritious, and I had so many other non-scale victories. I also lost 10 more pounds, making my weight loss a total of 120 pounds in two years.

Can I Lose Weight By Following A Paleo Or Primal Diet?

Most days, I eat three meals a day that are comprised of half a plate of non-starchy (mostly green) vegetables, a quarter plate of potatoes, and quarter plate of protein. All I have to do is swap out the proteins.

Sometimes I add in bit of fat to my meals in the form of dressings, oils, and sauces. But my motto is:

. So when the opportunity comes up for a pizza or burger and fries, I eat it and enjoy it! But I don't indulge all the time, and I make it worth it when I do.

Paleo Diet Results

The issue was, I did little physical activity during my pregnancy, and it was hard to get back into it after giving birth. So once I committed to getting healthy, I began by just walking for weight loss. My goal was to make one change at a time and to maintain it for set period. I knew that if I changed too much at one time, the stress and pressure to maintain it all would be overwhelming.

So I started by walking three times a week and had a goal to maintain that for one month. By the end of the month I had added two additional days. From there I continued to add in body weight exercising and eventually shifted to weight training and running.

Now, I workout four or five times a week with a blend of running, HITT, and weightlifting. My workouts are about an hour long. On average, I burn about 600 calories.

Weight Loss: Paleo Diet Made This Mom Lose 32 Kilos In 9 Months! Here's How

Starting with the fact that maintaining weight loss is a lifelong journey of staying healthy and not a sprint. It takes discipline and hard work. And once you've lost the weight, the journey continues with a mix of balance, lots of self-care, grace, and motivation.

Plus, a change in mindset helps too. My tip? Focus on being strong and capable. When I shifted my mindset away from the scale and from being skinny to being strong and capable, my outlook on weight loss shifted from achieving a certain appearance to achieving something so much more. Every workout and every meal contributes to a greater sense of empowerment and confidence when the end goal is to feel strong and capable of any challenge you're faced with.

Eat to nourish your body 90 percent of the time and for pleasure 10 percent of the time. Try to move around most of the day and when you workout, work out as hard as you can. Know you’re capable of so much more than you think, and you are worthy of feeling your best self. That may take some time and it may feel impossible at time, but trust me, it’s worth it!

How I Got This Body: Quitting Paleo, Eating Carbs, And Shedding Fat Like Crazy

'I Lost 50 Lbs. With Walk At Home And MIRROR' This Mom Lost 95 Lbs. With WW And Walking This Mom Lost 95 Lbs. With Keto And IF This Mom Lost 75 Lbs. With The 80/20 Rule

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‘I Lost 190 Lbs. By Eating Healthy And Running’ This Mom Lost 90 Lbs. By Counting Calories ‘I Lost 90 Pounds With Portion Control, Lifting’ 'I Lost 100 Lbs. With WW And Jazzercise'Want to share your transformation story? Whether you lost weight or gained muscle, I want to hear from you! Email me at kolsen@washingtonian.com.

How To Lose Weight The Healthy Way

Turning point: When people meet me, I typically have a smile on my face. This was no different when I was at my heaviest; however, I wasn’t truly happy on the inside and I used a smile as a cover a lot of the time. The heavier I got, the less happy I was with myself. I carried a lot of weight for a number of years but still played intramural sports to stay active. In 2015, I got sick and had to have surgery. I wasn’t able to work out or play any sports for a number of months after the surgery. During this time, I gained even more weight. I never realized how much fitness played a part in my life until it was taken away from me. I was very unhappy and tried to fix how I felt with food and drinks. Looking back, the “Band-Aid fix” made things even worse. When I was released to exercise in January 2016, I vowed to myself that I would never take exercising for granted, ever again.  

Exercise: During the first year of my weight loss, I signed up for a triathlon. I followed a free online training program that started off very easy and progressed in distance as months went on. I joined a gym that had a pool, because I knew that I could at least get myself to swim more often if my body was hurting from running or biking. The gym came with a free personal training session. I remember the look on the trainer’s face when I told him what my plan was to get back in shape—that I couldn’t afford his services—and was going to do this on my own. It definitely motivated me to prove him wrong! 

After a few months back in the gym, I decided to go back to CrossFit. I had done it in the past, but I never was consistent with it. I started off with the minimum membership, and then as time progressed, increased the number of times I went. Starting in August 2017, I decided that I would focus on CrossFit more and became an unlimited member at CrossFit Adaptation. I believe that any exercise program you enjoy is what you should continue to do. If you enjoy it, you’ll continue to go, and it won’t feel like you’re forcing yourself to exercise. CrossFit Adaptation was not only my gym, but it also was a support system. Everyone in there helped me through my journey, pushing me along day by day. Today, I regularly go to CrossFit five to six times a week, depending on how my body is feeling. Listening to your body is key. There may be a few weeks when I’m only able to go four times. The needed rest is just as important on those weeks.

Paleo Diet & Weight Loss Meditations 2 In 1 Book Eat Healthy, Delicious Food And Trim That Rockin' Body Plus Powerful Weight Loss Meditations To Change Your Mindset And Lose Weight Fast

Diet: During the first year-and-a-half, I tracked my calories and followed the Paleo Diet, where I excluded dairy, sugars, and legumes. I was able to lose weight, but easily got off track when life got busy. I didn’t have a lot of energy, because I wasn’t properly feeding myself and under-eating (unknowingly). In October 2017, I starting working with a nutritionist and followed a macro-based program. This is where I’ve seen the most physical and mental changes. Like exercise, you have to find something that fits your lifestyle. I found that excluding foods from my diet only made my body feel like it wanted them more. I also don’t enjoy cooking.  I like to eat when I’m hungry, and that’s where I ended up getting in a lot of trouble. I would order food to go (which wasn’t the healthiest most of the time) instead of eating at home. 

Macro counting is where I’ve seen the most change in my body composition. The fat started melting away and made the muscle underneath more visible. With macro counting, I can eat any type of food I like, and I learned that I needed to eat more food than I