Topic: So Zone diet didn't work out for me...

[Grayson]

I had attempted to do a Zone diet for three days and did great here was a sample meal
Breakfast:2 egg whites/1 whole egg=5 pro., 1 cup of grapes=2 carb., 1/2 apple=1 carb., 9 almonds=3 fats. 5/4/4

Lunch:4 oz. of chicken breast, skinless=4 pro., 1 banana=3 carb., 1/2 apple=1 carb, 12 almonds= 4 fats. 4/4/4

Dinner: 4 1/2 oz. ground beef=3 pro., 2 cups cherry tomatoes=1 carb., 2 cups chopped bell peppers=1 carb., 1/2 cup grapes=1 carb., 1 cup of whole milk=1 carb/1 pro., 8 cashews=4 fats. 4/4/4

Three square meals, I had a snack of peanuts, 1 egg, and 1/3 of a banana but I didn't put it in there, my problem was when I went into the gym 3 days into the diet I had gone from 126 to 120... I had to make sure the scale was working correctly, so did I do something wrong or is my shrew metabolism just too high for this?

[Chris Salvato]

3 days?  You can't make ANY sort of discernments about a diet based off of three days.  Go for another month or two and then see where you stand.

This diet may be lower in carb than you are used to -- this usually results in a significant amount of water loss...which accounts for your weight loss.

Again, to reiterate, 3 days on a diet and a single day's worth of body weight on a scale is hardly enough to say it "didn't work."  Get on the scale a few times a week during the next few months of "zoning" and measure your BF% as well.  Without that data, any conclusions you make are incomplete.

[tombb]

I agree with Chris.

You should know that if you had really lost 6 pounds of fat in 3 days that would mean that you burned 21 THOUSAND calories more than what you ate, or the same as one HUNDRED small McDonalds fries. Differences between high and low metabolism are usually at most in the order of ~500 calories a day.
Losing real weight aside from changes in water weight and meals still in your belly is much harder than that.
You can mostly ignore the first 10 pounds you gain or lose, and look only at steady changes after that (it won't keep up, so for example you would have not weighed only 60lbs after 30 more days on that diet or even complete starvation).

Also, I am not really sure why you are using a diet that is usually for losing weight if you weight 120lbs, that seems very low already...
The rule of thumb of getting near-equal amounts of calories from protein, carbs and fats which is a big part of that diet is a relatively decent way to make sure you get more protein and don't overdo it with carbs, yes...
But I think if you are growing and a bit underweight you might not want to be too strict with your food and you might be better at just trying to add more proteins but still listening to your appetite instead of forcing yourself to count individual almonds...

[Grayson]

Thanks for the advice, I just hate losing muscle weight and this seemed sorta abnormal to me so I thought i'd ask.

[Muse_of_Fire]

Why did you choose to try the Zone diet, initially?

[Grayson]

Well I've never been able to stick to a paleo diet because my parents don't want to spend money at the farmer's market, and I've never really rationed my food out during meals (even when I plan my meals) and I've seen alot of crossfitters and Traceurs on it so I thought I might as well try it out.

[Chris Salvato]

Well I've never been able to stick to a paleo diet because my parents don't want to spend money at the farmer's market, and I've never really rationed my food out during meals (even when I plan my meals) and I've seen alot of crossfitters and Traceurs on it so I thought I might as well try it out.

You dont need to go to a farmers market to eat healthy, or paleo, for that matter.

[Grayson]

I was under the impression that the paleo diet was natural things like grass fed beef, fresh eggs, organic veggies, free range chickens, organic greens etc.?

[Chris Salvato]

No.

Paleo diet is whole foods excluding dairy and beans.

Meat, Eggs, Fruit, Vegetables, Tubers, Nuts, Seeds, Oils

[Grayson]

Thanks for clearing that up, the video I watched was wrong then, thanks Chris!

[Steven Low]

Obviously, improving the quality of your food is good (for a price), but you don't need to have it... but it helps. Supplement fish oil if you can't improve your meat quality and you should be ok

[Chris Salvato]

To be clear, the Paleo diet DOES favor the grassfed/organic movement -- though, in more general terms, it is not necessary to eat that sort of food when doing Paleo.  The less processed and more "natural" the food, the more it is in line with the paleo ideology of consuming food.