In the Primal Blueprint, Mark Sisson explains that 50-100 grams of carbs a day is optimal for weight loss, while 100-150 grams a day is good for maintenance. So far, Mark Sisson seems to have the more interesting book as he puts Paleo lifestyle up against the Conventional Wisdom lifestyle. You can read the first chapter or so and not have to read the rest to succeed on the diet, but if you want to know the specifics and understand how everything plays a roll in life then you can read the rest of the chapters. I've been on an off Paleo for the past few months. I see the benefits when I am on it and hate myself when I stop. You will face obstacles, but Mark Sisson tells you from the beginning to aim for 100% with the understanding that you will be about 80% Paleo at the end of the week.

By any chance does anyone use olive oil just to "grease" the pan when cooking eggs? Someone wrote here that heating olive oil makes it less optimal which I've heard that before somewhere else, but when eating paleo does it make a significant difference if I just use a little olive oil to coat the pan?

Olive oil doesn't change anymore than any other cooking oil changes when heated.
The main difference is to use plain olive oil. Save the extra virgin stuff for dressing a dish after cooking. High heat destroys the flavors that you paid extra for.

Thanks for the advice! My mom actually has this pump bottle that you put whatever oil you like to use and it pressurizes it to spray. I'm not sure if it's EVOO or plain, but I'll keep it in mind.

I've used it sometimes. Lately, though, I've been using olive oil flavored cooking spray. It seems to work fine and it's less calories.

Regards,
Michael

I've read Primal Blueprint, The Paleo Diet, Robb Wolf's book, and a few others. I've started out not completely cutting out carbs (used to love bread/pasta/pizza/rice/etc...) but cut out all the simple carbs and sugar (beyond fruit). Slowly, I've cut out pretty much all non vegitable/fruit/some dairy (yogurt, cheese, kefir) carbs. Over last 3.5 months between eating right (no calorie counting mind you, with lots of variations available) and hitting the gym hard (weight lifting more then cardio even) I went from 298 lbs to 248 lbs (lost almost 9% body fat) and gotten a lot stronger so I was gaining muscle (I am 6' tall).

So in short, Primal/Paleo diet works (I like Mark Sisson's book and approach as well as marksdailyapple.com site best), but what is even better is doing weight lifting (yes, even for women) and some cardio in addition to that. Still early for me on the program, but overall I can see this lifestyle change working mainly because I don't count calories and I am not really hungry.

What's somewhat amusing is that I used to drink a lot of coffee (talking probably 5-6 cups daily) and now I drink almost none (will have a cup couple times a week) and I have more energy then ever and feel better then I have in a long time. Carbs are truly evil! :eek:

To be truly Paleo wouldn't you need to eat game as your meat source and wild-harvest your fruits and vegetables (eat cattails instead of potatoes, for example).

Difficulty with the Paleo diet
 

I was on the Paleo diet... Well, I may not have been on it exactly. I saw a website and it said to eat less than 40 carbs a day for women and gave an example for meals for a whole day so I basically went from that example every day and entered the food on this site. After a few days I started feeling strange and lightheaded but I kept it up figuring that it was just from the drastic change in food but after a week I still felt this way and finally gave in and ate two big cookies. I eventually started feeling much better after eating carbs again. I ended up losing 8.4 lbs that week which is the most I've ever lost in a week. The diet wasn't hard to follow and I wasn't that hungry but I just couldn't stand the strange feeling it was giving me any longer. Am I the only one that experiences this feeling? I see that people are sayint they ate nuts, berries and fruit which I did not. I ate strictly meat, vegetables and low carb protein shakes. Could this be why I was lightheaded. I would like to continue the diet and lose more but I can't handle feeling like I"m floating and weak.

That's really interesting considering I've dropped 24 pounds in 3 months and my average carb intake is around 230 grams a day. I wonder what I'm doing wrong? ;)

You're not on the Paleo diet, you state that to begin with. If you were you would get all the benefitdswithout the issues you have due to not being on it. Give it a proper try.