The main thing I've figured out is that making a change and sticking with it works. But that's not helpful and 99% of the challenge is figuring out what change YOU can make, what you can live with, and what you can maintain 80% of the time at least.
The following comes from about 4 years of personal experience and about 6 books that I've read.
First, Paleo. I cringe and eye roll at the mere mention of the name. Not because it's not good, but because it's hip and trendy and annoying and is a bad metaphor. Getting rid of the garbage in our diets, which paleo does, is great. And it works. I also buy to some degree that foods from the agricultural revolution on are probably the most troublesome. But I'm sorry, a pizza with a crust made of cauliflower or almond flour is most definitely NOT paleo. Neither is bacon. Or a present day apple. Raw elk? Maybe. Boar liver? Getting warmer. The point is ridding the diet of sugar, grain, processed food, etc. is great. But we neither know nor have access to what the actual paleolithic person ate, and an apple of today is nothing like an apple of that time. Fine. So it's a silly metaphor and I get that people need these kinds of things for popularity and cocktail party conversations and marketing. Fine. But paleo works. Just please no more articles about hipsters in Brooklyn running around half naked in the park and buying meat lockers.
Paleo and Low Carb. Paleo is not necessarily low carb and low carb is not necessarily paleo. Sweet potatoes are high carb and also considered paleo. Diet coke is low carb and most definitely not paleo. Reducing carbs to under 100 grams per day works great for weight loss and it turns out that a paleo diet is a good way to do this. Carbs beget insulin which begets fat storage. That's why low carb is a great way to lose fat. You train the body to burn fat preferentially and then it gets good at burning its own stored fat. Lots of other great things happen when you do this, by the way. Unfortunately will power is the issue with this one. You've got to figure out what kind of change you can live with and adhere to at least 80% of the time. You also need to not confuse losing weight and eating healthy. Combine low carb and paleo and you're in business on both fronts. But again, can you stick with it? Remember the world you live in and the world you grew up in and remember that those worlds are not going away any time soon. What can you live without? You won't see Greeks or Italians or French going paleo any time soon and maybe that's fine (it's a bread thing). Maybe an overall reduction in carbs is a better idea for burning fat if bread is a big deal.
Intermittent Fasting. This is the most exciting dietary thing I'm working on right now. It's really powerful. Contrary to the last 50 years' worth of advice, going for long periods of time without taking in calories can do wonderful things. Really. It's a really buzzy topic so I'm just going to tell you what I know from experience. There are three main approaches: compressed eating window, periodic long fasts, and light graze/feast.
Compressed eating window (Leangains): most people eat from right after they get up to the right before bed. That's about 16 hours of eating. Reverse this. Compress your eating time to eight hours. Noon to 8:00 PM, for example. I do anywhere from 1:00 - 3:00 to about 9:00 - 11:00 PM (depending on how late I will likely drink a beer.) This is the only one I've done and when I stick to it it really works. Clarity of mind, fat burning, diminished preoccupation with food and eating....
Long fast (Eat Stop Eat): Eat when you want except once or twice a week go 24 hours without calories. I am going to try this and I'm very interested in it. This sounds horrific but if you're used to fasting it wouldn't be hard at all. One or two times a week, skip dinner and then breakfast. If this would give me the same results as compressed eating window, I would like to try it.
Light Graze / Feast (Warrior Diet): Graze lightly throughout the day but nothing even remotely approaching a "meal" and then have one big meal at night. I have not tried this and am not too interested in it because I think the light grazing throughout the day could easily turn into old habits.
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From my experience, I'd boil it down to this: if you are working on your waistline, you can worry about WHAT you eat or WHEN you eat or both. If you want to worry about what you eat, keep it low carb to lose weight and paleo for overall health. If you want to worry about when, try intermittent fasting. It may even allow you to get away with junk if that's your thing, and still help you lose weight and improve health. Combine them all and you're a machine.
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