i'm coming up with a meal plan for a week. feel free to give me suggestions, but i really only posted here as a place to keep my plan to look at.

Best wishes to you, Alyssa! I'm hitting it hard with the Paleo right now. Going strict for the next two weeks. I've got a follow-up DEXA scan coming up and I want to see a definite loss of fat and increase of muscle.

I cleaned my fridge and freezer today, and last week I cleaned out the pantry. It's a total Paleo-zone at my house. Even the dog is on Paleo!

Today I went a little nuts and ordered some bison bacon. I'm craving a BLTA stack (bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado). Mmmm!

Sunday
Breakfast: 1 scrambled egg, 2 slices bacon, 2 mugs coffee with unsweetened almond milk (no creamer, sugar, agave nectar, or honey)
Snack: Apple or Orange or Banana
Lunch: Tuna with Olive Oil Mayo on Cucumber
Snack: Raw or Dried veggie slices or V8
Dinner: Chicken breast with lightly buttered steamed veggies
Snack: 3 pieces of dark Hershey Bliss or 5 dark Hershey Kisses, or 1 Carnation Breakfast Drink
Exercise: At least one short walk

Monday
Breakfast: 1 over easy egg, yoghurt with berries, 2 mugs coffee with unsweetened almond milk (no creamer, sugar, agave nectar, or honey)
Snack: Apple or Orange or Banana
Lunch: Veg-heavy salad with red wine vinegar and oil, small handful of nuts
Snack: Handful berries (most likely strawberries) or a fruit smoothie
Dinner: Fish (Tilapia or Salmon) with lightly buttered steamed veggies
Snack: 3 pieces of dark Hershey Bliss or 5 dark Hershey Kisses, or 1 Carnation Breakfast Drink
Exercise: 1-3 miles on bike if nice, minimum 25 crunches and 25 pushups

Tuesday
Breakfast: 1 scrambled egg, 2 slices bacon, 2 mugs coffee with unsweetened almond milk (no creamer, sugar, agave nectar, or honey)
Snack: Apple or Orange or Banana
Lunch: Tuna with Olive Oil Mayo on Cucumber
Snack: Raw or Dried veggie slices or V8
Dinner: Chicken breast with lightly buttered steamed veggies
Snack: 3 pieces of dark Hershey Bliss or 5 dark Hershey Kisses, or 1 Carnation Breakfast Drink
Exercise: Optional

Wendesday
Breakfast: 1 over easy egg, yoghurt with berries, 2 mugs coffee with unsweetened almond milk (no creamer, sugar, agave nectar, or honey)
Snack: Apple or Orange or Banana
Lunch: Veg-heavy salad with red wine vinegar and oil, small handful of nuts
Snack: Handful berries (most likely strawberries) or a fruit smoothie
Dinner: Fish (Tilapia or Salmon) with lightly buttered steamed veggies
Snack: 3 pieces of dark Hershey Bliss or 5 dark Hershey Kisses, or 1 Carnation Breakfast Drink
Exercise: 1-3 miles on bike if nice, minimum 25 crunches and 25 pushups

Thursday
Breakfast: 1 scrambled egg, 2 slices bacon, 2 mugs coffee with unsweetened almond milk (no creamer, sugar, agave nectar, or honey)
Snack: Apple or Orange or Banana
Lunch: Tuna with Olive Oil Mayo on Cucumber
Snack: Raw or Dried veggie slices or V8
Dinner: Chicken breast with lightly buttered steamed veggies
Snack: 3 pieces of dark Hershey Bliss or 5 dark Hershey Kisses, or 1 Carnation Breakfast Drink
Exercise: Optional

Friday
Breakfast: 1 over easy egg, yoghurt with berries, 2 mugs coffee with unsweetened almond milk (no creamer, sugar, agave nectar, or honey)
Snack: Apple or Orange or Banana
Lunch: Veg-heavy salad with red wine vinegar and oil, small handful of nuts
Snack: Handful berries (most likely strawberries) or a fruit smoothie
Dinner: Fish (Tilapia or Salmon) with lightly buttered steamed veggies
Snack: 3 pieces of dark Hershey Bliss or 5 dark Hershey Kisses, or 1 Carnation Breakfast Drink
Exercise: 1-3 miles on bike if nice, minimum 25 crunches and 25 pushups

Saturday
Breakfast: 1 scrambled egg, 2 slices bacon, 2 mugs coffee with anything as long as i've been good and it's in small quantities
Snack: Apple or Orange or Banana
Lunch: Tuna with Olive Oil Mayo on Cucumber
Snack: Handful berries (most likely strawberries) or a fruit smoothie
Dinner: Chicken breast with lightly buttered steamed veggies
Snack: If I didn't binge all week, one SMALL slice Tirimisu
Exercise: At least one short walk

thanks! i just posted my week's plan. if i feel good after that week, i will start looking at more paleo recipes to vary my meals, but i want to be very strict the first week just to see if i can do it! i'd love opinions on my plan, i know it's just a every-other-day-same-food thing right now, but if i feel as good as i'm hearing i should, i'll ask for some good paleo recipes that don't include things i'm allergic to: onions, peppers, and avacado.

Great! At first glance, ditch the commercial chocolate/Carnation shake. The Carnation stuff is full of garbage. You can find some awesome quality high % cocoa bars, at most grocery stores. Cocoa nibs are bitter on their own... but AMAZING in a bowl of berries, too .

You got this!! Rock out with your bad self, girl!

i'd like to at least finish off the carnation drinks i have, rather than throw away money, same with the chocolate. however, once i'm out of them i can switch it to higher percentage dark chocolate bars that i just have a couple pieces of per day. i am majorly in love with the taste of chocolate and not willing to give it up completely, but i AM willing to get the healthier darker chocolate.

I looked over your plan, Alyssa. It looks pretty good.

Except...and I'm making this little list because you said you wanted to be strict Paleo. The following foods are not Paleo:

V8
Carnation Breakfast Drink
Hershey Bliss
Hershey Kisses
yoghurt
And I have a question about olive oil mayo. Is it totally olive oil? There's no soy in it? And there's no sugar in it?

Having said all that, create your own version of Paleo. Georgia's version of Paleo includes dark French chocolate (has no soy lecithin in it, and must be 70% cocoa, and I only eat an ounce or two a week), heavy cream (for my coffee every day), and cheeses (not Kraft-like cheese, the good stuff, and no more than 2 oz./day). I do better with a daily bit of indulgence. I will occasionally have some yoghurt as well.

I found that if I eat a lot of vegetables (and I'm tall and muscular and do lots of weight training, so I eat at least 5 cups a day), I don't crave any sweets. And if I get enough protein (for me, up to 120 gm/day), I don't get edgy and noshy. Today and tomorrow I'm not exercising at all, so I'm cutting about 400 calories from my diet.

Go for it!

well like i said above, i'd like to finish off the stuff i already have. and why isn't V8 considered paleo? it's just fruit and veg juices. as for the mayo, idk, but i like the taste of the olive oil mayo with my tuna, the low-fat kind my grandmother gets tastes odd. and why not yoghurt?

Good luck! If you find yourself getting hungry, maybe eat 2 or 3 eggs for breakfast? I eat similar to the plan you posted but I'd be starving on only one egg. Cutting out grains has been so good for me, hope it is for you, too!

i can only eat lightly in the morning, otherwise i get ill. a few years ago i could only drink ensure in the morning, so the ability to eat a whole egg is crazy to me. also, i don't get hungry, i feed my body because i need the calories, but my body never tells me it's hungry. i'm hoping it will be great for me too, i have fatigue issues which i heard can be helped by removing the grains.

Paleo, if you're doing it properly, doesn't include dairy which is why yogurt is a no go!

Good luck.

If you look up the Paleolithic diet, Alyssa you'll find that the foods I listed are not considered Paleo. That's what I thought you were shooting for. I'm not telling you not to eat them.

Personally, I love good olive oil mayo. But it is difficult to find it without added soybean oil. And all things soy are also off the Paleo list. For me, I stay away from the soy because I have a strong intollerance to it.

As for the V8, it's a matter of personal choice. I won't drink or eat anything out of any container that's not glass, because of the BPA in the can liners. Also, in the ingredients, "natural flavors" is listed. That can be any number of ingredients, including soy. And while I do love a good Bloody Mary made with the spicy V8, I always get a reaction from it. So that tells me there's soy in it that isn't openly listed. Probably soy lecithin, which everyone tells me does cause allergic reactions, but that is NOT what my body tells me!

And I understand about not wanting to waste money and use up products you already have. That's a great way to live in order to save money. However, if you find that you're really struggling with backing off from sugar cravings, try cutting all forms of sugar, and even artificial sweeteners, for a minimum of three days. And then increase your fresh vegetables, healthy fats and protein a little. The Carnation drinks will still be there later on. If you still want them.

You know what, Alyssa? Try it the way you planned it. There's plenty of time to tweak it as you like. It's what I did. I took the long slow route to get to how I'm doing it. And in the real world, most people who do Paleo do it about 80% of the time.

i'll try to finish off the V8 and carnation drinks and yoghurt before i start the diet, do you have any suggestions for what to replace it with?

Well, for afternoon snack, I eat more than you do. But a good snack that gets me through the afternoon is a few raw almonds, an ounce of dark chocolate and a few pieces of raw unsweetened coconut. I like a pear with almond butter too. A celery stick with tuna and mayo. I'm building mini-meals with protein, fat and non-starchy carbs.

Have you heard of coconut yoghurt? I have not eaten the stuff from the store. It's so full of ingredients! I found this recipe for it but haven't made it yet. http://nomnompaleo.com/post/45263391...ut-milk-yogurt

As for the V8, I'm not sure how to replace it, except with just eating more vegetables. Experiment with what you like. I do like the taste of V8. There's nothing else quite like it at the store. I just found a recipe for it that I think I want to try. http://www.runningtothekitchen.com/2...-own-v8-juice/ It sounds like there's a bit of effort, but with farmer's market season coming up, it may be a fun thing to do with some of the veggies I buy.

Looking forward to hearing how you're doing! I chose to go Paleo because it supports managing my health issues (type 2 diabetes, PCOS and food sensitivities). In some ways I've greatly improved (A1c down from 6.9 to 6.0, blood pressure down from 150s/90s to 109/ 67, less muscle and joint aches, cholesterol is awesome too), but I still have some issues (sleeplessness, menopausal stuff). It won't fix everything, but at your age, you are getting a head start at a great life full of energy and vitality.