I'm super easily triggered by wheat and dairy products. However, whenever I cut the BOTH of them out and only eat veggies, fruit & meat I seem to feel the best. I try to stick with the entire whole-wheat thing, and for example have a slice of wheat toast with egg whites on it for breakfast. But that one wheat product sends me to a binging rampage. I'd like to cut out all wheat and dairy products with the exception of oat bran, but I've heard most women gain weight from cutting them both out. Should I do it? I'm so confused.

Once I cut out grains and dairy I lost more weight more quickly than any of my other weight loss attempts. I have never heard that women gain from cutting out wheat and dairy. It's worked great for me.

i don't eat processed starches - i'm the same way: i feel fantastic if i'm not eating bread, pasta, etc. i LOOOOOVE bread, esp home-made or bakery. it's just not good to have around the house.

i'm not anticipating eating processed starches every again but dairy, though - no way i'm giving that up, lol.

thank you guys! yeah, it sounds similar to the paleo diet-ish. no grains or dairy. and I heard of some ladies that say they gain weight on it. grains and dairy just make me feel so icky and trigger so much for me. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I eat what would be considered a primal diet (or semi-paleo).

A paleo diet is basically a caveman diet: no grains at all, nothing processed, no dairy, no sugar, no legumes/beans... essentially nothing before the advent of modern agriculture (this means no corn, either, since corn is a grain). Mostly the diet consists of meat, veggies, fruits and nuts. Vegetable oils are completely avoided, although saturated fats are not. Many proponents of this plan enjoy large amounts of coconut oil and such in their diet.

A primal diet is very similar, although the original creator of the diet allows for small amounts of dairy and rice (which he considers one of the more innocuous grains). Butter and ghee are both acceptable, though ghee tends to be preferred by a lot of people.

Variations on both these diets exist, and people alter them to fit their own lifestyles and preferences.

By eliminating grains (except a little rice because, well, I'm Asian) and most dairy (except very thin slices of swiss cheese), I have managed to lose the most weight EVER in my life (combining all this with IFing, which is common among paleo/primal circles). I even have the occasional "cheat" meal (pizza, sushi, movie popcorn), and my weight continues to drop off. It's amazing.

Before, I was a TOTAL carb head, with a special love of wheat products: bread, pasta, pie crust (lol), biscuits, muffins, hoagies... if it was made from wheat, I pretty much ate it. Even with fairly rigid calorie counting I was unable to lose the weight eating that way. Eliminating wheat, specifically, from my diet has been the best major change I've made. (Though, like I said, I do sometimes indulge. My life would be sad if I could never again eat spaghetti. I treat myself to a "wheat" meal about once or twice a month.)

I think the main reason some people gain when they eliminate wheat and dairy is the same reason people who cut fat from their diet often gain - and that's what they're eating instead. Often when people give up a food, they substitute with foods that are just as high or higher in calorie, but believe they can eat more of them because the food is "healthier."

I avoid wheat and severely limit dairy and haven't had any problem with gaining, though I'm extremely careful with substitutes. For example many of the wheat-free breads are MUCH higher in calorie than wheat bread. Up to 120 calories (as apposed to 60 - 80 for similar size pieces of regular bread) per slice. Some non-dairy beverages and cheeses are also higher in calorie than their true airy counterparts. Many contain added sugars (which tend to make me hungrier).

If you're reading your labels and controlling your food intake by counting (or monitoring in some way) your food intake whether by calories/carb grams/portions/exchanges/points or whatever you've been doing to control portions... you shouldn't have a problem continuing to lose.

Yep, I agree with this totally.

Also, one thing I've noticed in the paleo community is that some of them are WAY into fat. And if people reach a weight loss plateau, one of the first suggestions tends to be "eat more fat."

Although I see nothing wrong with a reasonable amount of fat in a diet, I sometimes think that the overemphasis on fat by some paleo people may not exactly be the best advice.

Also, a lot of people go really heavy on the nuts and seeds right out of the gate, which might not be best either, simply because they can pack a wallop of calories in a small portion.

Personally, and YMMV, what works for me is a semi-paleo/primal diet, IFing, and calorie "counting" (I don't actually count but I always keep them in mind).

i know why the emphasis on fat: if there's no carbs in a diet, then keeping the fat high encourages or even forces (depending who you talk to) the body to start burning fat for fuel which (the theory goes) makes it easier to mobilize fat stores.

but, as with all diets, if it's not compatible with your body type, then it's just not going to work.

Kaplods is right; calories are calories, so if you eat too many of them you can gain weight, even if they're healthy calories. I still have to calorie count in order to lose. Not replacing traditional carbs with 'paleo-friendly' versions of those products is helpful in avoiding the gain trap.

I've been struggling with this same thing myself. I get migraines if I eat stuff like that, like migraines so bad that I can't even sit up straight let alone walk around. They're horrible!

I went on Ideal Protein for a while to lose weight, but also to try to see if maybe if I gave my body a break it would help; but I'm thinking that it hasn't. :/

Just to be clear, I wouldn't say that "calories are calories" in the way most people define it (meaning that only calories matter and that a person will lose exactly the same weight on 1500 calories of carbs as on 1500 calories of protein).

Calories matter, but calories also aren't necessarily "simple." For example, I learned (from careful food journaling) that I lose better on 1800 calories of low-carb than on 1500 calories of high-carb. That means on low-carb I don't have to restrict calories to the same degree as I do when on high-carb.

Since high-carb also makes me hungrier, I have the choice between eat much less and be much hungrier, or eat more/lose more/be less hungry.

High-carb really doesn't have much to recommend it except the flavor. Sometimes I WANT a high-carb food, and I decide that the extra hunger and slower weight loss is an acceptable expense to have a food I want.

As a result I generally follow a moderatealy low-carb 1500 to 1800 calorie diet. I have a high-carb 1200 to 1500 calorie diet that I will use as my "back up plan" for days when I want to go higher carb - or I'll be in a situation (such as at a family dinner where I'm not controlling the menu) in which a higher carb plan is more convenient.

Even though calories are not equal (at least not for everyone), calories still matter. I may lose better and faster on 1500 calories of low-carb than on 1500 calories of high-carb, but that doesn't mean I can eat 10,000 calories of low-carb and still lose weight.

The metabolic advantage to low-carb is limited, and may not be universal for everyone. Some people may experience more dramatic differences between the two diets than others.

The only way to tell how much (if any) advantage one diet has over another is to experiment. I was surprised to learn that comparing low-carb to high-carb eating that I could eat about 300 to 500 more calories on low-carb. It was kind of amazing, really.

Even if there were no difference, I'd probably choose lower carb most of the time, because with carbohydrates the more I eat, the hungrier I get.

In terms of calorie metabolism and hunger, some people may experience an even greater difference or no difference at all. Experimenting is all any of us have.

I recently cut out dairy wheat and grains and have already lost about five pounds. I do LOVE bread but after the first few days I stopped craving it. And for dairy - try almond or coconut milk (They even have chocolate) its actually not too bad. Good Luck!

Jordana

I eat only veggies, fruits, beans/legumes, and nuts/seeds. I don't eat anything else besides that and I have lost 14 pounds over 28 days.

Yes, you can cut out all dairy and grain products. It is a very healthy weight loss solution. Just replace the calories you'd use on bread/dairy with more veggies and fruits.