Alright, here it is! The nutritional breakdown for an entire typical week on Paleo Plan, including calories, carbs, fat and protein.
A couple things to note. This information came from myfitnesspal.com, which is where all of the data on our site (if you’re a member) comes from. Myfitnesspal.com is a really good tool to use for counting calories, carbs, fat, and protein quantities because it’s simple, easy to read, and its database has all our Paleo foods. Some of the other databases, like nutritiondata.com and even fitday.com, are lacking in things like good meat brands, Paleo flours and other specialty items. I wish I was getting paid by myfitnesspal.com to be saying all this, but alas… Since they’re NOT paying me, I’ll say that they lack the nutrition information that nutritiondata.com offers. Myfitnesspal.com only gives you about 10 nutrient values for foods, like the ones below and then cholesterol, sodium, potassium, vitamin C and a few others. Nutritiondata.com provides a whole lot more.
Secondly, if you get nerdy on me and start adding up the percentages to see if they equal 100%, some of them don’t. That’s not because I dont’ know how to do simple math. It’s because not all of the data in myfitnesspal.com, or anywhere for that matter, is totally spot on. Take this with a grain of (sea) salt and use it as a general gauge for what you’re eating.
The calories per person per day ranged from 1,489 to 1,974 and the averages per day for all values were:
Calories – 1,639
Carbs – 97 g
Fat – 98 g
Protein – 108 g
Percentage of total calories broke down like this:
Carbs – 24%
Fat – 54%
Protein – 26%
(No, this does not equal 100%. See the note about this above. Without fudging data – and I do not fudge data – I had to leave it as is in all its imperfection…)
What does this all mean? First of all, it means we’re doing a good job of keeping you guys in a weight-loss mode. Under 100 grams of carbs is what you want to shoot for if you’re trying to lose weight. We’re keeping your fat grams high enough that you should be getting pretty good at burning fat, as well as carbs. And we’re keeping your protein down low enough that it’s not taxing your kidneys or liver.
But if you’re an athlete or a person requiring more than 1,639 calories per day, here’s the deal. Paleo Plan is designed for two people following the meal plan. It may be that you can break it up between your partner and yourself so that you get more and your partner gets less than 1,639 calories per day. For instance, I’m a small, but active woman and I usually don’t need more than about 1,400 calories per day. That means if I were splitting this up with my boyfriend and taking only my 1,400 calories, he’d end up with around 1,878 calories. That’s enough for some average-sized, not very active men. But if you need more calories than that, adjust as necessary. Eat a little more meat than the plan calls for. Add a little more oil to your meals. Or eat a big serving of the snacks that just call for a generic food, like “Paleo Trail Mix” or “Jerky and Fruit”. If you’re an enduro athlete, add more sweet potatoes and other starchy Paleo foods to the plan. Or if you’re a giant guy who works out a whole lot, you may even want to eat for two – that’d be about 3,278 calories a day. Paleo Plan is a really good base for almost everyone to start from.
So far, our responses have been good from our members. We seem to be giving you the right amount of food in the right macronutrient proportions to help you lose weight. But as always, if you have any suggestions for us, we’re all ears.
The full spreadsheet of a typical weekly menu with the breakdown is below. If you’re not a member already and this sounds like something you want to be a part of, go here to sign up and get a free 14-day trial.
6 Comments
Hi, For someone who does a crossfit type workout (4days/wk) would you suggest eatting more than the single serve? I’m trying to lean out and am currently eatting around the 1600cal per/day range and about 238lb, and I think about 25-30% bodyfat.
mschipper
@mschipper – It’s really hard to say without asking a bunch of questions. I suggest you get a free account at livestrong.com or myfitnesspal.com and they’ll do a good job of telling you how many calories you need to eat, taking into account your gender, body weight, desired body weight, how quickly you want to lose weight, your activity level, etc.
Neely
HI, I am a mom two months post birth, AND nursing. A friend of mine used paleo and lost a ton of weight, but she wasnt nursing. Is this ideal for me? Will it affect my milk supply? How should I alter the plan for it to work for me? I know I have to keep my calorie count up to keep a good supply. Help?
ntripputi
@ntripputi – Giving your child the best nutrition possible is never a bad thing, so going Paleo is most likely going to be beneficial. However, having said that, you may go through a detox period, and I don’t know what that affect your baby or your milk supply. I also don’t know how long your detox period might last – it’s different for everyone. What I’d suggest is to remove the foods in your diet very slowly. Unless you or your child is experiencing symptoms right now like skin rash, eczema, a lot of unexplainable crying (for your baby, that is
or any digestive issues, just take it slowly. The person who knows the most about this topic is Chris Kresser. He sells an ebook on the topic of moms and Paleo, or you can do a consultation with him. If it’s your calorie count you’re worried about, you can get just as many calories on Paleo as you can on any diet. You just have to know how many calories you need and know roughly how much you’re getting. The plan might be good for that, since you know roughly how many calories you’re getting on it. Check out this blog post on that. You’d also want to make sure you’re getting a lot of fat on the diet, since it’s incredibly important to your baby’s health. Your breast milk is mostly made up of saturated fat, after all. If you want individual help, just let me know. Good luck to you!
Neely
Hi,
I am thinking about starting the paleo plan because I’ve read a lot of convincing articles about it and I’m looking for a the healthiest way to lose weight.
I am confused by some of your recipes that I find. If Paleo is eating like hunters-gatherers, how come there is almond flour on there/vegetable oil, etc? I know that almonds are obviously natural, but in the flour form too? Is there nothing “fake” added to that? Sorry if these are crazy questions- I’m very new to this and have heard some people say “absolutely NOTHING but meat and veggies” and others say its ok to use flour etc.
What about vanilla almond milk?
Thanks so much for your help
Courtney
Hi again, Courtney
I understand your confusion. There are no additives in almond flour. It’s just ground up almonds. In fact, you could take a bunch of almonds and put them in a food processor and make your own – I did it last week. Coconut flour is just dried up, de-fatted coconut flesh with no additives. If we have vegetable oil in any of our recipes, please let me know because that is an error. Vegetable oils, or what are actually seed oils, are absolutely not a part of the Paleo diet because they contain such a high concentration of polyunsaturated fats, especially pro-inflammatory omega 6 fatty acids. That includes corn, soy, safflower, sunflower, cottonseed, and others. Having said that, nuts contain a high amount of phytic acid and certain potentially harmful lectins, especially when they’re not soaked like the nuts used to make almond flour. Because of that, they’re not the easiest things for some people to digest, so you have to figure out for yourself if they’re something you want to include in your own diet. We don’t use much almond or coconut flour in our recipes because of this. The flours, though, offer a reprieve from meat and veggies and help people stay on the diet without going to glutenous breads and other baked goods.
Neely