Paleo Plan Weekly Nutrition Breakdown

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Screen-Shot-2011-11-07-at-8.25.54-PM.pngAll right, here it is! The nutritional breakdown for an entire typical week on PaleoPlan, 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 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 includes Paleo plan foods. Note, it doesn’t contain our recipes, but you can use the nutritional data from the recipes on the site and punch just the numbers in on myfitnesspal.com, instead of putting in every recipe, ingredient by ingredient.

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 they’re not.

Since they’re not sponsoring me, I’ll say that they lack the nutrition information that nutritiondata.com offers. MyFitnessPal only gives you about ten 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.

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 don’t 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. PaleoPlan 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. PaleoPlan 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.

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