Crossfit

[Sher]

I have been doing the paleo diet for awhile now as well as incorporating crossfit. I just have a couple questions, In the last month or so i have stopped doing cardio training and doing mostly crossfit, which I love. I have always eaten clean but somehow on this I have gained about 10lbs. I eat probably between 1500cal a day. I do crossfit 5/days a week. I'm just frustrated because I'm not sure if I should be eating more or doing more cardio? Any suggestions will help! Thanks

[Renee Lee]

you should a) ignore the scale, focus on how you look/feel/perform instead, c) stop counting calories, and d) EAT MORE

[SJohnson]

Your weight gain is most likely due to the muscle that you've built by doing CrossFit. Even though you're gaining weight you are probably losing body fat. Pay attention to how your clothes fit, especially in places like the waist. You'll soon start to realize that your pants are getting looser while the number on the scale goes up! It's true- looking at the scale is pointless and an inaccurate gauge to monitor your progress with.

Since you are eating Paleo you should eat whenever you are hungry and eat as much as your body is telling you that it needs. Eating too few calories will signal to your body that food is scarce and it will respond by slowing down your metabolism and decreasing your energy levels. Having a high metabolism is key to losing fat.

Unless you just really love pure cardio and want to do it for fun you probably don't want to add it to your schedule in addition to CrossFit (if you're CrossFitting 5 or 6 days a week). You don't want to overtrain! CrossFit is still giving you an intense cardio workout even though it feel completely different than pure cardio. In fact, I lost much more bodyfat from CrossFit metcons than I did when I was just running.

Keep up the good work!