Before there were packaged goods, processed foods, GMOs and an ongoing debate between organic or not, there was dirt, seeds, water and roaming animals. It may be hard to consider now, but the dawn of man produced hunters and gatherers and humans had to get their own food – not by heading to the supermarket.

There were no sprays to kill insects, no chemicals or genes added or modified. No extra-large tomatoes or vibrant yellow bananas. Food was simple. It was either found, picked or hunted. And although there weren’t doctors or research scientists to confirm the benefits of such eating, it seems that when it comes to dietary habits, eating like our ancestors has some merit.

Diets come and diets go, but one in particular seems to have staying power and for good reasons as well. It’s based on eating similar to that of prehistoric man and it’s being touted as one of the best way to eat. It’s called the Paleo diet.

What is the Paleo diet?
The Paleo diet was created by Loren Cordain, a now-famous author, speaker and professor of health and exercise science at Colorado State University, who specializes in disease and diet. The Paleo diet itself reflects food items and methods of eating similar to our Stone Age ancestors – that’s right, this diet is framed around eating like cavemen. Through scientific research and peer-reviewed studies, Cordain has uncovered many health benefits to eating the Stone Age way.

There are seven premise on which the Paleo diet guidelines are based:

High protein
Low carbohydrates and low glycemic index
High fiber
Moderate to high fat intake – monosaturated and polysaturated fats with omega-3s and 6s

High potassium, low sodium
Net dietary alkaline balances dietary acid – some foods produce acid (meat) and others are alkaline (fruits and vegetables). Eating a balance of both alkaline and acid foods can have positive health effects.

High intake of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and plant phytochemicals.

Well done, you’ve successfully managed to lose the weight you wanted to. It was a battle but you got there in the end, but the biggest battle is yet to come. How do you maintain your weight loss?

Most of the people I know are ecstatic when they have lost a few pounds and are impossible to upset when they have achieved their target weight, yet these same people, less than a month later, are more miserable than ever because the weight they fought so hard to lose has reappeared with a vengeance, often with an extra pound or two to boot!

Why? Resorting back to the old lifestyle is the culprit.

The battle for weight loss is fought on two fronts; diet and exercise. What happens when someone reaches their weight loss goal is that they stop their diet and exercise programs that they reached that goal with and resort back to their old lifestyle and diet. Needless to say this old lifestyle and diet is the very same that made them overweight in the first place!

Why people think that once they have lost weight they can revisit their previous lifestyles and the weight will stay off is beyond my comprehension but millions of yo-yo dieters do just that, and then complain that they can’t lose weight effectively. The trouble is people enjoy their lifestyles and want to be slim also; something has to give and the constant indecision is what leads to the yo-yo effect.

Peoples’ misconceptions about losing weight is that once they have lost it they can stop the diet and the exercise, the truth of the matter is that to maintain your weight you now have to find the right balance between calorie intake and calorie usage.

In order to have lost this weight you must have been burning more calories than you were eating therefore you can afford to ease off a little without putting any weight back on. For many, who don’t like exercise, it would be the gym workouts that they found grueling and miserable, now that in itself isn’t too bad as long as you have a replacement that will be able to burn enough calories for you to be able to maintain your weight; and walking is ideal for this.

Here are three things to consider before taking up walking:

1. Always consult with your doctor. You may well feel perfectly fit and healthy but as a precautionary measure always check with your doctor, he may be able to advise you on a good structured schedule that you will be able to follow.

2. Get yourself a pedometer. A pedometer is a device that counts the number of steps you have taken and then will calculate the distance you have walked, a brilliant little piece of equipment, and really cheap as well. But don’t go setting yourself a minimum distance to walk, look to set yourself walking goals and targets extending them as you become fitter and fitter. You never know, you might actually start to lose even more weight!

3. Wear the right attire. Once committed to walking for weight management ensure you are always as comfortable as possible by wearing comfortable shoes and clothing, a pair of ill fitting shoes or clothing that causes discomfort are the most likely reasons why people give up walking as a health activity.

There is a program that has been around a little while now called Fat Loss 4 Idiots, this program uses a method called calorie shifting it is not a new idea but the way this program has adapted it and turned it into a successful 14 day repeatable cycle diet is excellent.

Where most diets fall down is that they concentrate on reducing the calorie intake to a level lower than what the body is burning. This works great for a limited time as the body still burns calories at the original rate. But, once the body has become accustomed to receiving a lower amount of calories, the amount of calories the body burns lowers also, to the point that weight loss invariably either slows to a trickle or completely stops. This point of a diet is commonly known as the weight loss plateau.

If you an habitual diet monger you will probably experienced this more than once, as this is true of virtually every diet out there. What happens is that a person will give up on the diet because they are not losing any weight anymore. What happens then is that once they return to their pre diet food they instantly put on weight and in a lot of cases exceed the initial pre diet weight also. This is because the body is still burning calories at the lower rate that the diet had changed it too!

With the calorie shifting method, the body is fooled into maintaining a high metabolism therefore continuing to burn calories even though you have dropped your calorie intake.

So how is the body fooled?

When the body is fed low calorie foods all the time it becomes predictable for the body therefore it adapts to the newer lower calorie intake; with calorie shifting the body is fed low calories and occasional high calorie foods. This is done at specific times and this alternation confuses the body into not changing to a slower metabolism. The specific foods and intervals are devised to keep your metabolism at the optimum level as this is where the greatest burn of calories is done.

Unlike other diets and weight loss programs, Fat Loss 4 Idiots doesn’t leave you feeling lethargic and weak. On other diets there are sacrifices that you are expected to make that may not be beneficial to your health, Fat Loss 4 Idiots allows you, no, insists that you eat well and properly but at certain times as stipulated by their plan.