Practically Paleo:

Day Zero

Alex CobbFounder, Practically Paleo

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Introduction

Eighteen months ago my scale was flirting with 300 big ones. Years of poor choices and

sedentary living was sending my weight steadily in one direction: up. My lower back and knees

were constantly aching, chest pain was common. Sleep apnea kept me awake at night, to

compensate I self medicated with muscle relaxers and booze at night and energy drinks during

the day. I was 26 years old and wasting the best years of my life: I turned down invitations to

hit the beach because I was embarrassed to take my shirt off in public, I either didn’t fit in roller

coasters or found them too uncomfortable, friends cars and airplanes were difficult to sit in for

extended periods of time. I was killing myself slowly, a death by poor decisions. Paleo saved

my life.

A quick search for “Paleo” on Google will return countless approaches that, while

similar, are all unique in their own ways. The guide that you’re reading now is an approach that

I adopted through consuming several hours of books, podcasts, conversations, and more.

Some advice I borrow from others, some is all my own. Not everyone in the Paleo community

will agree with everything I have to say here…something that you’ll discover is par for the

course. To that end, I have no formal education in nutrition, health, biology or a related science.

My writing on the matter is not extensively scientific, rather I take a layman approach to talking

about eating. What I do offer is an approach that has allowed me, as of this writing, to lose

seventy pounds in eighteen months AND keep the weight off. This approach has allowed me to

gain a quality of life that I never had before as an adult. I sleep better, I have more energy, my

back pain, knee, and chest pain are gone. I feel alive again.

If you’re ready to drop 25, 50, or even 100+ pounds….you can with this approach. I

know because it worked for me, a guy who was resigned to the fact that I’d never lose weight

or be happy with my body again. In your journey to weight loss I will be your ally, we’ll do it

together. Through my ongoing journey to weight loss I have discovered the specific reason that

people are overweight…the singular reason. In this guide I’ll reveal that reason to you and give

you some tools to combat that force. Together we’ll change your life. All I ask for is a little effort

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and determination. The road to weight loss is challenging, but we will travel it together.

How To Use This Guide

This is a quick start approach to Practically Paleo and is not exhaustive of ALL the tips,

techniques, and theories behind my approach. I invite you to follow me on social media via the

information provided below. I also respond to emails as often and as quickly as possible. This

guide is based on my opinions and first hand experiences… if you have more thorough

questions about how Paleo might impact your specific medical concerns, please seek the

opinion of a medical professional that encourages the Paleo lifestyle, they’re out there!

A Day Zero Food List is found on Page 9. Use this as a template for crafting your meals.

Get creative!

Page 10 is a thought provoking weight tracker. Fill out the questions and post it, tack it,

tape, or otherwise hang it above your scale. Weigh yourself once a week (I chose Wednesdays)

and record your progress on the chart. When things get tough use the reasons you listed as

motivation to stick with it.

Finally: Trust the process, do the work.

Welcome to Practically Paleo.

Alex Cobb

Founder, Practically Paleo

June 2018

Facebook: @PracticallyPaleoPage (facebook.com/practicallypaleopage)

Instagram: @slimredcobb

Twitter: @slimredcobb

Email: alex.practicallypaleo@gmail.com

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We’re All Fat Schmucks

If you’re reading this, one of two things is likely true: Either you think you’re fat, or

someone else does. Right now you’re saying to yourself “that’s not true!” Bullshit. How many

people stumble upon a guide to weight loss if they’re already fit, healthy, and otherwise already

happy with their appearance? You’ve got these words in your hand for a reason and you

already know what it is: You’ve got some pounds to lose.

I say this not to be hurtful or to put you down, far from it. First, I want to make sure that

we can be honest with each other from the get go. Secondly, you should know that many

others, myself included, have or have had struggles with eating, weight, and confidence in our

appearance. You’re not alone. There’s more good news: I know why you’re fat. I also know

which “reasons” are bullshit excuses. Your stress level, work-life balance, your mother, your

“big bones,” your girlfriend, your income level…none of these have jack to do with how much

you weigh.

The reason that you’re fat is the same reason that anyone else is: In the back of all of

our heads is a voice. This is a voice that encourages us, after a week of eating well, to slip

through the drive through for a milkshake. “You’ve earned it,” it’ll tell us. It’s the voice that

allows us to rationalize eating a whole pint of ice cream after our boyfriend left us. We listen to

this voice and associate a summer vacation with Margaritas and fried foods. This voice

manipulates us into thinking that the reasons I listed, your job, big bones, etc, are the reasons

we won’t ever, can’t ever lose weight.

This voice is our Inner Fat Schmuck. We all have one, I named mine Frank. This Inner

Fat Schmuck is a master salesman of poor choices. Your Inner Fat Schmuck will lie to you,

conspire against you, manipulate you, and otherwise do whatever it can to bring on your

demise. The bottom line, absolute truth is this: if you’re overweight you’ve already lost control,

already let your Inner Fat Schmuck get into the driver’s seat of your life. Losing weight will only

begin once you accept the existence of this voice and admit to this reality about it:

When we allow our Inner Fat Schmuck to be in control of our lives, our internal reality

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becomes our external reality. When we give up control to our Inner Fat Schmuck we

becomes Fat Schmucks ourselves. Only through winning the war over this force can we

lose weight.

If you’re not ready to admit that then, please, by all means keep living the life you’ve

been leading. Keep waking up tired. Keep popping ibuprofen to make your back feel better.

Keep not playing with your daughter because you don’t have the energy. Keep finding zero

enjoyment in beaches, theme parks, and sporting events. Keep resigning to living your life as a

Fat Schmuck. But if you are ready to change, Practically Paleo will give you the tools to change

your life. We cannot entirely eliminate our Inner Fat Schmuck, but Practically Paleo WILL put

YOU back in the driver’s seat of your own life.

So What’s So Practical About It?

I think of the phrase “Paleo” a lot like religion. Paleo, like Christianity for example, has

followers of many unique varieties that all prescribe to some common, central tenets. The

Paleo Lifestyle, similarly, is founded on a bedrock of a diet high in fat and low in carbs. Purists

in the community might only eat grass fed meats, they might avoid all alcohol, and might see

artificial ingredients as the bane of existence. There are those, however, that might eat some

legumes, might drink some dairy, maybe even eat some organic whole grains in moderation.

Every approach to Paleo is a little different. I refer to mine as “Practical.” What does that

mean?

Affordability is key. Grass fed meats and organic groceries are ideal. If you determine,

however, that these products are outside of your budget then stick to “regular” products that

still fit within the Paleo paradigm. “I cant afford to eat that way” is a bullshit excuse that I hear

from people who don’t want to make the switch. “It’s too expensive” is a common lie that our

Fat Schmuck uses to keep us hitting the drive through for cheap fast food.

I take a flexible approach to ingredients. Artificial ingredients like flavor adders in

seasonings and rubs as well as artificial sweeteners found in low carb/low calorie drinks do not

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meet the purist’s definition of Paleo. I encourage avoiding them whenever possible. That said, if

a seasoning with some brown sugar or a powdered low carb drink with Sucralose is going to

keep you from falling back into your old habits…then eat and drink those things. Avoiding non-

compliant ingredients will increase your chances of success and reduce the time it takes to

achieve your goals. But, with that in mind, don’t be afraid to live your life. If it’s low carb you’ll

probably be alright.

Alcohol is permitted on Practically Paleo, so long as it’s low carb. Light Beers are

alright, but liquor with a zero carb mixer is better. I regularly drink Vodka mixed with Club Soda

and a lime wedge. “Regular” liquors (meaning unflavored) are all, essentially, zero carb. Most

“flavored” liquors (think Vanilla Whiskey, for example), especially at or below 35% alcohol likely

have sugars, etc. This is a great example of a time you COULD and SHOULD avoid artificial

ingredients but where mixing Vodka with, say, a powdered Sucralose sweetened drink won’t

derail your progress.

To paraphrase: If you’re eating low carb and avoiding artificial ingredients as often as

possible, you’re on track. A more detailed breakdown of the foods you should be eating can be

found later on.

Welcome To Day Zero

Some day one of two things will happen: Your choices will kill you or you’ll choose to

change your choices. Either you’ll choose to change the foods you put into your body, you’ll

choose to get serious about losing weight, you’ll choose to quit having to rely on chemicals to

stay awake at work, you’ll choose a regimen that helps you get better quality sleep. Or,

alternatively, some day…your Fat Schmuck choices will kill you. Make no mistake…only you

decide how much control you allow your Inner Fat Schmuck to have. He will kill you, if you let

him. I’m committed to helping you take back that control. One day, though, you’ll have to

decide for yourself that you’re ready to change. I hope today is that day.

Day Zero is the day that you finally decide to take control of your life. Day Zero is the

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starting point of a long journey towards independence from the control that your Fat Schmuck

has over you. It won’t always be easy, but I’ll be in your corner the entire the way. There are,

essentially, three steps to achieving initial success in weight loss. The first two are easy. The

third, not so much.

1) Throw Away All Of Your Shit Food:

Go through your pantry, your freezer, your kitchen… throw out your sweets, your dairy,

your snacks cooked in industrial oils (canola oil, sunflower oil, etc), your breads and grain

based foods, anything marketed as “low fat.” I know plenty of people that balk at the notion of

throwing away “perfectly good food.” But these foods are killing you. Advertisement agencies,

your Fat Schmuck, and even the US government through their “Food Pyramid” have convinced

you to believe so many of these things are good for you. They aren’t.

2) Eat Fats and Veggies:

If it once was breathing, eat it. Put an emphasis on high quality, fatty cuts of meat like

Ribeye and Salmon. Lower quality meats like bacon, sausage, and the like are fine as well.

Essentially all veggies (excluding Legumes) are Paleo compliant and can be eaten liberally (see

the Day Zero Food List). Fruits ARE Paleo compliant but are not low carb and aren’t suited for

weight loss, but don’t feel you have to avoid them entirely.

3) Do The Work and Be Consistent

This is the hard one. It’s really easy to START a weight loss plan. You’re buying new

foods, posting pictures on your Instagram of healthy meals, flying on a feel-good high. But then

something happens… Maybe Thursday is your normal night to meet your buddies at the bar for

wings. Maybe you have a rough day at work and you want to fall back into your normal routine

of a bowl of ice cream. Maybe you’re traveling for work and “don’t have the time” to find

something healthy. The simple fact of the matter is that these are all bullshit excuses. Your Fat

Schmuck sells these in droves, and you’re buying. We can talk a lot about ingredients that you

can use in a meal but the most important ingredient in weight loss is consistency. If you’re only

committed to eating compliant meals two to three nights a week, you’re going to fail. I promise.

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If you’re only strong enough to stick with the plan until your first rough day at work or until your

boyfriend pisses you off, you’re going to fail. But if you’re ready to quit accepting less than the

best you’ve ever felt…if you’re ready to have energy to go out on the weekends…if you’re

ready be confident in yourself again…if you’re ready to stick your nose to the grindstone and

stick with the program…then it WILL work.

What you have to do, though, is set goals and list your motivations. Take a moment to

write down how much you weigh now, how much you would LIKE to weigh, and all of the

reasons you’d like to get to that number. This list of motivators will keep you going after that

rough week, or after your girlfriend makes a snide remark on the telephone, or when a wave of

self pity hits. There are no right or wrong things to list here. “I want to have energy to play with

my daughter again” is just as valid as “I want to look good in a bathing suit next summer.” This

is your life and your desire to drop the weight, be honest with yourself.

With all of that said I offer you these…

5 Keys to Success

1. Some figures to consider… But first, a caveat: We’re all different. We have different starting

weights, different frames, different metabolisms. But, with that said, it is generally accepted

within the Paleo community that 50-100 carbs a day is sufficient to achieve weight loss.

This might seem like an insignificant amount at first glance but it will appear much larger

when you consider how few carbs there are in meats and most veggies. Eating less than 50

carbs is not necessarily good or bad, but I don’t encourage eating more than 100 if you’re

trying to drop the weight.

2. Eat. As much as you want. If you find that you’re hungry… eat until you’re no longer hungry.

So long as the foods that you are eating are Paleo compliant…eat your fill. Your body is

used to large quantities of carbs and sugar, two sources of energy. The goal of the Paleo

diet is to replace those sources of energy, essentially, with fat. You may even find that

you’re eating more, measured by volume, than you were before. While you might be eating

more food you’re still consuming significantly fewer carbs, which is the point.

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i) Pro Tip: It can be easy to fall back into an old habit of eating out of boredom. If you find

yourself debating whether or not you are actually hungry, ask yourself this: If this steak

was ACTUALLY a big plate of plain, stewed carrots… would I still be eating it? The

answer to that question will usually be the insight you’re looking for.

3. Dairy Alternatives like Coconut Milk, Almond Milk, and Cashew Milk ARE Paleo but they are

usually full of added sugar. Name brand versions of these drinks that are labeled “Original”

or “Regular” usually contain sweeteners to make these drinks more enjoyable and

appealing to consumers. Look for the “Unsweetened” flavors that do not have any sugar

and usually contain a carb or less per serving.

i. Pro Tip: I love plain, unsweetened Coconut Milk in my coffee, the taste and texture

reminds me of half-and-half. It even goes great in paleo smoothies.

4. Master the art of “Passive Cheating.” Traditional Paleo wisdom encourages an 80/20

approach to eating: Eat Paleo compliant foods 80% of the time and you should lose

weight. This adage, particularly at the beginning of your journey, is generally accurate. A

good number of people use that mysterious 20% of their eating to include “cheat meals,”

snacks, ingredients they know they shouldn’t be eating, and so on. Consider in your mind

that there are three categories of foods: Foods that are 100% paleo (like steak), foods that

should be eaten in moderation (like sweet potatoes, for example), and foods that are not

remotely compliant (a piece of cake). Some folks will eat the first two categories 80% of the

time and the third category 20% of the time. While this might work, a great way to speed

up your weight loss is to eliminate the third category all together and treat the “Eat

Moderately” foods as your treats. This will involve re-wiring the way you think about what

food is a treat and what isn’t, but once you get over that hump the rewards will be great.

5. Ask questions and ask for help. The internet is a wealth of information, don’t be afraid to do

your own research. I commonly do Google searches like “Paleo alternatives to soy sauce”

or “Paleo Thanksgiving recipes.”

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The Practically Paleo Food List

This list is not exhaustive but is a general template of the foods you should be eating as

much as you want, in moderation, and as few times as possible. When in doubt: Ask Google.

I’ve often found myself in a grocery style aisle searching for “Paleo alternative to…” or “Is X

ingredient Paleo?”

Green Light Foods: Eat As Many As You’d Like

• Beef

• Fish

• Lamb

• Chicken

• Turkey

• Goat

• Asparagus

• Pumpkin

• Olives (and oil)

• Avocado (and oil)

• Coconuts (and oil)

• Onions

• Greens (Mustard,

Collards, Etc)

• Mushrooms

• Peppers

• Carrots

• Coconut Milk

• Almond Milk

• Cashew Milk

Yellow Light Foods: Eat In Moderation

• Strawberries

• Pineapple

• Oranges

• Apples

• Rasberries

• Almonds

• Cashews

• Coffee

• Tea

Red Light Foods: Avoid Whenever Possible

• Dairy (Caveat: I cook in

grass fed butter)

• Grains (All kinds)

• Beans (Red, Black, Green,

etc)

• Soy

• Sweeteners (natural and

artificial)

• Protein Powders

• Energy Drinks

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Day Zero Progress Chart

My Name:

My Day Zero Was (Month/Day/Year): _____/______/20____

On Day Zero I Weighed: __________ lbs

My Target Weight is _________ lbs, a Total Loss of _________ lbs

I Want To Lose Weight For/Because: (List 3-5 Motivators)

I’m Anxious To Try Paleo Because: (List 2-3 Reasons You Might Be Anxious, Nervous)

I think Paleo Will Work For Me Because: (List 2-3 Reasons You’re Confident It Can Work)

Day Zero Weight Tracker

Day Zero:

Day 7:

Day 14:

Day 21:

Day 28:

Total Lost in 1st Month:

Day 35:

Day 42:

Day 49:

Day 56:

Day 63:

Total Lost in 2 Months:

Alex Cobb is a native Floridian, currently living in St. Petersburg, Florida.

He started Practically Paleo as a way to share his weight loss techniques

with others.

When not at a Tampa Bay Lightning Game, Alex can often be found at

Disney World with his fiancee, Crystal.