Short Old Fat Dude adding some personal experience to this thread.
I won't bore you with sad stories of my lifelong struggle with obesity, or my wonderful days in the gym being stupid fit many years ago.
In May 2012 I was obese and showing signs of insulin resistance. My old gym lifestyle was not working since I was too fat to get it on like I used to be able to. I also hate cooking these days. Way too much work and time. I needed something else. The Paleo Blueprint was recommended by way too many people, so I picked it up when headed out to work remote for a month.
After reading it, and learning things that college physiology classes did not provide, I said what the .....and tried it for 30 days. It works. Its easy. Even in a remote Alaska construction camp fueled by cafine and spagetti.
Things that have changed: down from 247 to 202 from May to September. Weight is holding due to being back in the office and not walking 5 miles a day on a construction site. Plantar Facitious (sp) in left foot went away before I lost more than a pound of body weight. Hunger cycle caused by carbs is gone. I can go through intermentent fasting without loosing my mind and starving. No more high blood surgar migrains that shut me down for days at a time. My skin is clearer. My bowel movements are regular. I sleep better. Loosing just the first 45 pounds has allowed me to move better. I had no issues hauling a caribou off the tundra this year. Last year it nearly killed me and was only a flat 100 yards from a road. This year was a half mile with a short hill between the kill sight and the road. Just a stroll in the park.
This winter I will be getting on the basic "lift heavy things" work outs. Looking forward to sprinting with the dog in the snow. When I get down to 180 I'll start more serious mountain hunting work outs to get ready for next fall.
Paleo is not high protein. Its high vegetables. My typical dinner this week is a terriaki chicken thigh with a 1 quart salad comprized of a head of romain, two large radishes, 1/4c of carrots, 1 green onion, 1/2c bell pepper, 1/4c zucchini. A little basalmic vinigear on top. And thats it. Pre cooking in batches makes for meal prep of less than 15 minutes. I am averaging 100 to 150 grams of carbs a day to moderate my fat loss. I have tons of energy these days.
Part of people's problems with paleo is that they see all these recipes that try to recreate their favorite foods, but with paleo approved components. People love their muffins so they make muffins that are made of nut flours as a daily breakfast food. The paleo folks like Sara Faraguso (everdaypaleo) will quickly point out how wrong that is.
When I was hauling my caribou back to the truck, I fueled up the paleo way with some hash browns and caribou/pork breakfast sausage with sauted bell peppers. Lots of fuel for the hard work I was doing.
As for getting discouraged by my fad diet, all I have to keep in mind is that my mom killed herself with diabetes, as did my grandmother, and I have permanently damaged my pancreas to such an extent that diabetes is waiting for me the day I decide to eat a burrito and drink a coke. It makes it an easy choice.
I am looking into making my own backcountry food that does not include wheat or chemicals. I'll be using dried goods from these folks.
http://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/Backpacking-Kit-18-ZIP-Pouches_p_1866.html