Going Primal Was Like the Magic Pill I Have Been Looking For

I grew up as an overweight child and teenager. It wasn’t that I ate particularly badly, it was that I absolutely hated sport. Growing up in the 80s, I really thought that exercise was synonymous with ball sports. As I was essentially scared of the ball, I didn’t want to kick, throw or catch it, and so I didn’t want to exercise. I had no idea that doing a martial arts or boxing class (which didn’t involve balls), participating in Zumba or even going for a simple walk could be exercise and could be fun.

So I was basically inactive and fed the standard Australian diet of lots of healthy whole grains. As I was overweight my parents did all that they could to keep anything “fattening” away from me, and fed me as many “diet” and “fat free” products that they could find. I was eating a diet that consisted mainly of artificial sweeteners, no fat yogurt, diet coke and all bran.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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Concrete Reasons to Continue on the Primal Path

Mark,

I want to start by saying THANK YOU. Without you (and several thousand years of common sense), I was on the road to a significantly shorter and less fulfilling life.

My Primal success story was unintentional, but it couldn’t have come at a better time. My father was one to hop on random health crazes for a few weeks in order to lose weight, and the Primal Blueprint was his newest of many…or so I thought. I didn’t take it very seriously when he talked about it, but I figured I’d go on it with him for a week or so to try to keep him motivated.

This was me before that.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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Free at 50

I used to be your typical 98 pound weakling. When I graduated from high school in 1980, I tried to break 100 pounds but couldn’t. Tired of looking like a bag of bones, I joined a gym and started packing muscles on my frail frame. I discovered bodybuilding and began to gain some weight. Like most guys in the early 80’s, I was obsessed with getting big. Although, I never considered being a competitive bodybuilder since the thought of parading on a stage with the background music of “Eye of the Tiger” while sashaying with a sock-stuffed Speedo is way beyond embarrassing. I did embrace the lifestyle of a meathead: I spent 2 hours every day at the gym and stuffed my face with food and protein drinks continuously. By my mid-20’s I had gained almost 70 pounds, although I doubt it was all muscle. Along the way, I bought in to most of the myths that conventional wisdom had taught me, which actually made me fat and unhealthy.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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I Was Astounded at How Quickly the Weight Came Off and Stayed Off

Hello Mark,

I’ve been wanting to send in my story for a long time but I think I was waiting for a “happy ending” before I felt I could put it out to the world. I finally feel like I’m in a great place to send this out, though I would hardly consider it an ending.

My unhealthy relationship with food starts at the age of ten or eleven. I was swimming several times a week, so I was not overweight – but my eating habits were putting me on a track of a lifetime of unhealthy eating. I would come home from school before anyone else in my family and eat an entire bag of chips or candy and hide the evidence, because even at the age of ten I realized that this was an odd thing to do, and felt guilty about it.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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97 Pounds Destroyed!

Hello Mark,

My whole life changed because of the Primal Blueprint. Ever since I can remember, I struggled with weight. Unsure why at times, since both of my brothers had no problem being thin and built. My bodily make-up was apparently different.

I tried many diets over the years. Accompanied by many short stints with gyms and home workouts. I lost 10, 20, and even 30 lbs one time, and gained it all back with vengeance. When I was 24, I suffered a back injury that required surgery. From that day on, I was constantly in pain from my lower back.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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