I Decided I Had Nothing to Lose
It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!
My name is Pamela Mathews and I’ve always been an active person. I also have never been shy when it comes to eating. After three kids (the last one having an emergency C-section) and two arthroscopic knee surgeries on the same knee (six months apart), my weight started to skyrocket. I bought my first pair of size 14 jeans and I weighed 180 pounds. I could no longer play on my city tennis team due to my knee problem. Two doctors told me I needed a knee replacement but they wouldn’t perform one until I was 50 years old. I had almost 10 years to go. I couldn’t run anymore and I thought my stomach didn’t have a chance after my C-section. My husband, David Mathews, and I have a garage gym that we used at least 6 days a week. We also thought we were eating correctly. You know whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, black beans and brown rice, Kashi cereal, plain yogurt, meats, fruits and vegetables.
In June 2007, my husband went to a certification. When he returned he said, “Something is not right. The people running the certification are all so lean. We are missing something.” David did some research and discovered they were eating Primal. He bought your book, The Primal Blueprint and after reading it he started to eat Primal. He spoke with me about eating this way. He suggested at first I cut out cereal in my yogurt each morning. I did and I lost a little weight but then he told me he was going to eat Primal for good and he wanted me to do the same. I’ll have to admit it was not an easy decision for me. I thought long and hard about it for a while. I thought, “This might cause a huge problem between us. If I prepare a meal and he doesn’t eat it then I’ll be upset.” I wasn’t sure I could eat Primal for good but David was dedicated to this way of life. I decided I had nothing to lose, I was 41 years old and overweight and I was concerned about developing diabetes.
On November 15, 2007, our 21st wedding anniversary, I went Primal. I made my decision that I was going to give this a month. I cut out all pasta, bread, sugar, beans, and potatoes. I had already eliminated cereal from my diet. I was now eating nothing but meat, vegetables, very little fruit and a few almonds and walnuts. After two weeks, I was looking in the mirror and it looked as if the fat on my midsection was melting away. What an incentive! After one month, I lost ten pounds. The next month, I lost another ten pounds (I had a lot of fat to lose). I ended up losing 40 pounds and since I continued to exercise while I lost weight I became toned. It was amazing!! I was back to wearing a bikini. I never thought I’d see that day again and my jeans are now a size 6.
During this time I cleaned out our pantry and donated everything we were no longer eating. We became a Primal Family. One of our boys lost 15 pounds before tennis season started by eating Primal. My husband’s dad is on your Primal program and he now takes zero medications. He is 79 years old.
My husband and I have been married for 25 years and we walk the walk and talk the Primal talk. It works!! I forgot to mention that I have excellent blood work. You can’t get any healthier than that.
Our boys are in college and they cheat a little, but they know Primal eating works. They saw their mom’s body transform for the better. Our teenage daughter struggles, but I believe she will change to strict Primal one day. She knows so much about it.
Thanks for writing The Primal Blueprint. It has helped me, David and our family. We have shared your book and recommended it to others to purchase and they too had success. My husband recommended your book to someone recently and he lost 20 pounds in two months. For others that didn’t need to lose much weight, it helped their blood work.
Pamela
Grab a Copy of The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation and Start Getting Primal Today!
Posted By: Mark Sisson
Only one thing wrong…. Not enough ‘after’ photos. Hotness is right!
WTG!!! I read Gary Taubes’ book and started my journey 6 weeks ago. I just got Primal Blueprint and so excited! I am down 17lbs in 6weeks and my partner just started a week ago. Excited about this process and love seeing stories with great results!!!!
Great story, congrats! inspired very much by it, good for you. I am approaching 48 years, been primal for 4mo, lost 30lbs, and it is the best thing that happened to me health wise.
Same in our house, my wife is onboard, college going son is slowly getting into it, college and high school daughters not that much, but hope they do too.
Very inspiring and congrats! You guys did turn back the clock and more, and look so much happier, which is what really counts!
Pamela, you guys look fantastic! You are my age and you are now officially my bikini hero!
I have a story very similar to yours. I am a primal follower for life. My biggest struggle is not sticking to the lifestyle, my biggest struggle is not being annoying and talking to it about everyone I meet — especially when I see someone eating a bagel with margarine, potato salad, and soda!
Congrats to you both, you look wonderful and I am sure feel much better than you ever did.
I am dragging my teens kicking and screaming into the Primal life also.
My 16 year old daughter is a carb addict and can not fully commit.
It is sad to know that her acne, mood swings, and chubbiness would all be gone if she followed the Primal path.
I can only pray that she will see how well we are doing and want to follow someday.
Thanks for sharing your story.
Congratulations! You guys look great, with smiles to match.
I’ve only been on this for a few months, but I’ve got a bad knee too and it’s definitely helping. I still don’t look as good as you guys do, but it seems more attainable with every Friday’s success story.
My family is on board too. My mom and dad saw all the weight I lost and the change in my mood, and now they’re off wheat and doing their research. My dad is diabetic, but in the last few months his blood sugar numbers have really improved.
It’s easy to get healthy and stay that way: Just listen to what the government tells you… and do the opposite!
Awesome! You guys look incredible! I hope I look like that in a bikini when I’m in my 40′s!
very inspiring.. what a marked change in body composition.. i have been primal for 2 months now and feel better and look better than i have in years..
Seeing these results on you guys is amazing, you guys look great on the beach, if you did not say you were in your mid 40s I wouldve said you guys were in your mid 30!
I whish I could get my parents to even think about this, I gave them everything to read, yet still when I ask what are you guys eating in the morning, they say “Oats”, or they bring out a whole bread at dinner and ask me if I want a slice?
Ive been Priomal for 3 years they know what I eat etc.. Yet their minds are so stubborn that they just plainly ignore it, sometimes I think they do it on purpous.
There isnt a day my dad has not made some kind of cake, its rediculous if you saw him youd think he was a pregnant man yet he still doesnt make a change! So sad…
You youngsters do too many things the hard way.
Want to be healthy? Eat no processed food. Drink only chlorine/flouride free water. Is that hard to understand?
‘Primal’ is for sex.
You are one hot mamma! I’m not even kidding. I’m about half your age, but your body is absolutely rockin’!
hi pamela- i hope you are still reading comments. after being paleo since 2009, i look similar to you except for my abdomen. i am wondering where you usually gain weight- is it mostly on the abdomen or all over? also, it would be so valuable if you could go more in-depth into your experiences. how can you workout and do squats with bad knees? i don’t workout nearly as much as you and now i’m thinking maybe i could lose my 3 month pregnancy look if i worked out more. i’m 46 and gained a lot of weight with both pregnancies. my last pregnancy was when i was 32. how old were you at the time of your last pregnancy? thx and congratulations.
Hi! We are about the same age. I’ll be 46 in April and David is 52. I was 28 with my last pregnancy. The majority of my weight gain was on my stomach. As I lost my weight I worked out faithfully 6 days a week in our garage gym. My husband is my trainer. Contrary to what a lot of people still believe squatting is maybe the best thing you can do for your knees. I back squat(below parallel) once each week and front squat once each week along with dead lifts, press, bench press and power cleans/snatches. I do a short crossfit style workout after each of these. This has strengthened my legs and knees to the point where I can now even jump rope and I did the warrior dash recently, running very slowly. However, I can’t do box jumps so I do step ups. Also, I do a lot of rowing on our concept 2 rower in place of running intervals. Good luck to you!
Congratulations Pamela. This is a great story. Are you able to play tennis now? Have you felt improvement in your knee pain?
I just saw your reply to mommymd about tennis.
I am glad you have felt improvement nonetheless. I hope your story gives my wife incentive to try primal life. She also suffers from bone on bone knee pain.
Congrats on the dramatic change for the good, inspiring!
I want to believe in the primal diet- but I think it sounds a little scammy- like those acai berry websites: “Buy this and you’ll lose 20 lbs in 2 months and live forever!”
What furthers my apprehension is that I’ve noticed there is no c-section scar in the after photo. I worked in a Dr. office for years and never once saw a c-section patient with no scar.
Primal eating works! It changed my life for the better. My c-section scar is under my bikini. It’s a crooked bikini cut since the doctor didn’t realize until I was 8 centimeters that my daughter was breech. I had to have an emergency c-section.
This is very inspiring, thank you for sharing. I can really relate to your story. I to had arthroscopic surgery twice on the same knee 6 years ago. Began eating primal 6 months ago and the stiffness and lack of flexibility has disapeared…..amazing ! Love your pictures. I’m 52 and plan to be wearing my 2 piece swimsuit in May !!!
What certification are you referring to in the article?
How inspiring, keep it up.