I Have a New Lease on Life
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!
It was November 9th, 2009. I remember that day vividly because it was the day I reached my breaking point. I was 28 years old and I broke down into tears and decided “enough was enough”. The words that come to mind when I think of that day is the quote from the movie “Animal House” when Dean Wormer says to John Belushi’s character: “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life”.
Let me give you a little background. I was always active in high school and college. I played high school football and tennis, and continued my tennis career into college. While that kept me fairly active, my diet and partying ways always kept me on the larger side. After college, I got married to a wonderful, beautiful woman. However my inactive lifestyle and partying ways continued. We had our first child in September of 2008. As our daughter became more active, I simply did not have the energy to play with her. My greatest fear was not living long enough to walk her down the isle. I did not want my daughter growing up without a father. And it broke my heart.
You see, shortly before I made the decision to go Primal and begin an active lifestyle, I had ballooned to 291 lbs. I was having serious panic attacks and living in a constant state of anxiety. I had been to every kind of doctor imaginable. Cardiologists, chiropractors, family MD’s, and naturopath doctors. I had received two stress tests and visited the emergency room twice because I swore I was dying. They could never find anything wrong. I just thought that that was how I would have to live whatever life I had left. Miserable, fat, inactive, and basically a useless blob taking up space in the house. I was a terrible husband and father. My doctor threatened to put me on cholesterol meds and BP pills. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and forced to sleep with a C-PAP machine. There I was, 28 years old, sleeping with a C-PAP machine.
My wife had already started eating more Primal and was very active. She actually is now the owner of Barefoot Fitness in Watertown, SD. She has been a great mentor of mine as I have made this transformation. I started slowly. At first I cleaned up my diet. I dropped 50 pounds in about a year with a Primal Blueprint diet alone. But then my progress stalled out. I was feeling better but still didn’t think I felt good enough to workout.
On my 30th birthday, I decided that my 30’s were going to be the best decade of my life. I got up, hit the gym, and have never stopped. I train primarily with kettlebells and bodyweight exercises. That was almost two years ago. I have been very strict with my Primal Blueprint diet now. As a result, I have lost 110 lbs and currently weigh 180 pounds. My cholesterol numbers are that of a very healthy person.
I no longer use my C-PAP machine, and I feel like a teenager again. All of my health issues are gone! I feel like I have a new lease on life. I look forward to every morning and cherish every day. Because honestly, when I was at my worst I didn’t know how many days I had left. We now have a second child, and I am able to play with them as much as I want, roll on the floor with them, and just be there for them. I truly have a life I never thought possible. I went from feeling like I was dying every minute of every day, to living the life I have always dreamed! It is truly a gift that I cherish every day.
Brent
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
You are a hottie! And such a sweet face. I bet your whole family attracts attention when you walk down the street. Best regards and well done!
Thank you so much.
Powerful, dude!! Just inspired me to a whole ‘nother level!!!
holy crap, man! What a transformation! You’re an inspiration to everyone I’m sure.
All I can say is good grief! (in a good way). Rock On!!
I’m curious about the path you took. You say you stalled after 50 lbs weight loss, then began working out, and eventually lost another 50. But you also mention tightening up the diet, and then later on mention fasting, 8 hour eating window, just two meals a day.
So for that second 50 lbs, which was more important: exercise, stricter paleo, or intermittant fasting?
Any idea how many calories you consume in a typical day? (Two meals plus a snack could be a decent amount, or not so much. Just trying to put the food intake part into perspective.)
I have just played around with what works for me. I have never counted a calorie throughout all of this. I eat when I am hungry, and eat until I am satisfied. I feel that all of what you mentioned were helpful in achieving my results. What I have found is that when you ear REAL food, you can pretty much eat all you want and get results.
I understand you don’t count calories as a control strategy, but I thought it would be interesting to know how many calories you end up consuming as the result of your various eating strategies.
When you say that you eat when you are hungry, and eat until satisfied: I assume that means when you are within your eating window. I assume when you are outside your 12-8PM window, you don’t eat, even when hungry?
I honestly don’t have a clue how many calories I eat on a daily basis.
Correct, I only eat when inside my feeding window. The first few times I did this, it was pretty miserable. But after I became fat adapted, I wasn’t even hungry. My wife and I were just talking about this. When fasting, food doesn’t even sound good nor am I hungry. Kind of strange how it works.
I do supplement with BCAA’s when fasting, though.
Grok on from a fellow South Dakotan!
The pictures are nice, but the bloodwork stats are really awesome!
Holy —t! Well done brother!
That’s a great transition. And now you can enjoy the kids and raise them in a better lifestyle. There is nothing better than that. My wife and I have done the same thing when your both living the same way life is so much better. Congrats and kepp on Gronkin
WELL BROTHER….SOUNDS FAMILIAR TO AN EXTENT…AND I GUESS WE CAN BE RETARDED BUT WE AINT TOTALLY STUPID…WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF “NEW” US…I CONGRATULATE YOU ON YOUR “NEW” LEASE ON LIFE…YAWWWWWWPPPP!!!!!!…GROK ALWAYS MY FRIEND>>>>STAY ON THE PATH>>>BEST REGARDS TO YOUR HOUSE AND FAMILY>>>
This is the website to where I do my training. Many good resources on here as well. Thank you everyone for your kind words and encouragement. I couldn’t have done it without the support of so many great people.
Wow! This almost brought tears to my eyes this morning! You go Papa! I’m a mother of two and recently decided to start eating primally. I feel so much better and my boys are loving the primal diet too! There’s nothing like having children to motivate you to live a long and healthy life. Congratulations!
Thank you so much. Yes, my children were a main motivator for me. I actually put pictures of my kids all over my office for when I needed reminding of WHY I was doing this.
Nice work Brent. Good for you.
Very inspiring. My daughter was born in September, 2008 as well, but it took me MUCH longer to reach the same conclusion as you.
I’ve only been Primal for about 4 months now, but the difference is fantastic.
Great job and impressive before and afters!
Great story, but just a heads up, with the information you provided, I was able to quickly find your wife on Facebook, which includes her general information and a picture of your two beautiful children. You might want to cut back on some of the information that you’re sharing!
Not that I don’t trust us Primal enthusiasts, but other randies stop on this site too!
Hey man if it works for you then that’s awesome. When it comes to health people are to obsessed with their views. We need to keep a open mind.
I agree. I am all for whatever works for people. This just happened to be what worked for me and I found this to easiest to stick to. If someone else has great results with a different approach, more power to them.
WOW! What a big difference! Go you!
Wow, way to go Brent! Such a wonderful transformation and story. Thank you for sharing it. I’m a little over a year into my own Primal journey and stories like yours keep me going! Best wishes for continued health and happiness
to me, this story means so much to me. im just beginning my journey (started, then went back to my old ways, but thankfully my new roomate has lost 50 pounds going primal and shes a huge support). one of my major goals is to be off my anxiety/panic meds. mine has been so bad i get ams seizures (altered mind state) in the car…and been in the hospital more times than id like to admit because i literally thought i was having a stroke or heart attack (constant palpitations without meds). although i do not know the extent of your anxiety, this gives me hope.
thank you so much for your story.
side note, im from wisconsin, and its SO hard resisting cheese!!!
Best of wishes. You can do it!
Wow. What an inspirational transformation, Brent! Thanks for sharing.
Your story struck home with me for multiple reasons – 1, you reached your breaking point on my 42nd birthday… and 2) because I have experienced the same health problems you had – anxiety, er visits, high cholesterol, ER visits…
I started “primal eating” 12 days ago, and I’m down 10 lbs. I’m very excited, and stories like yours just motivate me to keep going.
Be well! You look and sound fantastic!
Wow! Stunning transformation! Congrats!!
Stunning transformation! Enjoy the new you and Grok on!
Those before & after photos are definitely an inspiration. I’ve also noticed that I just don’t crave sugary foods like I used to. And when I do have a craving, I find that I don’t need to finish whatever that food is…just a bite/taste will suffice.
Thank you for sharing your transformation!
Congrats on finding your way to Primal while you are still very young! I wish my husband and I had this information years ago.
You look amazing, and better yet…you feel it.
Hi Brent. Just catching up on the posts since i haven’t been on the site in a little while. I believe that your story is the most inspiring to me yet. I started in June at 311 (not too much higher than you), lost 30 pounds and then stalled. Been the same weight for about a month and a half. I know it’s not all about weight but I was getting extremely discouraged. One of the reasons your journey is so inspiring is that (judging from your before pic) we appear to have a very similar body structure. How tall are you? Your after pic makes me start to think, again, that I can reach my goal.
In any case, congratulations from Texas! Thank you for sharing your story. As you can tell from this and other posts…it helps a lot.
Blessings and peace,
John
Hi John,
Keep going my man. You can do this! I am 6’1″. Thank you for your kind words. It means a lot.
Way to GO Brent!
I am so touched by your story! Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work. You look amazing and I am guessing you feel even better than you look!
Thanks Heather.
Brent, Your story is so inspiring. I’m 33 years old and I am in a very similar position to the one you were in before you started your transformation…. I have panic attacks and severe general anxiety- as a result my blood pressure got to a point I wound up on blood pressure meds (along with anxiety meds). I also live every day feeling like I’m dying- I’ve visited doctors, cardiologist (and gone through the array of stress tests, ekg’s, echo’s) … I’m just tired of it! I’m ready for a change. My goal is to show other people going through these things that it can be done- I want to inspire people…. just like you have inspired me =)
Good for you Andi. It can be done. My motto is: “Just keep doing the next right thing”. Many blessings as you rock your own success story!
Get out of here. I need the “report this” button.