I Knew a Change Had to Be Made
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!
On January 1st of this year my sister challenged the family to a “biggest loser” challenge. I was a little irritated since I felt this was pointed at me. I’m also competitive by nature, and so I decided to accept her challenge.
I weighed 299 lbs when I did the first “weigh in”. I was 35, in size 42 jeans, and had approximately 40% body fat. I hadn’t expressed my frustrations with my weight to anyone, but I knew my family was getting concerned with my health. As a father of two wonderful girls, and husband to a beautiful wife, I knew a change had to be made.
I am also a law enforcement officer, and not being in better shape was a safety concern for me on the job. As an instructor in arrest control techniques and firearms I felt that I was not setting a good example for the other officers. I hated the fact I was becoming the fat doughnut eating cop.
I was eating what I believed was a healthy diet, and I felt I was active. I did not eat out much, and ate home made meals everyday. I grew up with a mother who baked bread everyday, and pastas and even our cereal was homemade. My wife remained in good shape while my weight ballooned over 11 years of marriage.
Last summer I paid a personal trainer, who was a world champion grappler, to help me get in shape. The workouts were very intense, to the point of vomiting after the workout. After months of this I had lost a grand total of 5 lbs, and I eventually gave up the workouts.
One of my co-workers, Greg, a 64 year old man who looks 50 and is ripped, explained the paleo lifestyle to me when I told him about my family’s “Biggest Loser” challenge. I was skeptical since nothing had been working, but obviously it was working for him, so I thought I would give it a try. Greg gave me the Mark’s Daily Apple website and told me about getting cookbooks and other resources.
I explained to my wife the diet and I could not have asked for a more supportive spouse. She changed the way she cooked and shopped for food. We commented on the fact that our cupboards were becoming bare from the lack of processed food, but our fridge was overflowing with meats, vegetables, and other raw foods.
At the end of 6 months the family weighed in to see who had won the challenge. I had dropped from 299 lbs down to 206 lbs, and from 40% body fat to 17%. I not only had won our little family competition, but I was also one of the few that was able to stick to my “diet”. I almost felt guilty with the victory, the weight had come off quickly and easily, I ate when I was hungry, and I ate delicious food.
Besides the weight loss, I also experienced other benefits that I had not expected. I had experienced migraines for years, and have yet to suffer from one since going Primal. My minor hay fever allergies also disappeared. My overall health and energy levels are much improved. I had my my gall bladder taken out two years ago, and had the typical side effects which sent me running for the bathroom. This also went away. I wish I had known about the Primal Blueprint diet before I lost my gall bladder.
I have dropped ten pant sizes, and am now on my fourth gun belt. I look more professional in uniform, and I have other officers asking me how I achieved the weight loss. Two other friends/officers have lost a combined 70 lbs in two months after I convinced them to try going Primal.
It is cliche, but honestly I now feel that I have a new lease on life. With all the health benefits I have experienced since going Primal, I will not go back to eating the typical American diet. I look forward to continuing my transformation, eating well, and feeling young again. Thanks!
Heath
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
Thank you for inspiring all of us with your story, Heath. I wish both you and your wife a lifetime of good health, and happiness!! And God’s blessings to you for ROCKING it as a police officer!! Thank you for serving your community so selflessly.
Stand sideways and disappear! Congratulations on your success.
Wonderful job! Congratulations! And, I think it is also wonderful that you have a committed and supportive spouse in your health journey. Kudos to her, as well.
The positive, immensely rewarding life changes speak for themselves with this better way of eating/living.
Thank you, Mark for another great Friday installment!
Wow – great story! Congratulations!
OMG!!! you look amazing. The transformation was incredible. And that’s just the visible side effects of the wonderful new you. Congrats!
Congrats Heath, what an accomplishment ! I bet that javenlia made for some tasty Primal eating. Thank you for your law enforcement service.
Well done young man!
Awesome story………you look fabulous – and happy. You have done your body a big favour and will be a healthy role model your kids as they grow up. Congratulations.
I’m happy for your success, but I can’t help but feel disheartened that you think that eating meat is the only way to lose weight and get fit. Eating a mostly raw fresh fruit and vegetable diet would do that AND give you the vitamins and nutrients you need to look and feel your best. I’m not saying go vegan, but our health would be a lot better off if we all ate less meat — not to mention the environment would be better off, and the poor animals who are treated so inhumanely in the factory farm system. The picture of you with the pig made me cringe and I find it sad that no one else even cares. Just look at the pig’s face!!
The fact that you cringe at the pigs is strange to me. We produce 90%+ of our own food. When I was anti-hunt/anti-gun I purchased a peice of land in the Virginia mountains. After the first winter I cringed at the skeletons of the deer that starved through the winter. I decided to take the weak or elderly that I reasonabley beleived would not survive winters. Since then I have moved into processing all of our own foods and am currently installing a commercial kitchen on my property to move the processing from the kitchen and carport. I agree with the factory system. Trust me, we care. So much that we hunt.
I mean I agree with you regarding the “factory system”…
1) We have protein requirements. We need certain essentially fatty acids. Eating fresh/raw fruit and vegetables does not fulfill that. Most people do not do well long term on raw fruits/vegetables alone, even if they have short term improvements from cutting processed food. If they are thin, it’s because they are depriving themselves of the calories and nutrients their brains/bodies need.
2)My health is much better now that I eat more meat. How does that stand up next to the claim we’d *all* be more healthy with less meat? How much do you know about nutrition to make that universal claim?
3)Who says the environment would be better off? The only people I’ve met who say that are also telling me how awesomely healthy I’d be eating less or no meat. Trust me, they are wrong on the second count. I have no reason to believe them on the first.
4)Factory farming is not ideal — however, neither is the life of a wild animal. (See Patrick above) Dieing of “natural” causes in the wild is not usually a picnic.
5)I care deeply about many things. But to make my home and therefore the world a better place, I must acknowledge my nutritional needs. If I could be healthy and not kill anything, I would do so. That is not how the world has been made.
If god didn’t want us to eat animals he wouldn’t have made them out of meat.
Jen,
It is hugely important to eat ethically raised meat — to “get to know the cow,” so to speak, or a la Joel Salatin, to “respect the chicken’s chickeniness.” My husband and I choose to eat less meat because with the meat portion of our food budget we purchase a smaller, higher-quality amount rather than conventionally-raised factory-farmed. I’d like to share with you a quote from a book we’ve found useful in beginning our homesteading/farming endeavors:
“The vegetarians point out that it is cruel to kill animals. The non-vegetarians point out that some factor has got to control the population-increase rate of every species: either predators (such as non-vegetarians!), disease, or famine, and of these, predators are possibly the most humane. Vegetarianism seems to be almost wholly an urban, or big-city, phenomenon, and is possibly due to people having been cut off from animals for so long that they tend to anthropomorphism. The humane non-vegetarian says (and I am one) that animals should be kept in the conditions most nearly approaching those for which they were evolved as possible, treated humanely and subjected to no cruelties and indignities, and, when their time comes, killed instantly and with no long journeys to far-away markets or abattoirs…the animal need have no inkling that anything is going to happen to it.”
The book is “The Complete Guide to Self Sufficiency,” by John Seymour.
Jen, there are plenty of us here, who do feel bad that animals must die to provide us with proper nutrition. There are even a few of us, who feel bad that plants die to feed us. (I know, because I am one of them.) Plants may not be sentient, but they are living thngs. I feel bad that when I till my garden, bugs and worms die.
I’m the sort of person who will rescue worms that have gotten themselves stranded on my cement breezeway and porch and are drying out and dying. (They tend to do this during and after it rains, especially in the evening and at night.) I rescue June Bugs that are drowning in my dog’s water dish or my pool, even though they terrify me )gotta love phobias). I killed the snake that my cats had mortally wounded, because I didn’t want it to suffer. I am not going to stop eating animals (or plants) because I feel bad that they died to nurish me. I do my best to get my food from places where animals are raised humanely. I know that living things have to die for my family and me to be healthy and I have made peace with it.
Love the “Utili-kilt!” Awesome job!
I lost 53 pounds in 4 months with no excercise as I had an operation on my foot two weeks into my lifestyle change….
Congratulations Heath to you and your family. What an awesome success story. I don’t think any of the commenters so far have congratulated Greg yet and I think he should be. Kudos to him for spreading the word. I have almost given up trying to explain to people because all they ever say is …….I could never give up my pasta etc Karen ……sigh………….
I recently talked with a very bright young lady who is studying to become a Registered Dietitian. After some discussion I told her what I eat (or don’t eat), and all she could say was she couldn’t think of being able to give up bread and pasta. So I totally understand your pain!
Obviously folks like Greg who lead by example DO make a difference – maybe a bit slower than the rest of us would like, but a difference nonetheless!
Thank you PrimalGrandma for your comment! You are so right, people who lead by example do make a difference. I just get frustrated sometimes, especially with my own unhealthy family members. I so want to help.
Nothing moves me more than a dad getting fit for his family. Well done indeed, man. May many others in your life learn from your example.
Absolutely well said—
Thanks for all the positive comments from everyone! Made my day (pun intended)…
That’s freaking awesome. More than anything love hearing about the upswing to your general health, but the fat loss is also staggering.
Well done Heath.
I understand about the fridge, our 2nd one is on order and our cupboard is bare. Hubby and I are only a few months away from our own success story. You look fantastic. Congratulations. Mark, you need a t shirt that says, “Real food rots”.
Wow, what a fantastic transformation! Your smile says it all. Congrats!
“I have dropped ten pant sizes, and am now on my fourth gun belt.
Love Love LOVE it!! Way to go!
I love the primal lifestyle. Get that out of the way. And in total astonishment at what Our Man accomplished. But is anyone else wondering why the wife was not as blimpy as Our Man here since they were cooking most meals at home? No mention of workouts or physical activity. I wonder if what we are seeing here is the small percentage of the population that is truly allergic to gluten, wheat, you name it, etc…. and it made a huge,crazy difference. Does not discount the lifestyle and the effort but I am worried that most will not see this change if you are not in a small sliver of humanity.
90 pounds in 6 months with no increase in physical activity is not most folks reality, even in the primal world.
Love the poster, not a fan of the post as I’m dubious as to the application to us all. Gives fuel to the detractors.
I don’t think that results like this, nor the disparity between the weights, is the result of one person out the couple being in a “small percentage of the population that is truly allergic to gluten, wheat, you name it, etc.”
Just because a couple eats the same meals at home, does not mean that they are eating the same. Even before I went primal, I was always much slimmer than my husband, even though we cooked most of our meals at home. Since going primal, I’ve realized that I am sensitive to gluten (remember, I’m the slimmer of the two). I have no idea about my husband, but I have my suspicions. I know why there has always been a disparity in our weights, his carb consumption has always been proportionally much higher than mine. His snacks tend to be loaded with carbs. I’ve always eaten, proportionally, more fruits and vegetables than he does. (Though I do eat way more chocolate than him.) On work days, his breakfast usually came from McDonalds (before his health forced him to retire) or Pop-Tarts, and lunch was left-overs (with plenty of carbs). Both before going primal and now, on work days, my breakfast is a homemade smoothie, followed by boiled eggs around mid-morning, and my lunch is usually a salad. Back when I ate bread, I ate whole grain, and my husband eats white bread. You can see why, while on the surface, we appeared to be eating the same things, our diets were not the same and that I would be the slimmer of the two. Unfortunately, my husband’s diet has declined to the stereotypical SAD, and I’ve gone primal. My weight loss has been no where near as dramatic as this example, but I have less to lose (90 lbs is more than half my body weight), and I know where my problem areas are and am working to correct them, or at least mitigate the negative effects.
Awsome,great job
My jaw LITERALLY dropped when I saw the first ‘after’ picture. What an amazing transformation! Congratulations to you, and to your wife for being so supportive! =)
Boomer Sooner!
I’m also law enforcement and have been primal several years now. Even more than making you look good, this lifestyle makes you feel so much better. Great transformation Heath.
Can’t repeat the words that came out of my mouth when I saw the after photo, but I was shocked to say the least. Well done!
Will this diet help improve ones reading comprehension?
Congrats Heath. You are looking good brother in blue.
How inspiring and wonderful! I have been working pretty hard on primal concepts in the past year, and I have just realized, after reading your story, that I, too, no longer am experiencing the horrible day-long headaches I used to get.
Wow! I can relate to your story so much. I’m also a LEO and I know the difference it makes when you lose even a little weight. The gun belt fits easier, the vest is the other so restricting, you can sit in the patrol car without feeling so cramped, you have confidence that you can hold your own in a fight or foot pursuit without gassing out. I commend you on taking charge of your health. You are leading by example and I’m sure many of your LEO family are taking notice and evaluating their own health. Much love, brother!
Congratulations! You have made one awesome transformation, isn’t it amazing what giving folks the right tools to take control of their own health can do. Your lovely wife and family now have a likely more energetic, healthy dad; your co-workers have a terrific role model for health improvement; your community now has a stronger, fitter public servant to help them and help keep them safe. And we all get to be inspired by your story! Win, win, win, win!
Well done Heath! Fantastic achievement! I found paleo last year and lost 2 dress sizes (no idea about lbs as I didn’t weigh myself) but, alas, I regained most of it after falling back into bad habits after I moved back to the UK. All my old favourites were suddenly available in bulk again. Thankfully I am back on track again now, and getting the parents involved. Are they 100%? No. Are they getting there and making a lot more healthy choices? Yes, and it’s showing on the scales already. Mum, in particular, needs to do this to get her blood pressure under control.