The 2012 Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge Begins Now
If you want to lose weight, gain muscle, reduce stress, increase energy or just generally look and feel healthier you’ve come to the right place. Oh, and you can win lots of cool Primal gear, too. That’s right, it’s the annual Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge!
Before we get to all the details, let’s kick things off with a simple contest. Share this blog post on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or by email by using one of the icons at the bottom of this post AND leave a comment in the comment board below that finishes this sentence: “My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is…”. (Example: “My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to completely eliminate grains from my diet, and to lose 5 lbs of body fat.”) That’s it! Help spread the word about this year’s challenge and publicly commit to achieving your own health goals, and you’ll be entered to win a $200 gift certificate to PrimalBlueprint.com.
This contest ends at midnight (PDT) tonight, Sep. 10. A winner will be selected at random and everyone around the world is eligible.
Now, on to the challenge details…
What Is the 21-Day Challenge and Who Is It For?
What’s the challenge? To get Primal, of course! I hold this 21-Day Challenge every year to encourage Primal beginners to give this way of eating, moving and living a try because I know it works, I know how empowering it is, and I know it changes lives.
I also do it to motivate those that have been dabbling with the Primal lifestyle for a while, but haven’t fully committed or still have some room for improvement (myself included!), to go all in and resolve to finally tackle whatever it is they want to address in their lives.
There’s something here for Primal veterans, too. It’s a good idea to revisit the basics from time to time. And hey, the chance to win free stuff isn’t half bad either.
The actual challenge itself is pretty straightforward. The details can be found in the image below. I recommend downloading the 21-Day Challenge flyer here, and clicking on the links to learn more about each of the topics. (And maybe print a few copies to hand out to friends!)
No sign-up required. Anyone can participate. Just commit to the challenge, and check back every day for motivation and guidance. Articles over the next two weeks will be about taking steps to align your lifestyle with the Primal Blueprint. The third and final week of the challenge will be entirely comprised of reader-created content. That’s right, MDA readers (you!) will be running the show. Stay tuned.
Above and beyond the challenge as outlined below, I encourage you to make your own personal challenges. Whether it’s eliminating or adding a certain food to your diet, losing weight, playing more often, getting better sleep, or anything else, customize your goals to fit your needs and commit to 21 days starting now.
Why 21 Days?
You may have noticed that this year’s challenge is a departure from the 30 day format of previous challenges. Why? After many years of training clients and interacting with hundreds of thousands of Mark’s Daily Apple readers, my team and I have found that 21 days is the sweet spot for eliminating old habits and replacing them with new ones. It’s long enough to make legitimate progress toward reversing years of adverse lifestyle habits, long enough for most people to get past the low carb flu (if you experience it at all), and long enough to give the Primal Blueprint a fair shake, but not so long as to be seen as a daunting undertaking. In other words, anyone, including you, can give this a go for three measly weeks, and in that time you are bound to see results. If you have weight to lose, it’s reasonable to expect a reduction of three to seven pounds of excess body fat during this period, and to continue at that rate safely until you reach your ideal body composition.
I’m confident that you can transform your life in just 21 days with the Primal Blueprint. So confident that I wrote an entire book about it…
The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation
This 21-day Challenge perfectly complements The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation. The Total Body Transformation is all about making Primal living easy – distilling the philosophy of The Primal Blueprint (detailed in the 2009 hardcover volume) into 8 Key Concepts, 5 Action Items, and a lively 21-Day Challenge of daily endeavors in the areas of Diet, Exercise, and Lifestyle – with corresponding journal exercises. You’ll be shown exactly what to do and when to do it – eliminating any guesswork – to get and stay Primal for life.
If you can spare an hour a day for just 21 days, I guarantee that you will reprogram your genes and transform your life with this guidebook.
Order a copy today to enhance this year’s challenge, and for added guidance and direction.
The 21-Day Challenge Contests
The main challenge itself isn’t competitive, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some friendly contests along they way!
Over the course of the next three weeks Mark’s Daily Apple and sponsors will be giving away thousands of dollars in prizes.
Here are some rules and answers to FAQ:
- There will be new contests every day for the first two weeks (through Sep. 23) of the 21-Day Challenge, so check back daily!
- All contest prizes relate in some way to the Primal lifestyle. You won’t find any miracle weight loss pills, tummy crunching sling-a-ma-doo-dads, or whole wheat health blast jazzer snackers.
- Some contests will require a bit of leg work while others will require something as simple as commenting on a blog post.
- There is no limit to how many contests you can participate in.
- The duration of any one contest depends on the nature of the contest. Some will last a couple weeks (to give you time to complete the contest task) while others will be as short as one day. All deadlines are Pacific Standard Time.
- Contest prizes will be awarded either by a random drawing, by reader voting/polling or by an executive decision (who I think should win!).
- Some prizes will only be available to United States residents. If you live outside the U.S. and win a prize that can’t be shipped internationally an alternate prize of equal value will be awarded.
- I’m not being paid by any company for being featured in a 21-Day Challenge contest.
To track all the contests visit the 2012 Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge Contest Page for daily updates.
New to the Primal Blueprint and Mark’s Daily Apple?
If you are new to the Primal Blueprint and Mark’s Daily Apple and don’t know where to begin, here are some resources to get you started:
1. Not sure what it means to “Go Primal”? Check out these articles for the basics:
- The Definitive Guide to the Primal Blueprint
- The Definitive Guide to the Primal Eating Plan
- How to Succeed with the Primal Blueprint
2. The Primal Blueprint 101 Page
3. The Forum – I highly encourage you to use the forum during the challenge. In it you can start a “Primal Challenge Journal” to publicly state your goals and track your progress. Create a journal to receive positive feedback, advice and help along the way from the Mark’s Daily Apple community.
4. The Books
5. What to eat? – Primal Blueprint Recipes on MDA, The Primal Blueprint Cookbook and Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals
6. The Newsletter – Sign up on this page to get 6 free eBooks, a 7-day course on the fundamentals of lifelong health, and more.
7. Have a question? – Contact Me
Tell your friends and family about the challenge so they can get Primal too! And don’t forget. Click the icons below to share this post, and leave a comment telling the world what you are committing to do over the next 21 days, for a chance to win a $200 gift certificate to PrimalBlueprint.com.
Subscribe to the Mark’s Daily Apple Newsletter for Free eBooks, Weekly Challenge Updates and More!
Posted By: Mark Sisson
My goal is to get back on track with my workouts! I stopped going to the gym over the summer and will start on my 3-day a week weight training routine again.
My challenge is to listen to my body. I’ve been primal for a month but I still get hung-up over ‘mealtimes’. I’d like to adopt a ‘eat when I’m hungry, stop when I’m full’ mentality and maybe try fasting without getting freaked out.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is about really implementing that little more discipline. 21 days without alcohol and making those few extra steps of improvement! I cant wait! Bring it on!
My goal is to commit to a regular exercising routine and drop 5 pounds. I’ve been doing the diet for a month with great results, but now it’s time to take it up a notch.
In order to improve my health and happiness, my primal blueprint 21-day challenge is to be 100% compliant for the entire challenge. Because I really need to get rid of my sugar cravings, I will not be allowing myself dark chocolate or fruit. I am pretty good at moving slowly, so I’m also going to challenge myself to get in a weekly sprinting session and two weekly lifting sessions.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to not have my occasional cheats be soda or anything else with HFCS.
My goal is to re-eliminate grains and be more moderate in my use of dairy and alcohol. My 34 pound weight loss has now stalled out–guess I’ve gotten sloppy. Plan to tighten the screws and kick start the loss over this 21 days!
I’m committed to sticking with a PB lifestyle. The main things I need to focus on are 3-5 hr slow movement (30 min daily walk) and sleep (shooting for 8 hr instead of 7). Good luck to all!
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to completely eliminate grains and sugar and to add-in more vegetables and lifting heavy things 2x week. Your timing is perfect for me — I had decided last night to begin a 21 day challenge for myself, now I have the Primal Community for support!
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is… to give up alcohol AND stay under 50 grams of carbs per day!
My challenge is to finally give up grains and get control over my asthma, walk everyday and lift heavy things.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to completely eliminate grains and sugar AND dairy and to hit between 50-75 grams of carbs a day. I’d also like to dial in the sleep….snoring by 10.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to finally let go of grains and get back into a regular fitness routine.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to make my health my number one priority! I tend to slip when I start putting others wants and needs above mine (happy hour? sure! Chinese takeout? Ok, why not!) I’m committing to do what I need and want to do for myself for 21 days (and beyond!)
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to become familiar with lifting heavy things. I’m starting week 2 of the StrongLifts progression this week and I want to stick with the program and really work on good deadlift/press/squat form! Gotta build that muscle
I’ll bite! I’ve been primal with increasing seriousness for the last 3 months and change… Radically better eating approach than I once thought necessary to shed body fat. My Big challenge for the next 3 weeks is to completely avoid added sugar and grains. The knowledge that just a little won’t kill me has held me back… Let’s clean it up!
I’ve been on a roller coster ride with my weight. When I was 25 I was able to loose 60 pounds and keep most of it off, but it’s been an uphill battle. I’ve been reading Mark’s Daily Apple for the last month and I finally feel that I’ve reached that ah-ha moment. This 21 day challenge is the perfect opportunity for me to do what I should have started doing from the beginning. For me it’s not just about looking good, but I want to feel good too!
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to completely eliminate grains from my diet.
By the way, I’d love to figure out that improve sleep thing, but I already turn off the computer by 7 most nights, don’t watch TV, don’t drink caffeine after noon, read a bit, drink Sleepytime tea, take melatonin and valerian, so if anybody has any more ideas, I’m all ears!
KAte, I’d skip the melatonin and try taking magnesium (Natural Calm) as a nightcap. When I was in my early 40s (I’m 51 now), I also had trouble sleeping. I had my hormones checked and my progesterone was rock bottom, so my doctor prescribed it for me (bioidentical, of course!) and I’ve slept like a spanked baby ever since. Lost weight and put on muscle too, without trying. Apparently the better sleep raised my HGH.
‘slept like a spanked baby!’ I love it!!
Being outside and active during the day helps.
My husband did the same routine as you with varied results. 5HTP has helped the most. Costco carries it.
Make sure there’s no light where you sleep, especially artificial light. It may even be beneficial for you to sleep with a mask.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to get under 200 lbs (about 10 lbs to lose).
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to completely eliminate grains from my diet and lift heavy things twice a week.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to lose 3lbs (2%) body fat. Yup, I’m a shortie!
“My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to continue my progress. I’m going to eliminate high sugar fruits and all dairy (other than my heavy whipping cream in my coffee, of course!!)
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is.. to completely eliminate grains & the sugar addicition that keeps holding me back from my primal goals. Bring on more energy, more clarity, more determination, and more fat loss!
Contest or no, this challenge is a great opportunity to refocus and improve on my base. So… My Primal 21 day Challenge is to incorporate the “Lift heavy things component twice a week AND the sprinting bit which I’ve completely avoided for the past year. Cheers and thanks!
My goal for the 21 day challenge is to eliminate break and grains from my diet, starting with a meal a day for the first week, then 2 for the 2nd week, then 3 on the last week, and to get better and more restfull sleep.
I was just thinking to myself, I would like to start the 21 day challenge immediately instead of waiting till next week. And then I saw this post. Sympatico!
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to eliminate grains from my diet, and to lose 6 lbs of body fat.
My goal is to eat more meat and eliminate the foods I have a seriously unhealthy relationship with.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to eliminate grains (again!) and sugar (the harder part!) from my diet. No cheats!!
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to re-engage with the Primal Blueprint after slipping this summer. I will cut out sugars (again) and lose 5 pounds.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to get rid of processed foods and “white stuff”.
My goal for the Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to follow my conscience and to not be as stringently strict as I have been in the past (which inevitably results in caving in and binging on unhealthy things). I will reintroduce nuts and fruit, but nothing else in the “moderation” category. Otherwise, pretty strict paleo. Once I get the nutrition pinned down, the rest will fall where it should. I’m going to college this fall and don’t want to put more pressure on myself.
That is a great goal! I find that I only struggle when I look at this lifestyle in black/white terms. Grok on!