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
Although I am too late for the contest I still want to make a public commitment so……
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to follow the PB nutrition, move daily, and lose 8 pounds.
Goals: surf more!, no tortilla chips, they’ve creeped back in, no processed sugar. Turn off the TV a couple nights a week and read!
1. Eat real foods instead of protein bars.
2. Stop with the diet soda- I’ve noticed that it stimulates my appetite. Coffee or water instead!
3. Stop eating sweets for emotional reasons. Food as fuel! Emotion regulation using other methods!
My primal blueprint 21-day challenge is to lift more heavy things – I started yesterday by lifting my husband. He found it impressive, but awkward.
Perfect timing, I’ve been following the blog for some time but I just recently purchased The Primal Blueprint! My 21 Day Challenge is to completely eliminate soda, give up Wawa hoagies, avoid french fries, and fit in some type of fitness every day!
My boyfriend has lost 20 lbs since he started eating more primal… I need to catch up!
My Primal Blueprint 21-day challenge goal is to get outdoors more and move that wheelbarrow while planting a fall-season garden and to stabilize my recent weight loss through more primal eating.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to jump feet first into the plan. I have been adopting habits here and there by occasionally cutting out grains and sugar. I plan to flip “occasionally” to “regularly.”
My 21-day challenge is eliminate cheating with ice cream.
My primal challenge is to go grain-free, sugar-free, move more, enjoy the sun more, and sleep more!!
My challenge is to keep up the 80/20 primal lifestyle I began in July, consistently keep up working out at my Crossfit gym 3x week and pushing myself to the intermediate fitness level, get more sleep and learn how to find time EVERY day for myself to let go, relax, unwind and have fun!
I LOVE this flyer! Now, when someone asks me what I have been doing, I can show them this – I have it at my desk @work – if they have questions, or try to tell me they don’t think it’s healthy, I just tell them “well, there’s the website, check it out for yourself.” What at time saver
My 21-day challenge is to plan my meals and snacks better so I eat more of a variety of foods. I get stuck sometimes eating the same ol’ same ol’ and it gets boring so I want to cheat.
My goal is to get this albatross of sugar off my neck!
My Primal-Blueprint-21-Challenge is to get 8 hours of sleep per night and have at most one slice of bread or one bar of chocolate and one cup of cappuccino per day (no sugar nor grains apart from that). Just starting out with this kind of diet.
My goal is to start learning how to focus on exercise as it pertains to health and longevity and disregard the voices of former coaches focusing on numbers & times.
My primal challenge (starting a day late) is to go full on zero grains for the next 20 days and to make sure I get sun every single day.
Can’t believe how sluggish and fat I feel after going off plan for several months. Two daughters married within 2 months of each other was a formula for disaster… but, no more.. back on track and to feeling fantastic again. I can’t wait!
Grok on! I’m doing a pretty strict “auto-immune” protocol diet (no egg/nuts/dairy/nightshades/yeast). I am going to be re-introducing some of these these next 21 days and see how things go !
A very good day 1! The big question is will I sleep tonight? This is one of my hardest goals and a bad night’s sleep really messes with my attitude the next day.
My 21-Day challenge is to eliminate all grains and sugary treats in the hope of seeing real results. I’ve always been concerned about my health and fitness but with all of the conflicting advice I haven’t been able to stay on a consistent path. My goal is to be able to rock those college parties in any dress I want, without shame!
I’ve lost 54 lbs since going Primal last March and i couldn’t possibly be more pleased! This is amazing!
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to completely eliminate grains from my diet, and to limit dairy. I also plan to lift heavier things!
My Primal Blueprint 21 Day Challenge is to move more! I want to look good naked again! Been eating Primal since June, and feel amazing, but I know I don’t do enough exercise. I have all the other areas down: relax, get sun, good sleep. Now it’s time to MOVE and PLAY!
I am committing to 21 days of primal mayhem and fun!
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to follow the almost-no carb plan the whole time.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to add the fitness portion. I have already lost 36 lbs since March going Primal, but I need to step it up.
I don’t know if my comment got submitted but just in case: my goal is to improve my sleeping pattern and to lose weight safely by eating primal approved foods
I’m in. No grains at all, even on the family birthday celebrations. No dairy. And work up to 10 pushups on my toes.
I’ve been eating paleo/primal for about 3 mod now but am looking forward to utilizing the challenge to fine tune my routine and learn new tricks, recipes, etc.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to break my plateau.
I’ll continue with the starch free, sugar free, low carb, moderate protein, high fat approach I’m taking now because it’s working.
I’ve not been to the gym for over four months (I’ve been looking after my dad, who passed away last month)–and I SO have to get back to working out! Not being physically active makes the carb-laden food much harder to resist, and I’m noticing the pudge starting to creep back onto me! I’m aiming to get back there six mornings out of seven and lift heavy things!