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 challenge is to be grain free for the 21 days. =)
I am committing to the 21 day challenge – actually 20 days now! :~)
I’ve been doing without grains and sugar for a little over a month, losing almost 10 pounds in the process. My 21 day challenge is to lose another 5 pounds. I’ll either have to buy new pants or some suspenders!
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to eliminate unhealthy carbs from my diet.
I’m starting a day behind, but here I go; i’m going to eat right and get my play in every day. I’ve ridden my bike to work Monday and Tuesday, I can carry on for the rest of the week. Tomorrow I’m going roller skating (rink) and Saturday and Sunday: derby training.
My Primal Challenge is to keep away from the computer when it is not necessary and less procrastination about sprints !
My primal Blueprint 21 day challenge is to go 100% grain and sugar free and lose 5 pounds too.
I am so ready to try this challenge!! I am sick of being FAT!! I have deleted all grains/sugars from my kitchen!! Its time to rock and roll!! Yeeehaaawwww!!!!!
You will start to lose a few pounds pretty quickly, then about a pound per week, give or take, depending where you started. I think that if you spend your free time gathering good foods (finding farmers markets or pasture grown meat and veggies) you will have a great time- and your health will improve very quickly
You will also find that processed food are expensive and have an awful lot of waste packaging. You will not be missing that..
Easy. I will actually start with the 21day transformation book & try to change my life. No small task, eh?
Start LHT and Sprint workouts!!! (just did my assessment today
)
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge goals are:
1. Food: go carb and milk free
2. Atmosphere: never eat standing up, and to connect to the taste of the foods I’m eating by chewing at least 10 times before swallowing and trying to actually taste the qualities of food : )
Having just had 2 weeks of eating grains, sugar and other rubbish I have gained 7lbs, my sleep is poor and as my immune system is suffering I am not training.
As of Monday I am back eating Primal
21 DAY GOAL
Stick to eating Primal 100%. When ready get back training, do more walking/Tai Chi (Out doors) on my non gym sessions. Cook something different from the primal recipie book. Sleep better. Lose the 7lbs, maybe more.
BEYOND 21 DAYS
I think it is time to stop having “Holidays” from living primal, it is just not worth it
GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to make good food and lifestyle choices, which will (fingers crossed) lead to lower skinfold scores and generally feeling awesome.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to lose 6kgs, tone up, gain strength and improve my breathing!
I’ve been Primal in the UK now for about 8 weeks and I love it – what is not to like? I sleep well, eat amazing ‘real’ foods and workout Grok style.
I lost 3 stone in weight last year (just running and eating what I thought was healthy) but I didn’t get the shape, muscle or energy I thought I would.
I’ve now just lost another half a stone (since going Primal)and I look and feel a hell of a lot better.
If you ain’t getting the results then you ain’t doing it right……
My 21 day challenge is to completely remove grains, beer. Workout 3-4 times per week, and to finally get more than 3 hours of average sleep so I can feel better than i ever have!
This is GREAT !!! I am in!
My goal is to reduce intake of coffee with milk to two cups per day and overall to eat less milk products. Grain intake is already quite low at an acceptable level. I also want to be able to run (jog) 5 km in less than 30 minutes (better would be 25 minutes) and to make 5 push ups on the toes.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to refine my primal eating and work in some play!
I’ve been dabbling with the Primal lifestyle for several months now, but have not committed to the work outs. That will be my personal 21 day challenge!
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to eliminate sugar from my diet, and to lose 6 lbs of body fat.
My Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge is to completely eliminate grains from my diet and lose a few pounds!
I am so in! I am 90% paleo, but for the next 21 days I am going to cut out gum. Also I am going to commit to mindful eating.
Mine is to get more sleep. Sprint more regularly (every 7 to 10 days) because I actually love it when I do. And make sure I get those lift heavy things days in there, too.
The eating, well that’s a lifelong challenge, but when I’m in the zone, I’m in the zone. My waist becomes impossibly small and I love the way my clothes feel full-out primal.
Disclaimer: woman here
My primal blueprint 21 day challenge goal is to get healthy !
My primal goal is to just get started kicking sugar. They put that stuff in EVERYTHING!
I’m late due to the fact that I was away from my computer for more than 100 hours but my goal is to get my digestion straighten out. I’ll be eating whole, real foods and journaling everything I eat, my workouts, sleep time, poop time and notes, etc.
I think that journaling your progress with as much FEEL detail as possible is the key. Numbers may help but I enjoy feel.
And I want to get to the bottom of my hives. Right now cold exposure is what causes them but I think I have a leaky gut that once healed I’ll be OK in the cold!
No wheat at all. Minimal to no starches in general. Whole and unprocessed food. Move in ways and to the extent that it makes me feel good.
My 21-day challenge is to lose a few more pounds- earn a few more healthy, happy surprises that my body has given me (my vision has improved! My adrenal glands are working! I have energy, and I feel great!) and help my husband overcome his sleep disorder. He has lost about 35 pounds- he’s lifting heavy things other than his wife, ha ha… and I want to help contribute to his health. So Im no longer the reluctant spouse. I am HERE! Totally up for the challenge and where it will bring me!
Stick to the 21 day challenge! No cheating even if I have a craving.