The Perfect Storm (a.k.a. How I Lost Those Last 10 lbs)
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!
Female, age 45, 5’ 2”
Starting weight: Flirting with 130 lbs
Goal weight: 120 lbs
Current weight: 117 lbs
I’ve always eaten a fairly “healthy” diet (according to the latest conventional wisdom) and exercised regularly (cycling, hiking and BodyPump™twice a week), but as the years were going by my weight was creeping up. I was still at the high range of “normal”, but I was puffy and didn’t feel like my efforts with BodyPump™ were showing.
In April 2011 I stumbled upon Mark’s Daily Apple. It just clicked for me. I adopted the Primal way of eating immediately and had no trouble giving up grains and sticking to the 80/20 rule. In 2 months I had lost 5 lbs without even “trying”. My husband was skeptical.
In June 2011 my husband was diagnosed with Leukemia. He was in the hospital for 6 months. I stopped working and was by his side the entire time. This would have been an easy time to abandon the Primal lifestyle, but it was just what I needed. A little project to keep my mind busy. I read everything I could…books and online about Primal/paleo. My food choices were limited at the hospital cafeteria…hard-boiled eggs and bacon for breakfast was easy. For lunches and suppers I usually walked to a grocery store to hunt and gather. It gave me a purpose and reason to get out of the hospital, move slowly and clear my mind. Despite the stress of the situation the Primal Blueprint kept me sane and healthy. I continued to lean out and people started worrying that I wasn’t eating. I told them I was eating more than usual, but they didn’t believe me. My staples included avocados, mini cukes, cherry tomatoes, berries, tinned sardines and salmon, nuts, full-fat cheese, smoked chicken thighs, liver pate, coconut water, coffee with heavy cream, dark chocolate and plenty more! My occasional treat…good quality vanilla ice cream (and it’s still my weakness).
My husband had a stem cell transplant in November 2011. I’m thrilled to report that he has completely recovered from his illness. He’s back to work and we’re cycling again. Although he thinks I’m a little extreme on following “the cult”, he’s totally supportive. He’s even started to adopt some of the Primal ways (although it will be a while before he gives up his muesli for breakfast before work and his sandwich at lunch). Between us we have 3 “normal weight” teenagers. I feed them healthy meals at supper time, but for the rest of the day they make their own choices…often not very smart ones. As they get older I hope they become more aware of the connection between their diet and their health. In the meantime, I love it when they ask me, “Is this Primal?”
Stephanie Turner
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
Holy smokes!!! iT seems as if those were 2 completely different people. Great job!
You look great! Glad your husband is doing well. Have a great weekend, everyone.
I am very moved by this story as I was not as fortunate when the love of my life was fighting cancer. Instead I was depressed, became quite sedentary and gained a lot of weight. I have just started the Primal way of life and envy that you had it as a support when you were your husband’s caregiver. It would have been wonderful to have as a distraction, and to take care of me, as you did!
Did you lose your love to cancer? I hope not, but if you did, I’m sorry for your loss. (hugs)
You look so much younger in the ‘after’ shots. I love it! You are telling my story…
Great news about your husband! and you look great! Just what I need to get me over that ‘just one more day of dairy’ excuse lol… I’m sure I’d enjoy cycling a lot more once I get that power to weight ratio down too. Thanks for sharing your story!
Congratulations! I always find it helpful to see the amount of time from start to finish! I often have to remind myself that it is a process and even if my body composition doesn’t change as quickly I would like, the key is to not put in the towel! I have to remember to look at things in terms of months rather than days!
You look great!! Congrats! And very nice on keeping yourself occupied with self-transformation during the hard time.
Inspiration I need for my last 10 lbs, too!!! Thank you, Stephanie. You look so happy and so strong. Your children are lucky to have such role models as you and your husband.
Congratulations on your primal success, and joy on your husband’s recovery!
Your story reminds me that times of stress aren’t best relieved by throwing health out the window. While studying for the bar exam this summer, I was so stressed out, and I looked for relief in the nearest, cheapest source: sugar. At 5’6″, I’d primaled myself down to 133, but sugar and bar exam pushed me back up to 145. It’s been a month since the exam, and that 12 pounds is still hanging around, annoying me and bringing its own stress. I’ve learned my lesson!
This is too funny. I was contemplating whether to include the pre-bar exam primal hiatus in my earlier post about tweaking my diet to make it work better. I took California in July. So much fun! Haha. You?
Wonderful story! I know having something like Primal to focus on in times of stress can be very helpful…something positive in a sea of uncertainty. And I’m so glad to hear your husband is back on his feet…this is a feel-good story all the way around.
I love this transformation because it is the relatively small amount of “thick” or “chubby” weight, those last 10 or 15 pounds that stop us from looking just the way we want to, that exasperates so many people. And you lost it, at 45 no less, and it made such a difference!!! I love the change in your arms especially!!!!
and congratulations on your husband’s triumph over illness !!!!
Wow, Stephanie! You’re looking great! I’m getting there a bit slower than you, but am getting there. I can fit into an old skirt that I thought I would never fit again.
I totally identify with the kids not following. I do cook them eggs and bacon for breakfast so at least one meal a day is sorted. I’m not going to force them to my way of thinking – it must be a choice. At least one day when they’re older, they’ll remember what a difference it’s made in my husband and my life – he’s lost more than me and he doesn’t even exercise! His heartburn and indigestion has disappeared and my digestion has also improved.
Great transformation. Your arms and stomach look lean and defined. That is not easy to do so congrats.
Eating at the hospital must have been tough. Hospital food is not exactly the most nutritious food out there, there are some exceptions.
Eggleston hospital in Atlanta offers good healthy choices. I was able to get a piece of grilled chicken and a salad.
Matthew Beavers
Awesome congrats to you and I am glad for your family!
Wow! Great job keeping yourself rational during hard times, and sticking to it! You’re awesome!
You look ten or even fifteen years younger. Good for you.
Wow! What an awesome transformation! I find your story particularly encouraging because you are my age with a similar height and starting weight. I thought the flab on my arms was a genetic trait that I had to live with, but look at your arms now! Unbelievable.
You look amazing! We have the same height/weight but you clearly have more muscle. Are you still doing body pump? Congrats on a healthier you and a good report for your husbands health!
You. Look. Fabulous.
Congratulations.
You’re my new role model.
So happy to hear your husband has recovered! amazing story! and I am extremely happy to read about another wonderful mother who doesn’t feel guilty about allowing the kids to make choices at their age. I have 2 teen boys at home and have become frustrated worrying that they will not be healthy as an adult because I can’t get them to see the primal or paleo way yet. I am relieved to know that I am not failing as a parent of teens. In the end, they will come to understand my reasoning and hope they will adapt a healthier lifestyle at least 80/20!
and btw- i need to have those abs of yours!
Very nice! You look awesome. Question: are you still doing the same workouts as before, or did you change your exercise routine with the switch to primal?
truly inspiring story! best to you and your husband!
Great story–even better that your husband fully recovered! I am working on my last 10 lbs and this morning weighted in at 167– only 7 from my goal.
Keep primal and stay healthy and never, never let the naysayers influence you!
Bike on!
Pastor Dave
You look at least TEN years younger.. And how wonderful your DH made a full recovery. So happy for you. Hugs all around. Judy
Fantastic! For both you and your hubby!
Wow Stephanie, you look like Zuzanne (previously from body rock tv site)
Amazing !!!
I love hearing that your kids ask “Is it primal” – that means that the info is sinking in.
I remember being a kid and KNOWING things were bad for me, but just not caring. The stuff my mom was yammering about, though, stuck with me – and in my later years, you better believe I remembered those things she told me. Funny how we come around
I’m sure your kids will totally appreciate the hard work you’re putting in for them. Maybe not today, but one day!
If your husband’s leukemia/metastasized cancer ever comes back, he should try a ketogenic/zero-carb diet. That and some chemo will destroy it, as long as he still has a functional immune system.
Cancer cells, due to the warburg effect, can’t burn anything but glucose and its fermented by-products. This is extremely inefficient and cancers need loads of insulin (and insulin-like growth factor), as well as carbs to keep them fed and multiplying.
They have their mitochondrias shut down because otherwise the mitos will kill the host cell once they receive tumor necrosis factors released by white blood cells.
When they scan your body to see where the cancer is, they use an irradiated chemical that functions just like glucose… because they know the cancer will gobble most of it up – they need to to survive. This is why cancer is a disease of civilization
Neurologists were able to slowly reverse end-stage brain tumors that were unresposive to chemo by doing this… not that you really need a study to show you this works – this is basic chemistry/cellular biology. Basic logic and critical thinking is all you need (same reason why no one ever bothered to do a double-blind placebo-controlled, peer-reviewed study on the effectiveness of parachutes)
intermittent fasting and eating more Omega-3 can also help.
Hi everyone… sorry I’m just getting to this now. I was so suprised to see that I was Mark’s success story today. Thank you for all the very kind feedback! As for the questions… “Did you change anything else besides going Primal? IF, calorie count, carb cycle? Do you lift weights?” ANSWER: I do not count calories or carb cycle. I have recently started IF’ing but really just as an experiment…I’m not trying to lose any more weight. As for my workout… I do Body Pump twice a week (religiously) with the heaviest weight I can lift with proper technique. 6 months of the year my husband and I bike approx. 100 km per week but it’s not what I would call chronic cardio. We bike at a fun pace…it’s really more play! Stephanie
What is Body Pump? Sorry if I missed what that is somewhere?
Also have you read Body by Science. That is a great workout book and Doug McGuff supports Paleo/Primal.
I loved The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living/Performance as well.
Body Pump is a Les Mills program/class workout offered at Goodlife and Nubody gyms. It’s an hour long total body group weight lifting class done with barbells. The routine is set to great upbeat music and the class is led by an instructor. They change the routine every 6-8 week (not sure) to keep it fresh and challenging. I am not an official spokesperson for Body Pump just a huge fan! I’ve tried using the machines at the gym but I get so bored!I have nightmares about they stopping the class… I’m really addicted!