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!
Hi my name is Mauricio Sada-Paz and I was born 37 years ago in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. I have been in banking for 14 years and have always been very athletic. However, every year my weight was gradually going up. I initially simply tried to increase the distance I was running still mixing it up with weights. When this did not work I decided to train for two marathons and dropped the weight training. In 2010 I ran the London and NY marathon, yet my weight stayed in the 99-100 kgs area (~220 lbs). I am 192 cms (6′ 3″) tall so I did not look overweight, but I did not look like a fit marathon runner despite running NY under 3:30. The first picture with me on the boat is in April 2010 only 4 days before I ran the London Marathon.
In 2011 I did not train for any marathons as I was starting a new job and my weight continued to increase. I peaked after New Year’s 2011 (second pic below) in the 107-108 kgs area (~238 lbs) after having had my wife’s family and then my own family visit for the holidays. I knew something was wrong when I ran 7 days, 15 kilometres every day during the holidays and my weight was still going up. Clearly I was eating and drinking wine, but still I should not have been going up at that pace. When I spoke to my boss about it, he said do not worry…I have the right solution for you. Simply read PRIMAL BLUEPRINT by Mark Sisson and the fat will just melt off. I trusted him as he is a super fit cyclist who has his body fat down to 6%.
I ran to my iPad and bought the book on the 9th of January 2012. Ever since that date I have only deviated from the diet on one day when I ate a burrito with tortilla, black beans and rice. I felt so bloated and gassy afterwards that this will not happen again. My weight has plummeted. By the end of January I was already at 102 kgs (~225 lbs) and by the end of February I was at 97 kgs (~213 lbs). At the end of March I touched a low of 92.9 kgs (~204 lbs) with 16.8% body fat.
I have not only changed my diet but I have also changed my workout routine. I stopped running so much and now only run once or twice a week to commute back from work, but never get above 75% of my max heart rate. In addition I have started lifting weights once a week. In order to comply with Mark’s recommended sprints or interval training I started doing the INSANITY workout videos which are very good the rest of the week.
So I now have a six pack for the first time since I was at Georgetown 15 years ago and my face looks 10 years younger (no longer like a model for Botero, the Colombian artist who paints obese grain fed people). I had my tailor come to my house two days ago so I could buy a new suit and alter my other two. These are suits from 2010 when I ran both marathons. In waist measurements I have gone from 38.5 inches to 35.5 inches. However it is more extreme when you compare 3 trousers I bought from Hugo Boss in November 2011. They were 40L. On Sunday I went to buy three new ones and they were 36L!!!
I do not consider the Primal Blueprint to be a diet but more a way of life, as I do not experience any hunger and eat everything I like except for a few things. I still drink red wine every night, but have stopped drinking beer (which is made out of grains) and distilled alcoholic drinks. I eat a three egg vegetable omelet almost every day, a big salad for lunch then some grilled protein with broccoli for dinner. For dessert I will have some blueberries, strawberries or raspberries. If I wake up and am not hungry then I will not eat and do a nice 12 hour “IF” (intermittent fasting). I always carry a small bag of almonds for an emergency when I go to a work event and they only have anti-Primal canapes. I have taken notes from the Primal Blueprint and saved it in my NOTES on the iPhone just in case I have a question. If the answer is not there then I Google it and 95% of the time, MARKSDAILYAPPLE.com has an article answering my question. That is it…easy peasy lemon squeezy. Many thanks, Mark!!!