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!
My name is J.J. Valdivia and I am a 24 year old personal trainer down in Miami, Florida. First and foremost, I cannot thank you enough for the impact that your book and website have made on my life. I have been Primal now for almost one year and I am in the best shape of my life! I am 5’11, 165 lbs and carry around 6% body fat.
Before discovering The Primal Blueprint I hovered at around 10-12% body fat and weighed in at around 175-180 pounds. All this considering I now exercise less than I ever have my entire life! I used to train six days a week religiously. I would alternate between one day of one hour circuit weight training and another day of one hour chronic cardio. I would count each and every calorie and needless to say I was miserable. I have always been into “health and fitness” and I was convinced that I was doing everything right, or so I thought. Constant overtraining mixed with a high carb, low fat diet led to binge eating on the weekends and a continuous cycle that led nowhere. I was always starving even though I was eating 5-6 small meals a day! Not only that, but I looked exactly the same and saw no results. That was one year ago…
Today I lift heavy weights three days a week, usually no longer than 35 minutes. I sprint once a week, and I do low level aerobic activity anywhere from 2-5 hours a week. I also eat only 2-3 times a day and I feel fantastic!
I became Primal about a month after I became a personal trainer, last May. (So June of last year) The company that I work for is an amenity management company and we are contracted to manage several corporate and residential fitness facilities throughout the east coast. I was hired to work for Royal Caribbean Cruises. I work in their corporate gym and I train a lot of their employees. The first thing that I do before I start training a new client is tell them to buy The Primal Blueprint. (Well, actually, the first thing I do is explain to them that yes, what I wear on my feet are indeed shoes and that yes, I exercise in them!) I then explain to them that my style of training and my understanding of health is based upon everything that they will read in that book. If they follow what is inside, they will acheive the results they desire. I explain to them that body composition is 80% what you eat, and 20 percent training and genetics.
My clients are exercising much less than the other trainer’s clients but are seeing greater results! Needless to say, there are over 20 Royal Caribbean employees that have bought the book and are living according to the Primal Blueprint Laws, each one of them with their own success story. Thank you for everything Mark. I am truly grateful for the the change you have made in my life and in those of my clients. No matter what, I will continue to live the Primal lifestyle and lead others in reprogramming their genes!