Category: Male

Success Story: Completing the Marathon des Sables Using Primal Principles

Today I’m sharing a fantastic success story from Mark’s Daily Apple reader Nic, who accomplished a tremendous physical feat with smart training and nutrition.

Have you improved your health, tackled a fitness goal, or overcome obstacles with the help of the Primal Blueprint? Share your story with the MDA community by contacting me here. Your story will inspire others!

I signed up for the Marathon des Sables (MdS) about a year before the event was to take place in 2022. In terms of race experience at the time of signing up, I had run many marathons but only one 50km ultra race.

For those not familiar, the MdS is a self-sufficient race. There is a nightly Bivouac (to be shared among 8 people) provided by the organisation. Although water is supplied, it is keenly rationed. It is up to you to carry everything else you might need across the 6 stage, 7 day 145-mile course, up and down any Jebels and dunes.

Apart from the required physical ability to complete the race, it then becomes about the planning, training, testing and evaluating what works. Living in England, UK whilst training, there is a distinct difference from the expected race conditions and a lack of available options to replicate training scenarios without extensive international travel; but you focus on controlling the variables you can!

Read More

Success Story Update: Six Million Steps Later

Hello, readers! Scott sent in his first success story five years ago. A lot has happened since then, so he’s back with an incredible update. Join me in congratulating Scott and wishing him well!

Now I have a request for you: I consider it a true privilege to publish these real life stories, and I need YOURS to keep this feature going. If you would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. Your journey can inspire others to take those first steps!

Five years ago, I wrote a success story about living the primal lifestyle to improve my health. After going Primal, I discovered I had advanced stage-four cancer. When I wrote the story, my cancer was in remission, and I had no evidence of disease. But cancer is a sneaky foe, and it didn’t give up as easily as I had hoped.

Cancer reoccurred in my liver two more times, and it spread to my adrenal glands, more lymph nodes, and my lungs. My original prognosis was that I had about a 7% chance of surviving for five years. Every time my disease spread it lowered my odds of survival. However, that didn’t stop me from living, and I continued to adhere to the primal lifestyle.

Read More

I Am Making Gains On All Levels

It’s Monday, 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 Monday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!

Two years ago, I was walking around our farm with a cane. I have always worked out hard, mostly weightlifting, calisthenics and martial arts. But at the age of 50 I was feeling the cumulative dings of my active youth. A clicky and sore shoulder; pain in my hips. With time I found myself banging out minimum-effective-dose type workouts just to maintain my strength and physique. I had given up on yoga and martial arts because it was no fun with the pain, and they seemed to aggravate the situation.

Read More

I’m Confident My Lifestyle Will Pay Dividends

It’s Monday, 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 Monday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!

Yup, success stories are back! And I’m looking for more. Follow-ups, mid-progress reflections—every story at every stage has the potential to inspire folks out there who are getting started or contemplating a new beginning. Contact me here to share your story—long or not so long. You never know who you’ll impact by doing it. Enjoy, everyone!

My success story isn’t one of weight loss amazement, but it’s still about an overall remake. Tyler version 2.0, I guess. My Primal path started about four years ago because I simply got fed up with feeling gross and tired. I had some friends and social media acquaintances who often touted the benefits of Paleo living and how eating real food made such a difference for them. I was skeptical. At the time, I remember being on a kick of eating more rice because I thought, “healthy carbs in large quantities are surely a good thing.” But on a Saturday morning in March of 2015 I told my wife I had had enough of feeling like garbage.

Read More

The Easiest Weight Loss I Have Experienced

It’s Monday, 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 Monday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!

Yup, success stories are back! And I’m looking for more. Follow-ups, mid-progress reflections—every story at every stage has the potential to inspire folks out there who are getting started or contemplating a new beginning. Contact me here to share your story—long or not so long. You never know who you’ll impact by doing it. Enjoy, everyone!

I have been doing Obstacle Course races since 2013 and tried to keep myself active in training, but my diet was never really in alignment. I was the poster child to demonstrate that physical fitness is not the driving component in body composition in health—diet is. My heaviest was 188 lbs (5’9”), and I was always disappointed to see my race photos showing a fat belly and zero muscle definition.

Read More

My Wife and I Have Never Felt Healthier—or Been—Healthier

It’s Monday, 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 Monday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!

Yup, success stories are back! And I’m looking for more. Follow-ups, mid-progress reflections—every story at every stage has the potential to inspire folks out there who are getting started or contemplating a new beginning. Contact me here to share your story—long or not so long. You never know who you’ll impact by doing it. Enjoy, everyone!

Hi Mark, I used to be a very unhealthy marketing agency owner. I was overweight as a result of years of poor habits in nutrition, exercise and lifestyle. I drank a little, pretty much every night, ate everything I wanted, but always felt bloated. I snored and suffered sleep apnoea. My skin and stamina were poor, I often felt lethargic. Sometimes my memory would let me down. I was a stereotypically stressed and ‘moody’ businessman and the wrong side of 50.

Read More

Latest Posts