My Primal Blueprint Success Story

Flabby

Back in 2010 around summer time, I noticed my jeans were tight around my waist. Which was a surprise to me because I took pride in the fact I was in the same size as I was in High School 9 years earlier. I just chalked it up to them shrinking in the laundry. Until I stepped on a scale that July.

174 pounds. And that 32 inch waist I was so proud of was actually 36 inches. Shocker.

I had always worked out, though it wasn’t with much intensity, nor did I take enough protein for muscle gains, I realize now. My growing arms came from a nice layer of fat,

Muscle?

not muscle. So I invested in The Biggest Loser Power Sculpt DVD, but my diet didn’t change. Back then I didn’t realize how important the macronutrients were but I had a calorie counter on my smartphone. My then fiancée, now wife said she loved me just the way I am. She knows what’s on the inside mattered but I was unhappy with the outside.

Then on the old Stalking the Flock forum, one of the members Randal, who is texas.grok on the Mark’s Daily Apple forum, was telling us about the Primal Blueprint. So I went to the website and I read, and read, and read. Then I ordered both The Primal Blueprint, and the Primal Blueprint Cookbook, plus got the free E-Book Primal Blueprint Fitness. Later got the Quick & Easy Cookbook. And I jumped in with both feet. You never know till you try, let’s see if Mark is full of hot air.

He wasn’t.

June 2010

I watched my weight fall and fat melt, mainly from eating primal. I did get tired of salads pretty quickly while trying to get my vegetables for the day. I prefer stir-frying without the pasta. Now I know how to get them in other ways. And the Primal Chili in the cookbook is my favorite recipe, except I use venison, and more bacon than it calls for, along with lard. I exclude the carrots, tried that. Blagh. My diet shifted to gradually to the new food pyramid that Mark just released before he released it. That’s what I like about the Blueprint, it evolves as necessary.

I slept better, had more energy and slept 7 to 7 ½ hours without needing an alarm unless I had to wake up earlier. I eventually found homeostasis at around 10% body fat and hovering around 139 to 142 pounds. I’m about 6 feet tall with a small frame. I’m just scrawny. Or as I prefer, lean and mean ;). I wanted to add some muscle but I’m unfortunately a hard gainer. Back to MDA I went researching and verifying, and looked at Mark’s recommendation of compound lifts at high-intensity. What’s the best tools for that I wondered.

Kettlebells.

I started embarrassingly light, heeding the caution that the kettle bell is unforgiving and worked up to a 30 pound (they didn’t have 35 when I went to the store that day) until after one session (all under 20 minutes) that my heart exceeded 220 bpm. I checked that again. Yep. I’m 28 and experts said my maximum is 190 bpm. That scared me a little and two days later I got hit with the worse case of DOMS I ever had. I backed away from that high of intensity.

Through all this I was getting ready to get married, and the closer the date, the worse I ate and workouts weren’t happening. I was hitting 3000 calories a day and 200 grams of carbs. After noticing the returning bulge I stepped back on the scale.

150 pounds. Not bad except that it came from a 7% gain in fat.

I jumped right back into the primal lifestyle,  and a month later I’m back in homeostasis. I did the PBF Self-Assessment and I was weaker. Levels 2-3 instead of 4-5 I was before. Now I’m working towards my goal of muscle gain again. Kettlebells twice a week and PBF calisthenics in between to keep me loosened up and make sure I  hit every muscle group. With some of the kettle bell exercises I need to move up to the 44 pounder. The 30 just isn’t cutting it. Along with anytime we go to the park with my nephew I make full use of the jungle gym. The other adults just don’t know what they’re missing.

Oh, and my wife who loved me no matter what I look like…isn’t complaining about how I look now either for sure.

Homeostasis Achieved