Today marks the final day of the 21 day Primal Blueprint challenge for Jamie and me. I’m not sure that I mentioned the time frame before, but phase one of this plan is spread out over three weeks. Three weeks for your body to adapt to the new way of doing things, three weeks to convert your system from a carb burning, bloated, slow-ass hulk to a lean, mean, fat-burning machine.
I suppose that I started moving toward this the week before we started. I had an insatiable craving for vegetables and healthier foods, after indulging for a solid month or two on office cookies, junk food, homemade pizzas, jalapeño poppers, you name it. And the drinking. I enjoy alcohol, and I can seriously put it away. The Christmas season was full of Benchmark Bourbon and Kraken Rum, along with derivatives thereof like the unbelievably delicious Milk Punch. (I’m not going to link to the recipe because you don’t need a combination of Bourbon, Milk, Half-and-Half, and powdered sugar. Trust me. Oh wait, I kind of just gave it away…) I lost three pounds that first week, and after going Primal, I just kept losing. I’ve lost 14 pounds total since New Years’ Day, and I’m still losing.
More than the weight loss, though, I feel better, I look thinner, I stand taller, I have more energy, and my overall moods have improved. I’m eating far less now that I’ve adapted to this new way of eating. I’m way more satisfied after meals, and they taste good. I can have a breakfast of bacon and eggs at 6:45AM and go straight through until 1PM without being hungry. That never happened before. I was always snacking by 10AM.
I’m also moving every day. I walk for 30 minutes at lunch. I’m doing pushups and other exercises, and I take the stairs instead of the elevator now.
The changes I’ve experienced since switching to this diet (I hate the word “diet” – it’s a lifestyle change, but that sounds just as stupid) I can only describe as positive. Most times I’ve tried thing like this – The South Beach Diet comes to mind – I have lost weight, but I’ve given up on the program at my first opportunity. This isn’t something I even want to change. I get my cravings, don’t get me wrong. I actually had a bite of rice tonight, and a spoonful of honey in my tea – things I’m allowed in sparing moderation, but not until I hit my ideal weight. But I don’t want to jeopardize the success I’ve had. I have another 60 or 70 pounds to lose before I’m at a really healthy weight, and I want to get there. My kids deserve a dad who can get his fat ass off the couch and go play with them. A dad who will be around for more than the next 20 or 30 years. Frankly, I deserve better than allowing food and drink to be my only “acceptable” vices for coping with life, stress, and whatever curveballs come my way. This is a diet for foodies anyway – you can eat lots of great things, you can eat as much of them as you want, you just can’t eat every kind of food you want. That’s a fair trade.
And if the health benefits are as big of a deal as it seems – my wife isn’t in chronic pain from her arthritis and back problems anymore, and this woman claims that eating primally got her out of her wheelchair and helped her to live with MS – then it’ll be even more worth it in the long run.
The conclusion is that I have no intention of quitting this any time soon. I’m in it for the long haul. I half-jokingly told my wife I was going to lose 30 pounds this year back at the beginning of January. Now that I’ve gone primal, I’m already half way there. I didn’t honestly think I can do it. I’m a zero-motivation kind of guy.
If I can do it, you can too. If you’re looking to eat better, lose weight, have more energy, and just feel better than you have since you were a kid, you should seriously check this program out.
Steve Skojec is a husband, father, storyteller, writer, and podcaster who dabbles in photography, filmmaking, and graphic design. His commentary has has appeared at outlets such as The New York Times, Foreign Policy, USA Today, The Washington Post, Fox News, and The Washington Times. He lives in Arizona with his wife Jamie and their many children.
