Mark Sisson and the Primal lifestyle

SteelyDanJalapeno

So this thread is pretty much my personal experience with the primal lifestyle, and to introduce anyone that doesn't have any experience with the Primal lifestyle idea,

I started a thread last summer, where i decided to change my lifestyle due to some big personal changes in my life, this change included attempting to lose weight, build muscle, increase fitness, and participate in some local sports and clubs activities.

As of May I was around 255 lbs, through lowering my carb intake and increasing cardio and core workouts, I dropped about 40 lbs over 6 months, this also included putting on some muscle i haven't measured it but its not as much as i wanted, these 6 months i was fairly strict on recording all my food intakes and exercise regimes, it became very monotonous after a while,

From the middle of November till January i hadn't shifted any more weight or increased muscle or fitness, a bit of a plateau, I did a bit of googling and stumbled across Mark Sisson's website "Marks daily apple", Mark basically promotes a lifestyle identical to our ancestors where there was no processed food available, he encourages eating anything available to the "Grok" of their time, all meat, seeds, over ground veg, fruits, dairy (depending on tolerance) and eggs.

I adapted this lifestyle about 2 months ago, and i've never felt better, theres very little sugar in my diet now, the odd bit of fruit, but no processed sugar, not a whole load of carbs, mainly coming from leafy veg and fruit. have loads of good meat, eggs and nuts. 1st week adapting was weird felt crap for a few days, but after i feel great and no longer have the hunger cravings i use to have, I assume there was just sugar crashes or cravings,

I've also started increasing strength, through mainly working my bigger muscles, using squats, chin ups, press ups, planks etc. Recovery time is alot less than it use to be, must be the increased protein intake, i've broke my plateau and lost about another 10 lbs in the last 2 months.

Jeez sorry bout the essay, Just wanted to pay Homage to MDA! and let other boardsies that aren't familiar with the primal way, its there!

TommyKnocker

Couple of posts on the Primal lifestyle in the Nutrition and Diet subsection. A couple of folks living (mostly) by Primal guidelines too.

SanoVitae

Well done OP - Mark Sisson is excelllent.

Check out his e-book if you haven't already - well worth reading.

SteelyDanJalapeno

SanoVitae wrote: »

Well done OP - Mark Sisson is excelllent.

Check out his e-book if you have't already - well worth reading.

Have it downloaded, gettin stuck in,

have the cook book too its great.

d'Oracle

Good work OP.

Sundy

Whats the story with drinking water and the primal diet? What were the water drinking habits of our ancestors?

SteelyDanJalapeno

From my understanding, water is good, We would of drank when available, colonized around rivers etc,

drink it as you need it

Frogdog

Great story OP, well done!

hug0

Just out of interest do you any of you guys drink alcohol? If so do you find it knocks you off course as regards to the sugar cravings, carbs etc.?

gymsoldier

hug0 wrote: »

Just out of interest do you any of you guys drink alcohol? If so do you find it knocks you off course as regards to the sugar cravings, carbs etc.?

Sure didnt we live off beer in medival times because there was no other source of nutrition, or something like that...

Mellor

What's the difference between primal and paleo?
Is there one?

What's a typical days diet?

d'Oracle

gymsoldier wrote: »

Sure didnt we live off beer in medival times because there was no other source of nutrition, or something like that...

Only way to ensure safe drinking water, I believe.

d'Oracle

hug0 wrote: »

Just out of interest do you any of you guys drink alcohol? If so do you find it knocks you off course as regards to the sugar cravings, carbs etc.?

Mark Sisson has done posts on alcohol consumption.

He is obviously not cool on beer.
I think he drinks the occasional drop of red wine.

Recommends spirits, particularly aged spirits.
I'm working off memory here though.

Rovi

Mark Sisson on alcohol:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/low-carb-alcohol/

Red wine is top of his list, followed by good quality spirits.


Vast information overload on Mark Sisson and the whole 'Primal' thing here:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

Red Cortina

d'Oracle wrote: »

Mark Sisson has done posts on alcohol consumption.

He is obviously not cool on beer.
I think he drinks the occasional drop of red wine.

Recommends spirits, particularly aged spirits.
I'm working off memory here though.

Occasional?? More like daily. Check out this week in the life blog post by the man himself:)
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/a-week-in-the-life-of-mark-sisson/

This was also discussed in this thread: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056166105

d'Oracle

Red Cortina wrote: »

Occasional?? More like daily. Check out this week in the life blog post by the man himself:)
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/a-week-in-the-life-of-mark-sisson/

This was also discussed in this thread: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056166105

If you try, you can find an occasion to drink to every day.

Cole

This kind of diet interests me and I gave it a try a couple of years ago, not for weight loss but for a healthier diet.

The problem for me was that I kept losing weight....that's great if you're overweight, but I'm not and I was heading towards being underweight, so not ideal for me.

Do those of you on a primal/paleo type diet (and not trying to lose weight) just eat more of everything, to make up for the lack of carbs in your diet?....if you know what I mean.

gymsoldier

d'Oracle wrote: »

Only way to ensure safe drinking water, I believe.

Ha thats gas, should have thought about that during the snow with the water cuts: "No tap water, I'm off to the pub"

Red Cortina

Cole wrote: »

This kind of diet interests me and I gave it a try a couple of years ago, not for weight loss but for a healthier diet.

The problem for me was that I kept losing weight....that's great if you're overweight, but I'm not and I was heading towards being underweight, so not ideal for me.

Do those of you on a primal/paleo type diet (and not trying to lose weight) just eat more of everything, to make up for the lack of carbs in your diet?....if you know what I mean.

I can only give you my experience of these ‘diets’. I’ve read both books and tried to adhere to Cordain’s guidelines for a time while training hard. But I felt absolutely awful in hindsight.

I liked the Primal Blueprint because (from what I remember) he is focused on lifestyle as well as diet. Things like sleep well, don’t do anything stupid that would lead to you being in an accident etc.

At the end of the day I think that the main message of most Paleo/Primal/WAPF ‘diets’ is to eat real food made in a traditional manner. Therefore your processed food, seed oils, sugar etc is out and real food such as meat, fish, eggs, veg (including potato, root veg etc), fruit, butter, traditional fats etc are in and so that is what I try to stick to. And FWIW I am not losing weight at the moment:)

SteelyDanJalapeno

Mellor wrote: »

What's the difference between primal and paleo?
Is there one?

What's a typical days diet?

typical for me, would be

Breakfast : 3 - 4 scrambled eggs, 4 - 5 strips of crispy streaky bacon

Lunch : if i'm home i'd try make some veg soup to last me 2 - 3 days, onions leeks, mushrooms, whatever veg i have in the house, if i'm in work with no pre made lunch from home, i'd tend towards meat salad, with extra meat

dinner : Beef, fish, chicken, ham, bacon, of some variation with veg, its pretty just nothing processed, usually try a recipe from marks daily apple every couple of days,

tried my own meatza yesterday! homemade bolognese sauce pretty much tomatoes and herbs stewed, fried some ground beef with garlic, mushrooms and onions, mixed with the sauce and stew for another little while, then spoon some of it out on a plate and cover with cheese, in under the grill then till the cheese melts! NOM.

Snack on Walnuts and pistachios sometimes,

I can't stress enough how good i feel from adapting this lifestyle, i can get out of bed 1st thing, without having a mental arguement of the pro's and cons of staying in bed, I've got great energy all day, the food i eat tastes so good, i love beef, my body is generally happier, not to mention losing weight, gaining muscle,

its just all good

Transform

have to agree - primal/paleo suits me great.

plenty of energy, lots of wholesome food and recovery is better from workouts - all win for me

boomtown84

Red Cortina wrote: »

I liked the Primal Blueprint because (from what I remember) he is focused on lifestyle as well as diet. Things like sleep well, don’t do anything stupid that would lead to you being in an accident etc.

Genius advice that not enough of us carb lovers follow!:D

Antisocialiser

Horgan wrote: »

i love beef