So here’s the thing: I used to be fat.
This isn’t a pity post, nor some clever scheme to get back at all those little punks who made 4th grade utter hell (but wouldn’t that be wonderful!). What we have here, ladies and gents, is a pretty frank look at an issue that’s been near and dear to my heart for the better part of a decade: my weight. And your weight, by extension, since you’re the whole reason I’m doing this blogging thing in the first place.
Are you unhappy when you look in the mirror? Yeah? Me too.
I can’t imagine a single person who would say no. Even those picture-perfect models, lucky ladies and gents they are, probably don’t look at their exquisite forms in the same light we do. They’re struggling with a societal pressure of an entirely different caliber, but pressure all the same – and this has got to stop. For you. For me. For everyone who has tried and failed to lose weight, blindsided by the complete insanity of the fitness industry in modern times.
There aren’t any easy answers. But I can tell you what I did, and I can tell you that it’s hands-down the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. This is self-improvement, people, of the most physical kind. Let’s get started, shall we?
Oh, and one more thing. I eat three slices of bacon and three eggs nearly every morning for breakfast, and I’m in the best shape of my life.
That’s a bold statement, admittedly. But it’s true, and the fact that your eyes just rolled back into your sockets says a lot about conventional wisdom regarding modern nutrition.
First and foremost: I’m not a doctor. My good buddy Tyler from college is training to become one, though, so that’s pretty convenient. I’m just a guy who lost weight, so bear with me a moment as I explain.
The last month of college, I read the Primal Blueprint. I’ll be covering that book in more detail at a later point, but let’s just cut to the chase right now and say that it changed my life. A Primal way of living has often been compared to the Paleo diet championed by Loren Cordain, and they do agree on a number of the principles outlined below:
- Grains are bad. This includes whole grains and their derivative products: pizza, pasta, donuts, and everything you’ve ever loved in life.
- Sugar, in the huge quantities you can find it today, is often worse.
- Legumes are bad too. Bye-bye, beans.
- Dairy, if you can find it raw (unpastuerized), is a firm maybe. That’s up to whether or not you can easily digest it.
- Vegetables, fruit, and meat are the natural stuff of life. We evolved to eat them over the millenna, while agriculture – and thus grain – is an historically recent phenomenon, one we’ve not properly adapted to via evolution.
- Healthy fat is good. Saturated fat is mistreated by conventional wisdom, and the absolute best way to burn fat is to eat copious amounts of it throughout the day.
- Along those lines, limit intake of carbohydrates (from fruits and vegetables) to 100 grams or less each day in order to accelerate the mobilization of stored fat.
There’s so much more to it than the above, and indeed I’ve been reluctant to write this post for fear of not representing the entirety of the science. It’s hard to boil the sheer idea down to bite-sized chunks, but I’m doing what I can, since this is information worth sharing. But – ahem – doesn’t it blow your mind? In my home country of America, at least, Primal/Paleo thinking runs completely counter to mainstream nutrition. There’s such a stark contrast, in fact, that I’m a little surprised I accepted the ideas so readily. (I’m impressionable, apparently!)
But accept them I did. I’ve been Primal for about three months now, eating like this:
Breakfast: Eggs and bacon, normally. Sometimes I’ll do breakfast sausage, and sometimes I’ll make a big shake out of full-fat yogurt, coconut milk, and mixed berries.
Lunch: Some sort of protein (steak, chicken, pork, etc.) and vegetables, all usually cooked in lots of butter.
Dinner: See above. I usually throw in a big salad covered in olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette.
I don’t eat grains. I don’t eat beans. I don’t drink sodas. I chow down on Macadamia nuts because of their high fat content, and like to drink coconut milk when I’m thirsty. The end result? I went from 185 to 165 in about three months. That stubborn fat around my stomach and sides has lessened dramatically, and my face has thinned out considerably, to the point where I don’t sigh and look depressed whenever I look in the mirror.
My energy stays at a constant level from when I wake up to when I crash in bed some sixteen hours later. I’m even seeing the outline of abs when I flex, and that’s a little remarkable when I haven’t done a single crunch in about three months. I haven’t run a single mile, and I haven’t utterly exhausted myself on the treadmill in some serious attempt to burn calories. Oh, and calories? I don’t count those. I don’t count anything, really, but keep a mental tab to make sure I’m getting enough fat each day.
The Primal lifestyle goes well beyond what I’ve described above, but hopefully this is enough to catch your interest. I’ll be getting more and more into it over the next few months as means of balancing mental self-improvement with more physical changes, so please bear with me as I try and write about this stuff as clearly as I can.
I feel incredible. I feel happy. My weight has been a problem since the 4th grade, and while I lost quite a few pounds playing football in high school, this is the first time I’ve been genuinely excited to look in the mirror. And I’m still improving – the fat around my stomach is still burning away, and I’m seeing muscles now that I only remember from heavy lifting done three or four years back.
Bear with me, folks. It’s hard not to write all this without sounding nutty, but living Primally has been the greatest and absolute best change of my life, and I want to share it with all of you as best I can. In the mean time, if you’d like to read more about it, click this link and start working your way down the page. Mark Sisson, author of the Primal Blueprint, has a boatload of information available on his web site, and my fingers are crossed that you’ll find it as useful and fascinating as I did. I’m currently without a camera, but I will upload before and after pictures of myself fairly soon, as that might be the best proof yet.
What do you think? Am I completely insane, or would you be willing to give this shot? If you want to change your body, this is my recommended way to do it – and it’s a change you can start right here, right now, if you’re willing to accept that a lot of things about food that you’ve been told could be wrong.
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I'm a writer, minimalist, and health dork with three goals in mind: to teach you how to lose weight, move more, and be happier by living a simple, natural life. It works. Like what you read here? Get 3NL delivered straight to your inbox!
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Matt *flipping* Madeiro.
GOOD LORD I MISS YOU.
I was beyond excited to see your comment on my blog the other day – what an unexpected treat! I’ve been meaning to answer, but I generally want to respond to friends with long messages, so I delay writing them until I can find ample time, and that never seems to happen. So saying, a short hello-and-I-miss-you-like-mad shall have to suffice for this evening.
First off, I love this post. Did you read my post about eating raw? Many of the principles, though not all, are the same. I, too, feel more energized eating this way than I have ever felt in my life. And I don’t care if people think I’m nuts.
Where has the world led you these days? Are you traveling? Are you traveling to California (hint hint)?? Please keep me updated!
Love, hugs, coconut water, and TGI Fridays,
Chelsea
hi Matt, found your blog thru Tammy at Rowdy Kittens – sweet! Love your writing style, and the focus of your blog. When I was reading your earlier posts, I saaw this one – how funny, someone I know just ++recommended Primal to me (they’ve had amazing results too, and have completely revamped their approach to working out). As a vegetarian and a carb-junkie, I’m worried that I might not be able to make the switch over to this way of eating – gonna have to do more reading up on the diet portion of the program and see if I can find a way to do it with minimal meat eating. Take care, keep blogging!
Carrie
Hi, Carrie! I’m so glad you stopped by.
I wish you the best of luck in transitioning over to a Primal lifestyle. It’s definitely a big, bold change for so many people, but your background as a vegetarian and carb-lover probably makes it seem that much more scary.
If you’d like any advice or tips on getting into it, please don’t hesitate to email me. I have some great links I could send your way!
My usual line of “I eat eggs, bacon and butter every morning and still lose weight!” doesn’t really work here, but I’d love to help you whatever way I can. My health has improved significantly since I switched over, and I think you could see a lot of the same benefits if you gave it a shot.
Take care! Hope I’ll hear from you again.
Hi Matt,
This is the first I’ve heard of ‘primal’ eating and it sounds really interesting. I gave up grains 4 months ago and it has had a dramatic impact on my health, weight and energy level. I’m not consuming the amount of fat you are talking about here but I am eating lots of nuts (mostly almonds) which have fat.
I plan to do some more reading. Thanks for sharing your story and congrats!
Simon
Hey Simon!
Definitely do some more research on it! You’re already following a similar plan by nixing the grains, and I think you could make the jump to the rest of the plan pretty easily by this point.
The fact that you’re chowing down on almonds, too, suggests you might be fat-adapted by this point, which would make the transition go even smoother!
If you have any questions about the Primal lifestyle, just let me know. I’d love to chat about it! I’ll also be writing some posts soon on transitioning into a low-carb diet, so keep an eye out for those too!
Hi there! I came across your blog via Fuel Your Writing.
Anywho I kind of think weight and weight loss is different for everyone. Like you, my husband used to be severely overweight and is now a stick. How did he do it? Simply by exercising and watching what he ate. Even I’ve lost some weight since we met and we began exercising (almost) daily together.
That said, I don’t think there’s a one size fits all approach to weight loss. I think all our bodies are really different. EG: I eat carbs. A LOT of carbs. I can’t go without them. Going on a carb-free diet would be a fate worse than death for me. I don’t feel full unless I’ve had A LOT of carbs in a meal. Yet I’ve still managed to maintain my weight of around 48kgs for the past few years, now. My husband is the opposite to me. He cannot process a lot of carbs but will plow through 2-3L containers of ice cream within two nights. And yes, he’s maintained his weight of around 60kgs for… almost a decade, now.
I don’t think we need to cut out everything we love to lose weight. I think it’s just about finding a balance, what works and what doesn’t for our own individual bodies. Throw in some exercise and you should manage to find that balance a lot easier than many like to think.
Hello!
Honestly? I’m firmly in the low-carb camp, but a lot of the research I’ve been reading suggests high-carb can be efficient for weight loss too. Hard to know what to think, really, when the evidence comes across as so contradictory.
But I think you have the right attitude: everyone is different, and likewise there’s no one, true answer for health and nutrition. Early hunter-gatherer groups (that still exist and can be studied today) are great evidence of this, as the gamut ranges from high-fat-high-protein to high-carb-low-fat and everywhere in between. Remarkably, each of these groups are in pretty fantastic health – until they encounter white flour and sugar, the hallmark of the Western diet.
That’s what has me curious. Are you eating high-carb in the sense of fruits and veggies, or do you chow down on whole grains and things like that too? I’m not convinced you can ‘overdose’ on the former, but there are some pretty fascinating studies showing the damage that the latter can cause to an otherwise healthy system. That might be the only part we disagree on.
I agree that cutting out whole food groups entirely can be problematic for some people, but I still believe whole grains can be reduced — if not nixed entirely — with tremendous health benefits to follow.
It’s hard not to come across as completely dogmatic when I say that, however.
I wrote this post back when I was firmly in the Primal camp, and while my allegiance hasn’t changed, I’ve also expanded my knowledge on the subject wide enough to hopefully not sound so thick-headed about it in the future! And while I’m a firm believer in reducing our sugar intake, too, I know that a healthy system can handle it — especially when it comes in the form of high quality ice cream, which tends to provide healthy fats. Your husband is on to something! Haha. In any case, I think we can agree that it’s wise to watch what you eat, if only to be mindful of what you’re putting in your body. Practicing this mindfulness has been a great way to hone in on what exactly my body needs to stay healthy, which is probably the best approach of all.
Thanks for coming by! Hopefully the health talk hasn’t scared you away from sticking around.
HAHA, no. The health talk definitely doesn’t scare me off. I’ve had enough body issues to not be scared off by it!
Sorry, I probably should have made it a bit clearer as there are many different types of “carbs” out there. When I say “carbs”, I mean things like pasta, rice, bread, cake, muesli, muffins etc etc. =P I eat a lot of them. For example, a few weeks ago I was at a work event (I produce corporate conferences from 9-5) where there was a big buffet lunch, and I had a meal that consisted of: a bowl of pasta, a bowl of mashed potato and then a few bread rolls. LOL. I may have had a bit of salad here and there, but generally it was just full of carbs, many of which people consider to be “bad” for you!
But yeah, like I said, I think it’s just different for everyone. And it does take a while to figure out what your body does and doesn’t cope well with. Having said that I will say that although I love carbs, I’m lactose intolerant, and life can be rather difficult when you’re married to someone who can’t go without milky things AND you also love them, yourself. LOL. EG: ice cream, yoghurt, cheese.
But your blog seems interesting and like a good read.
I’m surprised, then!
I’m used to hearing about how the consumption of so many (grain-based) carbs leaves people feeling sickly or generally unwell. I remember the feeling myself from when I used to eat big bowls of pasta, haha, and I remember how many of my lingering health issues vanished whenever I gave it all up. You might just be a carb-processing machine, however. 
(Though I hope you get more salad than that! Grains aren’t the best source of nutrients, and I’d hate to see veggies go ignored in any diet.)
My mother might be dealing with lactose intolerance. Do you mind describing some of the symptoms you have whenever you eat dairy? Provided they’re not horribly personal, of course.
I’ve been trying to get a feel for the effects cheese or something might have on her body, but first-hand experience has been a little lacking, heh.
I hope you stick around! I’m still exploring my own take on nutrition, but the other parts of the site are far less grounded in science and nutrition and the like. They’re far less controversial, subsequently, but still topics worth talking about (I hope)! Take care!
Lactose intolerance is horrible.
Lots of air expulsion, and if you intermittently fast and eat primarily fruit/veg then try dumping a cheese pizza into the system…shall we say it clears rapidly? First it sits like a bulging knot in your stomach, and whoosh! Away it goes.
tried the primal thing, but found myself moody and lethargic without grainy carbs. perhaps I wasnt eating enough? or enough carbs from fruits and veg? who knows…I added a little rice in here and there and feel a lot better….
I remember that feeling. It’s usually dubbed the ‘low carb-flu,’ where your body is adjusting to burning fat as its primary energy source (versus glucose in the form of those grainy carbs). That would explain why the rice made you feel better, I think!
If you ever do try it again, just take comfort — the feeling passes. It might take a week or two (sometimes a month!), but your body will eventually adapt to the changes. The benefits unfold from there.
And hey! If you give it a shot, let me know. I’d be happy to talk you through those first few weeks.
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Would I be willing to try? If I didn’t love potatoes so much…
I sent you an email I hope you received it? I had made an error in my email address but I did correct it….look forward to hearing from you!
Hi Shelley!
I don’t think I received it.
Mind sending it again? I checked my spam filter, too, in the off chance it had snatched it up, but no dice.
Let me know! If that doesn’t work, I’ll email you myself.
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