It’s Not a Fad! How Primal Helped Me Maintain Long Term Weight Loss

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My story begins quite a while back (the year 2000, let’s say) when I was in my mid-twenties. I had been pudgy since adolescence, and my diet was mostly junk paired with inactivity. Before I cleaned up my diet, I was eating 2 toaster pastries (over 400 calories) or a giant bowl of cereal with milk for breakfast, a fast food meal of a 1/4 pound burger (510) and medium sized fries (380 cals) with a large diet coke for lunch, and then having a small fast food chocolate shake (nearly 500 cals) for dinner most days and maybe something else that evening if I got hungry. I never exercised. I actually avoided moving and went out of my way to not sweat.

Fast forward to 2007 or 2008, and I heard about Mark through the “webvine”… not sure where you got mentioned on another website, but I stumbled across Mark’s Daily Apple and I even, get this…SUBSCRIBED to your newsletter.

But, I didn’t go Primal right away. In fact, I yo-yo’ed a few more times, up and down 25 or 30 pounds. Still refused to see the light. Didn’t want or think I could give up bread. Did you see Oprah and her Weight Watchers commercial? You know, the “I LOVE BREAD” one? Well, that was me. I was afraid of failing. Again. However, think I was really more afraid of success. I thought to myself, “Well, you have tried everything else, what have you got to lose?” I was topping out at about 153 pounds, by the way, and up to about a size 10 or 12.

So finally in 2011, I threw out all the wheat and processed food in my house and began to use things like lettuce in place of buns or bread and even cut out potatoes completely for a while. I noticed results immediately, and by the end of June, I was down to 118 (and a size 2). It inspired me to try and help others and I started a website called Cavegrrl.com. My niche for the site is food, wine and travel, but I post Paleo and Primal recipes on the site and offer up restaurant suggestions for people who maintain a gluten free lifestyle.

I also found my partner Andy in 2011 and the luckiest thing is that he was already also Paleo. Unbelievable at a time when it had not been mentioned much on Dr. Oz or in the media as a “fad.” We are still together 5 years later because a couple that Paleos together, stays together!!

I am writing to you so that others can see what I have been through and realize they can do this, too. (Oh yeah, and there’s the contest I should win, too). We all have days that are stressful and sometimes we eat to “feel” our emotions instead of “fill” our stomachs. There are days when it sucks to get up early and workout. But the point of Paleo and Primal is not one isolated day, but a lifetime of a way of eating and moving. If you have a bad day, suck it up and move on! This is NOT a fad. Paleo is for life. I have maintained my weight loss within 5 pounds or so and now wear a 2 or 4. I workout every day in some way. I eat mostly plants with a little meat thrown in to make me strong. My body and mind are so balanced because of what I consume.

I hope Andy and I can eventually meet Mark so I can shake the hand of the person who taught me a few things to get the train back on track.

Thank you, Mark and the staff at Mark’s Daily Apple.

–Kristy DeVaney

Cavegrrl.com

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