Dear Mark,

I am writing to add myself to your list of PB success stories. The pictures I’ve attached above pretty much tell it. The first three were from the last few years, and they show me at my heaviest. The one in the pink gown was taken at about three months into the PB plan, and the last one, of me with the kettlebells, was taken a few days ago, at 7 months into the plan. I am holding 40 pounds worth of kettlebells and that’s how much weight I’ve lost since February of this year, with your help.

I am currently 54 years old, have struggled with weight gain and loss for the last 35 years. The yo-yo started going up and down in college, and I would gain and lose over and over. I have tried every fad diet there is, including starvation, and have done Weight Watchers three times. I was active over the years, but my food intake was typical of the standard American diet you refer to all the time. SAD indeed. I was lazy when it came to food preparation and I ate a lot of cereal, bread products, and protein, power, or granola bars. I would never have thought I could go without it like I do now. Cereal and toast or an English muffin was a favorite breakfast, and dinner of mine. I drank a lot of coke over the years.

I gained more recent weight after I had a hysterectomy in 2005. My hormones got messed up. I had a few job changes, life stressors in excess (sick parents, a son in college, financial issues), and a terrible, wheat, other grains, and sugar filled diet. If I managed to lose some, I would gain it back, plus more. I worked out with a personal trainer for close to a year in 2010. I managed to lose about 18 pounds by counting calories, carbs, protein, and doing excessive cardio, and a very strict lifting schedule. The minute I lost focus, back it came.

I had a physical exam summer of 2011 and I was unhappy with my weight (high 170s) and lab results. My cholesterol and triglycerides were high, and my HgA1C was borderline for Type 2 diabetes. I had asked my doctor to run one, because I wanted to see what my numbers were. As a nurse, I was seeing a huge increase in the number of diabetic patients and it worried me. I felt like I was headed to being a Type 2 diabetic if I didn’t change things. I didn’t feel good, I felt sluggish, and was really self conscious about how I looked.

I moved to Tennessee in August of 2011, (knowing no one, to start a new job) and joined a gym for something to do. I dabbled around at it, then the holidays started and I got heavier, and hit 183, my highest ever. I made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight, yet again. In January 2012, I got a free session with a trainer, who was sympathetic to my tale of woe. She listened to my frustrations, and then she told me she had something for me that she thought would really appeal to me. Her words were, “as a nurse (I’m a registered nurse for 34 years) you will like the science behind this plan.” She wrote your website down for me, and I was interested enough to look at it.

I studied your website for about three weeks. I read every article, every link, several success stories. I signed up for your emails, and started having many “aha” moments. I ordered the 21-Day Total Body Transformation, read it, and committed to trying it. I endured “low carb flu” and detoxed off sugar and learned how to shop differently. I started taking my lunches to work, and got a lot of questions about what many perceive as an odd eating style. Weight did not come off fast at first. I almost gave it up, about four weeks into it, because I was not seeing results like I wanted to see. I remember reading in your books, though, to stick with it and be patient and that eventually, without the constant influx of carbs my body was used to, it would HAVE to start burning my stored fat. At last, slowly but surely, pounds started dropping off.

When I bumped up my exercise by adding two or three Zumba classes a week, and walking more whenever I could, my weight loss accelerated. I noticed how much better my stomach was doing without so much bread and other grains. Over the years, I had been troubled by a lot of abdominal problems, and had one doctor tell me I had IBS. I have suffered lactose intolerance since childhood. I wasn’t having cravings anymore, I wasn’t hungry two or three hours after eating, wasn’t having frequent hypoglycemic episodes like before, and wasn’t desperate to find anything I could find to eat like I had previously.

I tell people I was a good student. I studied your information, and did what you said to do, including the planks, squats, pushups, and working on pull-ups. I started as an 80/20 girl, and I am moving over time more toward 90/10 now. I find that “when I stray, I pay” with the way I feel in my body. I’ve learned to listen to it, and be more attentive to what it’s telling me.

I have gone from 183 pounds to 143 pounds in seven months, from size 16 to size 8, and have lost 11 inches off my total measurements. My skin looks clear and bright, my hair is shinier, I feel so much better. I have more mental clarity. I am very aware of feeling lighter and how much easier movement is. I feel stronger. I have had to buy a whole new wardrobe. Even my shoes don’t fit. My FEET lost weight!

Mark, I read your articles and comments so often I feel like I know you. I want to say thank you. I am so happy that your information was given to me and that I actually looked at it!!! I am hoping very much to attend one of your Primal Conventions. Maybe 2014! The best way I can sum it up is by saying this:

I didn’t know how bad I felt before, until I started feeling so GOOD!

I’ve gone from being a sugar burner to a fat burner, and it’s still coming off. When I tell others about the PB plan, I feel like I’m paying it forward. I have started to give your website information to fellow medical staff and even some patients who ask my advice on nutrition and weight loss. I also gave it to my 23 year old son and told him I regret not feeding him better as a child! I didn’t realize until I really “got it” that food is medicine, and what you put into your body is of utmost importance to good health, and quality longevity. There is a shocking lack of good dietary and nutritional information out there, for the general public. We are still spoon fed what I now consider terribly erroneous information about food in general. I’m trying to help change that in some small way by explaining what I now know to people, and hoping they are interested enough to pursue it for themselves. I stand as an example that it can be done.

Thank you again for life changing information. I will continue to be a fan.

Sincerely,

Lynn

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