Branden Espinoza

I am, by no stretch of the imagination, a skinny guy. Now anyone who knows me will vouch that I am as strong as an ox, but to be fair, a portly ox… with a penchant for pizza… and cheeseburgers… and pretty much anything from Buca di Beppo. I’ve been fighting fat my entire adult life, and I’ve ridden the bucking bronco of fitness routines. Some worked better than others. A few kept me motivated. But in the end, my girth has maintained an inversely proportional relationship with my outstanding years of young adulthood. The fewer years I had left of my youth, the fluffier I became.

Enter Mark Sisson, creator of the Primal Blueprint and evolutionary blogger at Mark’sDailyApple.com.

Here’s how it went down. I’ve got a coworker that is a CrossFitter. CrossFitters are annoying… they are the Ron Paul supporters of the fitness world. For months all I heard from him was “WOD, Clean, PR, Deadlift, Muscle Up, kettleball, paleo, zone, primal, paleo, primal, paleo… etc.” (Perhaps I deserved it, all he heard from me was “liberty, Rothbard, Mises, Paul, non-aggression, peace, capitalism, anarchy, peace, anarcho-capitalism, peace anarcho-capitalism.”) I even went to a CrossFit gym once, it was hell. I nearly puked. Don’t get me wrong, those dudes a tough as they come, just way beyond anything this dough ball was ever going to keep up with. So I quit. Again.

But it was different this time. I was afraid. I swallowed that bitter pill of acceptance. I realized, for the first time in my life, that not only was I fat, but that I was dying. I couldn’t remember the last time I had slept well. I couldn’t remember the last time I didn’t have acid reflux problems, I had been living on 150 mg of ratinidine 2x per day for way too long. That’s twice the maintenance dose. I became so out of shape that I could no longer put on socks or tie my shoes while standing up. I was completely winded by getting to the third floor of our apartment building. To top it off, I had just married a beautiful bride 8 1/2 years younger than I. I was totally mindfreaked. I tried to hide it from those around me, but I’m afraid I didn’t do that well.

Then, on my 32nd birthday, I listened to an episode over at LewRockwell.com entitled “Just Do the Opposite of What the Goverment Says to Do”. That got my attention. It was an interview with Mark Sisson. I was introduced to the ideas of living as our ancestral archetype Grok had lived, though in the modern world. I downloaded Mark’s book “Primal Blueprint”. The logic was sound. Humans evolved, or were created, before the days of agriculture. Our genetic makeup was selected, naturally or divinely, to achieve maximum gene expression by consuming a pre-agricultural diet. I learned that any deviation from that diet risks triggering epigenetic responses, altering the expression of the very genes we have. That we are stuck with the DNA we were given is true, but how those genes express themselves is up to us.

It took me a few more months to break through the fog and a couple of weeks to onboard the diet, but as of 6 days ago, I am Grok. On day 1 I stopped taking my acid reducers. After two days of no grains, beans, or legumes, I was able to sleep on my left side with no heartburn. I was able to hug my wife all night long.

I’m on day six of this new lifestyle. The carb cravings are not nearly as intense as I had feared. I have more energy than ever. Plus, I finally have a reason to go to sleep that outweighs the natural competitor in me that used to find reasons to stay awake. In the two weeks since I started this adventure I have lost 5.8 lbs. Not much, but I promise you it isn’t 5.8 lbs of water nor of muscle.

April 1, 2012
Weight: 273.6

Today:
Weight: 267.8 (-5.8)

Please, follow me… or better yet, join me. Send me words of encouragement. I’m sure there will be days ahead when I fall short of the ideal, I tend to spiral when I fail. Your words just may be what I need to pick myself up after I stumble. I’m so excited for this lifestyle change and would love to share this path with others.