Primal vs. dirty, or the very bro-est of sciences...

Despite there being over 9000 forum posts in the ongoing debate between eating dirty and clean (and specifically between paleo and the world...) I wanted to share my experience with both styles of eating and fitness. Let me say first that I don't want to block anybody's shine. If you're doing one or the other and if you're content with your results, then by all means continue on your merry way. But I've had a pretty drastic comparative experience with both and I thought I'd share.

I first started MFP about 2 years ago then moved and quit for a few months. On my first go around, my wife and I were following the Primal Blueprint pretty closely. I say pretty closely because organic food is a bit difficult to get around here...at least for a reasonable budget. However, between the recommended diet and exercise routine, I saw some pretty positive benefits. In about 6 months I lost well over 60 pounds, and felt amazing. However, I didn't see very much of a decrease in my measurements. It wasn't a bad way though overall.

We came back to MFP about a month ago, and due to our budget, we had to be a lot more discerning with the way we ate. We've pretty much quit buying bread and eating a lot of pasta. (The wife was diagnosed with PCOS, and it was recommended that she cut back on gluten.) But overall, we've eaten pretty much what we wanted, including the occasional meal out (including bread and deep fried awesomeness). I did all the requisite calculations for our macros, and designed an exercise routine where we lift heavy four days a week and only do moderate cardio for two days. Even eating fairly dirty, but within our macros, and lifting in beast mode, we have posted far better numbers in our first month than we did in any couple of months following Primal/Paleo. In the last month, I've lost almost 10 pounds, 4 inches off my waist, 1 off my hips, and 1 off my biceps. Despite losing more pounds before, my measurements were about that for the whole time I was on Primal Paleo. Her numbers have been relatively similar.

I guess my conclusion from this would be that as far as I'm concerned, a little math and a lot of hard work, while getting to eat pretty much whatever I want is far more sustainable and successful than all the restrictions otherwise. Again, if you're doing something different and you're content...good luck with it but if you're struggling, maybe give eating 80/20 clean and dirty a try while working in more strength training. (If you use MFP's calorie calculations as a guide be sure to eat back at least half or more of your exercise calories!)

Sorry this was so long. I realize that for some it's tl:dr, because "Ain't nobody got time for that.", but if you're curious about comparative results, this is my two cents.