35 days on strict carnivore diet and have crappy results

newbies
#21

I say in advance that I am no carnivore, maybe one day, I just flirt with it and try to stay close as my body feels better with less carbs. But I couldn’t resist reading your last comment.

To me, carnivore is cheaper than keto (the style I personally tried, of course, one can spend insane amounts on any diet) but I don’t eat really much meat on carnivore (and close to zero on keto)… The other part is that I eat way more if I eat plants… So skipping them is good for my budget too. (As I never needed medication on any diet, I can’t say it helps with that. But it may be true for others.)
But I have some pretty cheap meat right now, almost as cheap as my eggs! I only use trusted local farms, normal stores are out and still, not every kind of meat is expensive… And well, I for one don’t want to get extremely much protein from my food… When I will need more calories, I will eat more fat in percentage. The costs between a 1200 or a 2000 kcal day for the same person isn’t necessarily huge… You need your protein, nutrients - but for energy? Fat is fine.
It’s possible you can’t handle very fatty food first, though… But as you don’t need very much energy, it’s fine now. And maybe simply eating meat is the best but if you can’t afford that, at least eat more calories, 1200 is super low! Not everyone can handle it, to put it lightly, I surely wouldn’t, my body would complain soon.

I am sure carnivore, even keto or low-carb isn’t for everyone. But sometimes it’s the chosen food, the macros, the timing that must be done right.
And you have serious problems. You can’t expect any great woe would cure them right away. And 35 days is almost right away, it’s a very short time… It doesn’t matter that when most people feel better, it’s very individual, obviously.

(GINA ) #22

If you are eating just cheap steak as you said in your first post, I wonder if you are getting enough fat. Fat is crucial for brain health, so if you are not I suspect in may make your anxiety, etc worse.

I have no personal experience with carnivore, but it seems like I read about people eating a greater variety of meats and they seem to be fattier.

#23

Guess we have different definitions. Continuing to eat in a way you don’t enjoy and not giving the results you want is insane to me. Sounds like your end result so far is very little good and a whole lot of bad. Good Luck!

#24

this is a Catch 22. SAD to carnivore. Tough friggin’ change. Most of us in zc have walked extreme low carb and had a path…those going ‘all in from SAD’ haven’t experienced change/what they need and more’ so yea I get what you said………if you are feeling it SAD to zc, the walk the ‘low carb’ or ‘keto way’ first and take baby steps on where one needs to be to eat thru long term life and best results IF you are making your daily eating plan a focus to healthy. We all gotta find us in this whole thing.

I almost want to recommend the newbie go back a step. Cause while we know Carnivore all in gives massive great benefits, without that journey all in and holding it fine are stellar for some, many just can’t handle it.

#25

it is a personal journey of fat/protein and meat to heal we require but yes, a fattier cut of red meat trumps the most for zc people…but in the end of that many say pork and chicken and more is what they flourish on with seafood included…so? One must walk the carnivore walk to know themselves :wink: If ya ain’t all in you won’t get it on a personal level for an individual person and what it takes.

#26

Just to point out that these are also symptoms of a “mild” coronavirus infection. Differential diagnosis, if you may.

(Jack) #27

Actually from what I read online, chuck steaks are some of the cheapest and have pretty high fat content and I eat sirloins too, but was eating more chuck for the first 18 days. I also just checked and downstairs I have shoulder steak so I guess I eat all kinds now, just buy random ones that seem to be higher in fat and sometimes a little less fat.

When I say I “could eat more but don’t feel like it” its a strange thing to describe. Its like a feeling of my stomach having empty room but I’m not hungry at the same time. I have a theory that my stomach grew so much from all that heavy calorie abuse for years that I’m experiencing my body both being satiated and having extra room in my stomach for the first time since I’ve been a kid. Where as before this diet, when I ate until my stomach felt like it was about to explode, that was the only time I felt full. I literally HAD to stuff myself to the brim or I’d still want more food.

(Jack) #28

Is baking soda carnivore though?

(Mary) #29

Well, a tsp has zero carbs… I figure that if it helps you feel better, it may make carnivore compliance easier.

(Jack) #30

I’ve heard of people taking a bite of an apple and feeling anxious and depressed for a week because of it while on the carnivore diet so thanks but no thanks.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #31

The technical term for this is “satiety.” It’s a weird feeling, when one isn’t used to it. It means, however, that your chronically elevated insulin level has dropped, and insulin is no longer interfering with your hunger and satiety hormones.

This is typical of a high-carbohydrate diet, because (a) much of the energy in our food is being stored in our fat tissue, rather than nourishing our cells; and (b) insulin is blocking receptors in the brain that are supposed to register various hormones related to hunger and satiety (leptin in particular). I used to eat half a pound to a pound of spaghetti, be afraid of rupturing my stomach, and still crave more food.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #32

Paradoxically, acid reflux is the result of insufficient stomach acid, rather than the reverse. But if you need to take bicarbonate, do so. It is a mineral, so it doesn’t count as either meat or plant. And besides, carnivore allows the taking of medicines, plant-based though they may be.

(Jack) #33

Okay I’ll look into that thanks a lot.

#34

It’s not strange, it’s actually quite normal. My stomach can hold 2 liters as far as I know, I surely ate that much in one sitting zillion times without a problem - and I only eat the fragment of that nowadays until I get totally full (not like I often do that, I just want satiation). My stomach state has absolutely nothing to do with my hunger and I find that very logical and natural but there are volume eaters… And if you ate HCLF, well that’s not satiating to many of us… I did HCHF (high protein too) so I could get nicely satiated without eating too much for my impressive stomach (I just ate a ton of calories every time but that rarely felt bad) but a normal stomach or too little fat and protein combined with someone who can’t get satiated well with carby food, yeah, I can imagine it results in what you described. It sounds very bad and painful. (If many people have this on high-carb, why they do this, I wonder? No idea what to change?)

So it’s very normal for our appetite to turn off after we had enough, carbs messing with it is the abnormal case, it’s quite tragical the most common woe is very carby and the carbs often are bad even among carbs. Many people are fine on a carby diet but very many of us aren’t. I hadn’t even any idea about the existence of low-carb diets for decades… I just felt I need lots of protein and fat. But the carbs always were there, messing with me. Even on keto while I was eating vegetables in more than tiny amounts. Keto has different styles, carby diets are very different from each other too and there are the individual people… We should find what works for us best.

#35

Yea this is a great feeling but very weird to experience it at first.
absolutely normal and will be a new more normal for you.

Like ya said, we ate til we exploded and bloated and we knew being stuffed like a turkey and icky in the tummy from that. Zero carb takes that away. Leaves you being satisfied nutritionally and your body doesn’t scream ‘fill me up to the brim’ cause you are being so well nourished your body doesn’t require filling to the brim anymore.

I am in love with this feeling. I will never miss the over full stomach and misery of that old eating. This will become a feeling you will truly love probably, I know I love it LOL…the old saying, feeling light on your feet…that is what comes to mind for me. Feel light on my feet cause my heavy stuffed belly ain’t slowing me down anymore HAHA

#36

Wow! 240 to 211 that’s good. You’re doing better than me. I think if you pick your battles you’ll do better. One thing or goal at a time. So concentrate on clean eating for weight issues and overall health. Other things might resolve without you stressing over them or even realizing they have resolved. Rome wasn’t built in a day, you didn’t get the way you are in a day either. Slow and steady wins the race. You’re doing great so far.

#37

Go get a blood test and have your Vitamins checked because I see Vitamin A and D deficiency.

Skin issues due to Sunshine deficiency.

(Sama Hoole) #38

There’s more to the healthy lifestyle than nutrition alone. And five weeks is nothing in the grand scheme of reversing all the metabolic issues. A decent diet should just be something running along in the background, I think people just tend to get too obsessive over the minutiae.

(Jack) #39

If I get to my goal weight of 175-180 pounds, which could be like 30-50 days away, and I still have psoraisis and all the mental issues and stuff then I definitely won’t stay on it anymore. I’m not waiting past 70-80 days for a diet to work, especially if it means bringing myself to a weight I don’t want to be. This is my 40th day now, still no good benefits besides weight loss and I’m down to 208 pounds.

(Jack) #40

Pretty much my only happiness came from food, my life is pretty bad/dark. Trying to fix it but just saying, food literally made me feel like I had purpose or something lol.