4 month carnivore, why high triglycerides?

(Su) #1

Hi I’ve been done carnivore 4 month (no cheating, only meat, egg, coffee and butter), gained 10lb (I was normal weight now overweight, not muscle, all gained fat even workout 3 times a week), also lost menstrual period. So I got the blood work.

Total cholesterol 527 Hdl 79 Ldl 415 Triglycerides 167

Seemingly got worse, I was doing keto 1 year before carnivore and cholesterol was perfect (hdl 80 ldl 160 triglycerides 50). My fasting glucose is 70, a1c is 5.1 and thyroid panel normal which is fine. Wondering why triglycerides go up. I’m still tired and my hands/feet always cold I might not be fat adapted? So frustrated since everyone on this diet lost weight and triglycerides improved.

My daily meals: 2mad, 5-8g of salt,1oz of butter, 2 eggs, fatty beef/lamb 1-1.5lb sometimes fish cook with ghee/lard. Now I stopped coffee because I saw coffee might impact on the cholesterol. (But when I was keto, no issue with coffee)
For supplements, i’ve been taking magnesium, coq10, vit c
If any advice would be appreciated!

(Bob M) #2

Coffee does affect some.

Are you losing weight? Or eating lower calorie?

Did you get a real thyroid panel (with a lot of tests)? Or just TSH?

(Su) #4

Nope I gained 10lb. Started normal weight, bmi was 20, and thyroid normal as I mentioned above. Not sure coffee impact, cuz triglycerides was around 40-70 when I was on keto with coffee.

(Chuck) #5

Regardless of what some say you have to watch how much you eat. And if possible stay active by at least walking.

(Alec) #6

Su
Interesting! Increasing trigs is not what we would expect, is it? Here’s my opinion: your cholesterol level and trigs are devised by your body, and they are both fundamental to life as humans. I would be trusting what your body wants to do while you are eating carni/proper human diet.

I see nothing that you are doing that is wrong. My personal course of action in your position would be to just keep on keeping on on carnivore. There is nothing you are eating that will cause an issue health-wise. It is what we are supposed to eat, what we were built to eat. I would not be moving away from that because of a perception that some blood marker is out of what you have been told is the right range. I would be trusting what your body is doing.

The only scenario where I would have a different view is if you started feeling generally unwell for unknown reasons. In that case, then a dietary shake up would be what I would do. But I am not hearing that you feel in any way unwell?

Also, with the high trigs, if you are concerned this may lead to CVD, go get a CAC or a CT scan done… not expensive and these things measure the actual disease rather than some discredited proxy marker… high trigs is not a disease!
Cheers
Alec

(KM) #7

Oh, this is Sooo the challenge. Do we go with what we believe and how we feel, or a marker we are told is the goal. I seriously can’t answer that for anyone else.

For me, personally, there’s a limit to how far I’m going to chase someone else’s goalpost when my own perception and research tells me I’m fine, on track. Even if I’m eventually proven wrong, I think I will be happier, if not healthier, having followed my own beliefs, whether that’s about my weight, BMI, some ratio, or any other other-derived standard. Because I would rather follow my own star. I’m just fine if someone else eventually views my efforts and says well, that clearly didn’t work. I live (or not), they learn . :grin:.

Ymmv.

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #8

Welcome to the Forum :grin:

Surprised by this. Coffee wasn’t an issue in my experience. Trigs normally drop like a stone. Are you hungry?
I wouldn’t give up. Can’t see how eating carbs help anything.

(Cathy) #9

Not trying to be rude but any possibility of pregnancy?

(Su) #10

Unfortunately, i’ve been trying to conceive… not pregnant

(Su) #11

Hi i’ve been workout 3 times a week,

(Su) #12

Hi i’m not hungry, looks like digestion is slow, so I started taking betaine hcl too. My feet and hands always cold. Might be not fat metabolizing at all. Just wondering I was on keto(mostly nuts/olive oil/avocado/no butter and sheep cheese/goat yogurt) my trig was really normal like 40-70. After carnivore, gained weight and trig is going crazily high. Can’t understand why even I don’t eat any carbs.

(Chuck) #13

I do a modified diet, it is all real food from mother earth. No processed food, no fast food, no soft drinks, no sugar, no wheat. I am 77 years old my lab results are all normal for a healthy 35 year old. I am not on any prescription drugs. I eat fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, nuts, meat of all types, and all types of seafood. I cook with bacon fat, olive oil and butter. For me it has been removal of any factory or chemical lab created food or drugs.

#14

You know that thing repeated over and over that what you eat doesn’t affect your levels? Ya, total BS for many of us! Are you tracking your intake? If not, no point in checking cholesterol because you have nothing to compare it too. This is where a tracker like Cronometer is great, you could graph your fat intake vs your choleserol levels and see plain as day how it effects YOU.

When I ate standard keto for 4yrs, my levels were usually in the 225-250 range most of the time, trigs were always low, like 40’s. When I switched to my TKD/CKD Hybrid thing I do now I average in the 130’s. Trigs are still that low. But 527? Your viewpoint is your own, We’ve basically proven that the 200 number / threshold means nothing, and that we’re going to have higher trigs when they’re delivering fat based nutrition around, but pretending our cholesterol doesn’t matter either is just as insane as the 200=statins mentality. You may not be doing that, hopefully not, but unless you totally discredit it mattering at all, I’d be working on lowering that. Have you ever done an NMR so you at least get your particle breakdown?

#15

If you are not in a calorie deficit, you will find it hard to lose weight. The increased triglycerides may or may not reverse with more time. TBH that worries me because it’s unexpected. The loss of your period when you are trying to conceive is probably not helping. If you are feeling stress about the situation, that will also not help. Ultimately you will need to decide what is best for you based on your goals. Based on what you’ve said, keto worked well for you. If you don’t feel like you are not reaping the benefits of carnivore, then keto may be a better choice for you.

(Joey) #16

Without getting into your own lipid numbers vs what others’ numbers look like, this suggestion above seems to make the most sense. Before going full carnivore, it sounds like you were in a good place … why mess with success? :vulcan_salute: