A few questions about transitioning into Carnivore

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #1

I just want to confirm a few things regarding transitioning to Carnivore.

I’ve been fat adapted for 9-10 months.

  1. Can you still intermittent fast on Carnivore? Because I read somewhere it wasn’t advised.

I am doing this because I am struggling with carbs, I can’t seem to have any without wanting more so I am eliminating all of them. I’ve also stopped drinking coffee apart from 1 a day with almond milk and no sweetener.

  1. Will I go through an adaption process? Is that similiar to Keto Flu? I plan on drinking electrolytes and water only.

  2. I am looking to eat two meals a day, this will mostly be ground beef, rib eye fillets, chicken drumsticks, salmon, and burger patties.

Should I just eat until I am full?
I am not looking to count calories/macros but do want an idea of how much protein I should be eating?
I will be working out 5 days a week, for roughly 45 mins each day.
I am still looking to lose weight and build muscle. Weight training only, no cardio.

  1. I’ve read some people are putting on weight, is that because they are trying carnivore for the first time and have never been keto and they still have metabolic damage?

Going carnivore isn’t too different from what I do already, ie eating two meals with protein being the star, I am just dropping a majority of the dairy now and coffee.

Please help :slight_smile:

(Dawn O Miller) #2

I don’t know how much you weigh, but just some context, I am 5’4" and was 117lbs starting Carnivore, and was able to gain up to 3lbs on the diet, mostly muscle I can tell. Right now I am breaking from the diet to eat more fruit to help gain fat, the reason being I could not do IF on Carnivore. The longest I can fast is 14hrs and that’s it, otherwise I get really sick. I think if you have a lot of fat to lose, you can IF on Carnivore.

And I did go through Carni Flu as I transitioned from Keto to Carnivore, I developed some headaches and cramps, fatigue, brain fog, but it all got better.

I suggest following Dr. Shawn Baker’s advice to “Eat Meat Like It’s Your Job” especially in the 1st month of the diet, I think it helps with the transitioning.

(Elizabeth ) #3

Coming to carnivore after 2 years of keto myself, I had restricted down to 1500 calories a day and at my size I was hungry all the time. I did have six weeks of keto flu. There’s something about giving up those last bit of carbs, and I gained 8 lbs the first month, but I stuck with it and around the ninth month I just suddenly dropped 10 pounds , I attribute that to increasing from two to almost three pounds of meat a day. The number one reason people aren’t successful eating carnivore is that they don’t eat enough. Most of the veterans and mods with 10 years of experience or more recommend starting at about 2 lb a day. I’m pretty much at two meals a day of about a pound and a half of meat, roughly 7 or 8 hours apart. I don’t snack, and I only drink water. Dairy can be helpful in the beginning if you tolerate it, but I can’t. I also don’t eat eggs because I can’t digest them properly. I never feel hungry, I never feel deprived, I’m probably eating twice as much as I was on keto, and after that drop in the 10th month I’m losing about a half a pound a month. I didn’t switch to carnivore to lose weight though, I switched for the health benefits and I’ve had several of those. Here’s a brand new podcast that could be really helpful to you. [Ben Greenfield Fitness] The Truth About The Carnivore Diet: Everything You Need To Know About Dangers, Benefits, Mistakes & Hacks For Eating Only Meat.
http://podplayer.net/?id=65442691 via @PodcastAddict
Also check out www.zerocarbhealth.com

(Chris) #4

I also have this problem. Has to be all or nothing.

There’s a quick rant at the end of my n1 progress thread that addresses the zealotry some people think they encounter when asking about adaptation.

(charlie3) #5

I’m on a similar track to you, keto for a year (30 net carbs). Started zero carbs a few weeks ago. I do cardio, lifting, brisk walking, and track calories burned and consumed with Cronometer.

My biggest challenge with zero carb is to avoid over eating. To help with that I try to delay the first calories until mid day. On work days I skip breakfast and pack a lunch. Those are the easy days. On off days I exercise in the morning before eating anything. Another big help is not snacking. It’s better for me to eat an entire meal earlier than planned.

It also helps me to eat nothing (or almost nothing) one day a week. I can over eat a few days during the week and zero it out by eating nothing on one day.

My experience is adapting to zero carb has been a psychological, not a metabolic challenge. My body protests every diet change, at least for a while. Hopefully that’s how it will go this time.

(bulkbiker) #6

I only eat once or max twice a day and am 95% carnivore. I think most carnis eat within a restricted window most seem to skip breakfast.
When I started I didn’t really get any keto flu symptoms but had been having fewer and fewer veg anyway so it wasn’t a very dramatic thing to stop them.
Most carnivores will say don’t count anything just eat to satiety… I just eat and record everything but don’t design meals around macros .
I still have the dairy and coffee though (hence the 95%)…

(Running from stupidity) #7

:joy::roll_eyes:

#8

Beem ZC for about 8-9 months now. Came over from keto which I was for about a year. No issues for me cause I also followed a meat heavy keto. You can definitely do IF with ZC. I was OMAD keto and just went straight to ZC OMAD. No issues. I still hit the same amount of calories(yes I track all). This comes out to around 3lbs of meat for me. Nothing much changed I just feel cleaner/more clear on ZC. And I was doing keto with ~15g of total carbs for inflammation control/elimination. As for the weight gain it cause it’s suppose to heal the body and balance it first. FWIW I kept tracking a slow steady gain in lean mass just like when I was keto, which has been my goal for a while now.

(Dawn O Miller) #9

Well I figured fructose will hopefully fatten me up, so it’s either fresh fruits or soda, and I picked fruits…despite the fact that soda would be a guarantee to fatten me up, lol.

(Nicole) #10

I tried carnivore a few times before it became my norm. I am not a strict carnivore though, I drink coffee and tend to have some plant every couple of weeks.

One time I did gain about 10lbs for a month but I could feel I was getting smaller. I had already lost most of my weight and was a normal bmi by then, so I could easily feel that the scale was lying. About 6 weeks in I suddenly lost about 15 lbs.

I have been mostly carnivore for close to a year now. I tend to not eat before 12-3pm on most days. Between that and bed I eat 2-4 times, depending on my schedule.

I increased sodium a bit when I dropped carbs to avoid any electrolyte imbalance. It worked
I felt fine.

Now I just enjoy steadier energy, better cognition, better weight management ( I have poor carb control too), and much better arthritis pain reductions.
Good luck.

(KCKO, KCFO) #11

Amber O’Hearn has a couple of blogs about carnivory and is even writing a book about it. Start here and also check out the other blogs that are linked in it. She just pulled off the first carnivore only people’s conference in Boulder, it was very successful.

#12

Hey Elizabeth, I realize I’m replying to an old post, but I’ve been reading some of your replies and I wanted to ask you your thoughts. I have found I get the best success when I am “Mostly eating carnivore”. I say mostly because… coffee with HWC, Monk fruit, and a square of dark choc. Otherwise meat (very min cheese). So I don’t consider myself the label “carnivore“, but yeah, anyway; so my question is, do you recommend someone increasing their meat intake only if their body is hungry for it? Like if a woman is eating 1.5 lbs of meat and feels full, is it possible she’d need to increase even if she’s not hungry? And with that being said, would the recommendation to increase ONLY be for strict carnivore? For example, would it be a bad idea for me to increase meat if I’m also having those other items i mentioned? To give some context, I’m not really trying to lose much weight, but could lose a tad bit more bodyfat (and would like to lose the 5 I gained back recently by going out of control with non-carnivore keto foods - lol, and by my theory over-doing fat and under-doing protein). Also for more perspective, I am 39, 5 foot three and at the moment 130 pounds. When I was “mostly eating carnivore“ most of 2019, I was down to 125-126. Thank you for reading!

(Elizabeth ) #13

If you’re having one cup of coffee with monk fruit a small amount of cream and a single square of dark chocolate if that’s all you’re really having I don’t think it’s going to have too much of an effect on your metabolism, if your brain isn’t craving more. We do recommend that people try 30 days just meat and water only if you’re able to do that you might find that you like it :slight_smile: but if you’re tolerating it and not increasing or having other cravings then more power to you :slight_smile: but rather than eat more meat I would recommend you drop those first and see if that makes a difference. Cheese tends to be problematic for a lot of people. But with just a few pounds to lose it doesn’t sound like you have a lot of metabolic damage or insulin resistance which definitely needs more meat :slight_smile:

#14

Thank you so much for your thoughts and ideas! :blush::blush::blush: