Brand New to Carnivore - Question on Protein/Fat Percentages


#21

…aaaand I’m back. Hope you’ve all been well. Welcome Joe2.
Personally I measure nothing, unless I’m making a cocktail which I find myself doing less frequently as I get older. The most beautiful thing to me about carnivore is learning body signals.
I eat a lot of chuck roast as the fat content seems to be about right for me. Yeah, I didn’t really answer your question but wanted to say hi and let you know, at least IMO, not to sweat things too much.


#22

Hi Bob and welcome back.
Thanks for the help - I was just a bit concerned about way too much protein intake but when I found out that eating the meats i enjoy will fill the bill, well I’m off to the races! I too like the chuck roasts. I’ve started asking the meat department guys to cut a beef roast in half lengthwise so basically I have two chuck steaks - it gives me about the same flavor and fat content that I get in a ribeye with quite a lower cost.


#23

Exactly. It’s the poor man’s ribeye. :grin:
I love to cut it up into chunks and sear it in cast iron.


(Megan) #24

Weight loss seems a very individual thing, on any way of eating. Some people just lose easier than others. Age, genetics, hormones, amount of excess fat and a whole bunch of other things come into play. Wanting to lose weight encourages all our dieting baggage to interfere, so keep an eye out for it. Carnivore and clean keto are ways of eating that heal the body, and weight loss can often be a very welcome side effect. Healing/repair can be costly for our bodies, you absolutely must eat if you want it to happen. Some people eat a lot on carnivore, especially during the 1st intense healing phase, which usually lasts many, many months. If your body wants food, eat. Don’t be scared of eating. Also, carnivore isn’t a fast weight loss way of eating for most people, so make sure your expectations line up with that.

My n=1 (personal experience) is as follows: I am a 61 year old, largely sedentary 6 foot 3 inch (188 cm) woman. Weight loss goal is about 27 kg (59 pounds). I started carnivore 7 months ago and have lost 17 kg so far. I mostly eat fatty pork (shoulder with a thick fat cap), pork shoulder chops, 80/20 ground beef, rump steak, topside roast, eggs a few times a week, a few slices of colby cheese most days, 200-300 grams of unsweetened low carb greek yoghurt most days and heavy cream (in my many coffees thruout the day). These are the foods most enjoyable, available and affordable to me - a mix of very fatty thru to quite lean. I’d eat much fattier cuts of beef if they were available and affordable, but they’re not.

I eat as much as I want to, whenever I want to. I keep it very simple - no thinking about macros, no eating windows, no limits on portion size. Anywhere from 1-2.5 pounds of meat a day, depending on appetite. This is working for me, but it definitely wouldn’t work for everyone. We all have to find what works for us, individually.

Some people do fine eating from a wide array of carnivore foods (which include dairy), others need to focus mainly on beef and ditch dairy and sometimes pork. Some folks drink coffee, some don’t. Some folks use low carb spices on their meats, some just salt. Avoid people who act like carnivore is a religion and you must do it a certain way. It all comes down to the issues we’re trying to address, our personal preferences, and our individual bodies. Good luck finding what works for you!


#25

Hi Megan,

Thanks so much for such a treasure trove of advice, observations and philosophy - it helps. And congrats on your weight loss so far. I’m a similar age and unfortunately, retirement hasn’t been good for my waistline…haha. But more ijmportantly, I’ve had some numbers in my blood workups that I want to get a handle on and have a tendency for inflammation. I think people have different levels of passion regarding just about everything so it’s good to get different perspectives. I’m a huge beef and pork fan so that part of this is welcome - I do get a bit confused about some items…i see some views that eggs are just fine for the diet, others say no…and I eat a lot of eggs so I’ll just tell myself the ones that say they are fine are correct. LOL Again, thank you for the time you’ve taken to help me.


(Megan) #26

If it comes from an animal and has no non-animal substance added to it, it’s carnivore. There are all sorts of ridiculous dogma type statements you’ll probably encounter, and some conjure up value judgements. For example, you’ll hear someone say they do “strict carnivore”. Firstly, what the heck does that even mean? One person’s “strict carnivore” may look different from another persons. And then there’s the possible value judgement that “strict carnivore” is a better form of carnivore. But it all depends on the issues we’re trying to use a way of eating to address. Welcome to the internet lol.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #27

I don’t think any serious carnivore would tell you that eggs are not part of the diet. (What do you think, @amber?)

Dairy is more complicated, since it’s not actually the animal, even though it’s an animal product. And a lot of people have problems with dairy products one way or another and can’t eat them, so there’s that, too.

In any case, the long-term carnivores I’m familiar with tend not to tell people to do or not do anything; they tend to talk instead about what works for them and let you figure out what works for you.


(Megan) #28

Dairy is carnivore. Some carnivores eat it, some don’t. Some folks’ bodies react to it and some folks find it stalls weight loss. Plus not all dairy is created equal. I wouldn’t drink milk, for example. Way too carby. But I happily eat colby cheese (less than 1g carbs per 100 grams), low carb unsweetened greek yoghurt and heavy cream. Btw I specify low carb unsweetened greek yoghurt because some unsweetened greek yoghurts have a ridiculous amount of carbs in them. Goat and sheep cheese and yoghurt is a favourite for some carnivores. I’d definitely eat that over cow cheese and yoghurt if I could afford it.


(Alec) #29

Been carnivore for 12 months, and like most carnivores here, I have not worried about protein fat ratios. All I do is look for the fattiest cut of meat when I go to the supermarket. I value fat on meat… the fattier the better. If I can see the fat on a steak, this is good. If there’s none, I pass.
Cheers
Alec


#30

I can only speak for myself but I don’t follow such things, fat/protein ratio, although I prefer my meat with a good layer of fat on it. Eggs of course. Cheese and cream. For me enjoyment of food means everything. If I didn’t enjoy it I wouldn’t last long on this WOE, and worrying about macros, fat/protein ratio, measuring ketones, would certainly take away that enjoyment for me. I just eat, and enjoy, and because the food is so clean my tastebuds have sharpened and everything tastes so much better. So … enjoy your WOE, is my advice, unless your body tells you otherwise. And don’t worry. Healing is an individual journey, but all of us, I am sure, find that patience and willingness to play the slow and steady game is key. Any small improvement in health is significant. And if your body continues to feel good, then just carry on and time will tell if it is right for you.


#31

I’ve read only beef is the totally strict version :slight_smile:
Relaxed is with dairy and spices, maybe?
I don’t really care about labels, I have my own definitions anyway, my strict obviously contains eggs :wink: But if I say “strict carnivore”, I think of the beef or meat only one as to me it seems it’s the as official as possible definition - but definitely not with dairy or spices and condiments. Dairy causes problems for many, not a good enough elimination and spices aren’t carnivore items even if they are fine on a more relaxed carnivore as the amount is tiny.

But maybe some people eat only beef with a tad of spice and call it strict…

Hear, hear! And not just the issues, I simply wouldn’t be able to do carnivore for 2 days (probably not even for 1 without extreme efforts) if someone would take away my precious, lovely, useful, versatile eggs. I need a little dairy for variety too and as long as they don’t harm me or interfere, why not? Strict carnivore is for people who can handle it, like it, get is some extra benefit or just want to try if it solves their problems… Not everyone needs that level of strictness. (And not everyone can afford beef but not everyone needs beef, fortunately.)


#32

The internet has lots of carnivore communities and it’s true that they can have slightly different takes on the same phrases, but people should always ask for clarification if they’re not sure. It’s hard to find common ground if we’re not using terminology in the same way.

My understanding of the difference between carnivore and strict carnivore that we talk about here, is that the former group sometimes includes small amounts of spices or sweeteners, or occasionally minor concessions of having non-carnivore food.

In contrast to this, strict carnivore emphasises that these people are only eating from: meat, fish, eggs, dairy - and do not use anything else that is not from the animal kingdom.

Instead of being a value judgement, sometimes people genuinely do experience differences between the two forms of carnivore - nobody is saying that other people aren’t doing it right, or that you’re a better person if you do it one way or another way. It’s hard to discern the motivations of others online, but I can’t recall coming across other people in this community who truly care what someone else eats. Instead, people tend to share what worked or didn’t work for them, in an effort to help others.

For me, the difference between strict or not was tangible - so I often share that experience so other people can consider whether it’s something they wish to experiment with at some point whilst on plan.


#33

My views are similar except I drink milk now sometimes :slight_smile: Just a little (my SO uses up any amount I leave), WAY less carbs than when I buy Greek yogurt (that’s only mine). That is the only dairy item I don’t eat in moderation… I could learn but I buy it once a month at most, it’s harmless enough and I enjoy having more than a little bit of it, helps with variety…
It’s about as sugary as sour cream I think, I never watched the carb content to see if they are different… But you say the unsweetened ones aren’t similar? Not even when they are all 10% fat (almost all are like that here) or the higher-carb is with lower-fat? I only buy 10% greek yogurt as it’s already quite low-carb dairy for me (and because I only saw a lower-fat one once) but I still like it…

I actually don’t care about my carb intake on carnivore but I still try not to overdo milk (as I could drink a lot, it’s easy. I am just able to moderate myself as well and choose to do that).
And I have this dairy minimalisation attitude. I only add them if I feel the need or really fancy them, not willy-nilly just because they exist in my fridge… (It took time to reach this. I love dairy. But if I don’t need or particularly want it, why not to be simple? Simple is my aim.)


#34

Some people can just eat whatever they fancy. I overdo fat too easily but it got better on carnivore with some experience. I finally learned to enjoy leanish pork (fresh ham. with a generous fat layer on top nowadays, the last bunch is sooo good). But I need much fat so my ideal (if I don’t want to eat extra fat on the actual day) is still pork chuck, I enjoy it the most too. Moderately fatty, just what I need. But the leaner pork is lovely too when I fry the fattiest part :wink:
My fat/protein ratio is sensitive, too low and I overeat protein, too high and I overeat fat and that’s wasteful, I don’t have money to waste. Among other reasons. This overeating comes in the evening or at night and ruins my chill.

It doesn’t mean I don’t try to use exotic ratios here and there, it’s fun to experiment. But I usually don’t care about the ratio, I just focus on my properly fatty meats and eggs. And not eating without a need, it goes pretty well lately.

Playing with numbers is FUN to me though :slight_smile: And sometimes informative. So it depends on the person and how they do it. I don’t worry, tracking is easy… But I will be glad when I automatically will be able to eat right, without plan, without boredom… I want this as my slightly more complicated recipes: an option when I am in the mood but not a mandatory thing. I want to chill and letting things go smoothly automatically, that should be my default.


#35

Great perspective. Thank you!