I tried Carnivore Priming to reset my metabolism. I ate 2x normal for 11 days - the priming coaches say you need to do 2 weeks, but I had to stop eating that much. I was eating 400g ground beef 3 x per day.
I quit coffee and alcohol
I gained 3 kg
My bowels are not working properly - I have to “go” but can’t
a week after priming I am still holding onto the extra weight
I deeply regret ever trying this. I now have 10 kg to lose, not 7.
Anyone else tried priming?
I may have to fast to get everything back to normal…
Nope, sounds dumb. One of the principles of the carnivore diet is to eat to satiety. When you eat fatty meat this is very satiating as it is nutrient dense. That means your body tells you it’s had enough real quick. And that is one of the mechanisms of losing body mass, as you actually eat less than you may do on other less nutrient rich diets.
To go in with an “eat twice what you normally do” principle is just mad.
I agree with @Alecmcq, it sounds bloody dumb. You don’t need a coach to tell you how to eat a particular way. Just read up on it and decide for yourself if you want to do it and how you want to do it. Constipation is common when making a significant change to what we eat, as is diarrhea. Our digestive system needs a good few weeks to transition.
If you’re experiencing constipation make sure you are drinking enough water and eating enough salt. We need more salt, especially initially, compared to folks eating a standard western type diet. Supplementing with magnesium can also be very helpful for constipation. Lots of folks here recommend magnesium citrate.
2 weeks is also not enough time to do carnivore or keto, because of the transition time - some of which is becoming fat adapted. I also don’t know of any way to magically reset your metabolism in 2 weeks. Sounds like a marketing ploy - promising something very appealing whilst delivering very little. If there are ways to magically reset your metabolism quickly, I’m sure someone here will chime in and share what they know.
Well, you certainly aren’t the first to try something that made things worse. Been there myself.
Just keep it simple and be patient. It’s a process. You got this!
PaulL
(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?)
#5
“Priming”? Never heard of it. I presume they mean priming as in “priming a pump”?
Quitting coffee and alcohol is probably a good thing. Coffee is debatable, and a great many carnivores don’t drink it. But it is considered carnivore, because quite a few members of the carnivore community still drink it. So you are free to drink coffee and still call yourself a carnivore.
Ethyl alcohol is a metabolic toxin, and it causes liver damage, so you are better off without it.
The weight gain is par for the course. Stick with carnivore, and it will eventually go away. Most people see a gain before the loss starts.
Constipation can be cured quite easily. First, if you have gone straight to carnivore from the standard Western diet, then you need to keep your salt intake up, because (in the absence of insulin) the kidneys excrete it more readily on carnivore and keto diets. So increasing your salt intake should help the constipation. Second, increase your fat intake. Your liver makes enough bile to absorb all the fat your body needs; the excess gets excreted and “greases the skids” on the way out.
Don’t stuff yourself. Eat to assuage your hunger. Don’t eat unless you are hungry, stop eating when you stop being hungry, and don’t eat again until you are hungry again. Your body will re-regulate itself, and you will start to see benefits, if you wait out the adaptation period.
Some people lose their hunger pangs on carnivore, and for them, Dr. Anthony Chaffee, an Americo-Australian neurosurgeon in Perth, advises cooking some meat. If it doesn’t taste good, then you’re not hungry. Put the meat away for when you are hungry. If it does taste good, then you are hungry, and so you should eat until the meat stops tasting good.
As far as how much to eat, start out at 2.0 g of protein/kg of lean mass/day and adjust from there. Remember that beef is 25% protein. Most guy carnivores I know eat around a kilo of meat a day (in other words 250 g of protein), the women, somewhat less. People’s need for protein is highly individual, so you will probably have to experiment to find the correct proportion of meat and fat for your body. The protein will be more absorbable if you eat it with the fat it comes with.
Remember that oils are plant foods, so be sure to cook with butter, tallow, lard, or bacon grease. A very small amount of herbs is okay, but anything more than that should be avoided. Also avoid condiments, except for salt.
Before trying the Carnivore Priming (new term to me), what was your way of eating? I know you have been keto and keto carnivore in previous years, but with excursions with sourdough bread and wine. Were you eating ground beef only? Are there other foods or supplements that are taken in this experiment (I’m concurin with @PaulL that salt is important versus constipation in a carnivore diet shift) ? Did your waist circumference measurement change? Did you measure blood glucose? Did you measure blood ketones? How physically active were you during the two weeks?
I think body measurements and clothes fit are better indicators, if the aim is body fat loss.
As a comment: 2 weeks seems to be a very short amount of time to reset a metabolism. But I do know that there are measurable changes (if monitored) in blood tests when changing a way of eating within a few days. Those changes happen within the parameters of the current metabolism. Resetting might be a longer quest for people with metabolic injury or disfunction.
“Don’t force feed yourself.” ‘Priming’ side-effect: can be lethargy.
I don’t know what carnivore priming is but I never listen to anyone and do what my body considers right (at least when it already has a good idea about it, sometimes I had to try new things but I never ever forced any changes). Maybe I am lucky my body guides me so well.
I don’t follow gurus and I don’t follow @PaulL’s advice either as it is both impossible and wrong for me. I follow my own body and sometimes mind, the latter can be wrong but what can I do…? My body is pretty reliable though the hunger/satiation signs are odd sometimes. Better if I choose my food well. Carnivore isn’t enough, it’s still very easy to massively overeat if it’s me, I need satiating food. And definitely not too much of it, not like I easily could do it with (not too fatty) red meat. And it’s probably impossible with beef.
Sometimes a very drastic woe change is just wrong. I couldn’t even do keto with just a short low-carb period under my belt. Carnivore had more conditions (and it took a long time for me to reach a pound of meat a day, I was used to maybe 1kg per year :D). Some people are better with really big changes, others not so much, not even if it’s the right style. But there is no diet in existence that works for everyone. We should find our sweet spot, not following something fixed, it may be horrible for us even if it’s not a bad diet and works for many.
I googled and skimmed an article. It was just about carnivore.
I listened to the video. I still don’t know what carnivore priming is, it doesn’t seem they talked about that…
The article said it’s transitioning to carnivore or something. A meaty keto could do that. If you ate only beef, that’s the strictest carnivore, not priming… Or did you eat other things?
But the video didn’t talk about eating excessive amounts. They did talk about Thanksgiving fullness and while I obviously don’t know what that is, I imagine it’s something stupid I would want to avoid at nearly all cost. I hate being full, I want to get perfectly satiated. And what is “full”? I can imagine multiple meanings… Maybe stuffed is the thanksgiving thing. I used that for OMAD, it’s the only valid case for me. I can eat, no need to force it, thank you very much. Even if one gets too good satiation from meat and ends up with tiny meals, they are probably better with changing their items or using many meals a day. I personally don’t like the latter and would use it only if there was no way around it. We need our nutrients. But from what exactly and when and how… That should be up to us. Sometimes it’s hard enough to find a single good options, many of us just can’t follow something potentially highly incompatible with us…
And yes, 11 days or 2 weeks are very short. For carnivore or keto. But it’s often more than enough to show if a diet is wrong. I usually don’t need more than 1 day to figure it out but I usually do it without trying. Some rules are just not for me.
That’s the only way for me to cut out all the carbs, actually If I eat carnivore, I eat plenty of sugar as well. Maybe one day I can eat meatier… But not yet.
Too bad I can’t fast since I tried out carnivore but it probably will change eventually. It’s surely a mental thing - but I could do it on my old diets
Yes, it was stupid. I eat only beef, salt and water and have done since Dec 2023, but that pesky 7 kg hasn’t budged in 4 months. I had lost 7 kg, then gained 3 kg back in 2 weeks of feasting.
I may go back to water fasting.
!
I had a weirdly opposite experience lately. My weight has been hovering around 120 for a few months with a mostly carnivore, always in ketosis diet. I had old beans in the pantry I decided had to go, so while my husband was away I made a huge pot of chili with beans and ate on that all week. So no ketosis. Weight at 120. The day after the chili was gone I got busy and wound up fasting 24 hours (morning protein coffee, then nothing til next morning.). Weight dropped to 116 overnight! Returned to my regular keto/carnivore and weight has stayed there ever since, going on two weeks now.
I have no idea why this worked, but apparently switching it up - in my case with some carbs and fiber and a little fast - can be useful.
Ahhhh so you were already eating The Lion Diet version of carnivore for 9 or so months before this “priming” thing to reset (speed up?) your metabolism? That changes a lot, in terms of our ability to respond more helpfully, and would have been great to know in your 1st posting. A 4 month stall is crazy frustrating. I had the same about 11 months into going carni in 2022. You have less weight to lose than I did back then which could provide a part clue. Those last few kg can come off soooo slowly, compared to the 1st kgs to go.
Apart from this stall, what did your coach base their opinion on that your metabolism had slowed down too much? It sounds like “priming” is another term for refeeding?
Were you eating to satiety during that 9 or so months? And was the satiety amount of fat and protein sufficient to nourish you adequately, or was it too little most days?
What was/is your reason for eating The Lion Diet? If your body needs to heal, I have heard it said many times your body will prioritize healing over weight loss at times.
What positive benefits, if any, have you experienced so far from eating this way?
Thanks for posting this video @FrankoBear. Just watched it and it was interesting. I’m experiencing what Anthony said he did at one point earlyish on - just not being hungry, even tho I know I’m not eating enough most days, and maybe all days. He says not to force yourself to eat more than you “want” but to get to the thanksgiving meal place where you’ve eaten a lot and just don’t want more - so that kind of “want”. Once I’m further thru recovering from this hellish surgery (not having fun here) I think I’m going to have to do this - make myself eat despite not being hungry until I’ve reached that “I’m pretty stuffed” place.
Regarding @Matamoros’s issue, I didn’t hear anything in the video about doing this resetting your metabolism (IF it has, in fact, slowed down too much). The italics are important, regarding the OPs posting. Thoughts?
If I eat carnivore, I eat plenty of sugar as well. Maybe one day I can eat meatier… But not yet.
