Ferocious Fix February - Carnivore Challenge (Fit it In - Fit in It! ) Feb 2022

zerocarb
carnivore
(Alec) #281

All excellent points. I can absolutely see there are some real challenges there. KCCO!

(Karen) #282

@FrankoBear oh my goodness what an up and down trip! I can remember many long journeys, before carnivore, when I was stopping at service stations en route. I would spend ages trying to find something that was in my eating remit of the day, I always ended up buying something that was off plan (generally carby) and that always sent me spiralling out of control one way or the other. Plus you could guarantee you would eat crap and want more crap and then feel crap. So glad you spun it around again and to feel good as soon as you did is just a credit to this woe. Loving your photo. Your expression of words change immediately when you talk of that wonderful beach.

@JJFiddle What is DC? Did you enjoy your time in the service? I was 7 years in the Military Police though I can’t say it was the best of times. I would have enjoyed it more had I done that time later in life … older and wiser lol. Cheese wraps? Do they not have potato starch in them ? I noticed the other day that the pre grated cheese i was buying regularly has it in the ingredients along with a host of other stuff. I was surprised though I don’t know why really, I had just not bothered checking… when it says cheddar i believe thats all thats in it hahah … stupid girl! I will be grating my own in future… I only bought it for convenience! I usually read all ingredients and carbs … I know if its flavoured there will be plenty additives/carbs. I bought some ‘cheddar’ yesterday and it promptly went in the bin. It tasted wrong … like ‘cheddar style’ fake cheese… Read the ingredients and the list was as long as your arm!!!:astonished: your wraps do look nice though.

@Alecmcq I think it is harder for women to judge by scales because a women’s weight fluctuates so much, not just daily but also throughout the day. Scales can become such an obsession and dependancy … once a month is acceptable if you really have to use that guage. I chucked mine out years ago and got off that roller coaster … Best thing I ever did … FREEDOM :upside_down_face:

@Septimius I second everything you’ve said especially about restricting our calories and fear of eating to satiety because of how much food might pass our lips! That has been me a zillion times, I would restrict then binge eat and then would feel terribly depressed that m weight had gone up, appearing to undo and sabotage all my hard work … of restricting my calories and putting a clamp on my eating … mind games​:unamused::crazy_face: Oh how wonderful it feels to be totally free of all that! This forum and carnivore has been totally liberating for me

Went to bed too late last night probably because I ate too late but then didn’t settle to go off to sleep till maybe 1am. Still up twice in the night for a wee trip. Then awake early this morning so was up and stair running my 100 flights. The sun was shining and I knew it wasn’t going to be for long as we are due storm Dudley today.

The cardiologist called me for my tel appt, (over an hour early so was taken by surprise, they are usually late rather than early lol!) Anyway he talked me through the therapies my Occupatiinal Health consultant had mentioned and neither are any good for me. One was not for my type of AF and the other was only funded and offered to people who can’t tolerate blood thinners. They were both intrusive therapies. Anyway he is going to write me and my GP a letter outlining what he has told me. Well I have done what the OH suggested in his report and in turn approached cardiologist for answers. Cant do any more that that. I have been given an appt with OH for next month for the first stage of the process for Medical Retirement. I can foresee the stages to be ongoing for some time, will probably only have about 8 or 9 months left before actual retirement by the time a decision is made! Hey ho … and then I may not get it but I think I could hack a further 8/9 months in admin role if need be.

Brunch was cooked chicken sauted in butter with the remaining packet of prawns which were fine this morning… no funny ‘off’ taste lol. Wasn’t all that, I think they would have tasted better with a steak or the burgers I have in the fridge but they went down :wink:

20220216_121038
20220216_121038.jpg604×806 198 KB
20220216_121056
20220216_121056.jpg604×806 152 KB

Thought I would pop this photo up … yesterdays CrossFit class… I am on the bike in pink leggings … love pink haahah but here i am with a class full of youngsters lol they are all 30 plus years younger but not necessarily 30 plus years fitter. Proud of my achievements. 20220216_123252

(Heather) #284

I feel this is where I am right now. I would like to lose another 10-15 pounds, but my weight has been stuck for the past year or so. I bounce up and down between 165-171, but lately it seems to be creeping higher.

I’m doing my weight routine every-other-day, which consists of slow burn lifting for my arms, until failure (at least my definition of failure :grin:) interspersed with 9 sets of 12 reps of sumo squats, for a total of 108. The whole thing takes me about 30 minutes. I would like to think the weight increase is due to building muscle mass, but my clothes actually feel like their getting tighter, not looser and my measurements are increasing, not decreasing. :worried:

I don’t think I’m over training. I’m definitely seeing definition in my arms and shoulders, but my thighs seem to be the same flabby blogs they’ve always been. I am also very rarely able to increase the heaviness of my weights.

I eat around 2100-2700 calories per day of mainly beef. I have coffee with ghee in the morning and then my big meal at dinnertime. The fat percentage of my food is around 70%.

When I had covid, I loss my sense of taste, so I had to restort to salting my food again (which I had totally gotten away from), in order to taste it. My taste still hasn’t completely returned.

I’m wondering if my change in scale/body composition is a result of–

A. My increased cortisol from exercising too much
B. Being peri-menopausal
C. Eating OMAD (with the exception of my coffee w/ ghee)
D. Eating too much/too little
E. My body is just happy where it is and it doesn’t want to move any lower

Or, all of the above. Any thoughts?

(Robin) #285

I would say “maybe” for any and all of the above. I also lost my sense of taste, but I can detect sweet and salt.

(Karen) #286

I’m no expert but I have been training quite a number of years. I got very into weight training for a while and thats all I did for the most part. Then moved to more reps less weight and eventually to where i am now doing a mixture of both at CrossFit, stair running daily, walking and dancing. Even before my blip and doing a combination of those exercises every single day i was only maintaining my weight. I may have once or twice eaten calories to 2700 but generally eating between 1500 and 2000. Having said that I only started tracking when I did keto and since changing to carnivore haven’t tracked at all in a long time. My point being, and I know we are all different, but unless you are doing competition level training I would be thinking that you may be going too high. What are you doing for exercise on the days you’re not doing 30 mins weight training? I don’t know your situation but are you physically able to throw some cardio into the mix?

I have been going through the menopause for about 8 years and still see no end to it :roll_eyes:

I do hope you manage to find the answers, I think it may be a case of trial and error.

(Edith) #287

You may want to try mixing up your strength training exercises and work a variety of body parts. I use the exercises from a book called “You Are Your Own Gym” by Mark Lauren. I quite enjoy trying the different exercises. I do a whole body workout three times a week with a few upper body, legs, and core exercises, 6 - 8 different exercises. It takes me about 30 minutes. The nice think about body weight exercises is that you are less likely to injure yourself with too heavy weights and you can see improvement by doing higher reps or making the exercise more challenging such as inclined pushups instead of regular pushups.

My weight has also been slowly creeping up over the past few years, and I have put it down to perimenopause.

I have heard Megan Ramos speak about the importance of keeping your body “off balance” by changing up the fasting schedule. Maybe you need to change up your schedule: OMAD some days, 2MAD other days?

I know you are not training every day, but since you are doing the same exercises all the time, maybe over training is an issue? :woman_shrugging:


(Alec) #288

My guess is E. I think we need to feed and train our bodies the best way we know how, but then respect what it wants to do, especially if the current state is not of itself unhealthy. It’s view may simply be “Right here is the best place to be”.

Having a reasonable amount of fat is perfectly OK. It is natural. What is not natural is driving our weight towards media hyped “ideal body shapes” that are in fact the product of some incredible genes and deliberate starvation.

(Heather) #289

Thanks, Karen, for all of your input. If I eat much less than that, I feel ravenous and my next workout session suffers. Plus, I’m trying to go by the idea that carnivore isn’t a CICO way of eating.

I tried doing cardio on my days off, but it resulted in me being exhausted and tired all of the time. I don’t know how you do what you do with your routine!

Since I have gone OMAD and eating the one big meal in the evening, I have been sleeping wonderfully, so that’s a plus!

I think part of me needs to just let go of what I should look like and be happy and accepting of where I am.

(Heather) #290

Thanks, Alec, I needed someone to tell me that.

Now, I need to accept it.

I am in a healthy weight range for my height and I feel better than I did when I was 50 pounds heavier. I need to focus on being thankful for that.

(Heather) #291

Great articles! Thank you!

#292

First things first - you’re right; being in a healthy weight range for your height, feeling better, and sleeping well are all real wins. Don’t let the goal of perfection ruin what you’ve achieved so far, which is brilliant.

Wow, I’m impressed - that’s a lot of squats! Squats are great, but on some programmes, they’re a lot. I’m surprised your thighs aren’t like steel with all that squatting!

How do you feel about your lifting programme? Are you enjoying it, or would you be open to trying something different? What equipment do you have available to you?

(Heather) #293

Thanks @Septimius!

Yeah, that’s part of my frustration - I see virtually no difference in my legs with the squats. Maybe I’m not doing them right. I carry the majority of my excess fat in my hips and thighs, so those are the areas I am trying to focus on.

I guess I don’t feel my weight progam is too difficult (for the most part), which I like. My muscles are sore for the next 24-36 hours after doing it, so I feel like I must be doing something right. Equipment-wise I have a Weider Home Gym, which has the adjustable weights and allows me to work out my arms and legs. I also have a treadmill and some kettlebells.

(Daisy) #294

@Redrobins for some reason it won’t let me quote you, but that one line jumped out at me. “I carry the majority of my excess fat in my hips and thighs”. Have you looked into any of the information on Lipedema? So many people have been talking about it lately and if I’m not mistaken, I think even Vanessa Spina just did a podcast on it. That may actually help you with some answers! Also, I’m the same as you with eating. I know for my size and activity, I consume too many calories, and that’s probably why I don’t lose weight, but I’m always hungry so I just eat.

@Septimius I could not give your post about the scale enough hearts. So much yes!!!

#295

I’m not too familiar with Weider, although I know they do a lot of different ranges.

I have lifted in the past but it had been a long time between lifts, so I ran a beginner programme last year. The one I used is called Greyskull LP, but I’m not sure if it works with a home gym? (I’ve got free weights and a rack.)

Annoyingly, the website is down at the moment, but the app is: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maxtrainingcoach.app&hl=en_GB&gl=US

I enjoyed it a lot more than Starting Strength or 5x5 etc. I liked the fact that you only do 3 sets so you’re not bored/gassed out, but because the 3rd set is ‘as many reps as possible’, it gives you some hypertrophy too.

  • Week 1

    • Monday
      • Overhead Press: 2×5, 1×5+ (+ is AMRAP = as many reps as possible)
      • Squat: 2×5, 1×5+
    • Wednesday
      • Bench Press: 2×5, 1×5+
      • Deadlift: 1×5+
    • Friday
      • Overhead Press: 2×5, 1×5+
      • Squat: 2×5, 1×5+

  • Week 2

    • Monday
      • Bench Press: 2×5, 1×5+
      • Squat: 2×5, 1×5+
    • Wednesday
      • Overhead Press: 2×5, 1×5+
      • Deadlift: 1×5+
    • Friday
      • Bench Press: 2×5, 1×5+
      • Squat: 2×5, 1×5+

  • If a set is easy, you rest 90 seconds before the next set.

  • If a set is hard, you rest 3 minutes before the next set.

  • If you fail a set, you rest 5 minutes before the next set.

This is the base programme. People add in extras, and I added in curls and rows (Curls on OHP day, Rows on Bench day). The free app is really good at suggesting options and/or letting you do your own thing.

  • If you fail, it automatically “deloads” you by taking 10% off the lift for next time so you can build back up.
  • If you succeed with complete sets (5, 5, and then between 5-9 on the last AMRAP set), you go up 2.5lbs next session.
  • If you succeed with 10+ reps on the AMRAP session, you go up 5lbs the next session.

So you can start really light and get your form perfect because you’ll soon leap up the weight.

It’s the first time I’ve really noticed decent, visible muscle gains (and not just me - my mates have marvelled at them too!) - although I am certain a lot of that is carnivore and the quality and abundance of what I’m eating. I was forever lifting and simultaneously starving myself through CICO diets when I was younger; no wonder I wasn’t getting stronger.

If it reassures you any, I also often eat around 2500 - 2800 calories (about 1kg of 80/20 mince beef). I just plugged in my last week to see, and I ate 3800 for about 5 days just before my cycle (I wasn’t lying when I said I was ravenous). I am still on the fence about whether this is causing me to lose fat slower or not - but I think it’s helping me to build muscle, and weirdly, when I overate last week, I felt like I’d lost weight so I’m not quite convinced that eating less will help.

It’s goes against everything we’ve ever “known” and I am torn between the thought that if I just traditionally dieted, I’m sure I’d have less fat than I have now. …but at the same time, carnivore has fixed a massive problem for me and I have muscles, so I keep thinking that I should just hold steady and see what my body does with the nutrition I keep giving it. I was very concerned about loose skin but going slow has had the benefit of keeping things tight so far.

With working out, it is tricky finding something you enjoy though - I think that’s half the battle with any programme. I always dreaded 5x5, so Greyskull was massively refreshing. I’m at the point of moving off it because I keep stalling out, but I don’t really want to let it go! It’s simple and quick! I struggle with cardio because I don’t enjoy any of it - I like playing group sports but hate treadmills or jogging and things like that.

Anyway, I’ll shut up. I’ve been very talkative today. :zipper_mouth_face:

#296

Mrs. Bear noticed some shapely subcutaneous fat gain on her upper thighs in the pandemic years. I was no help because I didn’t mind. But husband survival instinct warned me away from answering any “is my [area of concern] bigger?” questions. This also precludes any after-the-change compliments, because they reveal things like, “so, on February 16th 1996 when you didn’t answer my question if you thought my legs were bigger…” Best not to comment on any woman’s physical appearance, and just compliment more esoteric things like their vibrancy.

Over the past three summer months Mrs. Bear found eating OMAD low carb with the proviso and permission to eat in a wider feeding window if hungry was a primary adjustment. No counting. Whole foods, home cooked. No packet foods. Each day varies but she tunes in to well understood hunger signals. Dietary wise she moved to no added fat in her eating but did not trim nor drain fats from whole foods. No added fat to beverages. Mrs Bear is very active and found the activity that she thought resulted in fat loss to regain thigh muscle definition was Pilates. She mainly does yoga as the primary activity. So it’s all body weight workouts. She has never been to a gym, except to teach hot yoga. She lives the yoga daily including the mental balance parts. Despite us both going through menopause, it’s a shared thing, we both suffer it sometimes, she was able to ask that unwanted body fat accumulation to shift. She completes her fifth decade in April.

@Septimius, @Karen18, @VirginiaEdie, @Redrobins - Wow! inspiring physical activity! Carnivore on, and more strength to you as @Fangs might say. :muscle::clap:

(Linda ) #297

I started reading this last night so I’m going to try it
https://mobile.twitter.com/KetoCarnivore/status/1461324518077566976?t=Sn_IK3crH85_SVudCe4i7A&s=19 still with bbbe but see if this works.
I been getting hungry at night so been eating 3 meals I tried fat first last night then protein and so far today I’ve eaten once no hunger and it’s now 11pm about 12.30am at night I got hungry so I ate fat first them prime rib so that’s twice in one day…

(Doug) #298

That’s quite accurate, Fangs. My dad is 85 and went into a care facility last month. Cognitive decline, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease - it began 30 years ago and thankfully progressed very slowly. It’s only the last 2 or 3 years that it’s really been “bad” - this year it became too much for my stepmother.

It think it’s common that when those involved really accept that “it’s too much,” it has been too much for some time. It’s a hard and cruel thing, more for my stepmother than any other - to lose the person you’ve loved for half a century, while having to care for, in essence, a “baby,” a big, possibly dangerous baby who wakes up at midnight and makes coffee, or tries to burn the house down.

My dad not remembering things isn’t all bad, here. To think of him being ‘imprisoned’ away from the farm he’s lived on for 50 years, the fields and buildings, the animals and the air he loved, was almost unthinkable for us all, but he’s actually quite happy, the same cheerful, amazingly sweet guy he’s always been. The other patients/residents and the staff at the care facility love him.

Even last summer he would remember a lot about his early years, and most days he would - or would come around to - remembering who we kids were. Now it’s a matter of explaining that, for example, I’m his son, and that’s how I know such-and-such… A strange thing - to hear him read from a book now, he’s the same that he’s always been. And the next moment will be something impossible, amazing, hilarious, crazy… The mind is a fascinating thing, even in its decline.

#299

Interesting to read what Amber says about the interference from “dairy” (“dairy” is a wide variety of foods).

As it happens, many do find that dairy interferes with satiation or fat loss.

(Daisy) #300

This was something I tried in 2020. It did not go well for me lol

#301

I read some posts on the board, so many since I last visited.

Dealing with mom and her decline still and brain still fried a bit.
Today my brother and I hit the hospital to get some more clear options for forward movement on all this.

I am just super sad thru it all but I am also 60 yrs old :slight_smile: and mom being near 94 right now, none of this comes as a shocker to me. We all deal with loss of family!

So holding our own here.

Holding Carnivore so far. One day I eat nothing, one day I literally had to eat the world of everything I had in the house, canned tuna with mayo, my sardines, cooked wings and pork ribs from frozen and inhaled them.

So my beef month is kinda shattered but I am ok on that. I don’t have a good concentration level happening for me. I can start it up again when my mind is in good form. It ain’t there yet. Key to it all for me, hold carnivore strong any way I can and I am doing just that.

I so enjoy reading posts!! So many smart, zc clear minded people here!!

Check in later down the line and thanks everyone for well wishes and prayers to my family at this time!