I have different experiences. My hunger is always somehow… In my center? Probably below my stomach. I never care about my stomach, it’s insignificant how it feels unless I am REALLY hungry (or really, truly full but I don’t do that more than once in a few years but maybe it’s more rare now).
But in English stomach means belly? It’s still so very odd to me, stomach is the organ for me. I actually feel my stomach sometimes, very rarely as it’s pretty silent and not important in my hunger/satiation signs…
So hunger is some central feeling, it doesn’t matter what woe or if I am fat adapted. But it definitely changed when I got fat adapted, even slightly under some circumstances when I got into ketosis while fat adapted… But carnivore was a HUGE change. Even if it’s not the same all the time but I never do it really long term, maybe that’s why… Some days usually bring some changes but I still have days when I need more food and days when I can even have a cute deficit (just because I can’t possibly know my CI or CO, I know them very vaguely sometimes so I can tell such days happen).
The meat stop was super new to me when it first happened as I never had anything like that before. I always could eat more when satiated. I still can but that would be low-key force and I won’t do that without a very good reason. And it’s huge for me as I always, always cleaned my plate on high-carb, probably even on low-carb, I don’t remember keto but probably there too. Carnivore is just special. Putting away my plate with food on it (sometimes little) is actually a thing now. Who would have thought?
But time passed, my body adapted and it has this insane mission to keep itself/me chubby… So it’s not that simple now, I don’t always get a clear stop sign. But it’s still loads better than before.
But add more than very little non-animal carbs and chaos ensues. Not always but often.
I don’t have any urgency when I feel like eating now. I can wait one more hour. Or 3. It’s amazing, it was the opposite before fat adaptation and while the edge and urgency changed after I got fat adapted, it still wasn’t nearly this amazing thing where I can just ignore my hunger for a while. It may even go away, I never had that before (because I always ate but it never went away if I waited 1-2 hours, it progressively got worse).
So carnivore(-ish as I quickly noticed I can afford a little extra and I am unable to do it stricter anyway as I don’t see the point of that sacrifice) is very special and good for me.
But my keto was somewhat carby and meatless so no wonder the change was big… It would be useful to be able to try <20g meaty keto. It’s theoretically possible but tricky for me.
Food is JOY, that’s very, very important (not as important as health but almost. well joy is needed for my health… I could get it without food joy but it makes it easier…). But I am a hedonist so of course. Never will change, I would lose a big part of my personality.
But I appreciate that carnivore helps with way too big focus on food and overeating due to mental things. Food is joy but if we use it to get joy without needing the food, that is problematic and not even healthy, not even hedonistic… Hedonism involves health-consciousness if you ask me, it’s a very important part of it. One day I should read about other people’s opinions about it…
Maybe the type of it matters? I don’t see why it would necessarily be a problem for someone who just loves food, cooking, variety, different textures… If it’s the type who totally must to have all kinds and type of food, yeah that’s a problem. But people can change so much…
I liked reading your experiences, @Aqua_chonk, it’s always interesting to me to get a glance at how it is for others. This almost whole-body hunger was very new to me. It’s always, always my center, below my stomach, sometimes my stomach too, a very localized part.
But I am rarely hungry nowadays. I still was so hungry on keto, I had my soft but annoying hunger after fat adaptation… And being close to carnivore quite often for years changed that as it changed so, so, so many other things, some right away, some eventually. I barely get even my soft hunger (I usually eat when I get tempted or if I get weak and dizzy) and it’s rarely annoying (at least until I eat. eating can make me hungry and I usually need food right away then).
Oh another new thing. I can feel if I want meat now. I didn’t have it before, obviously, I ate almost no meat for decades and it was fine. I don’t miss meat as a joy (it gives joy but I still don’t), I just feel I need it and I do it on my carnivore-ish, what else would I eat? My egg eating has limits and egg doesn’t even have all the nutrients I need.
I have the same for eggs. Not enough eggs or meat in my day? Doesn’t matter if I ate enough, I won’t feel right until I fix it. (I could eventually get satiated with something else but it probably would take too much food and still wouldn’t feel THAT right.) And it’s not missing the joy either, I may be low-key bored of eggs, it may be late and I don’t want eating just chill but I still need it at some level and quickly eating a boiled egg (not my fav) solves it. Maybe my body counts egg consumption too, I wouldn’t be surprised, it counts calories and protein, apparently and it has problems when they go a bit low.
I don’t have this with anything else, not even with my precious sour cream. I miss it when I run out of it but it’s just joy, not a real need. So I can live without it. I badly need both meat and eggs or suffer the consequences. I need them even on my off days and usually not in small amounts. They are the two pillars of my diet.
and/or not enough activities/exercise:
I googled it and found these home-remedies, maybe help:
