That’s my gut intution too, that lowering the added fat will just make me miserable and hungry without leading to fat loss. I’m not sure i’m actually brave enough to try no added fat!
That said, there is a theory that added fat is unnessecary for the obese, once you’ve fat adapted. It’s been years since i read the science but i remember reading that we can access about 1% or 30 calories per pound of our bodyfat stores a day for calories, so if I have about 100lbs of fat, i can access 100x30=3000 calories a day max, so more than my bmr. Whereas before my meds helped make me obese, i probably had about 20lbs of fat (just a guess but i weighed 115lbs) so i would have only been able to access 20x30=600 calories, way less than my bmr. I have no idea if this way of thinking is accurate, but i remember it being mentioned before to explain why added fat is more important if you’re lean and why fasting is harder/slows the metabolism more. That fasting is more for health benefits than weight loss at a lower weight.
I’ve only been back on consistent keto for 7 weeks, nut butter blip aside, so I wouldn’t be confident that my body can comfortably use my bodyfat efficiently enough to manage no added fat. I think if at 6 months consistent keto my weight hasn’t shifted then i would consider doing no added fat days as an experiment.
It’s definitely a reserve option but i think my main weight loss plan is going to be alternating 2MAD and OMAD to start with, and managing calories that way. Like, is it even worth eating food without butter? Maybe an exaggeration but butter is love, butter is life
First things first, I need to reduce my meds so i’m not artificially ravenous all the time. I was planning to make a separate thread of my n=1 experience of reducing my meds and tapering experiments and impact on ketosis, mental health, metabolism and weight loss, to keep those more separate from this thread, but there will be some crossover here.
I guess if we’re jumping into january fat first, for now i’m still buttering up!
My problem with this statement (I know it’s part of it but that’s not the point) that added fat intake and fat intake has not much to do with each other. I use close to no added fat most of the time since ages (well not if we count fatty dairy… but that’s not strictly added fat, it is? I just consider it as one and try to avoid it but it is harder than for normal added fat) but it never stopped me going way over 200g fat sometimes. Okay, much added fat means much fat as it part of it but that’s it.
(I use close to zero added fat for my 90% fat days too. A tiny bit of butter is lovely but all the other fat must come from my not fully fat foods. Thankfully it’s very easy to buy way over 90% fat pork.)
And it’s complex anyway. Yes, an obese person has their own fat to use but the body doesn’t always work like that. My own body hates deficits and I need to trick it to have a tiny one. I definitely don’t lose fat without a deficit, I did so much low-carb, keto and even carnivore(-ish) where I had plenty of fat and I never lost any - except when I managed to eat little for a while. I always lose fat then, even if I eat sugar, there is no difference, it’s about calories for me, apparently. (I know “calorie” is vague but it works well enough for me.) But if I add carbs, I must add fat too so overeating is pretty much is a given, sometimes subtly (2500 kcal), sometimes epically (4000 kcal. my energy need always were somewhere around 2000 as far as I can tell. well when I was this heavy and younger, it was higher as I lost fat with 2000 kcal on normal days and a bit more on weekends or whenever I couldn’t handle eating only that little. but I enjoyed those times, I ate as little as I could but it didn’t feel restrictive. I don’t do restrictive except for a fun experiment. restrictive here means what I feel restrictive in a negative way. just severely limiting my food options is fine and dandy if I don’t want anything else anyway. I couldn’t do carni otherwise. but I have the best foods here I may miss certain textures here and there and there are temptations anyway but not always. January is a great month for carnivore).
My body has its obsession with numbers for some reason, I don’t even know why, makes little sense, I am a living being influenced by way too many factors… So tracking and eating according to a few rules helps a lot.
Even so… I first and foremost follow my desires when I have any. I never ever stopped eating because my planned macros (I have vague ranges and limits. and one target, protein = 130g. I am a tad flexible even there but really just a tad. I almost never can go lower and it’s wasteful to go higher. but fine now and then especially if I happened to neglect meat for a while and suddenly want a lot. but I don’t really do that anymore, I have learned to eat enough meat in some years) and I am not good with forcing extra food either (main reason is that I almost never need that, more like the opposite but as I can’t force going hungry, that’s unfortunate…). But in good times and with good knowledge and food choices I am finally there. I should be able to eat right and first after so many years, to lose fat as well. At least I think so. Years passed so I don’t know how my body functions though I am pretty sure it can’t make energy from nothing - but it’s true for everyone and some still maintains a fat body with almost no food. The human body is quite amazing though not always in a good way. I don’t think mine is like that but it surely loves maintenance. I ate a lot and sometimes very carby in December and of course gained nothing, it’s my skill. Maybe not of course, I remember that I did gain once after a carby period. Usually not though. In my high-carb times I had some insane Decembers with epic overeating and still gained nothing. Sugary overeating all year long (I am pretty sure I ate more fat I eat now)? 1kg per year at most and stopping a bit above 80kg. I never could go higher. I still can’t. Yeah, I probably didn’t gain in December because I am already 80kg. Too bad I was fat at 62kg too (I wanna go back to that I was there and didn’t appreciate it as I still looked fat and then shock gain and whatnot happened. I still don’t normally gain but sometimes I do and it added up in several years. I gained very easily when I was below 69. my body LOVED that weight. until the shock gain happened and it never went away), just my belly but it’s my most problematic part. I blame my easy maintenance (at least when I am fat but I never was not fat after 2 years old), it’s because that I happily overeat for decades so my energy need seems and feels little food now. Except on carnivore if I haven’t too many meals. I probably would have stayed fat forever without carnivore, not like I lost any fat this far but I surely will. And whatever happens, I don’t do it for mere fat-loss, it’s a win either way. So I am patient as I sacrifice nothing, I do what feels best.
I wrote too much again But at least at the right time, between getting hungry and eating. Too bad it’s before lunch. I won’t do OMAD today - but yesterday’s TMAD was great and I plan today to be similar.
We have wonderful sunshine and I have oversleeping headache. It’s crazy, I wake up at the right time but go back to sleep. I am not fully awake and can’t comprehend I WANT to get up… Too low energy or subconsciously not wanting to face reality or something. I will do my best to change it. Nothing helps with oversleeping headache, only time. Lots of time. And headache make me want to drink coffee. I resisted for long, had a tiny one in the end. It was nice. So I had 2 coffeeless days. It’s still more than my usual zero… And I don’t want to go back to regular coffee drinking. It’s not tempting.
I don’t remember the formula but I met that too. It seems to be true for many but not for all. Many people can’t do EF when their bodyfat can’t provide them with their energy need - but some can do it just fine and not just for 1-2 days. There must be some individual factor too… After all, some people can’t do even IF even if they eat plenty in their eating window.
So in the end, theory is one thing but we should figure out what our own individual body can and willing to handle. Mine truly feels like something with an own will… I KNOW it should be able to handle something and it just refuses Sigh. I may be mentally very ready but I get some serious physical symptom and must eat. I don’t know if it’s still true but it was ~15 years ago. Sometimes not eating for a day (40+ hours) came naturally, other times a lowish-cal day caused problems. It’s just too complex, I can’t figure it out, I may have an educated guess, my body is somewhat predictable - but sometimes my guess is totally off and I don’t know why.
Most definitely if the food has enough fat to begin with, whatever that means for the one in question
Butter is great indeed but it’s possible to live without it I say. But it’s me, I always kept butter low, never avoided it for longer term (could but it wouldn’t be good for anything) and I have my personal favs. Like sour cream and cream - but I minimize those too. I just got used to that. I even “lost” most of my eggs. As soon as I was able to eat enough meat in my very few meals (the more meals I have, the less meaty my diet gets due to my excessive need for variety), I could go very low with eggs and dairy. I still need some but a fragment of my previous intake is enough on most days. I even can do very low cheese now but it’s a useful item and we always have a selection… And I am a hedonist, not an asceta… I don’t say no to some tempting joy when I don’t need to.
I may do a short experiment though… But not now, my meat is way too low-cal at the moment.
That’s such a horrible side effect I hope you will be successful to undo that soon.
Enjoy your butter In moderation. Not like I do as I had 11g butter this week (it probably stays there) and only because I seriously lacked calories but don’t eat too much of it! But enjoy every grams I just ate it and hoped for not getting hungry at night (success!), next time I will savor it as I normally do!
Sounds like we are in similar situations. I keep reading theories (too much) as well, I can eat any imaginable way really. But now I still trust fat based on my past. And I sort of trust calories,too, trying to get enough. We can always change to try differently.
I´m not well adapted yet ( six weeks, high ketones) and I´m cutting my meds ( BP lower and statin OFF ). I even ordered some NAC!
My poor doctor is going to hate me. Seriously,I´ve had enough of feeling so badly underpowered and weak and heavy. Right now I feel I´m on the right track. And my waist has shrunk, weight not so much I think. I did not weigh when I started.
I had lunch as I was hungry and a bit miserable (headache) and fancied the food I made before as well. Chicken liver, sponge cakes and sour cream for dessert (I am brave with my fatty favs now that my main meats are lean. I don’t add it just to raise my fat intake, I really enjoyed it).
Dinner will be pork loin.
Great! Your doctor will survive, he should understand you are your main priority Actually, they should be glad you feels better…
Oh that’s the main thing! My waist is very reluctant to change even when I actually lose fat. Of course, when I have lost 20kg, it affected my waist too but not very much. I was 62kg, how much should I lose to have a remotely okay waist, I didn’t want to be thin, just more normal… I am short but 163cm, not 145! 62kg must be close to my “ideal” even with little muscles and I had some. I hope I have a bit more now. I am curious if I will look better at 62kg next time I should. I put some effort into muscle gain though I see it’s not so great. And it wasn’t lack of energy, I ate a lot, my workouts could have been better. But I didn’t stop for good, it’s something.
Wasn’t very hungry at dinner but ate pork loin, about the amount I had in my very original plans (but I didn’t eat certain items). I didn’t want the last piece but wasn’t hard to eat it. But I really had enough.
And now guesstimation (I still need 2 measurements but I am very close anyway) says I had about 1200 kcal and 100g protein from my 2 meals. (I tracked my pork loin as pork loin as the fatty parts were mostly chewy and the cats ate them.)
It seems carnivore satiation kicked in…
I am very very satiated now, maybe even full and I usually don’t like that.
We will see.
But I want to be more active tomorrow. Today I only had two small walks. I don’t lift with a headache. I could have done some other exercises though… Maybe later. Too full and lazy now. I am a dragon and a lion, I am not active after a meaty meal (Not like I know much about dragon behaviour after a meal, mind you.)
About 380g meat for today and it was my main food by far…
Oh to be full! I haven’t felt satitation since I’ve been on antipsychotic meds since summer 2023 and it’s driving me mad. Tapering down dosage is going well though so i’m hopeful i’ll get my mind and body back at some.point this year.
That’s wonderful that your body is telling you you’ve had enough meat and two walks a day is good!
I think waist js a good indicator of metabolic health and more reliable than weight. Congratulations on the process! I hope your med adjustment is going well.
I’ve managed to maintain my waist and hip size, which is an achievement on my meds. I’m impatiently waiting for the always hungry feeling to die down as i taper on my meds. I got used to being slim on carnivore. I hate being obese. My body feels wrong when.i exercise, heavy and sluggish. I know the meds make me insulin resistant as well as hungry, so i’m remaining hopeful i’ll feel more like myself soon and the weight will melt off again. I am not a patient person though so i am dojng my best to practice gratitude. I have decent health and the support and time to taper off my meds, so i am grateful for the gift of a safe space to be able to do that.
About to stuff my face with some eggs and then got duck legs for dinner tonight! Been ages since i had duck legs, excited for the fatty goodness
Thanks it does feel like i’m banging my head against a brick wall some days. I’m used to being able to fast effortlessly on keto to lose weight, and having excess energy that makes me want to exercise. Whereas on these damned meds i have to constantly fight the urge to eat and cajole myself into going for walks. Gotta keep the faith that i can feel like my old self if i take the taper slowly and safely!
When I have two, they are both small ones… But it’s much better than 1 or even zero small ones
Today I cycled and had my usual 45-50min walk! Good. I should have done the second half of my full body workout (I am still unable to do it all on the same day… and I skip shoulders as it’s still painful. I always try to do it but it’s bad so I stop. all the other exercises are fine though I use smaller weight for chest press, my shoulders have problems there too but much less)… But I still did more than average. The weather wasn’t nice but it didn’t rain and we had things to do and then I missed walking… Alvaro exercised and it made me exercise too, thankfully.
Still? That’s horrible It’s good you have persevarence because you need it. Hopefully it won’t take much more long… Gratitude is a great thing to have, it can give some peace of mind.
Enjoy your duck legs! I keep seeing wonderful duck sales, one day I will buy some but it has some conditions… We go to the city so rarely and then we often have other ideas and it’s not like the tiny freezer have space for a duck after a big shopping… But the time will come! I don’t know what to expect, I have nice memories about duck from my childhood but I have tried it twice since and that wasn’t so great. But I still think duck is a nice food to have.
I could use that Carnivore always gives me nice benefits but high energy is never one of them. It may even help with energy but it’s a very tiny difference… Maybe I should do it longer at a time but that’s not so realistic for me (yet?).
I have strayed in various ways (especially OMAD, that never happened again…) since the forum was down, I will take it more seriously again… Despite the lack of my normal pork at the moment. I only have some not very great pork shoulder roast left (next time I will make a stew from it, it’s good for that. for fried or roasted pork, I like the taste of loin, chuck and green ham more and they are leaner too! well some fatty meat wouldn’t be bad as I lack lard at the moment…). Good thing I have pork heart and this and that… And Alvaro has cooked a young rabbit today. But it’s for two and I suspect it’s like chicken, not substantial enough anyway. This far I had some pork shoulder and sausage (the rabbit dish wasn’t ready yet) and we bought 60 eggs after a very egg sparing week! So I will be okay but I am waiting for my proper pork on Tuesday (the town supermarket will get pork then, the village supermarket was useless, I couldn’t buy any. that ~7kg pork they had was expensive and not fresh. it was their only meat if we don’t count some frozen stuff. like chicken gizzards. not expensive but the chewy half would go to the cats… I never buy gizzards. totally edible though, I ate it in soups when Grandma killed a chicken… I miss the fried blood, that was good stuff).
I stopped tracking, will go back when I manage to eat simple. On Monday, hopefully when my first meal won’t happen until 3pm and I go back to some very proper carnivore(-ish but it’s very little extra with a good reason for me), at least that’s the plan.
I probably will eat more stews, I had so much fried and roasted pork lately… It’s great but maybe some variety will be good. And I always loved stews and I just don’t eat them anymore for some reason… Fried and roasted pork is easier, good and carnivore while stews must have a little onion but why should that bother me…? I did worse all the time… I don’t understand myself sometimes. I may try out non-Hungarian stews one day but lots of paprika and little onion sounds the best…
When the forum was done and I couldn’t find an okay forum, I googled and found out that our “eat more pork” campaign has its 13th year now! They asked for a good new slogan, the winner gets a new fridge and 100000HUF worth (not so much but something) Mangalica things Articles always say Europe mostly goes to the opposite direction, less meat eating and less pigs, well we eat much more pork than before the campaign (32-33kg per year raised from 22kg) and we keep more pigs than before. It turned out we have some institute regarding nutrition and its guideline has a decent amount of meat. I need to read about these things as I live under a rock and even ads can’t really reach me. I just see the sales and items in supermarkets. But even I couldn’t stay ignorant about Veganuary (I saw that twice) oh and it’s some world carnivore month too?
I deleted part of my comment before but I think I keep this, the forum is back and I wanted to write about these things, I am pretty sure I will be less in the near future. I can live without writing way too much on this forum. But I may continue wax poetry about my pork here and there, I can’t get bored of that.
My injured foot is officially healed! As I used my bicycle after several months and finally it doesn’t hurt! Awesome. It took too many months but I am finally okay. I will try not to run in sandals or slippers when the grass is wet or snowy… I once fell in my good shoes last year but that did nothing. I will look up strengthening my ankles, they don’t even feel good enough to me. 2 injuries in a few years, both causing mobility problems for several months, it’s bad. I could still walk, sure but with serious difficulties for a long time. I would rather break a wrist except I don’t want to go to hospital, I need my right hand (I am extremely right handed) and my left one already has metal in it, breaking it wouldn’t be pretty I suppose… But a broken wrist takes only a few weeks to heal, it’s not painful even during that time and doesn’t really interfere with my life either. Maybe I was lucky. (Of course I didn’t allow a cast, that would have been barbaric. I had an alternative option, it worked perfectly.)
[…]
The rabbit was… Nice, I guess… It is so very mild flavored, similar to chicken. Pleasant but I am more into flavorful pork! Oh I forgot, I have even deer in the freezer! That’s very nice too, I don’t know what to do with it yet, it’s 600g only. Lean, of course, cut into cubes. It would make a super tiny stew alone but it’s still an option.
I am so into egg sparing that eating some didn’t cross my mind yet. I will do it tomorrow!
I love a good stew! It’s a common dinner for me, about 400g beef or pork with a little leek, garlic and apple cider vinegar for flavour. I adore paprika but nightshades trigger an autoimmune response for me so i have to avoid them unless i’m travelling and have no choice. Smoked paprika is my favourite spice!
I’m glad to hear your foot has healed! That much be such a relief
I think pork is my favourite meat, are you entering the slogan competition? I love fatty pork, i could eat pork chops all day. I think i like duck legs better than whole duck. If you cook them at 160C for 90minutes they go gooey and crispy and delicious. It’s been years since i’ve had rabbit or deer! I think gamey stuff lends itself to a good stew with some onion or garlic.
I’d say I notice I get energy about 5-7 days of strictish carnivore keto. It seems like I only get it if I avoid plants that trigger an autoimmune response and stick to less than 25g carbs and get at least 60% calories from fat. The exception is if i do one day higher carb but stay less than 100g, i get a boost of energy but any more than one higher carb day and my energy crashes, and even one day of more than 25g sets off my carb cravings so it doesnt seem worth it.
I’ve been experimenting with dandelion root coffee recently, taking it out of my diet and then adding it back in. other than garlic, cucumber, leek and apple cider vinegar i am 100% animal foods, so i wanted to see if taking it out helped my eczema. It did and my stubborn eczema started healing! I added it back in and got red and peeling again with some allergy bumps on my wrist. Stopped the dandelion root coffee again and my eczema is healing again.
Dandelion is in the daisy family, so i will avoid all plants in that family. It includes echinacea, chamomile, artichokes and even lettuce!
So my total safe plants list remains small at leeks, garlic, onions (the onion family of plants), apples/apple cider vinegar, and cucumbers. Logic says if cucumbers are fine then the curcubits family including courgette should he ok, so courgette is next on my list of reintroductions. At some point i want.to test black pepper so it’s easier to eat out as a lot of restaurant hurgers have pepper in even if they’re gluten free. Oh and i am fine with rice but i only have it as rice flour in supplements so a miniscule amount. My intentions is still to eat animal foods for food and plants for flavour, but it’s good to understand what’s safe to eat when travelling, and i have tried with and without the leeks/cucumber and my gut is much happier with about 50g plant soluble fibre a day.
The latest drop in medicine dose seems to be giving me some restless energy, so i have done some lunges and pressups today. Hopefully i’ll get out for a morning walk tomorrow. I do at least one walk in the local park a day, and if i have the energy i go out earlier as well and a do a lap or two of the local high street.
I did notice I actually felt a tiny bit full today! I was still hungry after stuffing myself with breakfast eggs and butter, but then i had some pork cracklings dipped in ghee and was full and stopped after half the packet. I feel sickly hungry again waiting for dinner, but it was nice to get like an hour of not being so hungry. I only noticed a tiny drop in hunger (from ravenous to always starving) on the last medication dosage drop, which was frustrating, so now i’m doing the next dosage drop and experienced a tiny bit of fullness today it gives me hope that i’ll get less hungry on this dosage when i’ve fully tapered.
What do you use it for? I bought a decent (i.e. not small) amount of it once and I don’t know what to use it for… I have it in my own sausage spice mix but only a little bit and I rarely use spices anyway My SO doesn’t even like it… I am sure there are uses where I would love it but it’s an exotic spice here, we don’t have it since long… Maybe I should google recipes but I probably would find non-carni ones… Maybe you can help me out a bit…? I probably could put it into my scrambled eggs but I rarely eat any and then I put pork into it… I think it must be nice in an egg stew…
Garlic is something I liked but only ate it in a few dishes - then carnivore came and I realized I hate it even on roasts Hungarian recipes (the ones I read online, not the ones Mom made…) typically have onion and garlic, I don’t know why. I always skip it, onion is more than enough! And I drastically reduce the onion too in stews… Some people have stews where the food is half meat, half vegs (and Hungarian stews typically aren’t full with various vegs, just a few for flavor!)! My stew is almost only meat but that’s how it’s best…
I don’t enter it but pork is definitely my fav. I couldn’t live exclusively on it, not even for 2 days but to make it my main food item by far? I can do that. I hope that works nutritionally longer term too… Not like I will keep it up for very long any time soon… Maybe ever… I don’t know what the future brings just that my body is very clear about liking little plant matter on most days. (It probably likes very little to none on all days but let’s be realistic, I eat other things now and then and it doesn’t complain if I don’t go very far.)
I had to google here, wow, pork chop is really fatty a bit! I didn’t know as we don’t have this cut (at least I never saw it). We have pork loin (we used to have 2 kinds when I was a kid, where did it go I don’t know, we have one now) and that is a very lean cut, normally. As slabs are extremely varied, once I had a super fatty one! But it’s usually a very very lean meat with some amount of fat layer on it, usually little, sometimes more, the trimmed kind is special, rare and more expensive. I remember that the 2 kinds from my childhood were pretty lean. But it was long ago, I went vegetarian at 17 and even Mom stopped eating meat from that time on (we had little even before and she kept pork fat for herself)…
My fav is some perfectly fatty marbled pork chuck! Usually pan fried in slices, so good! And unnecessary fatty for me at this point but it’s lovely to eat. Some chuck, some green ham, great combo for me.
I definitely prefer legs when it comes to chicken but the great duck sales are for whole ducks. And there is some charm in roasting a whole duck I guess…? Though I never did that with a bird and I have read about problems because the white and dark meats need something different…? We don’t even have these terms for the different parts but indeed, there is difference in looks and texture… But why pork don’t have this when it has light and dark parts too? It’s much more apparent than in chicken… Maybe because they are fine with the same treatment? Oh pork is great, so very tender and easy to cook! At least the not super lean kind but if I could make super good chicken breast (I always disliked that part, indeed, it is too lean but it’s so very great when done right… that is one rare dish I use some garlic for), I am confident I can make any soft lean meat good (the chewy ones may be trickier but I could always mince them…). Even my seitan tastes good and that’s a smaller miracle as gluten has a mild bad and no good flavors. But it’s a MILD bad one, nothing where some good lard, lots of soy sauce and my sausage spice mix couldn’t help with. If the mix is place, it’s far from being spicy enough. Pork only needs some salt and time in the oven/pan. And being at least a bit fatty. Pork is so easy. I used to get bored of it for years though. Now it only happens if I am not so pleased with my cut (shoulder with some not great tasting fat, it never was my fav cut but it’s worse nowadays, I don’t know what happened… or I have only very lean pork, that doesn’t work in bigger amounts either) or if I neglect variety. But I have much more experience than years ago and my taste have changed too. Not very much but enough.
Oh we have both a few times every year! But give me some more time and I can say this about beef… I eat almost no ruminant meat (too expensive, not available, chewy too and I really, really love pork) and if I eat some, that must be the cheapest cut possible (not counting organs) and that’s deer, more tempting than beef… But they are pretty close.
Sometimes I white here about not even seeing mutton anywhere Or it’s extremely expensive. But usually I don’t see it at all. It never was very available but I could find it somewhere… It just disappeared. One day I get determined and start to search for it very, very seriously. I can’t imagine it’s impossible to buy it. It’s not exotic, it’s normal!
But I am actually fine without them. I just have very fond memories about the meat. Especially the Racka (beautiful sheep, I have a skull on the wall! stunning horns) meat from the beef farm. They had mutton once. Goat once. Well, it is a beef farm but they butcher cattle very rarely too, a few times a year and it runs out in hours (maybe 1-2 days if you accept any cut). It was more in the past.
I had that a few times but no energy. I am sure some people just have some bad “luck” with it. It could be much worse, it’s not like I am super enervated all the time but I am definitely not energetic often. Never were, except maybe as a kid but that’s different… And maybe I just was busy, not particularly energetic? But I wasn’t low energy. Just lazy a bit but I could do things if determined (or “pulled”. Mom was good at it, she said to do things and I went and did. to an extent but she wasn’t a slave driver. that was Grandma when she visited her old house we used as a vacation home, Mom was so exhausted afterwards and she was very hard-working herself especially compared to me. Grandma was totally sweet normally but she was pretty driven on those one week visits. she didn’t even often tell us to do the work, she just decided it must be done and she was old so of course we did it. and she had some difficult ideas)
More energy from some more carbs? I don’t have that either. It may be good as I would be tempted… I really would love more energy. But carbs are better at lowering it. If it’s a short time and not high-carb yet, they are usually neutral energy wise.
Oh my, is that a thing? Maybe I have heard about it, I am not sure…
If skipping it seems to help, that’s the way! I hope you can substitute it with something if you miss it… (I totally should substitute coffee with water already, it came back and don’t seem to leave again, I need some determined push. I don’t have much but still, some. But I will run out of it soon if I keep drinking it…)
IDK what is the first but they sounds like rabbit food to me Never liked green stuff much. Chamomile is pretty but always disliked its tea. I always preferred proper tea leaves (not green tea if possible but add jasmine or something other fun extra and I accept it). And sometimes fruit teas (not the ones with a lot of sweet fruit pieces. I don’t like my tea sweet except when nostalgia hits here and then). If I can just drink tea, any kind I like and I can quit coffee, I will be fine with it… But it’s usually plain, weak black tea anyway.
Yay! Even if it’s just a step, one should appreciate it and it does sound hopeful for the future!
Okay so I am back! Coffee free carnivore-ish (but I am really strict now, for me, no bites of rutabaga with my meat or my only sugary condiment with my cheese!) OMAD or whatever I will manage to do. I have the least confidence regarding the OMAD part, carni seems pretty tempting and I really didn’t like the coffee near the end (and I barely have any and that is for other purposes. oh yes, flavoring with coffee doesn’t count but I almost never do that anyway).
So, day #1. It went well (this far) despite the complete lack of planning and proper supplies… It’s not even 10pm yet but I am very determined so let’s hope I do the small miracle that is pulling off lunch OMAD!
I wondered about a photo but bad light, not particularly pretty or exiting food… Maybe tomorrow, I have plans!
I got somewhat hungry so had lunch at 3pm. I was… Brave. Very little proper meat, why do I do this…? Some rabbit (with some sauce stuck to it, so not fully carnivore but close enough for me), some pork shoulder, half a sausage, scrambled eggs with teeny tiny bacon cubes (2-3mm? Alvaro looked at them with disdain but they tastes normal, they are real just tiny… for half the price… works in my eggs! Alvaro wants big pieces so he used some super meaty smoked pork belly slices), oh yes some smoked pork belly too, some cheese (some means not minimal but little in all cases here)… I had no sour cream but I have plans with cream for tomorrow so I just opened my last box. I called my creation eggnog. With my preferred ratio. Mostly cream, some yolk, almost no but very noticeable alcohol (oh yes, another non-carni ingredient but I don’t even count it. I don’t track it either as it has negligible calories. I used whisky and rum. it’s just flavoring).
Guesstimation says 133g fat, 108g protein (but it’s OMAD… but a lunch one… will I get hungry after midnight or not?), 5g carbs.
Good day if I won’t eat anything else, I really don’t want to but I can’t sleep hungry.
I was a bit hungry after this meal but I had no tempting food to eat and satiation arrived soon. I still have it.
I noted for the zillionth time but I MUST have enough okay not too fatty normal red meat to eat at all times when I sit down to eat. Why do I mess with this so often? Yes I have this and that in the freezer but I have reasons not to want them (cooking is needed, I don’t like hake fish, especially now that the last batch wasn’t very well fried so extra cooking is welcomed… too special meat I don’t want to eat up when I am just hungry but can’t appreciate it)… It’s MUCH better if I have some of my normal cuts. And boiled eggs too. I boiled 4 in the evening so I have them now. Sometimes they help even when I really need a little extra protein at night. It’s trickier with meat as I too easily go overboard and it’s often fattier than needed. I LOVE eating a boiled yolk with 2-3 boiled whites and it has some nice volume, it’s satisfying too especially at night when my appetite seems to be the greatest, everything is more blissful at that time, even the simple boiled egg. Eggs are awesome anyway - but there is no chance of me eating many cooked in the same way.
So I need to be more prepared!
Tomorrow is shopping (pork, milk) and picking up an order (2 hours of walk in the cold frosty weather, everything covered in rime around me)… It’s from a confectionery webshop and it’s the unusual one where half of the order is for me! Milk powder and flavorings this time. As I quit coffee, hopefully I won’t overdo milk powder this time… But it has its uses in baking. Especially carnivore baking as it doesn’t have very many options for dry matter and sweetness.
I will make tiramisu tomorrow. Poor mascarpone reaches its expiration date and when I said options, Alvaro was very happy with that idea. So he gets a big, normal one and I make a carnivore-ish one (where some instant coffee and rum will be the non-carni part. works for me! I hope). It’s interesting as I never really want more than super simple desserts on carnivore so I never even made my multiple years long ice cream cake idea Maybe one day? Well, tiramisu is about the same difficulty: very easy! Almost all ingredients are carnivore or unnecessary. My cream is lactose free so quite sweet! That’s why my eggnog was a nice sweet dessert today (but the good rum helped too, that is sweet as well. the whisky was just very alcoholic. it’s only 40% so it’s strange but maybe I am just not used to alcohol anymore…?). It was in a 30ml cup so it felt a generous portion too. My attitude is vastly different with tiramisu (it is never enough) but I can’t eat more than what I have so it will be fine. I probably won’t want to go far with my only mildly sweet dessert anyway…? I am curious so I will taste a single tiny bite of the normal (but still pretty low-carb, it’s tiramisu made by me for Alvaro, why would I put much into it…?) one.
At this moment it’s the making and tasting what excites me, I don’t desire to eat a substantial or sweet dessert at all. I just need to use up the wonderful, mildly expensive stuff that is mascarpone and I still can’t watch Alvaro to eat it ALL. I am a tiramisu fan myself even if I don’t want it now. Yolks and cream and my fav instant coffee (it doesn’t taste proper coffee, more like flavoring for a dessert so it’s perfect for this), what not to like?
I will bring photos later if they turned out tolerable… Bad light for it and no passion at all…
I have tracked. Yesterday was about 135g fat and protein in one meal… I really like tiramisu even when it’s almost carnivore… I prefer mine even if it’s a bit lacking in sweetness (but that’s overratred anyway… except I managed to overdo the bitter coffee… I know what to do next time differently), the cake part was better in mine! I keep changing and more and more planty items feel bad tasting to me.
Even though I greedily ate up all 2 portions of my dessert (I only planned to eat one), it was more like because of hunger and the fact creamy treats are so easy to eat and this one was tasty too, full with some of my fav items… But I didn’t feel any particular desire towards tiramisu so it was a bit of a waste on me this time. I very rarely want true desserts while on carnivore. Some sour cream after my main dish or some eggy drink, sure but not this.
I decided to buy mascarpone only if I have some immediate plan, I don’t want to work on something and eat it half-heartedly just because I fear it would spoil…
But I wrote way too much about this.
I ate some fried pork heart (the not so nice parts so there was lots of too chewy bites for the cats) and fried a little lean pork too. Hence the high protein high fat day.
Today I had lunch too, it got a bit too protein rich considering it had almost no fat… And it won’t get much better so I expect a high protein very low fat day, hopefully it will work. My plan says 54% fat, wow. But who knows how I will feel, I had no dinner yet.
I have pork/heart stew, nice, I eat it with eggs. And I had some fancy, milk soaked, egg coated very lean pork. Hm, that method is better with chicken breast, I imagine pork would be better in a sauce as it needs a much longer time to cook… And the stupid coat (gelatin and egg) likes to come off anyway.
I eat and drink some eggs and have some dairy but my day is still quite low fat if I mostly eat lean pork… But I had this and fancied it too… One day should be fine, maybe.
I’m still making progress. Week 7 for strength and physical goals, Ruminants and poultry only with some very, very minimal additions that go a long way to making it sustainable. No dairy, eggs, or pork. One meal a day 4-5 days a week. Eating to only satisfy hunger the other days. And usually in a small window. ETA. Still working on coffee, but that is tapering in tandem with antihitamines.
I read somewhere to set your goals and then cut them in half. I did that. Turns out that for me, that making progress is far more sustainable than having perfection.
My goals never include perfection, I may be overly optimistic but I have some idea about my limits They are still beyond me but theoretically possible and I better push myself as much as I can (it’s not enough, I am a hedonist who doesn’t do hard things and don’t even try to resist temptation. it can be hard to be me)… I usually have some more realistic goals as well and anyway, I don’t feel so bad if I fail the very challenging, barely possible ones
Well this week wasn’t so great in multiple ways, I will try harder next week. Today I desired a bigger eating window and no limits, basically.
Food will be nice today I am sure, I don’t remember ever eating african sharptooth catfish but we bought some before Christmas when seafood was on a great sale… I have some leftover stew too, it’s enough for meat for today. I probably will make meatballs tomorrow as I ONLY have super lean meat now (trimmed green ham and chicken breast) but I do have some fatty pork skin to mix it with…
The stew wasn’t that great. I mean, the meat is good in it but the little plant matter didn’t make it any better, I think I prefer fried or roasted meats now. I used to love stews then I barely ate it as I tried to keep my meat dishes fully carnivore and it was easy… And now that I tried to return to it, it’s meh. Fine then, I stick to frying/roasting in the future too. With the occasional deer stew or something, deer is lean and just frying it isn’t the ideal way to eat it. I usually fry fatty meats, roasting allows leaner stuff but with some fat layer on the outside… And chicken breast have its milk soaked gelatin and egg coated cooking method, it’s fancy and more time consuming than the others but it’s nice for variety. Chicken breast is so very very tender, it barely needs any time to fry! My new beloved item despite it’s very pitiful fat content. I love tender meats. I love the occasional chewy kind too, variety is lovely. And of course, super crunchy scratchings are pure bliss, I just shouldn’t render out too much fat, leaven it super lean and not really enjoyable… I didn’t know it can do that… Scratching in the supermarket is so fatty it’s not even properly crunchy, oozing fat! That’s too fatty and not crunchy enough to me. And it has no meat. Mine is better to my liking but I have this with everything. I look with disdain (actually, I don’t even look…) at most supermarket items as I make something similar sooooo much better. Or I don’t do anything similar as I don’t need or want them. This choosiness helped me a lot when I just have left high-carb. It was very hard to tempt me with something that wasn’t some simple ingredient or spice mix. Except wafers, they were dangerous sometimes (they are so bad ingredient wise that it was a super occasional temptation and reading the label usually made me stop wanting them but still… I love the texture and can’t reproduce it) but I have grown out of that too.
Supermarket stuff is easy anyway, I need to resist for a few minutes per month. My problem items are ones I am surrounded with. They can wear me down if I kinda like them without a proper temptation that would win me over right away.
I had 2 OMAD days, 1 close to OMAD fat fast-ish days (a bit higher cal than the usual as for the first time, my 90% fat 1000 kcal dinner wasn’t enough), a few days without any coffee but I barely consume any anyway… Some carnivore-ish, some not because I happened to not have enough proper meat again… Why do I do this I don’t know. I need to plan better. Not great, not tragic, I will do better next week.
We bought eggs (well Alvaro who was willing to cycle in the fog) again so I have supplies - except meat that isn’t super lean so I should get some again. Tuesday is pork day so that’s the first time I can do that. But I have lots of meatballs in the freezer (and will make new ones from the leftover skin. I want to use it all up already!).
Yesterday was mostly sunny! The other days of the week all were foggy or overcast. I miss sunshine. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny again but one can never know. The deeper frost went away so the house isn’t too cold now… Our little A/C and tiny heaters used in moderation for reasons can’t do enough when it’s a serious frost for a week. Not very cold (like -20 Celsius) but not a light frost only, it matters.
Maybe we buy another A/C soon, we know it’s not a bad idea since long… My room is too hot in summer and only not cold in winter if I use a normal heater with its pitiful 100% efficiency. A/C is way cheaper to use (and we will see how much it worth it, we don’t know how long it will last and the upfront cost is significant) and can make cold and dehumidify, handy stuff. But it requires maintenance and I have ways to combat the problems with my room temperature (in summer it means I move out so maybe not the best).
It seems I still tend to write a lot but it happens rarely, it’s progress.
No goals here,not in any future timeframe at least. I´m just trying to feel good NOW.
I tried a pair of my old jeans yesterday, to my surprise I fit in there except waist needs 3" to go… well that could be a goal… But those jeans will fit one day, I don´t care when.
I may miss certain textures here and there and there are temptations anyway but not always. January is a great month for carnivore).
I was there and didn’t appreciate it as I still looked fat and then shock gain and whatnot happened. I still don’t normally gain but sometimes I do and it added up in several years. I gained very easily when I was below 69. my body LOVED that weight. until the shock gain happened and it never went away), just my belly but it’s my most problematic part. I blame my easy maintenance (at least when I am fat but I never was not fat after 2 years old), it’s because that I happily overeat for decades so my energy need seems and feels little food now. Except on carnivore if I haven’t too many meals. I probably would have stayed fat forever without carnivore, not like I lost any fat this far but I surely will. And whatever happens, I don’t do it for mere fat-loss, it’s a win either way. So I am patient as I sacrifice nothing, I do what feels best.
But at least at the right time, between getting hungry and eating. Too bad it’s before lunch. I won’t do OMAD today - but yesterday’s TMAD was great and I plan today to be similar.
I don’t say no to some tempting joy when I don’t need to.
Maybe because they are fine with the same treatment? Oh pork is great, so very tender and easy to cook! At least the not super lean kind but if I could make super good chicken breast (I always disliked that part, indeed, it is too lean but it’s so very great when done right… that is one rare dish I use some garlic for), I am confident I can make any soft lean meat good (the chewy ones may be trickier but I could always mince them…). 
I keep changing and more and more planty items feel bad tasting to me.