New to carnivore- is my body weird

(Desdarde ) #1

Hi guys!
I was on keto starting from march 2021 until end of January this year. I lost 35kg but 5 of that has now come back. I had a couple weeks of full crash where i ate chips, popcorn, potatoes etc. but sugar or honey i have not touched. That thing is like a drug to me.

Anyway, this crash was because of frustration on my weightloss. I lost a lot but then stalled at some point. I tweaked my keto to be more vegetable heavy and limited meat (Dr. Berg). This didn’t help. I started to have bloating, my joints ached, i started to get depressed. So, i crashed thinking i will never lose the last 15 kg that i should and i will just be achy and miserable. Lol.

Long story short, to get the aches and pain to stop and finally lose the last bits of fat, i started carnivore thanks to Dr Berry. I’m on my third week now and there might be something wrong with me. The aches have eased, I haven’t had any pain killers for about a week whereas before i had them daily. The first two weeks i was tired, sad and just out of energy. I know that’s part of adjustment. Now energy levels are better and so is my sleep.
I haven’t lost any weight but I’ve gained some. Just to remind you, i was eating carbs for 3 weeks full on before going straight to carnivore. Where’s the water weight? Also, some say that they get diarrhea on the first two weeks. This whole time I’ve had to go to toilet for like a table spoon worth of liquidy fart. The carbs never came out?
I eat twice a day, usually around 2-4 pm and again around 7-8 pm. I don’t eat breakfast because I’m just not hungry. I have coffee with heavy milk or cream.
I eat pork, chicken thigh’s with skin, bacon, beef, and eggs. I haven’t had any cheese. From the keto days of counting everything i would say my calorie intake ranges between 2000-2500. I go for long walks and once the weather gets better i will start running again. So, not heavy exercise but still i move quite a bit.
Height 163cm and current weight 68kg.

Any idea what’s going on and how should I adjust?

(Karen) #2

Hi. You sound like you are doing just fine. It takes the body some time to adapt to carnivore woe. Its fab that you are feeling the carnivore benefits regarding your aches and pains easing especially being so new to this woe. I would stop weighing and just use tape measure as you may be losing fat and gaining muscle so it is better to go by how your clothes feel.

I guess that there will be plenty peeps popping in the thread to give you encouragement. If you want any more encouragement come and join us in the carnivore thread. The name of the thread changes every month and this month is march in to carnivore March or something like that hahaha. We chat all sorts there and support us endless.

Good luck anyway. You really sound fine oh and normal, not weird at all.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #3

I started at 136 kg and am down to 100 on keto. I could probably stand to lose another 36 kg, but my body says otherwise. But my metabolism has been healed, and I can engage in all the physical activities necessary without my bulk getting in the way, so I am content. Dr. Phinney says that they typically see fat loss amounting to up to 20% of starting weight on keto, and I’ve lost around 26%, so I have to consider myself a success, whether I ever lose another half-kilo or not.

Switching to carnivore may or may not result in further fat loss for you, but in any case it is far to soon to tell. You may even get heavier for a time, before starting to lose. This is apparently normal and is not a sign that your new way of eating is “not working.” As with keto, you have to ride out the adjustment period in order to get the benefits of carnivore.

#4

You seems to be lucky, you get benefits already and no real problems, it seems. Keep it up! 2 meals, the mentioned food, all looks fine to me, I don’t think you need to tweak anything if there are no problems just no fat-loss for a while, it’s normal, even a little gain is normal as I’ve heard.

It’s easily possible you eat too much to lose but you still should satiate yourself and give your body what it wants I think. Fat-loss isn’t always quick especially on carnivore (and especially when one has little to lose. 15kg is little enough)… The body may have other things to do, more important things than losing the last 15kg at the moment and I wouldn’t expect fat-loss eating 2000-2500 kcal in my own case (I am 163 cm and 75kg, not active but not fully sedentary), it’s possible, of course but not guaranteed. But these things may change later, I wouldn’t worry about it this very early.

If you feel okay, keep doing it, you are really lucky! Some people has really serious difficulties in the beginning (and probably some has it forever, carnivore isn’t for everyone. I am no carnivore myself for various reasons, I just like to be quite close as my body prefers that and my relationship with food gets way better as well. carnivore did what keto couldn’t, it’s cool. but I can’t stick to it for long yet).

(Stickin' with mammoth) #5

@Desdarde Congrats! Keto is the one time no one’s gonna say “sorry for your loss”–Ha, ha!

The other thing about keto is it really does vary wildly depending on the person and their unique set of circumstances. It’s definitely not one-size-fits-all and there are countless variables to tweak on a personal level, many of which physicians aren’t even aware of yet. It’s wise to ignore the rubes who claim keto will fix everything, too.

From what I’ve seen, it tends to be trickier for women, probably because we have a far more intricate hormonal system that responds multifariously to stress. I believe the mind-body connection is more complex for us as well and this is not something heavily researched or, indeed, even acknowledged. Like they said about Ginger Rogers: She did everything Fred Astaire did but backwards and in heels and all she got for it was being called “partner.”

Your body is going to adjust its operations as the parameters its forced to operate within shift. Symptoms will disappear and new ones will pop up, sometimes it’s a sign of healing, sometimes it’s a sign your course needs tweaking. The only one who knows for sure is you and the only way to confirm that is experimentation. We’ll share what we know so far on here but take it all with a grain of salt and put a check on anyone who announces your differing results confirm "you’re doing it wrong.’ When it comes to your own body, you’re going to learn far more than any of us. You are your own science and scientist.

Keep a journal. Try new things one at a time so you can tell which thing produced which result. Take a break if you need to, and give yourself one mentally. Most importantly, compare yourself to no one but you one year ago, today. That’s why the journal is so handy, you can scan back and remember how far you’ve come, what you’ve learned.

You got this.

PS: My own two cents would be coffee. For me, it cuts appetite. If I put if off a little while in the morning, I’m magically hungry for breakfast. Also, I only seem to really need coffee if I ate too close to bedtime the night before and then woke up a bit groggy from still digesting things. Just my experience.

(Scott) #6

I started carnivore two years ago as a 30 day experiment. I decided I like it and did break a stall. After foot injury sidelined my exercise I gained a bit but still in the game. Two weeks is nothing, plenty of time to bail out later.

(Desdarde ) #7

Thank you Karen18! The tape measure idea is a great one! Looking at the scale is bringing up negative emotions so I decided to put it away in storage. I’m determined to continue this at least 30 days come what may, and see how I feel then. So far I’m loving it!

I’m actually amazed so many people responded to my post! I was like wow! I expected maybe one or two comments but wow! :smiley: I will definitely find the carnivore March thread! Thank you!

(Desdarde ) #8

Paul, you have definitely succeeded in keto! Congrats! That is amazing!
Are you still on keto or are you doing carnivore?
Yes, you’re absolutely right that it’s too early to tell if I’m losing fat or not. I just feel a bit confused because my body doesn’t seem to reacting the way most of carnivore starters; water weight off and such. But I will wait and see. I will definitely finish 30 days as I originally planned. Thanks for the encouragement!

(Desdarde ) #9

Thank you Shinita! I feel encouraged from your response!
I guess I am lucky since I was expecting all the possible “side effects” when switching to carnivore and that hasn’t been the case part from first week feeling really tired.
You might be right that I am eating too much for weight loss but I will ride this one as it is until my 30 days are full as I originally planned. I will see how I feel and start tweaking after that if necessary.

May I ask how long you have been on carnivore? What kind of issues you had when you started?

(Desdarde ) #10

“Congratulations on your loss” Woohoo! :smiley:
You’re definitely right about keto! Like I did protein heavy keto at first and saw great changes and then went over and switched to vegetable heavy one, that was a bad move but like everything else, it took time to notice the change.

yes, hormones play a big part for us women. I actually have PCOS but haven’t checked if there’s any cases with carnivore and PCOS. There’s so many diets directed at women and advertised as “this is how to balance your hormones” and I don’t really have any faith in those. I believe it requires a medical attention to be done correctly and not an article online or a Facebook post. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a doctor that would actually take me seriously. So, have to just try and see. And like you said, I will have to be my own scientist!

Thank you so much for your response! I will wait and see how this thing goes. I don’t want to stop now!
How long have you been on carnivore? or are you doing keto?

(Desdarde ) #11

Thank you Rclause!
I will definitely see this through for 30 days. I was just a bit confused since my body hasn’t reacted like many of the posts online describe.
What got you to try carnivore?

(Karen) #12

There’s probably only a small proportion of people who have had changes in such a short space of time. Most take a lot longer to see the benefits. The body has many years of abuse to change. I was a yoyo dieter for years, like so many women, so heaven knows what all that did to my system. I have been carnivore since November 2020 and although I found it incredibly easy to do this woe I am still learning and still seeing different benefits. They say 90 days is a better guage when starting but one seems to evolve the longer one is eating like this. I guess it depends on how much you love meat hahaha I am definitely a hunter/gatherer. I used to love veggies and my daughter kept asking me if I was getting withdrawal symptoms not eating it … not once! I haven’t missed them atall ! She doesn’t ask me that anymore … in fact when I got blue lighted into hospital last October she brought me food in everyday cos she knew I wouldn’t eat hosp food :rofl::rofl: she’s a good egg … no pun intended lol x

#13

Not everyone loses water weight or not much.
I only lost water when I was a beginner ketoer (4lbs every time for a long while and later 2. I only could see that well as my weight is super stable, normally one easily changes more without dietary changes). Keto->carnivore does nothing. Even way higher-carb -> carnivore does little to nothing nowadays (and the little may be the more amount of food), I guess my glycogen stores are filled no matter how much carbs I eat, it took years and my body learned…?

So no water weight loss means little, it happens to some of us.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #14

If I lived on my own, I’d probably be carnivore by now, but living with a houseful of carb-burning family members makes keto hard enough to manage, let alone carnivore. At least my sister is good about preparing keto alternatives to the breaded things she likes to cook for the others.

#15

I don’t actually do carnivore, it’s on/off carnivore-ish for me as I only can do that and it seems staying close to carnivore most of the time is great for me, I don’t feel the need to do it better, I still try and fail… I am not a big meat eater I think, at least not every day, I can get bored with it moderately easily and I never miss it. I was a vegetarian then very very close to it (meat a few times per year) for decades and it was easy and nice, I felt healthy but then I realized my body prefers even lower carbs than what I could do on vegetarian keto. And meat is so very convenient anyway. And tasty. As long as I am not bored of it yet. So I have chill carnivore-ish (only a tiny amount of non-carnivore food, I didn’t experience any benefit of being totally strict, only problems after a while i.e. I got bored and felt restricted) times and more or less struggling off days. It takes a long time to find my way but this is still way better than on/off keto was. I know this is my way so I train myself. My off days have the same food just with some extras. Eggs and meat is my base food, it seems final.

I had zero issues, only benefits right away. I am too addicted to food, I feel compulsions sometimes and that’s annoying. It turned out carbs were the culprit, I must go quite low and my problems mostly disappear.
After some time I started to suspect it does good to my energy and as I always had lowish energy previously on keto, it was a big deal. But this is subtle and my on/off ways surely don’t do good, I am motivated but still can’t stick to it yet, I am working on it and I think it does good to me. My desires change, I want things better for me now, most of the time. Until I mess things up with carbs, at least.

I tried carnivore more than 2 years ago. And I do this on/off since, I struggle a lot but I can’t say I ever suffer. It’s more like annoyance when things aren’t chill but it’s interesting to search for the solution. It’s just a bit tiresome, I started my fat-loss jorney maybe 11 years ago and it stopped 10 years ago? :smiley: I had some downs and ups since… And my main focus is health and well-being but I still want to lose fat. But first of all, I want to avoid overeating (wasteful, burdensome and wrong and hurts my pride). Carnivore is quite good at that. I always overeate on carby diets, it was inevitable.
But I always felt basically very healthy, I never go to the doctor, I don’t even have one. My body is super stable and I always had a nutritious diet. But I want to live a very long and healthy life and I suspect that even my genetics aren’t enough for that, I need a great woe and good lifestyle too. And if I can feel better without real sacrifices, I want that.

Sorry if I was too verbose, I am like that even if I try not to be.

(Marianne) #16

Wow, you’ve done really great. As for the temporary set-back, try to brush it off and pick up where you started. Obviously, you know how to do this and had done it for an extended period.

Try staying off the scale; it is the devil. Confoundingly, it can mess with your head whether the number is good or bad. The only time I get weighed is at the doctor’s. You can tell how you are doing by your appearance and clothes. In addition, although the scale may not indicate you are losing, your body is likely reproportioning itself and progressing toward optimal health internally.

For me, starch is as much of a drug as sugar - actually, it’s just another sugar in a different wrapper. If you can, try to think of the keto WOE as your permanent solution and not just a temporary vehicle to drop the weight. It’s taken me sixty years to respect that I have a bona fide food addiction. I don’t care if people or experts don’t believe that that exists. In the past, I used to work my fanny off losing weight, with the intent that I would occasionally reincorporate the foods I loved back in once I got it off. That never worked for me. I always gained my weight back and usually then some. On the face of it, keto is very limiting, but I love what I can eat and have no intention of deviating from that again. I know I can’t go back to eating any of my former binge foods. They’re just a trigger and open an ugly floodgate to binge eating. That has always happened. I don’t doubt anymore that next time will be different.

The key for me with staying on clean keto for three years has been to eat enough and enjoy my food to the fullest. When I am satiated by quantity and taste, I don’t crave or think about my former binge foods. I am happy to just eat and enjoy life without being burdened by constant and obsessive thoughts of food, eating, my weight, my appearance, whether or not my clothes fit or how long they might not, how I was going to be able to manage all of it, what people are thinking of me, etc.

I really feel you. I hope you find your stride again. :hugs:

(Stickin' with mammoth) #17

Often, not even that. Frankly, I gave up on doctors decades ago. I only drag myself into an ER if I’m missing an arm or trailing vital bodily fluids behind me. Just thinking about all the infuriating condescension and mansplaining I’ve had to endure regarding nutrition, hormones, and even basic musculature instantly sends my blood pressure through the roof. I count it as a work out.

My favorite incident was when, at the peak of my physical condition as a weight lifter and mountain climber in my late 20s, I stepped on a scale during a routine check up and was promptly informed I was obese. I told the nurse to look up from her clipboard for a second (this was before flat screens and the wheel) and take a look at me. She did and I could clearly see her confusion. I asked her if I looked obese. She said no. I flexed my 13" bicep and asked her if that looked like adipose tissue. She said no. I lifted my t-shirt and asked her to point to the problem. She told me the doctor would be with me in a minute. When I had his full attention, I put the question to him. He said scales don’t lie. I asked him how much he benched. He changed the subject.

I dropped Kaiser Permanente, but not before my other favorite incident.

I had succumbed to the latest fear mongering about moles and made an appointment to have mine inspected, still in my twenties. The doctor breezed in with his must-have-nurse-present and seemed to take me seriously for 5 minutes. Then he put on a tired face and informed me in a tone so bored and condescending, I wanted to rip his nose hairs out with a pliers: “I don’t know why you’re in here, these are just liver spots. Do you know what liver spots are? I’ll tell you what liver spots are. You see, women your age start to find little things like this. I know you don’t want to hear that but you’re just going to have to face the fact that you’re getting older and–” I stopped listening to him right around then because the image of his head on a pike was becoming far more interesting. I glanced at the nurse in the corner and she looked embarrassed for me. After I cancelled Kaiser, I continued to receive almost monthly reminders in the mail from them (again, this was olden times) to get those potentially cancerous issues checked. Because I’m a hysterical woman, but I’m apparently not too hysterical to be disregarded as revenue.

Feel free to insert all the swear words you know here, I certainly have.

I’ve cured 95% of any and all physical ailments so far–even acute injury–via my own research and experimentation for an alarmingly tiny fraction of the cost I would have sustained through the usual time-wasting channels. And that goes double for mental and emotional conditions. I grew up around people who forced me to substitute their needs and instincts for my own, but I unearthed my inner Liam Neeson after a protracted battle with an incompetent HMO:

“…what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.”

Don’t ■■■■ with me, Dr. Rouse.

#18

Wow and you could ask him a question, I would just get a brain freeze and just walk away… Wow. Like, wow… I had no illusions about doctors but still… How stupid one can be? No, scales don’t lie (they can, actually, there is probably things that can go wrong in them but that’s not the point), they tell you your weight. And that’s it. Did the doctor never heard about muscle and its density…? Wow, again.
Shouldn’t doctors use their eyes, maybe…? Among others? I still it’s still a pretty important method to get information…

I feel SUPER lucky I can pull off avoiding doctors (except when I break something and at some point I run away from them as they always want to use barbaric needless things and I don’t let them. we don’t like each other). I am sure there are good ones too but I heard too many bad stories.

(Stickin' with mammoth) #19

I tried to engage him about the ludicrous inaccuracies of the BMI chart in regard to body builders but he shot me one of those you’re-wasting-my-time-and-yours looks over the top of his glasses. If I had been sitting any closer, I’m pretty sure he would’ve patted me on the top of my head.

I did get in one dig before I left, though, a good one. I asked him what he did to work out. I asked him directly, pointedly, and in a tone that clearly conveyed my ten years of experience in the weight room. The air in the room froze like a pond in Alaska. We both knew in that moment that I had him and that there would, at least, be no lectures on what sort of activities I might try to get that pesky body weight number of mine under control. Not with that dunlop disease he had goin’ on.

(Rebecca ) #20

Yeppers, at my last appointment 1 year ago, (I ONLY see him for Thyroid Disease) my paperwork stated me as “obese”…:rage: I tore it in half and threw it in the trash.