Carnivore Plus Lifestyle

Preparation:

This is key for any diet or lifestyle changes. You can’t wake up on a Monday and decide, hey I am going to change X,Y,Z to A,B,C right away and expect to last. I knew I would need a few things.

I knew I would need salt to keep my body conductive. The main electrolyte and flavour control. I got myself pink salt in Dunnes. I also got some dissolvable electrolytes from Holland & Barrett. Finally I got vitamin C dissolvable tabs in Lidl.

Next, I ordered myself a meat mincer, a meat slicer and a vacuum sealer so I could prep my own meat. I purchase kilos of chuck beef and pork shoulder from the butcher/wholesaler and I even make my own sausages and burger patties. Doing all this made the process easier to stick to, but it did create work and it takes hours prepping meat and making sausages, which I tend to do every fortnight.

The Reality from Feb 1st:

During the month of February, I was very strict with my food intake. I did not let myself go hungry, but I did not stray at all. I genuinely found it very easy to stick to and I noticed a massive increase in my energy levels from day 2. I was expecting to have diarrhea for a week because this was well reported online. However, I had no problem and my usual diarrhea had gone. I was eating scrambled egg with cheese and bacon. Burger patties and steak, making sure to eat the fat on the steak. My steak preference moved from a medium-well done fillet, to a medium rare rib-eye. I noticed the smell of the bakery at Lidl and the Orange dispensing machine made my mouth water when I passed by. It was crazy! I was enjoying it.

Results for Feb:

My lower back pain remained.

My mid back pain was intermittent anyway, but the problem was less frequent. Surprise, but maybe coincidental.

Neck and shoulder pain reduced dramatically.

ALL OTHER AILMENTS GONE OR MASSIVELY REDUCED. I could not believe it. Never felt better!!

I promised to keep a watchful eye on my weight and measurements, so not everything was based on feelings, or possible placebo effect. I find it kind of awkward to take my measurements, so take those with a pinch of salt. The weight though is taken by the scales and I can’t mess that part up.

Weight: 102.6kg (down 7.4kg)

Tummy: not recorded

Waist: not recorded

Results for March:

During March, I relaxed a little and wanted to see what would change. I allowed myself have a small bar of 85% dark chocolate from Aldi. I have also eaten about 6 battered sausages and a southern fried chicken breast. Yesterday I was stuck and I had a southern fried chicken wrap with butter and cheese. Aside from that, I have been sticking to the diet and mainly have been eating steak. In the morning, at work, I have a cheese and ham omelette.

The ailments are still gone or reduced to a level I don’t notice them. For example, my crown is a little dry (very mild dandruff), but no sores, spots, or scabs. I haven’t had any bowel issues, which is amazing and for me is the real win here. My mood is improved and that’s because I am not tired all the time. I still have lower back pain to contend with, but as that is due to nerve damage, I don’t expect that to disappear and will manage that as I usually do. Overall, I am super happy with this.

I won’t recommend it to anyone other than to say if you have any similar ailments, to check with your GP and consider a diet change. Cutting out sugar is obviously a big positive. Cutting out the carbs means my body has to use up the fat stores and that is a consistent energy supply in my current state. For me, it was important that I choose a diet I could stick to and one which doesn’t require a cabinet of supplements. I couldn't do vegetarian and Vegan is alien to me. I like eating meat, so it works for me.

I take official results on the 1st of a month, but for this thread, I took results just now, so you get a sneak preview.

Weight: 96kg (down 14kg in 2 months)

Tummy: 108cm

Waist: 96cm

I think I might have taken my tummy and waist measurements wrong in February, because I am sure I lost more than todays recorded result. On my belt, I was 2 notches away from the last hole. A few days ago, my Wife commented that I needed new jeans because they were falling down to reveal some crack. I am constantly pulling my trousers up 😆. I had to add new hole to my belt….i'm not buying new jeans as I only bought 3 pairs in December!

Difficulties of the diet:

There aren’t many. I used to eat out with my Wife every other week, but now that is more difficult, We have been out for a meal once since I started the diet. Went to FX Buckleys. I must say, my own steak purchased from Lidl is better, but it was a nice experience. The canteen at work is OK for breakfast, but I can’t trust lunch/dinner because I don’t know what is in the food, or how it is cooked, assuming the meat is not slathered in a sugary sauce. I can either bring in prepped food (I never do) or pop over to the local supermarket and get some sliced beef. I pick the salt only option. I can also go to McDonalds and order a burger patty. A triple cheese burger with only patties and cheese ties me over if stuck. They don't fry the patties in oil.

So what now?

I will continue as I am. After today, I will cut down on the daily chocolate intake and continue what I am doing. My Wife got me a dark chocolate egg for Easter, so it would be rude not to eat/share it. On holidays, I plan to relax and not be strict unless I can easily have good meat. I'll be in Germany next week for a few days and will see how I get on.

So far, it’s been a really positive experience and the challenges have been minor and beneficial in their own way. I’ve had an unhealthy diet for…well, as long as I can remember and certainly from my mid-teens. I’ve been technically overweight for half my life now and it’s great that I am falling to a healthy weight as a side effect of this change. The compliments are nice too from all quarters. Everyone has noticed I am slimming down and looking better. I feel better.

I updated my GP last week and he is happy to see I am getting positive results, but I am still scheduled for tests at the hospital, one of which I had this week for my organs, mainly liver (no, I’m not an alcoholic). Now that I say that, I should say I was never much of a drinker. Could go weeks and months without a drink. Also not a smoker, or any other addict. I think I will schedule another checkup as early as May 1st but no later than July 1st depending on how I am doing.

I also know I should change my lifestyle to become more active. It won't be as easy as the diet change due to pain and laziness. The results I have seen thus far are only based on diet change. I don't starve myself. I have only fell hungry on a couple of occasions and I don't get bothered if I stray a bit.

If anyone has any questions, if I can, I am happy to answer.

edited to fix a couple of typos

April was a pretty loose month for me overall. While I didn't go crazy and eat loads of junk, I wasn't disciplined at all really. I did learn a bit though.

Hunger makes it easy to make bad decisions.

When hungry, I was much more susceptible to making poor food choices and being lazy. This meant I would more likely have a sausage in batter, or a piece of chocolate. Eating the fast food items made me congested and more tired.

We really need electrolytes.

I was eating less steak, so less salt and I was also drinking less water because I switched from a dissolving electrolyte to a pill. A few days ago, I had an almighty calf cramp when I was asleep. I had only ever had one that bad about 20 years ago. It put me out of action for the whole day, but I realised what I had been doing wrong and took action, quickening my recovery and improving my water and electrolyte intake.

I used to get an eye twitch every few days. It could last a few minutes or over an hour. I used to think it was purely stress related, but could happen at any time no matter what was going on. Someone mentioned eye twitching a week ago and it just hit me than that I haven't had this happen since going carnivore. Maybe it was connecvted to low electrolytes. Not sure, but it's a positive, because it used to annoy the hell out of me.

Weight 95kg

On May 1st, I was down another kilo. Not much, but still in the right direction and despite an undisciplined month. I also had to buy some new jeans. I've gone from a 36" to a 32" because the larger ones were starting to look very roomy on me. I've also gone from a size XXL Tee to a Large. Pretty good progress there. I haven't recorded other measurements, because I get a different reading every time I take it….so I suck at measuring myself.

Medical

I had an ultrasound done a few weeks ago. My GP range me. All results were good with the exception of a fatty liver, tying in with the blood results I had got in February. The advice is lifestyle change and cutting out junk foods and sugars. I will need to improve my lack of activity, but on the diet side, I know I am doing much better. Colonoscopy to be done this week, then no more medical stuff until I have bloods done, maybe in July to compare with the results from February. I will have another ultrasound done in a year (suggested by GP) to see how it is doing.

It's worth a try, but if you do it, you should prepare properly, or you will probably end up suffering. I would say the most important aspects are:

1. Eat plenty…don't starve yourself. On average, I have a 3 egg ham and chees omelette, plus bacon and sausage for breakfast. Then 1 or 2 rib-eye steaks for lunch/dinner. I'm sedentary, so this is plenty for me.
2. Electrolytes. I take an electrolyte tablet every morning. I also take a vitamin C dissolvable. I add Himalayan salt to my food. Steak is well seasoned for electrolytes. If you don't do this, you will feel awful and end up with leg cramps…ask me how I know!
3. Water. I try drink a liter per day. Helps when you have a water bottle.

1kg of fat is not bad over 3 days, but I think the important things are to keep on the same trajectory toward a healthy weight and the maintaining it. It really has to be the way you are, rather than the way you are right now. I hope you see great results regardless.

Month 5 Update

Still consistent with my meals. Electrolyte pill and vitamin C in the morning. Ham and Cheese Omelette for breakfast. Steak for Lunch/Dinner. Some cheddar cheese and 2 squares of 85% dark chocolate most evenings and about 2 cups of full milk. I haven't really had an appetite and when I get hungry, I will have extra.

My energy levels have been consistent, but I notice they dip if I veer off the healthier meat and opt to add a battered sausage or something like that into my diet more than once a week.

Weight dropped by another kilo to 93kg as of this morning, so still going in the right direction and nice and slowly just the way the body likes it. I don't think my measurements have changed in the month. Maybe the jeans are a little looser, but I don't care to measure it if I'm completely honest.

I'll be looking to have bloods taken this month to have my GP make a comparison between the start of this diet and the time the bloods are taken, so about 6 months. I'll report at the beginning of next month and will leave out further updates unless requested.

I wouldn't rule it out, but I don't see the need to introduce anything into my diet, as I think I am getting everything I need. It's been 5 months and while that's a relatively short period of time in the grand scheme, I believe it's long enough to tell me that I am mostly getting it right without the fruit and veg and whole grains.

If I do introduce anything, I think I would go with foods that are "gifted" from trees/bushes if that makes sense. So, I would eat an Apple, but not the Leaf from the Apple tree. I would do it slowly and choose things I miss, like Strawberries, or Pineapples.

I'm not a die-hard dieter and I give myself some leeway. For example; today I was at Emerald/Tayto Park and I brought my cooked steak which had been cut into strips and put into a lunch box. I took along a piece of 85% dark chocolate and toward the end of the day, I had a small choc-chip Ben&Jerrys ice-cream in the tub.

If I was strict carnivore, animal only products all the time, I would definitely have achieved a goal to dip below 90kg 2 months ago, but then I suspect I would have had a high chance of falling off the wagon and going back to old ways. Giving myself some slack makes it easier to stay the course.

I had concerns of lacking nutrients going into this, so I understand your point of view. It's also why I wanted to do it under the care of my GP and to have tests done to check my health. Since starting, I had bloods taken right away, followed by an ultra sound a couple of months ago and a colonoscopy about a month ago.

I'm not a fan of dieting and went into this only after doing my due diligence in so far as it was possible. What I found is that the diet and lifestyle is sustainable for other over many years (assuming some carnivore people are telling the truth) and for me, it has been transformational from day 1. I can't argue with the results and while I can't say for certain that I won't drop down dead from a heart attack in 2 years time as a direct result of not eating fruit and vegetables, I can say that I feel great now with all previous ailments gone now. My bowel movements are also regularised now, whereas before, the only regular thing about my bowels was that I had frequent problems. I carried Imodium in my wallet!! Not anymore.

I have eaten healthy diets for weeks and months at a time before and I saw some results, but I still had my ailments. For example, I had real Muesli, or Porridge, or eggs for breakfast. A salad, or tuna/turkey wrap for lunch and a wholesome, home cooked dinner, with yoghurt and fruit for supper, cutting out all junk. I focused on weight as a marker for success and I did see some weight loss, up to about 4-5kg, but with no change to my energy levels, or ailments. The only thing that has worked and has been sustainable for me is what I am doing now. The initial results were huge and they have maintained. I haven't changed anything else for 2 reasons.

1. I wanted to be sure that any results were purely diet related.
2. I'm not really into change, so exercise and weight lifting is something I will have to build up to.

If my body was missing something, I like to think I would have seen some sign by now. I'll keep going this road unless I have good reason not to.

If going strictly carnivore, the only allowances are animal products. Milk would be OK, but not tea. I'm not that strict about it. I do what works for me and it keeps me going in the right direction.

Yeah, no problem.

My diet is pretty simple. Most days this is what I eat.

Breakfast. Ham and cheeses omelette with a sausage.

Lunch. A piece of chicken, or slices of beef (if I am even hungry)

Dinner. A steak and glass of milk.

Snack. A snack bar sized piece of cheddar and/or 2 squares of 85% chocolate.

This varies a little sometimes, but 90% of the time, that's what I eat.

I also take one of those Vitamin C dissolvable from Lidl and an electrolyte pill every morning, just in case. My weight is now maintaining at 92kg….checked yesterday. That's from 110kg on Feb 1st this year. I made a few meal errors and exceptions, but didn't let that deter me and I write them off as occasions, rather than fails. It's an attitude adjustment just as much as a diet shift.

Your comment suggests that unless you're willing to eat well and exercise, then there's no point in eating well.

The changes I have made are strictly diet and I have demonstrated to myself (and to those who believe my results) that changing to a carnivore diet is definitely worth considering. Would I have better results by being more active…yeah, I think so, but that's not the point of the thread.

This was about dietary change and measuring results for myself. It was an experiment for me, so that's why it reads like one. While I didn't record every little detail, I kept to the diet with few deviations and I got surprised. The experiment yielded results which were far better than I could have expected. My expectations were to see some minor weight loss, but followed by low energy and other potential issues. That never happened though.

Through the changes I have made, I have eliminated almost all my ailments, reduced my cholesterol levels and reversed the fatty liver disease I was diagnosed with earlier this year. I'd call that a good result and I have the blood tests 6 months apart to prove it. The exercise and move more is good advice, but is separate to "nutrition & diet", the sub-forum we are in now. I intend to bring exercise back into my life, but I am still stuck with chronic back pain from a car accident which can make that more challenging at the best of times.

This is going to sound counter-intuitive, but the best advice I found was to eat until it didn't taste great. It's a bit vague, but it translated to eat until you no longer feel you need to. Measuring grams and levels of nutrition is not what it's about. You'll find (as I did) that you just end up eating the same meat portions, minus the extras. So you'll have the same steak, without the mash, or fries, or veggies on the side. It's very strange at first, but the hunger just stays away as long as you don't go a whole day without eating.

When it came to steak, I used to prefer fillet steak, but now I love a rib-eye and I love the rendered fat. Eat the fat…you need it. Again, seems counter-intuitive, but smarter people and folk who have been eating like this for far longer will tell you the same thing. Just eat a steak, or a breast of chicken. Don't weigh it, enjoy it. If you want more, have more. You'll know if you are over-doing it.

At the start, I was making my own sausages. I minced my own pork, added salt and a small amount of herbs and fed it through a sausage maker with natural intestine. Cooked them in an air-fryer. It was delicious, but i'm less strict now. I eat Lidl deluxe sausages occasionally even though they have some crap in there. It's a trade off. I'll PM you my 6 month journey on YT which will hopefully give you a little more info.

I had blood taken on Feb 1st when I started the diet and again at the end of July to compare.

My Cholesterol was high, but not high enough for medication. I was diagnosed with "non-alcoholic fatty liver disease" and was sent for an ultrasound and and colonoscopy following the tests.

The recent blood tests showed my Cholesterol levels were lower (unexpected by me due to more red meat) and the fatty liver disease was gone.

I have recently in the last few weeks tried some carbs for a few days to see what effect it would have. My energy levels fluctuated from high to low. My dandruff returned and I had a few spots on my face and back. It definitely had a negative impact.

Next, I will try some fruit, but want to wait a few weeks to be clear of the carb effects.

After that, I'll start to bring some real exercise back into my routine. I'll have bloods taken next year to see where i'm at.