Scott F.

Today marks one full year on carnivore. It has been quite the journey and more amazingly beneficial than anything I could have ever imagined. I started off with carnivore as being just a weight loss hack. I had no idea there would be benefits other than those associated with weight loss. I didn't bother with any of the research on carnivore, the best ways to go about things, I just plunged right in headfirst. It didn't take too long to start learning and figuring things out. (some even the hard way) I am extremely happy with the measurables. I started at 306lbs with my pant size 44-46. This morning, I weighed 213lbs, losing 93lbs in 12 months and a pant size of 38. If I hadn't started eating for grams of protein per pound the loss would have been well under 100 but I'm good with where and how I landed at 12 months. I have never had blood pressure or glucose issues and the only movement there is my blood sugar is now in the 80's most everyday whereas it was in the 90's before carnivore. My blood pressure has been a consistent 110/60. My cholesterol has improved some as my HDL is staying sort of constant, but my LDL dropped by 35 points on my last visit. The biggest benefit is that I have NMO/SD, an autoimmune disease that had me on pain and inflammation medicine for just over six years. The prednisone and Neurontin sort of got me thru some rough times when the pain/inflammation was slowing me down. After 4-6 weeks on a strict carnivore diet I found I didn't need the medicine anymore. By the end of that sixth week, I had stopped taking the pain and inflammation medicine altogether. Being pain free is an incredible thing to experience and to get there without a daily medication is really hard to describe. I could not have been any more surprised and could not have been any more pleased with the first six weeks of carnivore. I'm in the gym three to four times per week and the lifting is starting to grow both in weight and volume. It feels like I am performing better at 55 than 25. A big thanks to the members of the board and sharing their experiences and thoughts. I'm a bigger fan of hearing someone's personal experiences over a medical study where I have to wonder if the backer had a monetary interest in the outcome of the research or whether the control subjects were really controlled subjects. I can relate to another person's story more than that of a bunch of doctors and control subjects. I really appreciate the exchange of information as it has helped me get over some obstacles here and there. I'm still learning. After 12 months I think I am easing into carnivore becoming a life style vs. being a weight loss hack. Still, there is work to be done. Scott

Yep. Good to know. I don't have them that often and usually they are somewhat self inflicted for me. I get really busy at work and don't make it a point to drink enough fluid during the day. The cramps remind me of my forgetfulness. LOL Good information. Scott

Just like new, the first steps can be the hardest. A few things to keep in mind. Hydration is paramount. Carbs require a lot of water. If you have stopped the carbs your body is using them up as that has been the fuel source prior to carnivore. In turn, there may be the need for more water. One thing to offset that other than water intake is increasing your fat content. Fat burns better than carbs, requires less water and is an over-all better energy source. Next would be the individuality of most every thing health related. Going cold-turkey carnivore may not work for you. You may need to ease into the diet and wean yourself off the carbs and sugars. I never like using these words as they carry a lot of negativity, but they are adequate and accurate. You are having withdrawals and de-toxing. Coming off a dumpster diet can be hard. It comes with cravings, and perceived hunger that is your brain telling your body to get back to the status-quo. Good luck. This is a good place to drop by and share your experiences. Although we are all individuals odds are what ever you are experiencing more than likely there is someone here who has worked thru the same things. You can lean on that. Good luck. Higher fats, moderate protein, salt/electrolytes and hydration. Keep pushing. Scott

We had two in town and both have since closed. One was the Oak Grove Market. They butchered in one part of the building and another part those same meats were cooked and served. We shopped there a couple times per week and ate lunch there at least once per week. The second was called "Supply Line". Their meat selection was tremendous and if they didn't have what you were looking for they would track it down and it would be there the next time. Even for a local, family-owned business they kept their prices down and relied on service and quality to offset the big box stores. They were able to do that for years and years. I miss both those places. We now have one 20+ miles away that is 'from the field to your table' and their meats are incredible. Expensive over time, but incredible. Everything is high, and if they bought high and sold low, they would be out of business in short order. In some slight mental justification, I shop there because I have saved money just eating meats and secondly, they are local, and family owned. Maybe the third, the young man that opened it is maybe 26-27 years old and when he interacts with customers you would think he was the 75 year old farmer from down the road that watched everyone grow up. An old soul. Our pork is from out back to inside, only a few hundred feet from the door. Eggs the same. Scott

I go back in a couple weeks and I may be having that same conversation with the Rituxin. Since the onset in 2018 I can feel the difference between having the infusion, the next three months, and then the last two or so before the next one. The last month or so before the infusion I get a little run down, the fatigue sort of returns and I have been susceptible to most anything coming down the pipe. I was a frequent flyer during covid with and without positive tests. The last time I didn't really didn't get the run down feeling the last month or so, (five months on carnivore) and this time I'm as energetic as all get out. I'm stacking night shifts like cord wood and going to the gym consistently. I can say I have not felt better in a really long time, and especially since being diagnosed is 2018. Tomorrow is one year. My last blood work suggests I am on the cusps of having a normal immune system. If it tracks accordingly the next test should be "in the green". I get that there is a lot of negativity toward the state/approach of the current medical system and I understand the profit taking precedence over overall health. Nothing hard to understand there. But at the same time, I am both thankful and appreciative for the treatments I received. Good or bad, it got me to a point where I was still kicking to make a better decision. The alternative would not have ended well. Scott

I'm not sure it is an amount to be concerned with the way it reads. I had not thought about it years but it was a staple as a kid. Fried spam with eggs was almost a go-to. I have not had it in years. The next trip into the grocery store I am going to venture up the 'can' aisle for the first time in a long time. LOL Scott

The same. If I were single or if we cooked separate meals I would go straight red meats. I can actually feel a difference the few times I did red meats for a week to ten days. My wife does a ton to support my carnivore eating so mixing in chicken and fish here and there is a pretty good trade-off. Scott

As I learn more and more, this statement is incredibly accurate. I feel like the medicines saved me and I also feel like they kept me going. I am not sure if they did any harm, maybe, maybe not. I do believe 'keeping me going' and 'on the hook' are really similar. With all that, I am really appreciative of where I am today. Scott

True. I truly believe there is no financial future with cures. I'm sure there have been a few that cured the common cold but not that I am total conspiracy theorist, but I'm guessing they died a mysterious death or wound up in an unmarked grave. I still believe in the benefits of modern medicine I just have a bigger belief that the medicine is the stopping point for most doctors and most people. For me, it took me years to punish my body with a dumpster diet to develop all the issues I had coming into carnivore. I was diagnosed in 2018 and the pain management medicines and the infusions kept me going. If someone is rushed into the emergency room with life threatening issues, like blood pressure or glucose or cardiac type issue, the advances of modern medicine can save their life with basically an immediate response. My issue is that is where the treatment stops for most. You are now on this medicine forever and we are not going to figure out the root cause and get you off the medicine. I didn't know about carnivore in 2018 so I was thankful that the medicines kept me around for what turned out to be the next six years. I started carnivore as a weight loss hack and had no idea it would provide any other benefit. The weight peeled off just as advertised. As I read and learned I thought most of the stories on boards like, and youtube, and etc, were pretty much full of it. Click the button below, or buy this product, etc, etc. I'm a nay-sayer at heart. As I started to need my medicine less and less, and (I'm sort of slow) putting two and two together, I figured out that the things I had eliminated from my diet could have been my problem all along. Although I am super appreciative of the medicines that saved me, I do wish I had dug deeper way back when and figured this out 6+ years ago. Being off "supposed life long medicines' is an incredible feeling. I appreciate the advances in the short term but most would appreciate them/the process even more if the health system pushed things to the next step. As you stated, all the money is in continued treatment. Scott

....if you read it on the internet it has to be true..... Scott

Great story. Congrats on the victory. Big picture for me, it is just crazy to me at times how with all the advances in modern medicine we find the answer in a ribeye. Scott

I don't eat out all that often so I don't run into the seed oils being an issue. One of the first things I read and learned with going carnivore is that there is an awful lot of individuality involved. Even when we all go forward with the same basic principles our results can vary, and sometimes they can really vary. I have had well over fifty years with frying in seed oils as a 'staple' to my diet. Mostly the vegetable and corn oils but when doing wings we always 'stepped up' to peanut oil. I never had an issue and frying was my preferred way to cook, slightly second behind the grill. After not having them for several months while using butter and tallow I am not sure exactly what happened. I ate Mexican one night and asked the grill be scraped and butter used for my meat "as us carnivores sometimes do". I feel like they did that time and I had no issues. The next time I asked the same thing at the same restaurant and the waitress acted as if it were a big deal. I didn't taste any difference but the trip home required a beside the road pit stop. I blamed "Mexican" not seed oils. A few weeks later my wife was cooking and she used Canola oil and then told me she had forgot I was eating form the same pan. (been really good about supporting me on carnivore). I told her no more oil than was involved it would not really matter. Half way out to the dog pen I had to make a hasty retreat. I find it odd that I am now that intolerant to something I spent years almost eating by the bucket. Strange. Scott

Men too. I would like to avoid that as well. Scott

I think most of us have had that experience. I am guessing the vegan crowd gets the same reaction as anything outside the "norm" can be frowned upon. Eggs can be a focal point for many as we were taught for many years the dangers of cholesterol and how they link directly to negative heart health, like red meat and saturated fats. Again, eating eggs is taboo but stopping by a fast-food joint three-four times per week is not frowned upon by many. I'm cheap by nature and have found many benefits from going carnivore. Early on I was bored on night shift and did the math on fast-food, soft drinks and snack cakes I was eating daily before carnivore. I work rotating swing shifts and hit this country store on my way to work on most every day I worked. I started every day with two big bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches on buns, a Mountain Dew and two snack cakes from there or Bojangles for two chicken biscuits, a large fry and two cinnamon twists with a large Pepsi, every day I worked. On my days off I started everyday with a Mountain Dew and two Little Debbie snack cakes. Back then I could eat like a horse, maybe even two horses. I was dropping well over $400 a month on the very dumpster diet that was killing me slowly. I'm so cheap the $400 realization is as much motivation as all the health benefits from eating the way I do now. LOL Babbling, but I have friends who tell me I am too small, or lost weight too fast, and need vegetables in my diet, and when I come back with, I have not taken pain nor inflammation medicine in 9-10 months now. I was eating my way to pain and inflammation every day then taking medicine to get through the next day. Carnivore changed that for me, yet, the doctor in them comes out as they want to correct my way of thinking. It is funny how that works. Scott

Yep, very true. One of my favorite and least favorite things to hear is when I say I only eat meats, salt and water on the carnivore diet, one, everyone becomes a physician, dietician on nutritionist on the spot and two, they are usually eating a Big Mac with a Super-sized fries and soft drink. (or something similar). It can be a tough ticket to sell and most of the time I will discuss if they seem interested but if they are preaching to me or teaching me, I find a way to move on. I do believe it is individual in results but most carnivores fall under the same blanket. X amount of fat may work for you but I may do better with XX amount of fat. And my body may respond to carnivore differently than yours or someone else's, but still we have the same basic approach. My wife does not eat the carnivore way so I still have some variety in my meats but at the same time I have found I feel better and do better on red meat, especially red fatty meat. I like chicken and pork and fish as much as the next guy but if we were not shopping for two/cooking for two I would go straight lion's diet and eat only red meat. This is a good place to bounce your ideas around and share your experiences. I enjoy the experiences of others as I have learned a ton from the others on this board. Scott