Scott F.

I believe that to be true. Everything is not for everyone. I would say evaluate where you are and what you are looking for and then go from there. Thus far I have had nothing but good results. Maybe I am one of the lucky ones. I have not tried the 'eat when I am hungry/eat til I am full' approach. I eat once per day most days and on occasion I will eat a hearty breakfast after going to the gym. If I ate when I was hungry it would be like, maybe every 36-48 hours. I did a 48 hour fast and was not the least bit hungry at 48 hours. This comes from a dude pushing 306 pounds and ate pretty much every time I went by the refrigerator. Were you straight carnivore? did you cheat? did you modify? I would say find the one that works for you and go that route. Best of luck. Scott

Possible. I have bloodwork scheduled Monday. I'm more interested in seeing my immunoglobulin scans than anything else. Maybe mid-next week I will know more. Scott

Define cheating. LOL Scott

Maybe, but more than likely not. It was a rough stretch in 2018 until diagnosed. Once diagnosed and got started the infusions every six months I have been basically healthy. When my immune system is low and can catch a cold or flu from miles away. I have had Covid three times officially and once where the symptoms were the same but a negative test. Other than the multiple trips down the Covid road I have been basically healthy (if that makes sense). My infusion is about six hours long. Sounds rough but I see so many others there in a far rougher situation than me, so sometimes I think my health can be relative. Again, if that makes sense. Scott

I'm on the cheap bus too and did the exact same thing. I bought the ingredients and made my own I still didn't like the taste but I use the electrolyte mix to salt my food to taste. More than one way to skin a cat. (bad example on a Carnivore forum) Scott

Before this one of my favorite things to do is smother mash potatoes with any vegetable we were having at the time. Corn, peas, snap beans, really didn't matter. My wife said I looked like I was eating like a child. There was nothing like mash potatoes, with snaps beans smothered with gravy. I didn't think you could really eat much better. Tonight, I ate my chicken, and my wife cooked some corn and some black beans. After we ate, the corn and the black beans were left over. I went to the frig for my water bottle and she had mixed the corn and the black beans together and I am not sure if it was the contrast in color, flashing back to how I would have eaten them in the past or maybe it was a simple craving. Not sure, but they really looked good. I told my wife that is how I would have eaten them and she said, "You would have" but I'm done with it and the chickens will get the pan in the morning. I was like "Damn chickens". Maybe the trade-off is tomorrow's eggs. (always searching for the silver lining) Scott

So I am pretty new as well, maybe 80 days without looking at a calendar. I didn't come here or read any directions the first few weeks. I went with the 'just eat meat' approach. I had stools from loose to all-out diarrhea for the first few weeks. I had a lull in energy around the second week or so. (First week of 'just meats' I had 6-8 Mountain Dews left and a couple small ice cream cups left so I didn't waste them). About three to four weeks in I started reading and trying to learn and found out I had missed the boat on electrolyte needs. I tried several of the pre-made drink mixes, even made some homemade mixes none tasted all that good to me. I the used the electrolyte mix to salt my food to taste. Once that got back in order the energy not only returned, but much more than I had previously. Like Geezy said, everyone is different and thus the results and challenges are seldom the same. I lost 30 pounds in 31-32 days. That is a great lead-in, great sales pitch, but it fails to mention that I had hundred pounds in which to choose. No expert by any means, but the huge, really quick awesome results seem to happen to people further down the line from "healthy" (relative term and changes with the individual). I found I no longer needed pain/anti-inflammation medicine for an auto-immune disease. I have now lost 49lbs since May 8th. So far, I have seen only positives. When discussing the diet, or the lifestyle change, I am in no place to give advice but I will say just give it an honest try for a couple weeks and then stretch it to a month and then decide for yourself. Tons of information thru conversation in this forum. I'm more of a fan of someone's personal experience than a big pharma sponsored double-blind study from some far away research lab. If that makes any sense at all. Welcome and best of luck. Scott

I'm hoping I can graduate into some of the 'burpee' type exercises in time. From my lesions (autoimmune disease-NMOSD) I have scar tissue on a number of places on my brain and stem. It has been a few years since they were active but old folks don't heal up like young folks. One of the only remnants is that when I change levels quickly there is a certain amount of dizziness. I can go down to one knee and then to a push up position but if I were to spring up doing a military type bodybuilder exercise I might be there on the ground for a few seconds or so. Hoping I can get there but really happy with the progress so far. So much so, I sometimes kick myself in the ass for not going this route years ago. LOL Pretty much no complaints here, I'm on the 'only positive experiences with carnivore/exercise train' right now. Scott

I had not been for a lot of years. As of late it is a pretty good upper body work out at Planet Fitness. Then I walk for about 3-4 miles on the walk I try to get in 50-75 pushups and 50-75 squats. I wish I could do it everyday and in time maybe I will. I work 12 hour rotating shifts that often end up being 13 hours or so. On the work days I come home and take of the animals and such. By then it is too late for me to workout. Hopefully as work slows down I can get more regular with workouts. Scott

I never had a reading above 100 til now. No processed meats to make note of and the fat content I feel is sort of high. (I have been grinding meats and adding a lot of fat-maybe 60-40, even some 50-50). As of late I am leaning toward more red meat than chicken or pork (as the leg thighs get ready for the grill tonight). I lift and walk on my days off which works out to a lot more one week and not near as much the next week due to rotating shift work. I read about the gluconeogenesis and some of the other reports along these lines but didn't expect a 15+ point jump. I'm eating once per day and it was about 12-13 hours from eating to testing but it was in the morning after working out on the way to the walk. I have not ready anything testing after working out. I will need to look that up. I mean the carnivore diet is the miracle cure for everything. I saw that on the internet, so I know it is true. You can't lie on the internet. LOL Just sort of caught me off guard. I think I will test this week before working out to see if there is a marked difference. Scott

Agreed. I doubt I would ever get tired of eating meat. Prior to carnivore I could eat a bologna sandwich every day without complaining. As I move along, I am finding I eat much less and that amount leaves me full for stretches, even outlasting the one meal day approach. Where my 54 year old body is composition wise 6 months from now is "who knows". Being that I am not hungry at all now if I needed more protein to add muscle I think it would have to force eat the extra protein. I would probably think of using one of the grass-fed powders along with creatine monohydrate. Right now, I feel like I am a long way from making that decision but no more than I really want to eat now, I can see it as a possibly if muscle gain is a priority. Interesting subject. Scott

Minced meats. Send the chicken thru the blender/food processor and add it to your recipe. Sort of your current recipe then add the chicken. Before carnivore we did this with our homemade chicken noodle soup. it is meatier and less soupy. Scott

Here is my $0.02, and it will be a struggle for it to be worth the entire $0.02, as I am still brand new. I have read about people who are lifting/working out heavily and they simply can't eat enough protein each day (whole food) and they use the whey proteins and supplement along those lines. I started at 306lbs and have lost 49. I'm pretty much eating once per day and have only ben actually hungry only twice since May. I did a couple 48 hour fasts with no problems. I am lifting as the fat comes off, I am hoping for some muscle mass to be there vs. looking like an empty trash bag whenever I plane out. Although I am not there yet, I can see where I may need to go that route for the protein needed. Tonight, at work, I am eating now. I'm not at all hungry but I have a 12-hour shift in front of me and I plan to work out/walk in the morning. So, in May a nice size ribeye was not a challenge at all. Less than 3 months later, eating once a day, that same rib eye is more than feel like I want. (if that makes any sense at all). Last week I ate half the rib eye at night and put half in the refrigerator. I took it to the gym with me and instead of a post work out protein drink I ate the steak on the ride home. Eating a chunk of steak riding down the road made me look like a true carnivore or some sort of psychopath. Not sure which. I'm not there yet but I can see where for me the use of protein drinks may be a real option. Scott

I don't. It is a "balance" of sorts. The fat content should be higher than 20% and it may take some variety other than ground beef. Personally, I do better on a higher fat content. I noticed that when I eat heavy on chicken or pork, my weight loss planes off and the stool gets loose/looser. Electrolytes also play a role. When I first started carnivore, I didn't read the instructions. My electrolytes were way off, and my movements swung from semi-constipated to loose, to all out diarrhea. Just my personal experiences. Scott

Even prior to carnivore my blood sugar was in the 90's and a lot of mornings in the upper 80's. My blood pressure hung around 120/60. I was relatively healthy but way overweight at the same time. Go figure. After 30 days on the carnivore diet, I had my first ever reading over 100 at 104 and at 60 days in I was at 108. Most of the relatives on my mom's side have diabetes related issues. I'm either adopted or somehow dodged the 'sugar bullet'. Been lucky, I guess. I'm reading about gluconeogenesis. I'm eating an all-meat diet as well as eggs. This past week I have used cheese for the first time and have had maybe one glass of milk in two months. I'm sure if I counted my protein intake would be pretty high but I'm not sure how much is enough to spike blood sugar. Anyone else see a spike in blood glucose while eating carnivore? Just wondering. Scott

I will look for the videos and materials I have read on the very subject. The one from Dr. Chaffee is on youtube. I started at 306lbs and as of today I have lost 48lbs in about 72 days. I think the miracle numbers that are posted come from people way overweight/way overweight. My biggest personal gain is I have an auto-immune disease and I have been off my medicine for pain and inflammation since mid-May. That alone is worth the price of admission. LOL Even though the weight loss has been a lot I have stalled for a week or so on a number. For me, there is the carnivore diet and then there is the carnivore diet for 12-hour shift workers. I'm stalling when I eat the pork and chicken and fish. The weight can be coming off steadily and then if I cycle to chicken and pork the weight sort of stalls. I'm back in the gym and lifting 4-5 times this week and 2-3 next week depending on work schedule. On each of those days I walk between 3-4 miles after the gym. This is just me, but I am pretty much eating once per day. On the week that I get to go to the gym 3-4-5 times I eat a lot more. I'm not hungry but I am trying to build some muscle back. At some point I simply won't be able to eat enough whole foods and I may have to supplement (but I am nowhere near that as of yet). I will eat a red meat on my one meal per day. This morning after eating and walking I ate six sausage links, two eggs mixed with a handful of cheese. Tonight, at work I ate a pound or so of hamburger (maybe 60/40 that I ground) with another handful of cheese. Thus far, for me, staggering the amounts I eat coupled with the days I work out seems to be working. Dr. Chaffee and Dr. Baker are weightlifters, so I read/watch a lot of their stuff. Good luck. Scott

I'm about 8o days in and the only adjustment I really made was salt/electrolytes. Now I'm using the electrolyte mix I made (salt) to salt my food to taste. Like geezy said, we are all different. As for my weight loss, with basically the same routine, I'm losing way more weight with fatty red meat than with other proteins such as chicken/pork/fish. There is a guy I work with who is also trying the diet dropped weight really fast to start but has levelled off. I'm eating pretty much one time per day when I am working 12 hour shifts and when I am off i will do eggs in the morning and then wait til I am hungry. Sometimes that is the next morning. babbling, but I would not expect two different people to have the same results from Carnivore, or any other diet for that matter. Scott

High Cholesterol on the Carnivore Diet: Should You Worry? (allthingscarnivore.com)

Google 'ratio between good cholesterol and bad cholesterol'. Lots of new studies coming out that debunk what was taught to doctors and what has been told to us for decades. There are several youtube videos from doctors who are sort of 'going back on what they thought and how they now practice medicine. I'm a naysayer and doubter by nature but as medicine moves forward 'higher cholesterol today' is not what it was even five years ago. Not offering up any advice on your actual cholesterol numbers but there is some new and really interesting studies that are only 1-2 years old. Scott

Welcome. I will check out your youtube in a few. Maybe I will be #7 or #8. LOL I have NMOSD, overweight by a ton and had chosen a trash eating lifestyle for what seems like always. Congrats on making better decisions than me. LOL For me, so far, I have bene off pain and anti-inflammatory medicine sine late May/early June. I'm a doubter by nature and a 'seeing is believing' type so I was not buying into the Carnivore miracle cures. I'm starting to drink the kool-aid. Welcome. Scott

Welcome. I have been on the diet since May 8th and on the forum a few weeks later. I'm still sort of new. I'm no expert by any means as I tend to stay away from 'experts'. LOL I prefer personal stories and experiences. Experts tell you what is going to happen, and people tell you what actually happened. I prefer the latter. best of luck and welcome. Scott

In the past few weeks for me it has the hamburger I grind myself. This past weekend I hit a couple three stores and took advantage of some sales. I bought some chuck roast, a couple sirloins, two small rib eyes and two flat irons. I bought a ten-pound bag of assorted beef fat. (Ends from rib eyes, some brisket trimmings, etc.) I ground it close to 60/40 and then one three-pound pack of 50/50. Tonight, it was the 50/50 burgers, and they were amazing. So as of late my go to has been the high fat burgers. Scott

I did the same a few weeks ago. The onions and peppers were buried under the meats. It took me a few bites to figure it out. I scraped it off and passed my sides off to another. I thought it would be a bit tougher to eat out, but it worked out like a charm. Maybe the only issue is that I am sure they used some sort of vegetable oil on the grill, but I don't think that gets me kicked out of the club. Not yet anyway. Scott

Nice pic. It's a small world. Scott

Thanks. It is funny since it is the Carnivore DIET the weight loss is talked about most. I have been off medicine for NMOSD since mid-May and that is the first time since the diagnosis in Dec. 2018. As far as the NMOSD I have been pain free since May. The 45lbs is super nice but the 'no medicine' and 'no pain' outweighs that by a ton. I have bloodwork in a week or so to see where my immunoglobulin numbers are between infusions. So this DIET might help me lose more than weight. LOL Scott