Scott F.

Yep. As long as there is a trace coming out, I feel pretty good about what I am making and what I am using. I doubt I see a huge jump over the fast, but it will be interesting to see if it moves. The blood sugar could be a morning issue, but the only difference is that I was coming off night shift and been up since 3PM the previous day. Basically, I am tracking it just to see. I feel like I am in a pretty good place right now so I really don't think I should be rocking the boat. Scott

I think I probably fall into this category. The energy levels are higher than they were before and maybe that is indeed going from bad to normal, which feels/look likes things are a lot better. Along those same lines I don't think I have had the improvements is mental clarity or focus like some report. The closest I have experienced to that is when I wake up, I wake up. I go from a really good sleep to wide awake and ready to go in a split second. There is no dragging around or lugging to the start of the day. Somewhat off topic, but this does feel like extra energy after sleeping, compared to dragging off to a start. After better sleep, I feel a better charge, and the quicker start feels like 'more energy'. It might actually be the better diet, the weight loss, etc. allows me to rest/recover better and my 'start point' is in a much better place. Scott

I started my fast last night around 8:30 or so. I am basically 12 hours in and it is nothing more than a normal night shift. I had morphed into OMAD as of late I have been eating a lot more to hit protein targets. We will see what it is like tonight at around the same time after 24 hours. I got the glucose monitor going this morning. I'm at 113 which is my highest number I can ever remember. Prior to carnivore I would wake up early in the morning with numbers in the upper 80's to low 90's. I had a couple in the upper 90's over the years but never broke 100 til carnivore. I have seen some 105's here and there but this morning was 113. I will check it again this afternoon and then probably on the 12 and 24 hour marks going forward. I also bought some ketone strips to test along the way as well. I felt pretty good after the last 48 hour fast and the 71 hour fast made me feel better up until the last hour. I crashed but felt really good once I re-fueled/re-charged. We'll see, Scott

Like I said, I don't do well with plans. There is this force from elsewhere that always seems to scrap my intentions (and al lot of times it is me) I started the fasting tonight. I planned to go heavier on the red meat the last couple days but that ended up being pork chops the last two nights with about 8 eggs the last two days. I just finished off my last meal around 8:30 or so. I shot myself in the foot as I bought a glucose monitor this afternoon and I mis-read the box. I thought I read ten test strips were included but they were not. I wanted to do a pre-last meal and post-last meal just to see and then track glucose levels along the way. I stared at the ketone strips, my brain said pick them up and for whatever reason I walked away from the aisle and made my way to the register. Instead of eating at 7, it was almost 9. Instead of getting some pre- and post- numbers I'm going to get nothing for tonight. I wanted to check ketones to see how they move pre- and post- but again, shot myself right in the foot. I guess I can pick up in the morning and be 12 hours in. LOL I'm not a good planner. They tell me we are having 4-6" of snow starting tomorrow. I sort of open the door in the morning and go from there. LOL Scott

I need you to make the EWH check payable to....... Scott

I use cheese on occasion. Not a lot but here and there. I did eat quite a bit when we made the carnivore pizza a few weeks ago. I'm not sure where it landed on the weight loss, a fall or a stall, but it did back me up some, followed by being really loose in the bathroom. I will try to watch video in its entirety later tonight. Scott

Looks good. We tried with our electric some years back and it was hard to get down below 100 on the Masterbuilt. We ended up using the pig cooker and I built a hanging rack on one side, covered the other side so it was a make-shift off-set. It worked OK but didn't ever hit quite right. The only thing I don't like about good jerky is that there is no 'saving it' or stocking up'. if we want to discuss addictions........ Scott

Blue lights never ended very well for me. Especially the flashing ones that make siren noises. Scott

I am sort of at the top of the list of the at-risk groups when Covid came along. I had it twice and had all the same symptoms, exactly the same symptoms, in December of 2019, before "it ever got here". I lost the taste for sugar. Anything with sugar tasted horrible. I had been a life-long Mountain Dew/Pepsi drinker and they both were putrid. It lasted for about six months or so. In time it passed, and I was right back on the bottle (soft drink bottle) again. I never had issues afterwards. I didn't lose taste nor smell like a lot of people did but it did make sugar taste horrible. No issues since 2022 and I didn't start carnivore til May of 24. Scott

Hard to say as we all react differently. I would ask how strict are your eating habits? I eat meats, salt and water. I drink an occasional glass of milk and that is the only thing that has sugar. If you are carnivore with some cheat days or some days where you are not as strict, your body is not becoming fat adaptive. With sugar and carbs you are probably in an out of ketosis. A friend at work says he can tell the lull or the dragging feel when he eats sugars now. Almost the opposite of the sugar high then the crash, he says he feels like he is going straight to the crash. He describes is as more of just feeling flat. Next would-be fat intake. Personally, I eat a lot of fat and maybe even above some of the percentages that are out there. Sometimes I do have to scale it back if my stool gets loose. Check your diet and ensure your fat content is as high as it needs to be and you may have to make some adjustments based on you, vs. a percentage based on others. Salts and electrolytes. I dove in headfirst with zero research and as a result I had some issues early on with energy. I didn't adjust or add or even think about salt and electrolytes. I tried a few of the drink packets, LMNT for one, but I didn't like the taste. I make a salt/electrolyte type mix now and use it for table salt, a water additive or sometimes just eat a pinch or two. Those are the three things that I experienced the first few months on carnivore. I am a little over 9 months now and I think my energy level is as high as it has been in a really long time. For a number of years, before but especially after 2018 when I was diagnosed, my get up and go had got up and gone. I stayed in a fog between the pain, the inflammation, the medicine and the rotating shift work. Best of luck. Hopefully you can find the plan that works for you. Scott

What works best is to use the plan that is best for you/your wife. If morning and evening work then go for that and if OMAD is a goal, then 2MAD can be one of the steps to get you there. Although I still think I'm in the infancy stages of carnivore only having ~9 months eating this way, I have learned a ton in those nine months. I went in head first with no idea that carnivore was a thing until my son told me he was doing it. In the beginning I ate by the clock because we have all been programmed that way. Gradually, when the eating hour rolled around I was simply not hungry. I ate anyway because we are 'suppose' to and soon after that eating at certain times became a chore. I just morphed into eating when I was hungry and that turned into OMAD. The funniest part is that I didn't know OMAD was a thing, nor did I know it had a name. On this very board I was about to hit SUBMIT REPLY with "I don't eat OMAD I only eat once a day or so, and that usually turns into one meal a day". Then the little bell went off in my head and I looked up OMAD. I almost claimed the "Dumbest Post of the Month" crown. So mine just sort of got there naturally by eating when I was hungry. If I can get it copyrighted and maybe make millions, I'm going to coin EWH, Eat When Hungry. My only hope is that some other guy looks it up before he insists, he doesn't eat EWH, he/she only eats when they are hungry. LOL best of luck. Scott

I quit drinking pretty much cold turkey. We went out and I got plastered (as usual). on the way home a deer ran out in front of the car. It smashed up the fender and door. My wife asked me to get out and check, but I was unable. I looked over at the temperature gage, decided the radiator was good, asked her to ease it into drive. As it rolled, I didn't hear anything, so I said drive it to the house. When we got home the bent-up door would not open. I was too drunk to get out of the car and she had to climb over me to get out the passenger side. I slept all night in the car. If it ended here it would be another funny drunk story. But it didn't. During the night my son came down with a fever, up to 104-105. I was too drunk to offer any kind of help. My mother-in-law and father-in-law came from next door to get him to the hospital. When I woke up and found out how the night went there was no bigger piece of shit on the planet than me. (pardon the French) I went months without a drop. Then one night we went out and the waitress was parading back and forth hauling ice cold long neck Budweiser beers. I told my wife we better leave now or I am headed for another train wreck. That was 23 years ago. I did however, ditch one addiction and keep the food/sugar habits. I'm only 9 months out of that one. Still a work in progress. This thread hits home. Scott

Congrats on your start and welcome to the forum. itis a great place to check in and bounce ideas off the walls. I have learned a ton here. I am nine months in and when it came to starting carnivore I was as dumb as a stump. I did not research, no fact finding, no How to's, I just dove right in purely as a weight loss tool. I accidentally found out that I no longer need medication for pain and inflammation due to an auto-immune disease. The energy part will come along as you adjust your diet, your fat intake and salt/electrolytes. Once you become fat adaptive your body will use that for energy, and you will more than likely need to adjust it up or down once adaptive. I adjust based on my stools. Instead of buying a drink mixer for electrolytes I made my own solution and use it for 'table salt', add it to water on occasion or simply eat a pinch or two to start the day. (Last week I found out at 55 I can't bust wood with a maul like I did 40 years ago as a kid). I was making sure I had X amount of salt in me based on my workday and my workouts. When I added six plus hours of wood busting, I found both my water intake and salt intake was not adequate and I had cramps in my legs all night. Lesson learned. Good luck and try to look at obstacles as just adjustments. And I applaud the 'damn the torpedoes' approach to 90 days. As far as the garden goes, I would not let that be a concern. I would think the carnivore approach with a few home-grown vegetables is still going to be better than the diet you left behind. And although that might push you out of what is thought of as "pure Carnivore" the big picture is your/your wife's health. Plus, the Carnivore Police is just a made-up organization anyway. LOL. You will not be arrested or prosecuted (or even ostracized) for eating a green bean or a tomato. Welcome, and best of luck. Scott

Good series of posts. I think I have been basically lucky. I had no idea there were benefits to carnivore other than losing weight. Weight loss was the only reason I dove into carnivore. My son did carnivore a couple three weeks and lost 12-15 pounds. He described the eating, and it sounded easy for me. I thought my only issue would be sugar. I drank 4-5-6 20oz. Mountain Dews per day, two-plus Little Debbie cakes, hit the snack machines for candy bars while at work, and would eat lemon cheesecake by the pound, not by the slice. And it was nothing to have three or four glasses of Pepsi/sweet tea during dinner. I felt like going in I would struggle with sugar but would have no issues with plants/carbs. Most everyone's plan or route to success/failure is different. I think what helped me is, after reflection, I was not as cold turkey as I had originally thought. I said I only eat meats, salt and water. The first few months I used drink mixers as I have never been big on drinking just water. Even tho my drink packet said NO SUGAR there is sugar in there. At the same time, I had an occasional glass of milk. I was not as cold turkey on sugar as I thought so I basically weaned myself off sugar. First, I eased into drinking plain water and now that is all I drink. I still drink milk, but it is far less than ever, maybe a glass a week or sometimes every two weeks. I think I would concentrate on the 5-6-7 wins (like posted earlier) and figure out how Day 1 turns to Day 2, and then to Day 3. Then build upon those things. Maybe try to figure out what you could do to change Day 4-5 and 6 so you don't have the "crash" on Day 7. This approach may help you to limit the "crash" or maybe even eliminate it as an issue. And at the end of the day if you are strict for 6 days and then not so much for one, and then back to six days again, I would think that is much better than 3 and 3 and 5 and 2, etc. As far as the booze and weed go, I have never smoked weed or did anything drug related. Until I got sick in 2018 I had 7 prescriptions from 1987 til 2018. (Again, been really lucky). As for the booze, the last two years I was in the service and the first 8-10 years after I drank enough Jim Beam/7-up/Budweiser in the bottle to float a battleship. I did not socially drink, I drank to fall down, and I stopped whenever and wherever I fell down. I can't relate to the weed and not so much to the sugar and carb cravings, but I surely remember my "NEED" to hit the bottle. And looking back, with drinking came eating and I am sure the sugars helped jump start the next day. After a rough night there was nothing like a cold Mountain Dew and a Little Debbie cake to get me going. I think causation and correlation can go both ways with my drinking and my trash eating habits. Once I built those trash eating habits they remained long after I quit drinking. Habits are habits and addictions are addictions, and one common denominator is that each are different dependent upon the individual. Hopefully you can figure out your plan. I apologize for the length and the babbling. I'd look for the good things early in the week and try to implement them in the latter part of the week. The weed I don't know and the booze, you are going have to pick/find something that is more important to you than that. Little steps from there. God luck. Scott

Take care of the head wound first. Hope all is well. Scott

I had a leg quarter for lunch today.

I am not much on making plans but I am planning to do a fast next week when I am on nightshift. I'm going to eat on Tuesday night and then Friday night. The last time I fasted I was perfectly fine for 71 hours and at the 71 hour mark I hit a wall. The energy was fine one minute and totally zapped the next. I went form not feeling hungry at all to feeling completely empty, drained of fuel and really hungry. I thought at some point I would feel a drain or start feeling hungry but i was expecting it to be gradual no all of a sudden. My plan is to take blood sugar tests before and after I eat Tuesday night around 8PM. Then every six hours or so throughout each night I am working (will sleep thru most of the day). At some point after that I plan to do another but either when I am off work or on dayshift to compare the differences. I don't make it to the gym when on night shift so I am interesting to see how I fair working out while on a fast. Scott

Well said. I am pretty much the same. I think I need to just settle in and let the chips fall where they may. I also felt the best with the OMAD but like I said before, I just happen to eat one meal a day vs. having the OMAD approach, if that makes any sense at all. My adjustments as of late were purposely aimed at hitting a protein target and that included "extra" meals throughout the day. I don't see it as a bad thing, but it makes some things a little more clear around eating. It is funny how I felt hungry but when I actually ate after the 2nd bite I was full and could not finish two hamburger patties. I got hom last night at a little and was quickly full. I cut the rest up and will eat it today sometime. Part if it is some experimenting with where I land long term. So far it seems like I will be right around eating once per day, but that will be more of an average. Some days I am sure I will eat more than once. Sort of a play it by ear approach. I am planning to do a fast next week while on night shift. Again, experimenting to see how it affects me throughout the week. I am planning to do one next week when I am on nights. I work all night, come home take care of the animals for a bit and then sleep all day. In a sense if I skip a meal during that time it is a 48 hour fast without even putting forth much effort. Then a couple weeks later I want to do another fast but either when I am off or when I am working dayshift, for no more reason than comparison's sake/just to know. I'm gonna plug that into the February fasting thread as well. Scott

I agree. I'm a big fan. I think the current administration should have waited on his approval and used the time and money on changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico on school lunches. The government does not have a lot of input on what we as adults choose to eat but putting healthier choices in front a kids may very well create life-long good habits. I wondered whether the name change made Musk's list of wasteful spending. Scott

Sort of a re-post and apologize for clogging up the board. In nine months I have moved in and out of eating patterns, from eating by the clock to eating when I am hungry, to OMAD, to eating two times a day as well as three times per day to hit a grams of protein target. All this week I have been eating a big egg/meat breakfast, a large portion of meat at lunch and then a rather big dinner. Today, I returned to dayshift and skipped breakfast this morning. By mid-morning today I felt like I was about to starve. I drank water and it sort of held me over til I made lunch. I can't imagine I am actually hungry today after the amount I ate yesterday. The funniest part is that half-way thru lunch today I was more than stuffed. I didn't finish the burger patties. Scott

Totally depends on you as the individual. I never had any signs nor form of the keto/carnivore flu. My son did carnivore about a month or so and the first two seeks he had versions of flu like symptoms. Hopefully it gets better sooner than later. Scott

I don't. My son and my wife have tried carnivore a couple three times. I sort of 'just keep going' on whatever it is I am doing at the time. Some say I have tons of will power but I think it is just I get from Point A to Point B and don't let obstacles slow me down. Scott

Mine was more natural than by choice. I started carnivore still eating by the clock. When I started eating when I was hungry it sort of morphed into OMAD. I started off eating by the clock and then when I ate when I was hungry it was once per day. There were also times when it stretched out to the following day. I went back and checked some entries and I think it was about 6-8 weeks into the diet. I think it was actually sooner but for a stretch I was eating our evenign meal with my wife but not really hungry. Just eating. Scott

I chew it up if I can. It has been a habit since I was a kid. I also eat the end of the chicken bones and suck the marrow out. Again, a habit I developed as a kid. My dad always said that when I got thru eating chicken it made the dog made. Scott

As said, I think you are trying to make it work on the calculator first and foremost. A buddy of mine just started a couple months and he thinks along the same lines. In our younger years he was heavy into the weights and dabbled in bodybuilding for a stretch. He became accustomed to counting everything from macros to carbs to protein and back then 'fat' was evil. This past month we have had a number of conversations where he is trying to plan his meals with co-pilot and chatGPT. He is not happy with the math and is struggling to understand as well. I think you are trying to make fat grams, fat % and fat calories be equal. They are not. Plus, for most of the population 'fat' is still considered taboo as that is what has been taught for many years. Maybe part of the 'taboo' is why you are putting emphasis on the 'fat math'. I went 7+ months and didn't factor or calculate anything. Beef salt and water. I used the fat content as a lever based on my stools and the adjustments continue because life continues to change. The last two months I have calculated protein for muscle building. I am trying to hit in the neighborhood of 200 grams of protein so I have used co-pilot to track/keep tabs on protein. I don't factor in the fat content in hitting the protein target. I hope you can figure out what works for you. I'm not much on giving advice but I would say ditch the calculator and eat meats, salt and water until you are full. Then wait til you are hungry again and repeat. As far as the muffin top, I'm at a loss there as well. I started off at 306 and now I am down to the muffin top but that is much more understandable. Hope you get it figured out. Scott