Hello all I’m about 1 week in full strict carnivore. I’m doing pretty good with keeping the cravings and snacking in check and keeping my hydration on point. Only thing so far is I’m still getting a little bloated, gassy, and my regular number 2’s have not been as frequent and full as they were previous. Anyone experience some of these issues starting out and how long did it last for, and was there anything other than just waiting for your body to adapt to do?

Edited May 23May 23 by Ajello

You’ve pretty much got to wait things out as your body adapts. You may experience some gastrointestinal issues for a month or so.

Gassiness shouldn’t last long. It’s common for most carnivores to be gastrointestinal free since there are no longer any vegetation fermenting in their guts anymore.

Your #2’s should be less frequent and smaller because you are no longer ingesting a bunch of food that can’t be digested and fills up your gut non-absorbable plant matter. Since meat is the most nutrient dense food you can eat the majority of it is absorbed into your body so there is little to expel and what you do expel tends to be dead cells.

Give it 30 days and you should start seeing changes for the better.

Welcome.

Geezy is spot. Pretty much any sudden or drastic change in diet will result in some gastrointestinal issues, carnivore no different. The plus is that carnivore is an elimination diet and the very things that lead to GI issues are no longer a part of the equation. With the elimination of the carbs and sugars the healing begins which is a transition period of sorts.

The transitional period varies dependent on the individual. It can vary in length and 'severity'. (Severity is a strong term as it is mostly bouts of diarrhea or loose stools). Another set of strong terms, but the transition period and the start of healing is triggered by your body going thru detox and withdrawals. I am not a fan of using 'detox' and 'withdrawals' because of all the negative annotations that go with them, but there are really no better terms to use.

And as Geezy said, the trips to the bathroom get back closer to normal, but it will your new normal, slightly smaller and a couple three days in between. Basically, on the Standard American Diet if you put ingest XXXXX you will use XX for normal bodily function, XX will make its way down the tract and be your next dump and the last X will hang around until the next batch pushes it out. The SAD is nowhere near being efficient whereas carnivore is the polar opposite. Over time, your current intake of XXXXX will become XXX. Two XX's will supply your body with every thing you need (fats and proteins) and the last X will make its way down and empty tract until you go to the bathroom.

You don't eat as much, and what you do eat is completely nutrient dense, so the overwhelming majority is used and only a small portion becomes waste.

The volume and length of time in between comes from the efficiency carnivore provides.

Best of luck.

Scott

Hi how are things going?

What kind of diet were you doing before?

If you have been eating low-fat it takes a bit for your bile to catch up and remember what it's job is. So it's best to add fat on gradually. If you are having loose stools I find citrical calcium and black tea help slow things down.

My diet before going carnivore was mostly home cooked keto friendly meals and going out to eat or ordering out on weekend for a cheat day eating Chinese or pizza, etc. I never did the no fat / low fat thing. I work outdoors in the Florida heat with my job and workout 5 days a week. What I have an issue with is since I love to cook and being Italian/American, after about a month or so of eating “ clean “ I wind up in the kitchen having a bottle of wine and making something like chicken piccata or maybe a pasta puttanesca, dishes that are heavily seasoned, a lot of EVOO, garlic, etc. I started carnivore to heal and to shed some fat and to must feel better.

Strict carnivore can remove some variety which is the exact reason my son has started/stopped several times. he and his wife like to eat out (a lot) and it is hard to stay within the "boundaries" of carnivore.

My son uses carnivore in cycles. he will go strict for a month or so, then revert back to his old ways of eating. He loses 10-12-14 pounds and then gains 6-7 back over the next month. I think over the past 12 months he is about 20lbs or so lighter, but 20lbs via the yo-yo effect.

Only being a carnivore for 12 months, and being an extremely boring eater, I don't have much advice other than find what works for you. I guess I would say stay "clean" for as long as you can and when you have that "weekend" don't dwell on the weekend, just start a new streak of "clean eating". Over time try to push those weekends further and further apart.

I think you can find benefits with that approach. Celebrate your accomplishments and victories and move on from the set-backs.

I ported in Naples in the early 90's. I am the furthest thing from a worldly eater. There was a market near the base and the first food stand served these cannoli type pizza rolls. They were packed with meats and cheese and I was hooked. After travelling from the US to Italy I was perfectly happy 30 yards from the base.

Scott

On 5/22/2025 at 8:07 PM, Ajello said:

my regular number 2’s have not been as frequent and full as they were previous. Anyone experience some of these issues starting out and how long did it last for, and was there anything other than just waiting for your body to adapt to do?

It's literally the waiting game while your body adjusts to the new lifestyle. This usually takes 2 weeks to 2 months depending on what your diet was like before. The gas and bloat should eventually vanish and almost be a thing of the past. The number 2's will be less frequent overall. It seems odd and initially feels like constipation when you're used to going at least once or more each day. Those will get to the point where you'll span multiple days at a time before going again, because carnivore foods are almost 100% utilized and don't produce waste.

On 5/23/2025 at 4:37 PM, Ajello said:

What I have an issue with is since I love to cook and being Italian/American, after about a month or so of eating “ clean “ I wind up in the kitchen having a bottle of wine and making something like chicken piccata or maybe a pasta puttanesca, dishes that are heavily seasoned, a lot of EVOO, garlic, etc.

You have to decide on your level of strictness and commit to it. Obviously wine and pasta have to go. But you may decide that a variety of seasonings are still okay for you, as well as olive oil, etc.

On 5/23/2025 at 4:37 PM, Ajello said:

I started carnivore to heal

And this is where you might want to even remove seasonings for a while, like 30, 60, or 90 days, just in case an antinutrient or plant defense chemical is behind whatever it is you're trying to heal.

The carnivore diet makes a great tool as an elimination diet. Be strict for 90 days. Then, if you want to experiment, slowly and gradually add back in one thing at a time and test it for several days or weeks before adding the next thing back. This way you can isolate if your body reacts negatively to a particular food or food group.

"pretty good at keeping snacking in check" Eat fatty beef with butter if need be, until you have to push your plate away. Snacking is the last thing on my mind when doing that.