Hello all! First post, nice to be here.

I had been carnivore for about a month starting early January, but have unfortunately relapsed two weeks ago.

Main reasons was that I was having low energy and also was losing weight non-stop, even after I lost all the water weight. I'm very light so that was alarming for me.

But after going back to a “normal” diet (mainly rice, potatoes and fruits), I lost all the benefits I gained while on carnivore. Sleep, mental clarity, focus and motivation, all plummeted and I felt the worst I ever been.

I'm back to the carnivore diet now, starting this week, and I hear again and again that most of the bad symptoms are from a lack of fat. So I'm wondering how much fat I should roughly eat in a day.
And I should note, I was taking enough sodium. 10 extra grams of table salt throughout the day in 600 mL of water. Problem wasn't electrolytes.

I have access to pork belly fat (the kind that when you fry it it retains its shape, doesn't melt away), so I can easily add more fat from this to lunch and dinner. Also am using lard and butter in my breakfast and afternoon meal, so that's easy to track as well.

My meals are very simple. I'm eating 4 meals a day, had been doing so since the start. Breakfast and afternoon meal are scrambled eggs (for both meals (I make it in one go) I use 8 eggs, 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 of lard) and for lunch and dinner I make chicken thighs in the airfryer and eat some of that pork fat.

I'm not the most affluent, so I can't afford beef sadly. Minced meat once or twice a week, but that'd be it. Also can't have milk or cheese. Problems with casein.

Info, may help:

• Male

• 22 years old

• 49 kg bodyweight (108 lbs)

• 171 cm height (5'7'')

• 16.9 BMI

Also would like some tips on how to eat more fat. I'm wondering, for example, if in my lunch and dinner I should eat fat first until it “stops tasting good” (as is Dr. Anthony Chaffee's mantra haha) and only then eat the chicken thighs (which have little fat in them).

Am wondering too, just wondering, if I should do strict carnivore (only meat and no dairy, save for butter) and add fruit and honey? That lack of energy did go away, I must admit, when I went back to the “normal” diet.

And if someone wants to give general advice that'd seem good for me, I'm all ears.

Thank you!

Looks like you are doing carnivore wrong.

Ruminant meat is the basis.

You should start with an elimination diet - excluding eggs, pork, fish and seafood for at least one month to see if you are allergic or sensitive to these ingredients. So, for the first 4-6 weeks stick to beef, lamb, salt and water with occasional chicken ( only free range or organic). Ideally meat should be grass fed. Then slowly introduce other foods one at a time in small amounts to see if you get any sort of reaction.

Sounds like you need to get more work so you can afford the good quality meats!

Welcome.

Your fat content is based on you as an individual. I tend to eat more fat than most of the popular equations on X amount of fat vs. X amount of meats.

I made some snacks once that were butter and bacon. really fatty but really good. I also add butter to everything and I eat stabs of butter here and there.

I too dropped more weight than I had planned and made some changes. I dropped from the 300's down to around 210 and looked sickly. I switched up and started to force myself to eat more. I remained strict on carnivore as far as food goes but I did reintroduce some sugars via protein drinks. The sugars were minimal in amounts but did trigger hunger for me which helped me gain some weight.

I like dairy but dairy (for me) the milk stopped/stalled any weight loss I was experiencing. I don't drink a lot of milk but I do drink milk fairly regularly. If you are doing things to not lose weight and like milk, I would drink it sparingly to see how you do with it.

The lack of energy could be any number of things. Salts and minerals could still be an issue as amounts differ per person. Experiment up and down and see if you can dial that in to fit your needs. The lack of energy could be the lack of fat or it could be the lack of total amounts eaten. Again, hard to say.

I have remained strict carnivore food wise since May 2024 but I have morphed the approach in several different ways in order to make it work for me. What works for me is going for long stretches on straight red meat and then a few days of chicken or pork or fish. Eggs have been a staple from very early on as on my days off I try to eat 8-10 eggs per day.

Good luck.

Scott

1 hour ago, TonyReid said:

Looks like you are doing carnivore wrong.

Ruminant meat is the basis.

You should start with an elimination diet - excluding eggs, pork, fish and seafood for at least one month to see if you are allergic or sensitive to these ingredients. So, for the first 4-6 weeks stick to beef, lamb, salt and water with occasional chicken ( only free range or organic). Ideally meat should be grass fed. Then slowly introduce other foods one at a time in small amounts to see if you get any sort of reaction.

Sounds like you need to get more work so you can afford the good quality meats!

When switching from a standard American diet to carnivore the difference between regular meat and grass-fed meat is minimal, minimal at best.

Grass-fed, free-range and organic are often used as misleading terms.

I would not eliminate eggs as they are just about nature's most perfect food. I eat fish and seafood for a couple three days each month.

I do agree it is an elimination diet but there is no need to eliminate chicken or pork or seafoods.

As far as 'good quality meats' I hit the bo-bo sections of meat whenever I can. I'm the guy that buys up all the reduced meats in one fell swoop.

Scott

Being that new to carnivore the most logical reason you were have energy issues is your body had not adapted to burning fat for energy. It was still wanting carbs to burn.

It can take some time before we become fully adapted and until it happens you’ve just got to tough it out. It’s part of what many in the community call the keto flu. Some people don’t do well going cold turkey into carnivore and need to ease into it by being keto first and then tapering down to carnivore. I’m a jump in with both feet kind of guy so I went hard core from the beginning and I experienced what you did but I just powered through it.

As far as the weight loss and you being already slightly built the question would be what is your built like? You may be slim but are you an athletic built slim or are you a weak slim. If you are skinny-fat then it would make sense that you were losing. If you are athletic then you may not be eating enough.

To calculate protein needs, one should aim for approximately 1 gram to 1.2 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass and an equal amount of fat. This approach is suitable for individuals seeking to maintain or gain weight and muscle mass. Protein requirements may vary based on factors such as age, activity level, and individual metabolic health.

• Fat (or lipids) - 9 calories per gram.

• Proteins - 4 calories per gram

  Now I never counted anything myself. I just made sure everything I ate was cooked in animal fats and any rendered fat was poured back over the meat like a gravy. If the meat is lean then I’ll eat butter with every bite of meat.

  Good luck and welcome to Carnivore Talk.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Geezy