Increasing Hunger on Carnivore?

[Kangaroo]

Hello. I've been doing carnivore for somewhere around 100 days. For the last month, my weight has stayed the same (~230lbs), and I have had a big increase in hunger. I had been doing intermittent fasting and only eating 1 meal a day. About 2 weeks ago, I added a second meal because I was still hungry. And now I am eating about 3+ pounds of meat a day. It seems like it might be too much for me, as I'm only 5'9".  Today, I ate 2 pounds of ground beef (80/20), 1 pound of bacon, and coffee with 2 tbsp of butter. And yet, I am still hungry. Yesterday, I think I ate closer to 4 pounds of meat. Is this normal? I have not really been working out or making any drastic changes in activity level. My goal is to reach 195-200 lbs, so I have a decent amount of weight to lose before I hit a healthy weight.

[Bob]

9 hours ago, Kangaroo said:

I had been doing intermittent fasting and only eating 1 meal a day.

How much were you eating in that one meal? We're you ever hungry inbetween those 24 hour day to day fasts? How much weight did you lose in the first 85 days before the hunger strike?

9 hours ago, Kangaroo said:

About 2 weeks ago, I added a second meal

I'm just wondering if your body was in a deficit and when you did add this second meal your body was like "thank the heavens, the herd has returned! Let's eat!" lol. 

9 hours ago, Kangaroo said:

And now I am eating about 3+ pounds of meat a day. It seems like it might be too much for me, as I'm only 5'9".  Today, I ate 2 pounds of ground beef (80/20), 1 pound of bacon, and coffee with 2 tbsp of butter. And yet, I am still hungry. Yesterday, I think I ate closer to 4 pounds of meat. Is this normal?

I am 5'8", 175 (down from 230) and eat about 2-3 pounds of meat per day. I used to intermittently fast and eat 2 meals a day, but in November I added back breakfast and have stayed the same weight since. I plan on returning to 2 meals a day now that the weather is warmer and try to knock off another 10-15 pounds.

Generally speaking, I would trust your satiety signals. Stop eating when you feel full. Don't eat again until you are truly hungry - not when you're bored or just desiring a snack. Protein and fat signaling in your body should work for us, especially after 90+days, so you can play with your macros. Fat is what typically satiates and adding fat helps for most people, so don't drain the fat from your ground beef. Slurp it up, lol. If you do drain it, add some butter. 

I've personally found OMAD to be difficult. For me to pull it off, I am ignore hunger signals throughout the day, forcing myself to wait until mealtime. I will have to use tea and suck on salt crystals to help shut it up and pass the time.

[Kangaroo]

3 hours ago, Bob said:

How much were you eating in that one meal? We're you ever hungry inbetween those 24 hour day to day fasts? How much weight did you lose in the first 85 days before the hunger strike?

I think I ate about 1.5-2 pounds of meat plus some butter in that single meal. I usually cook in butter and add butter on top after cooking. I don't think I was that hungry in between those meals. Definitely not like now. I lost 40 pounds since starting and have been about the same for a little over 4 weeks.

3 hours ago, Bob said:

I'm just wondering if your body was in a deficit and when you did add this second meal your body was like "thank the heavens, the herd has returned! Let's eat!" lol.

That probably the case lol.

3 hours ago, Bob said:

Protein and fat signaling in your body should work for us, especially after 90+days, so you can play with your macros. Fat is what typically satiates and adding fat helps for most people, so don't drain the fat from your ground beef. Slurp it up, lol. If you do drain it, add some butter.

I'll have to add the fat back. I'm trying to save money, so I get whatever is cheap. A lot of the fat from ground beef cooks out, and the roasts are on the leaner side, so I am probably not getting enough fat. Thanks. I feel better about how much I am eating. It just seems like so much food, especially when compared to anyone I might eat. "Here are your 2 burgers. Don't mind my pile of 6+ burgers."

[Geezy]

That doesn’t sound normal to me from all I’ve researched and experienced. It is the conventional wisdom among the carnivore community that you eat until you are comfortably full or satiated and that it’s the fat that signals our hunger hormones to shut down so like Bob stated, you may need more fat.
The fat in hamburger does render out when cooking and you are doing great by adding butter to the meat but you can also use that rendered fat like a gravy and pour it back over the hamburger.
Try to find ways to incorporate more fat to your diet. I add butter and MCT oil to my one cup of tea in the morning and emulsify it. I make sure that everything I eat has plenty of fat either in it or added to it.
I don’t specifically eat OMAD or 2MAD I just eat when I’m hungry. So sometimes that’s OMAD and sometimes that’s 2MAD. Sometimes I get hungry around 11 or noon and sometimes not till 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Now when I say hungry I’m mean really hungry. Not that little empty feeling in my stomach but a true hunger where my body is saying I need food for fuel now. That little empty feeling is easy to ignore for me. A carb hunger was a gnawing craving that demanded satisfaction but a keto hunger is mild and just says hey, we need some fuel, fill er up. It’s actually easy to ignore if I’m fasting.
Are you sure all sweeteners are removed from your diet. Even the hidden ones that can be in our foods? That could also make a difference in hunger signals because they could be acting as a trigger. Dairy can do the same thing.
Just a few suggestions. I hope you get it figured out.
Good luck.


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[Kangaroo]

8 hours ago, Geezy said:

Are you sure all sweeteners are removed from your diet. Even the hidden ones that can be in our foods? That could also make a difference in hunger signals because they could be acting as a trigger. Dairy can do the same thing.

Dairy is an issue with me. I love cheese, so I don't really eat any because I don't lose any weight when eating it. They only sweetener in anything I consume is in unsweetened carbonated water that contains some juice (1-2g carbs per can. Ingredients: carbonated water, lemon juice, lime juice, or orange juice). But that hasn't changed recently either. I've been drinking those almost the entire time I have been eating this way. On a bad day, I might drink 3, but normally 1-2 per day. The only ingredients I add to my food are salt and butter or tallow. I'll try cutting out the drinks, and see if that helps.

[Geezy]

So you eat a pound of bacon, have you checked the ingredients on that bacon? Most bacon contains sugar. Do you use table salt? That also has sugar. I’m not saying that that my be the problem but is something to look at.


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[Kangaroo]

1 hour ago, Geezy said:

So you eat a pound of bacon, have you checked the ingredients on that bacon? Most bacon contains sugar. Do you use table salt? That also has sugar.

Ah. You're right. It has brown sugar in the cure. 0g carbs per serving, but that could be rounding. Worst case scenario would be 8g sugar per pound of bacon. I usually use Real Salt, but sometimes I get lazy and use the table salt if it's closer by.

[Geezy]

Hey Roo, see if this video can help you.

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[Kangaroo]

So, this might be related: I haven't lost weight since the stall, but my belt size has gone down, indicating fat loss. I have also noticed that I am much stronger than I used to be. I can throw further than I could about 2 months back, and I can do pull-ups while wearing my backpack. The only time I have been able to do pull-ups was when I was working out religiously and weighed ~200lbs. And I am still approx. 235lbs clothed without the pack. Carnivore can increase test levels. Maybe I am still losing fat but gaining an equal weight in muscle? Has anyone had muscle growth on carnivore without weight lifting? It would likely be muscle that I had before from weight lifting while in the military but didn't maintain due to being a desk worker for years.

18 hours ago, Geezy said:

Hey Roo, see if this video can help you.

Thanks. Watching it now.

[Bob]

On 4/26/2024 at 5:59 PM, Kangaroo said:

I haven't lost weight since the stall, but my belt size has gone down, indicating fat loss.

Nice. I noticed the same thing this morning when putting on a suit. I have this belt that when I was much bigger I had to fasten it on the first and final notch (before being too fat and having to get a larger belt). As I have lost weight, I've moved down the notches and have been at notch #6 since November. This morning I put on the belt and realized afterward that I had fastened it on notch #7. That's the last notch and I will have to get a smaller belt or start cutting my own notches in it. 

[Kangaroo]

5 hours ago, Bob said:

That's the last notch and I will have to get a smaller belt or start cutting my own notches in it.

Nice! That's how I noticed too. I'm on the last hole on my belt.

[Lizalizard]

Oh wow this happens to me too! I’m still trying to get back to full carnivore, but the days i do carnivore, i eat like 2.3 lbs of meat. that was happening when i was fully carnivore too. Started barely being hungry for a pound and then slowly increased naturally. It was very confusing but i think the increase happened when i added in milk. 

[Kangaroo]

I have an update: The cravings were so horrible that I was seriously considering driving to the store to pick up a load of junk food for a cheat day. All I could think about was food all day, so something was definitely not right. Yesterday, I tried upping the amount of fat I ate significantly, and I think that made a difference. I ended up eating a stick and a half of butter, then a little over half a pound of ground beef. I did the same today, too. I guess I just needed more fat. No cravings, no hunger.

 

On 4/28/2024 at 8:09 PM, Lizalizard said:

i think the increase happened when i added in milk.

I love dairy so much, but I limit it to just butter since I'm still trying to lose some weight.

[Geezy]

Good job Roo. You did exactly what you needed to do. Rather than give in you found the solution. Very proud of you.
I’ve been carnivore for almost a year now and for the most part I no longer get any cravings but every once in awhile I’ll get an urge to snack. When that happens I make sure to have some foods that I can grab for a quick bite. I’ll cook up a pound of bacon at a time and keep it in the fridge so I can grab a couple of slices if need be. I always have clean pork rinds on hand. I make my own tallow and the leftover fat I’ll keep for fat bites that I can heat up with a little smoked salt and get a quick fat fix. Hard boiled eggs are also a great snack as well There’s all kinds of quick and easy finger foods you can keep on hand that will get you through that urge. Think ahead and prepare for the future.
You’re doing great.


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[Orweller]

Fat is your fuel, so look there first. 

[Another Meat Head]

Sorry if it has been mentioned already. Thirst can feel like hunger. When I feel hungry I drink water. It also can change what you crave eating, before and after quenching thirst.

Also milk turns to a solid in your stomach and is not the hydrator it might seem to be given its liquid form.

Edited May 19 by Another Meat Head

[Bob]

On 5/18/2024 at 10:10 PM, Another Meat Head said:

Also milk turns to a solid in your stomach

This is interesting. I've never heard this.

[Kangaroo]

On 5/2/2024 at 7:13 AM, Geezy said:

I make my own tallow and the leftover fat I’ll keep for fat bites

That's a good idea, thanks! I found a butcher nearby that sells beef fat trimmings. I started frying those up as a snack and keeping the tallow for cooking.

On 5/2/2024 at 7:13 AM, Geezy said:

Hard boiled eggs

I loved eggs. But for some reason, I can't eat them anymore. It started before I went carnivore. They make me feel nauseous. It's too bad because they are pretty convenient and have a good amount of fat. I tried pasture raised, in case it was a sensitivity to something the chickens were being fed, but no luck.

On 5/2/2024 at 7:13 AM, Geezy said:

You’re doing great.

Thanks. I'm still trying to figure all of this out. I've got ~30 pounds yet to lose, and I've been stuck for almost 2 months now.

On 5/18/2024 at 9:10 PM, Another Meat Head said:

Thirst can feel like hunger.

I'm trying to think about what I did differently a few months back. I wonder if I was more active, making me drink more water. I can consciously try to drink more, and see if that helps. Plus, it wouldn't hurt me to move more.

On 5/18/2024 at 9:10 PM, Another Meat Head said:

Also milk turns to a solid in your stomach and is not the hydrator it might seem to be given its liquid form.

I didn't know that! Thanks!