I became a big boy once I hit drinking age in the mid-late 90's, and it was around that time that my next door neighbor gave me a book to read, called Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution. I read it from cover to cover in almost no time at all, because it was both easy to understand, and it the science made sense. I applied what I learned and lost weight with ease. If I recall correctly, I went from the low 200's down to just under 165, and for the first time in my life truly felt "skinny".  I was a believer in low carb ever since. Unfortunately, I didn't stay on the fourth phase, "Atkins For Life", but instead became a yo-yo dieter in the years and decades since. I have been routinely swinging back and forth between 180 and 230 like a pendulum. Then as I've gotten older, I'd make it down to 190, then 195, then 200, the 205, and started to think my metabolism was slowing down with age.

Now I am in my upper 40's and over the years have developed some chronic conditions that have forced me to give more serious thought to my weight and what I put in my mouth. During the pandemic, I actually lost a lot of weight and could make the connection that it was because I was cooking good food at home because for a time we couldn't go to restaurants and being in crowds was discouraged. My blood labs were improving too. But in 2022 I backslid again and gained it all back, and the blood labs reflected that this was not good. So, I started low carb again in March. But today's "low carb" diets have been tainted by manufacturers who make all these processed "keto" foods, and make up low "net carb" counts using mathematical trickery. I wasn't having much success. Then in late March and ealy April I started learning about True Keto, and decided to go from the "dirty keto" I had been doing to REAL whole food Keto and vowed to never eat sugarcane or grains again. After 6 weeks of just meat and vegetables I was losing weight and feeling fantastic.

In the middle of May I broke my ankle, and knew I was going to be sedentary for the next couple months. Prior to this, I had been learning about Carnivore and intermittent fasting, so on that day I decided to go fully zero carb, carnivore and practice intermittent fasting 16-8. I would eat and noon and again no later than 8pm. During those 2 months where I could not bear any weight on my leg, I lost 10 more pounds.

My blood work is showing improvement too. I've reversed a few conditions, such as high blood pressure and ulcerative colitis, and am working on a couple others. Most of all, I feel fantastic. I'm truly believe I am a committed 97% carnivore, occasional ketovore. I'm trying hard to make sure the only thing that goes in my mouth now comes from the Creator above, from farm to fork, from the field to the table, with very few exceptions. My only regret is that I had learned a lot about this with that book in the 90's but didn't stick with it.

 

I never had a weight problem until I got older. I started Keto in 2018. My husband watched me from the sidelines and then joined me right before we went to Copenhagen for the International Convention. We both felt great, we were able to keep up with all of the activities and had a great time. Covid hit right after that and we became a little lazy I guess.  Now we're both trying to get back to where we were.  Your right @Dismal_Bliss about things being tainted. Mathematical trickery is the only thing I see at the store.  So it requires me to be vigilant and busier in planning and preparing. But, I feel the effects of not taking care of myself and I'm determined to stick to it.  

4 hours ago, cwise said:

Now we're both trying to get back to where we were.

You did it before. You can do it again!

Admittedly, whenever I have fallen off this lifestyle and WOE it has been a struggle to get back on. It takes me weeks to get into that diet mindset again, and I usually start with low carb, lazy/dirty keto through the week, then screw up on the weekend, and repeat, lol. But with each week I get more disciplined and my resolve to eat right gets stronger.

5 hours ago, cwise said:

Your right @Dismal_Bliss about things being tainted. Mathematical trickery is the only thing I see at the store.  So it requires me to be vigilant and busier in planning and preparing.

Back when I read New Diet Revolution, I don't think there was such a thing as "Net Carbs". The book may have talked about fiber not counting, but I honestly can't remember. But then when low carb and keto became trendy, then suddenly there was all these ingredients, all carbs, that magically didn't count. I kinda bought into it and that may have been part of the reason weight loss wasn't as successful in susequent diet attempts.

So when I went clean Keto, I vowed no sugar, no grain, and not net carb nonsense ever again. I basically have to cook everything now, but it's always fresh, whole, one-ingredient foods found in nature, and I am finding success again.

But I was a plant-based keto dieter, namely, the Salad King! lol. As I learned about carnivore and implemented it, the results were amazing - and backed by blood work and other measurements - something regular low carb and dirty keto couldn't accomplish in me. So now I am like 97% carnivore, which some people say I should call "ketovore". In summary, I am animal-based keto instead of plant based keto now.

Now I just have to stick to the vow and do this for life 😉

I'm really happy about this forum. I'm sure it will help me and my husband(I'm sharing experiences with him) maybe he will join.  🙂

14 minutes ago, cwise said:

I'm really happy about this forum. I'm sure it will help me and my husband(I'm sharing experiences with him) maybe he will join.  🙂

That would be great. He would be considered one of the founding fathers 😄

 

Thank you for sharing your story Bob! I recall seeing those books at stores when I was a kid in the late 90's, I believe my aunt had one of those books too. I've heard great things about the Carnivore diet, and a few different people I follow on Youtube lost weight and have been keeping it off too!

I thought we have similer story, but not in the type of dite, it's more about choosing the change. Goging back to the old habits then realizing that isn't best things to compromise your health just to satisfy your immediate desires.

I started a healthy lifestyle when I tried vegan experiences in 2017, after being diagnosed with SLE. I continued until 2021, then I went back to my old habits, but with mostly healthy substitutes. After 2022, I started consuming sugary products, pastries, and soft drinks, while still keeping healthy choices for home-cooked meals. With the psychological stress I was under, my kidney health deteriorated. I didn’t change my habits at the time and continued eating unhealthy foods, until I became aware that what I was doing wouldn’t help me. I continued like this for over a year, by which time I had already lost a significant portion of my kidney function so I started trying to eliminate or minimize meat consumption. This year, my thoughts have been flipped up and down since I learned about the carnivore diet.

On 8/28/2025 at 12:28 AM, Asmaa said:

I continued like this for over a year, by which time I had already lost a significant portion of my kidney function so I started trying to eliminate or minimize meat consumption. This year, my thoughts have been flipped up and down since I learned about the carnivore diet.

The mainstream medical advice is to avoid protein if you have impaired kidney function, and I don't think this is true. I've been carnivore since May of 2023 and for a while I was actually making minor improvements in my kidneys markers. I did have a set back when my primary doctor prescribed me fenfibrate for my triglycerides, but I am slowly recovering from that mistake.

I have read studies that pretty much debunk the idea that protein is hard on the kidneys, and I am willing to test the idea that this is true even when I have impaired kidneys. To date, which is 2.5 years now, I am still convinced that my carnivore diet has done no harm to me or my kidneys whatsoever.

Exactly

So this week, I bravely decided to start the lion diet, and what's even more exciting is that my appointment is in two weeks, when I'll get to see my test results again.

I am on my second stint of the lion diet. The first time I genuinely felt better. I have an autoimmune disease (NMO/SD) which is similar to MS. The "all-red meat" diet in the 50's was used with a lot of success for MS patients. This second stint I am not so sure I feel anything different after a month or so. I had bloodwork done just before switching from carnivore to the Lion version and I will have more at the end of September. Maybe I see the needle move in some of my results then but right now, sort of feels the same as regular carnivore.

@Bob I can't speak to the kidneys and protein with any real experience, but this is what I am thinking on more of a general basis and it goes to previous conversations/threads on wading thru the medical research that is now readily available. Is protein bad for the kidneys? I think not so much if you have healthy kidneys to start with and you have a diet and a lifestyle that promotes the positive use of proteins. I think the same with cholesterol. Is LDL and higher cholesterol a bad thing? I think probably not, if on a diet somewhere between keto and carnivore (and maybe closer to carnivore)

If we just eat a load of crap, and amongst that load is a lot of protein, I am sure that is taxing on the kidneys. Since red meat and a high fat diet is absolutely taboo to the majority of the world, especially the medical professions, The first conclusion is that it is the protein (red meat) that is damaging the kidneys. Which, just like LDL and heart disease, could be technically true.

If we eat a diet that keeps us close to the ketosis mark and even pushes us into the lower ends of ketosis on a regular basis, we become fat adaptive. We are using the fat, and it is not laying around in stores. Higher fat in the blood stream can be expected but it is moving to be used vs. being stored. Same with the kidneys and the proteins. The kidney is fine with protein until it has to work thru a ton of 'crap' before the proteins get there and if dehydrated, it is another ball game altogether. But like LDL, proteins (meat/fats) are the easiest culprit to sell.

I think also that is why the health issues that get fixed with carnivore is such a broad spectrum. Sometimes I even forget the health is coming from what we are not eating much more so than the fats/proteins that we are eating. If I fill my gas tank with half gas and half water, I am going to have all kinds of problems. If I drain the tank and fill it up with just gas most would think the gas fixed the problems when in reality, not adding water is the true fix. (dumbed it way down-but that is how my brain works)

Babbling at work waiting for the day to get rolling.

Scott

On 8/31/2025 at 6:06 AM, Asmaa said:

So this week, I bravely decided to start the lion diet, and what's even more exciting is that my appointment is in two weeks, when I'll get to see my test results again.

I don't remember which stage of chronic kidney disease you are in, but remember that when you increase your protein consumption, you will like see an increase in your creatinine and BUN. Both of these are waste products from the breakdown of proteins, and when they run high your doctor is going to be upset. Your creatinine is used to calculate an eGFR, and the higher the creatinine goes, the lower the eGFR will go. This will make the doctor think that your kidneys are getting worse.

This is where eating carnivore or lion diet with CKD can be tricky. It will look like things are getting worse when reading those standard tests, but they might not be getting worse at all. The extra protein is skewing the results.

One other metric that is good for comparison is getting a Cystatin C. Cystatin C is another waste product but this one is NOT skewed by diet or exercise. They can calculate an eGFR with Cystatin C as well. For example, my last eGFR with creatinine was 12, but my eGFR with Cystatin C was 24.

And then you can monitor urine test results and more. You may want to test every 3 months to see how things change over time.

@Scott F. I’ve taken that into consideration, thank you so much, Scott.

@Bob Before I knew about Cystatin C, I was a bit afraid, but not after that. And your experience gave me the courage to do so 🙏🏻.