2 Months carnivore, still very fatigued, brain fog and irritable

Rob Kroos · August 7

Hi,

I hope somebody can help me out. I've been eating ground chuck beef with 10%, 20% and 30% added beef fat, pork belly and eggs for the past two months. In total I eat between 2500 and 3000 calories a day. I have also varied the amount of salt I eat per day, I've tried electrolytes and I drink between 2 and 4 liters of water a day, but in stead of feeling better I keep feeling worse. I'm extremely tired all day long, the brain fog is worse than before I started and I'm very irritable.

I started carnivore because of my psoriasis, I don't need to lose weight. For the psoriasis it's working great up til now.

Edited August 7 by Rob Kroos
Forgot something

Scott F. · August 8

The diet can be very individualistic. For me, my fatigue and the run-down feeling did not last very long. I jumped right in and didn't do anything to prep for the electrolyte demands nor did I have any understanding of fat content.

I grind some of my own burgers. I up the fat content to either 60/40 or even 50/50. I made a homemade (you tube) electrolyte mix and now use that to salt my food.

Once I made those two corrections the energy not only returned but I felt more energetic than before I started.

I will assume it is the fat content but I can tell the difference between red meat and eating pork or chicken. When I eat pork or chicken the following day is not the same. Not really bad, but I can feel the difference., especially after the gym.

Best of luck. Hope you can figure out what works for you.

Scott

Geezy · August 8

As Scott said it is very individualistic. Great post btw Scott.
At two months in you could still be transitioning so hang in there. You may need to keep a daily journal and start experimenting. Try upping your fat to protein ratio. I don’t know what yours is presently but I would go to getting 80% of my calories from fat and only 20% from protein. Eat that way for at least 2 or three weeks and see how you feel. If that isn’t working the change up the ratio to a 70/30 or even a 60/40 and see what happens. Just make sure you keep track of what your eating in your journal for reference and make sure you give each stage enough time to show results. If your not seeing any change then do the same thing with your sodium and electrolytes. Keep track of your adjustments and give each one time to show results. At least a couple of weeks each time.
Then start tracking the foods you eat. Cut one out for several weeks or even a month and see what happens. Some people don’t do well on pork or chicken. Some meats, even though the may be from ruminants may affect you adversely such as ground beef. It can have histamines that you may be sensitive to. Some people may not do as well on lamb or goat as others do.
Then again you may just need to give it more time.
So find what works for you and document each stage and definitely give each one enough time to show results before moving on to the next one. Oh, and only make one change at a time.
Good d luck to you.

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Bob · August 19

On 8/7/2024 at 1:58 PM, Rob Kroos said:

I've been eating ground chuck beef with 10%, 20% and 30% added beef fat, pork belly and eggs for the past two months. In total I eat between 2500 and 3000 calories a day. I have also varied the amount of salt I eat per day, I've tried electrolytes and I drink between 2 and 4 liters of water a day, but in stead of feeling better I keep feeling worse. I'm extremely tired all day long, the brain fog is worse than before I started and I'm very irritable.

Sounds like you are getting enough electrolytes, but to be sure you could get an electrolyte panel just to make sure. If you are in the USA, OwnYourLabs.com can get you all sorts of labs (through Labcorp) for bargain prices.

A couple other thoughts that come to mind include 1) transitioning. Yes, some can adapt to a keto-carnivore diet and start using fat and ketones for energy within days. Most people it takes a few weeks. But there are some with whom it takes months, especially if they were very carb-heavy beforehand. Your cells might be saying "I want my glucose, I don't want these darn ketones" lol, but eventually you will adapt and they will prefer to use fat for energy instead of glucose.

2) Have you tried isolating those foods? You mentioned ground beef with various amounts of fat, added beef fat, pork belly, and eggs. You could have a sensitivity to one of these. Try eating just the ground beef for a few days or a week and see how you feel. If you feel an improvement, then add back in the eggs for a week and see how you feel. Then add in the pork belly for a week, etc. Maybe you have a sensitivity to egg whites, or pork, both of which are usually due to the grains these animals are fed. You could even have a histamine-intolerance to the beef. Very rare, but if that's the case, we can deal with that as well. So I would rotate your food, just eating one at a time, just to rule one of them out as a potential issue.