New to carnivore (sorta) and have hit a weight loss plateau

[mdunavant]

I started carnivore about 17 weeks ago after watching my friend do very well on it and my chiropractor recommended it to me.  I started at 370lbs.  I'm 49 years old (man) and I've been overweight my whole life but never as heavy as the last couple years.  I've lost 42 lbs in the last 17 weeks.  I feel better.  I have more energy most of the time, less back aches and my sleep apnea has improved.

I hit a plateau at 20 lbs lost.  I decided I was eating too many calories per day, so I cut out breakfast.  I started eating a decent lunch and a good dinner and started losing again.

I've now hit another plateau at 42lbs lost but I haven't changed anything.  I do get hungry sometimes mid-morning.  Do y'all think I need to add a small breakfast back in?  The breakfast I cut out was too much to start with like a 3-egg omelet with bacon and cheese, lol.  Good but too much.

I should add, my wife and son are on it and have both lost about 30lbs.  They started a little later than I did.

Edited August 23 by mdunavant

[Meathead]

Intermittent fasting helps. Dr Robert Cywes as well as other carnivore drs have youtube videos explaining better than I can.

Another thing is fat to protein content matters, up your fat>protein and see if it helps. 

Lastly make sure you are using electrolytes religiously. 

Hope this helps. 

[XaqNautilus]

I peeked at 342 and I've managed to get down to 235 now.  I lost most of the weight in 2023 and have been stuck on a plateau between 235 and 260 for all of 2024.  In 2023 I went OMAD, usually eating early in the day to counter the dawn effect, and now I am doing even longer fasts to try to get the fat off.  I just did an 80 hour fast.  So I don't recommend adding a small breakfast back in will help you.  You lose the fat when your insulin is low and eating anything will cause insulin to rise.  Insulin is the fat storing hormone.

You may need to take some time to transition to OMAD and longer fasts to temper your body so you don't feel so hungry.  I rarely feel hungry anymore, my problem has always been boredom eating.

You may also want to cut dairy, especially milk.  Butter is fine though.

Do you exercise?  Try to go for walks.  Aim for 8,000 steps per day.

You can do it.

My profile picture is of Frank Payne.  He died of heart attack at age 49.  Don't be like Frank Payne.

[mdunavant]

I do drink electrolytes, "Micro Ingredients". One serving in a quart of water in the morning and another at night.  I don't eat any dairy except a small amount of real cheddar cheese. I don't exercise much either.

[mdunavant]

Well, maybe I shouldn't call it a stall just yet. I got on the scale this morning and I'm down 45.

I know it's a slow weight loss.  I guess it was just a little slower for the last 2-3 weeks.  I'm determined though.  Gonna keep at this.

[Geezy]

Well everyone is different and what works for one may not work for another but you never know until you try.
I think you’ve done fantastic in your progress. Now stop worrying about the weight. As your body heals it will happen but quite often we hit those stalls because the body is adapting or adjusting in its healing process. Sometimes you just need to keep on keeping on.
Do you measure your body? Often when we appear to be at a plateau and the weight isn’t coming off we are actually losing inches.
I’m not one for restricting calories because calories are energy and since we are fat adapted we need that energy but I do believe in eating only when I need fuel for energy. That means only when I’m hungry. And I mean truly hungry.
An empty stomach doesn’t equate hunger to me. Hunger is when I feel the need to refuel and I know that meat is going to taste especially good to me.
When I first started eating carnivore I ate by the clock like I always had but after a couple of weeks I started realizing that I was eating when I wasn’t really hungry. The food I was eating was so satiating that I just wasn’t getting hungry like I did before so I stopped eating by the clock and I now only eat when I’m truly hungry. That might be around 11:00 am or it might be 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Sometimes I just don’t get hungry for a day or two but that is rare.
When I do eat I consume plenty of fats and protein with plenty of salt and I only drink water. I eat until I’m comfortably stuffed. When the meat stops tasting good I quit. I will generally consume around 1500 to 1700 calories and that works well for me. On the average I only eat once a day.
During my journey I hit plateaus that would last upwards of about a month or so. It happened three times if I recall correctly. Each time I changed nothing. No gimmicks, no tricks. I just kept eating the same way every day. The thing is I understood the process and I didn’t see this as a diet. It’s my lifestyle and it didn’t matter when or how much weight I lost. I was going to eat this way no matter what. I knew that as my body healed that it would eventually get to its optimal weight.
I didn’t really set any goals. In ten months I went from 225 to 170. That was with two one month stalls. Each time I stalled I wondered if I had reached my optimal level but in time it would kick back in. When I hit 170 I was pretty tickled because that was lighter than I had been when I joined the Army. I thought that’s it. I’ve hit my optimum weight. Well I was wrong. Once again I just kept eating the same way everyday and after about three months at 170 lbs my cardiologist took me off of my last heart medication and boom. I dropped five more pounds.
So I know I got pretty windy here but I’m just trying to tell you to evaluate your diet and lifestyle to see if there is something you need to change whether it be a food, medicine or how often you eat and then be patient and let your body heal and do it’s thing.


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[Scott F.]

Great post.

My weight has come off incredibly fast. But with that said, I hit some 1-2 week stalls as far as the scales go. Even then I felt like I was cinching the belt up a notch or two. It is nice to 'see' the numbers fall, but sometimes, they are just that, numbers.

As humans we are mostly impatient. (Me) I spent 30+ years with a dumpster diet and a trash lifestyle but then was disheartened because the scale didn't drop immediately. Human nature to a point. A one or two week stall is really nothing in the big picture.

Maybe I am losing weight and gaining patience, not sure.

Best of luck at keeping it going. I'm about 105 days in and still feel like I am brand new to the idea, still learning, still experimenting trying to find what works best for me. 

Scott

[Miranda]

If you want to try fasting, and are hungry, drink hot water or club soda. Those are both good distractions and melt the stomach grumbles quickly.

[XaqNautilus]

1 hour ago, Miranda said:

If you want to try fasting, and are hungry, drink hot water or club soda. Those are both good distractions and melt the stomach grumbles quickly.

Great advice.  I drink a lot of unsweetened naturally flavored sparkling water, such as bubly, and perhaps that helps keep my hunger at bay.

[Bob]

The human body can catch on to what were doing. Your metabolism was "trained" to be burning at a particular rate. Then you cut out a meal. This did two things. 1) It lowered the amount of fuel your taking in, and 2) it gave your body time to use up what you ate and tap into those reserves, and thus lose weight. But then it caught on, and slowed your metabolic rate to adapt to your new level of food intake. It's a survival mechanism. It think's there is less food (i.e. famine) and so it's conserving resources.

You could try adding back in that 3rd meal for a few days or a week. Then your body is like "okay, the hard times are passed" and it can comfortable rase your metabolic rate. Then you can cut that meal and go back to intermittent fasting. 

Some people do this gradually. They used to eat 2000 calories a day, then cut it to 1500. They lose some wieght and then plateau. So after plateauing for a while (say, 30 days with no movement on the scale), they start adding calories, about 50 per day. 1550, 1600, 1650, 1700, 1750, etc etc... 2000. And then drop it to 1500 again and then the weight loss continues.

Other people try tricking their body by suddenly switching fuels (carb cycling). One day for lunch, eat some fruit. The body is like OH, we have glucose to burn. But then go right back to strict carnivore and don't do it again for a week or two.

Different "tricks of the trade" work for various individuals.

But maybe the best advice is what Dr. Berry says, in that you need some "Vitamin P" - that is - patience. Wait it out, and it will start coming off again. Just let eating right and being healthy be your main goal, and the weight loss will do it's thing in it's own time.

[mdunavant]

Well, as it turns out, I was just being impatient I guess.  When I wrote this, I was at 42 lbs lost and it seemed I was hovering around that for 2-3 weeks.  Since I wrote this though, I've started losing again.  50 lbs down now!

Started in late April at 370, now 320.

[Scott F.]

Congrats on the progress.

Agree with Bob's post as well. I'm on that same plan but it is not by intention. Somedays I eat a little more than others, it is nothing really set as far as counting calories. My weight will swing up and down into what seems like a 'moving stall'. When I happen to eat lighter for a day or so I drop weight fast, five to six pounds in a three- or four-day span. Then the moving stall happens again.

I guess until Bob's post I didn't know that was a 'thing'.

Learning everyday.

Scott

[Geezy]

Congratulations on the progress.


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[Bob]

On 9/3/2024 at 8:59 AM, Scott F. said:

My weight will swing up and down into what seems like a 'moving stall'. When I happen to eat lighter for a day or so I drop weight fast, five to six pounds in a three- or four-day span. Then the moving stall happens again.

I've got this video where I share my Carb Manager weight loss graph. It goes up and down, then up and down, etc. Weight loss certainly isn't linear...

https://youtu.be/DzEsQOVUx0k?si=k8bu4kksV0pgEYq5

 

[Geezy]

I've got this video where I share my Carb Manager weight loss graph. It goes up and down, then up and down, etc. Weight loss certainly isn't linear...

 

Just for an example, this is my daily weight for the month of August.

August Weight
165.2 166.2 165.4 167.4 167.6
167.2 166.2 165.2 166.4 168.0
165.8 165.4 165.8 165.0 165.8
166.0 166.2 165.6 166.6 166.6
166.0 166.2 166.2 166.8 166.8
165.6 166.2


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[XaqNautilus]

2 hours ago, Geezy said:

August Weight
165.2 166.2 165.4 167.4 167.6
167.2 166.2 165.2 166.4 168.0
165.8 165.4 165.8 165.0 165.8
166.0 166.2 165.6 166.6 166.6
166.0 166.2 166.2 166.8 166.8
165.6 166.2

Nice!  That's well below the 183 on your profile!

[Orweller]

On 9/3/2024 at 8:10 AM, mdunavant said:

Well, as it turns out, I was just being impatient I guess.  When I wrote this, I was at 42 lbs lost and it seemed I was hovering around that for 2-3 weeks.  Since I wrote this though, I've started losing again.  50 lbs down now!

Started in late April at 370, now 320.

And, understand that the weight you lost in that period of time is already extraordinary. Pat yourself on the back and do not stress about plateaus. Losing weight is stressful on the body and it needs a break sometimes. Slow and steady is always the best choice. You've never been able to achieve this on carbs. It took a lifetime to get fat, and it will take a while to re-program those fat-cells, hormones, gut bacteria, etc. 

[mdunavant]

I agree.  I am super stoked that this is so easy and working well.  Can't wait to see my cardiologist next March and step on his scale.  I'm sure I'll hit more plateaus but I just need to keep taking my vitamin P.