Weakness and fatigue?

[Colene]

Hello! I've been carnivore for 2 weeks now, but still feel low energy. Do I just need to wait it out longer and perhaps my body is still adjusting? Also I need help understanding ketosis....if I eat just a tablespoon of honey for example does that kick me out of ketosis? How strict is it?

[Geezy]

Yes you need to wait it out. You are still very new to this way of eating and your body is still adjusting. It doesn’t happen overnight.
There seems to be a lag time between using up the last of your glycogen stores and your body kicking up the ketones for energy.
We often call this period the keto flu. There can be a host of other adjustments as well.
I’m not sure if just one tablespoon of honey will kick you out of ketosis or not but why bother? It’s not carnivore. It serves no nutritional purpose and will not help you optimize your ketone production.
Generally for most people to be in ketosis they need to stay under 50 carbs per day and to be really ketogenic they need to be under 20 a day. But everyone is different and different foods can affect us differently.
How many carbs does one tablespoon of honey contain? 17 carbs? Judging by that number I’d say no, it shouldn’t kick you out of ketosis. But then again, is it really necessary in your diet.
Your choice of course.
The true test is to try it and see what happens. If everything in your diet is pure carnivore except the honey and you find yourself being metabolically healthy and you’re losing weight then you know it’s not an issue for you but if the opposite is true and you’re struggling to lose weight and still having metabolic problems then the honey may very well be the culprit.
If it’s important to you then what I would do is give myself the best possible path to success by abstaining from the honey until my have achieved the goals I set out for myself in weight and health and then slowly reintroduce it back in and if there’s no issues then you can keep it in your diet. You may also find that when you reach that point you may no longer have the urge to ever use honey again.
Since we are all different we have to find our own paths in this journey and find what works best for us as individuals.


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[Colene]

ok I'll give it some time. Using up glycogen stores, isn't that far stores? I don't have much fat on me. After eating there are times that I feel lethargic and exhausted almost like I did after eating a ton of carbs and sugar, the "sugar high". Any thoughts as to why that could be? I'm on carnivore to heal my skin issues. I don't want to lose any more weight since I'm breastfeeding my 10 month old. In fact I want to gain weight. My goal is to heal up my skin-I think its eczema although I'm not so sure. Then I want to go back to a healthy clean diet. I wonder how long I need to do carnviore to heal my skin? I know skin issues is connected to leaky gut, etc etc. So far after 2 weeks I can tell my skin isn't *as* red and inflammed looking, but still angry nonetheless. 

Personally I think life is about balance and having occasional healthy sweets in my life brings joy to me

Thankyou much for your kind advice, thoughts

[Meathead]

Welcome aboard @Colene.

Like @Geezy said it's basically a process of elimination.  Too many variables will take you down the wrong path. 

Meat/fat ratio, you may need to up your in your diet.  Fats are your energy source. 

You will need to make sure you are well hydrated with electrolytes (Redmond real salt added to your water.  I don't believe in commercial products for hydration. 

Understand anything outside of Meat, saturated fats, animal products ie; eggs butter and milk may not be and probably not carnivore. 

Link in my signature will give you a better idea. 

 

Good luck and best wishes.  We're here to answer questions best we can but this is just our opinion and not medical advice. 

Edited October 6 by Meathead

[Scott F.]

Welcome.

Both are great responses. 

I hit the energy wall early on and for me I upped the fat content of my meals and made a homemade electrolyte solution. Once I fixed those two things the energy level returned. 

As I became fat adaptive the weight fell and the energy picked up, actually, much better than prior to carnivore. 

I'd say a little patience, check your fat content and get your electrolytes.

Scott

[Meathead]

2 hours ago, Colene said:

I'm breastfeeding my 10 month old.

That's part of the answer hormones play a big part in your diet. So breast feeding, your cycle etc will really deplete your energy. 

Healing won't happen overnight but I can tell you this lifestyle has been detrimental to my being.  I have been unable to walk 20 ft without being winded and sitting down for 10 minutes.  I now am able to get around alot better, not winded nor aching like before. I spent 18 years that way and even had back surgery but still didn't help.

Be patient and let this lifestyle change do its magic. 

 

Since we don't know your diet watch the video linked in my signature. 

Edited October 7 by Meathead

[Geezy]

Any thoughts as to why that could be?

I'm on carnivore to heal my skin issues.

I'm breastfeeding my 10 month old.

Then I want to go back to a healthy clean diet.

I wonder how long I need to do carnviore to heal my skin?

I know skin issues is connected to leaky gut, etc etc.

So far after 2 weeks I can tell my skin isn't *as* red and inflammed looking, but still angry nonetheless. 


Personally I think life is about balance and having occasional healthy sweets in my life brings joy to me

Again, your energy is low because you are still adapting and you may need to increase your fat intake essentially after just having a baby and breast feeding. That’s a big hit on a woman.

Your skin issue can be healed by carnivore. As with all healing it takes time.

From everything I’ve learned about skin issues they are an autoimmune disorder that is a direct result of inflammation.

How long do you need to eat carnivore???
For the rest of your life.
This is not a diet but a lifestyle. It’s not something that just treats the symptoms like a pill but it cures the issue through nutrition by making the body metabolically heathy and therefore able to defend itself against disease.
To keep that body metabolically healthy you have to keep it properly nourished. If you go back to eating the way you did that caused your illness before then you’ll revert back to it again.
Now that doesn’t mean that you really need to be as strict as carnivore forever but you will need to find the food that was causing the inflammation to begin with and abstain from it forever.
Check out Mikala Peterson and what she had to go through to discover what was literally killing her. It really shows how this is an elimination diet.

We as carnivores do not believe that eating is all about balance unless you are talking about balancing fat to protein ratios and the different kinds of meats we eat.

Don’t be surprised if you find out that your autoimmune issues are due to your sweets that you love.
More than likely though it’s possibly due to seed oils in your diet.


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[Laura]

Welcome, Colene.  I am also trying to heal leaky gut, and skin issues. I try to remember, that it took a long time, and many years of eating the wrong foods to cause the damage, and that healing won't happen overnight. I haven't been back on the diet that long, and am already seeing major improvements. I think the fibers in plant foods were causing the most issues for me. Now I am eating just beef for meat (80/20 ground beef, chuck cuts, beef ribs), some cheese, and whole milk plain Greek yogurt with a bit of raw green stevia. The fat is important, and helps with energy levels. Glad you are giving it another try.  I don't think I can ever go back to a regular diet, knowing the effects of those foods, the toxins they carry, and the damage they caused.  I listen to many Carnivore videos to help me stay focused.  There are so many good people in this space, and in this community, as well! 

[Orweller]

It's all been answered here. Welcome to the club. 

The carnivore diet needs at least 90 days before you consider another solution. 

You're breast feeding, I'd say consider taking an iodine supplement.

Skin issues? Eat the skin of meat products, bone broth, etc.

Definitely take potassium and magnesium on a daily basis. I do this still. 

Want something sweet? There are keto options, but you'll find even dark chocolate is going to taste very sweet. The taste buds will reset and you'll be happy with half a cookie without going out of ketosis. 

Good luck. 

[Bob]

On 10/5/2024 at 5:16 PM, Colene said:

if I eat just a tablespoon of honey for example does that kick me out of ketosis? How strict is it?

It might, until the sugar in the honey is metabolizes and then you will be back in ketosis. 

As far as how strict... as strict as you want it to be, or as strict as you need it to be. 

23 hours ago, Colene said:

I don't have much fat on me... I'm on carnivore to heal my skin issues.

So if you have no weight to lose and no health issues, you could be a little more relaxed. I would look into Dr. Berry's "Proper Human Diet" which allows UP TO 100 carbs/day of whole, single ingredient vegetables. Or, look into Paul Saladino's "Animal Based" diet, which eliminates vegetables but allows for some fruit and honey. OR, combine the two philosophy's together, and eat any single ingredient whole food whether it's fruit or vegetable but stay under that 100g of carbs (or 50, or 20, or 10, depending on how low carb or keto you want to go).

BUT, you say you want to heal your skin issues. With that said, I would go strict carnivore - beef, butter, bacon, eggs, chicken, shellfish, seafood, butter, ghee, tallow, and cheese if you can tolerate it, for at least 90 days. Some people, like Mikaila Peterson, had to go strict beef, water, salt, and nothing else, in order to heal her issues. Even Paul Saladino was a carnivore for a couple years to heal his eczema before attempting to add back other foods. By slowly adding back certain foods, he was able to determine which foods triggered flare ups, and avoid them. 

That's basically the same pattern you want to imitate. The occasional sweet treat might actually contain something that irritates your skin. It's going to take an elimination diet and some time to try and narrow down your personal culprit.