7 months on carnivore results

[SAD]

Mark talks often about how your calories naturally dip when going carnivore, and how bulking on carnivore is best done by adding dairy/rice/fruits.

As a guy sitting at 265 and wanting to stay as thick as possible for my sport, it would seem that this diet just can’t be done right.

I’m extremely active, sometimes two-a-day exercise (one gym and one outside or on the arm wrestling table), and I don’t have a lot of fat to lose (and don’t want to).

I’ve got the discipline to do this and to do it well, but I won’t even start if the inevitability is that I’ll lose weight. If I’m doing it, it would be without the add-ins that Mark says like dairy and rice and fruit. It would be “hardcore” for at least a month to give it a chance. And it seems like that’s not in alignment with my size and goals.

I’m probably at 7000+ calories a day right now, and that’s a lot of eggs and steak and chicken and liver. @testboner

 

[DieYoungStrong]

Mark talks often about how your calories naturally dip when going carnivore, and how bulking on carnivore is best done by adding dairy/rice/fruits.

As a guy sitting at 265 and wanting to stay as thick as possible for my sport, it would seem that this diet just can’t be done right.

I’m extremely active, sometimes two-a-day exercise (one gym and one outside or on the arm wrestling table), and I don’t have a lot of fat to lose (and don’t want to).

I’ve got the discipline to do this and to do it well, but I won’t even start if the inevitability is that I’ll lose weight. If I’m doing it, it would be without the add-ins that Mark says like dairy and rice and fruit. It would be “hardcore” for at least a month to give it a chance. And it seems like that’s not in alignment with my size and goals.

I’m probably at 7000+ calories a day right now, and that’s a lot of eggs and steak and chicken and liver. @testboner

Sounds like you'd be eating very close to the Vertical Diet if you did this...

 

[gunslinger]

What’s the average price of a carnivore diet per week?

I was thinking of trying this diet but then I looked at all the meat prices….

It doesn't have to be super expensive. I buy in bulk so I get slightly better deals. Also as testboner said don't always eat prime cuts. Flank steak and shoulder steak are fairly cheap. Liver is like $3 a pound. 80/20 hamburger I can get here for around $39 per 10 pounds. I also look for "managers specials" and sometimes find ribeyes and New York strip steaks for like $5-6 each. $6.50 for 60 eggs. You could easily maintain 4,000+ calories per day and 300+ grams of protein for $100 per week or less if you shop around.

 

[testboner]

Mark talks often about how your calories naturally dip when going carnivore, and how bulking on carnivore is best done by adding dairy/rice/fruits.

As a guy sitting at 265 and wanting to stay as thick as possible for my sport, it would seem that this diet just can’t be done right.

I’m extremely active, sometimes two-a-day exercise (one gym and one outside or on the arm wrestling table), and I don’t have a lot of fat to lose (and don’t want to).

I’ve got the discipline to do this and to do it well, but I won’t even start if the inevitability is that I’ll lose weight. If I’m doing it, it would be without the add-ins that Mark says like dairy and rice and fruit. It would be “hardcore” for at least a month to give it a chance. And it seems like that’s not in alignment with my size and goals.

I’m probably at 7000+ calories a day right now, and that’s a lot of eggs and steak and chicken and liver. @testboner

Check out Stan Efferding’s vertical diet. That’s what I’d recommend may be a bit more to your liking and goals.

 

[Littleguy]

I can't get over the 50# weight loss, wtf how do you have 50#s to lose?
Not knocking just trying to wrap my head around it.

 

[SAD]

I can't get over the 50# weight loss, wtf how do you have 50#s to lose?
Not knocking just trying to wrap my head around it.

I don’t think he means he literally lost 50lbs between those two pics or that he did it by literally doubling his calories. Just some hyperbole as is his way.

 

[ogre]

I'm not sure how you guy's do this.I tried this kind of diet back when Atkins diet was popular.Sure it burned off alot of fat but being a construction worker it left me little energy at the end of the day to work out.Maybe I didnt stay on it long enough.

 

[testboner]

I'm not sure how you guy's do this.I tried this kind of diet back when Atkins diet was popular.Sure it burned off alot of fat but being a construction worker it left me little energy at the end of the day to work out.Maybe I didnt stay on it long enough.

Yeah, given more time to dial it in / make adjustments — it would have worked for your energy needs, etc.

 

[macgyver]

Congrats on progress. Only thing I like to share with others, is things dont need to be this extreme. If you enjoy eating so restrictively and the restrictions it places on your both practically and socially, than great. In my 20's I did restrictive diets. As I approach 50 I spent the last 10 years figuring out how to have balance in one's life.

With all due respect, I think just about any diet could have achieved the weight loss you see. But if that is what worked for you, and you enjoyed it, great. At the end of the day, it is what works and is sustainable. I just personally could not ever see living like that, unless results were so remarkable, it was worth the sacrifice.

 

[monsoon]

Summer of last year after a heated thread here about Macros I decided to just stay on carnivore . I wanted to see if I could jack the calories way up and still lose weight with no increase in activity. Long story short I ended up going to between 5,500 to 6,200 calories per day and was still dropping weight. I ended up losing 51 pounds total while increasing my calories by almost double. Waist went from 36" to 32.5" I went from 241 to 190, I got stronger, BP went down, I sleep better, no gas, most of my pain from previous injuries has gone. I feel better than I have in years. I normally eat 2 big meals per day. Sometime up to 3 pounds of meat at a time. No veggies or carbs at all (3-4 cheat days during the holidays) Since June.

Carnivore has been the best thing I've ever done for my body and health.

Not even trying to speak for OP, but reading thread and other sites about carnivore and/or vertical, not so much about weight loss but general health. My biggest concern is sustainability. I don’t know how long I would last eating steak and eggs. I don’t care for the texture of eggs so it would be mostly meat. I am curious enough to give it a short run, maybe leading up to a physical.

 

[testboner]

Congrats on progress. Only thing I like to share with others, is things dont need to be this extreme. If you enjoy eating so restrictively and the restrictions it places on your both practically and socially, than great. In my 20's I did restrictive diets. As I approach 50 I spent the last 10 years figuring out how to have balance in one's life.

With all due respect, I think just about any diet could have achieved the weight loss you see. But if that is what worked for you, and you enjoyed it, great. At the end of the day, it is what works and is sustainable. I just personally could not ever see living like that, unless results were so remarkable, it was worth the sacrifice.

I hear you, but, it’s about far more than weight loss — and it’s not restrictive…. dependent upon how much one discovers about nutrition, and what eating is actually intended to be about by design (hint: health; performance, healing, recovery efficient functioning consistently). For the most part (arguably) the only things your eliminating are things that aren’t the healthiest things to be consuming, nor essential to thriving. There’s a lot we can tolerate — up to a limit, before various deficiencies manifest.
“Balance” in most styles of eating (especially the Western world) is conditionally (“culturally”) indulgent…. and sadly, to the point (increasingly) of excessive overweight, obesity, diabetes, auto immune / inflammatory distress and disease, mental issues, and on and on.
Carnivory is only “restrictive” if the mindset is conditioned to non disciplined, pouty spoiled indulgence…. and generally with very few if any restrictions for the sake of health.
The carnivore way of eating also has tremendous variety; any and all animal based items fit the plan.

All that said, is a snack (cheat treat) here and there off limits? Well, for SOME they should be, but after one is disciplined / self controlled with consistency, a cheat isn’t going to derail the eating pattern, nor harm or kill you.

 

[macgyver]

@testboner Like I said, if anyone enjoys eating like this than great! I am almost 50 and I like enjoying my life and eating lots of good food is part of that.

Again, it would be one thing if the results of this diet were so amazing, but I am in pretty decent shape and there are no foods off limits for me. I eat lots of sugar (timed post workout), that includes copious amounts of icecream. I go through about 2 tubs a week. I eat ramens for lunch when I need some carbs to go with my fried chicken. And my blood work is the best it has ever been. Total cholesterol 130 with perfect hdl/ldl ratios, <50 triglycerides, bp 115 / 70.

And I will share something I am almost embarrassed to admit. I have not done a single cardio session in over 4 years. I really need to, just been lazy.

So I respect if you enjoy living like that, but I have learned enough about dieting, and flexible dieting, in the last 10 years that I understand that most 'fad' diets are just that. Overly restrictive for no actual reasons. Totally unnecessary. But some guys like to be 'HARDCOREZ'. Not me brother. Any diet where I cant eat pizza is a deal breaker. Never trust anyone that does not love pizza!