Health 30 day Carnivore/Zero Carb experiment

[Warped Mindless]

Meet the Meat Diet

Recently decided to embark on a 30 day Carnivore Diet experiment.

The diet consist of meat, eggs, salt, and water. Some people add in dairy but I’ve chosen to not go that route.

What are the purported benefits to such a diet?

- Weight loss
- Faster muscle gain
- A reduction in anxiety, stress. and depression
- Cures autoimmune diseases
- Eliminates inflammation
- Improves gut and heart health
- Increased testosterone
- Elimination of brain fog and more mental clarity
- Increased energy
- ….. and more!

Sounds like a miracle diet, right?

Yeah… “This is to good to be true” was my initial reaction. I decided to head over and join some Carnivore groups on both Facebook and Reddit.

Surprisingly, both these groups are FILLED with success stories.

I don’t have near as many medical issues as many of these people, nor do I have much extra body fat that needs gone (a few pounds wouldn’t hurt) but I do like the idea of optimizing my health, increasing my testosterone, and gaining muscle faster. I also really love meat…

Up until this year I had been on the Palo Diet for a few years so this didn’t seem all that intimidating to me. Fact is, I’ve been eating way to much junk food so three days ago I pulled the trigger and decided to give it a go.

Observations Thus Far

So far I have consumed 2.5 - 3lbs of meat and around six eggs every day. No idea how many calories this is as the diet experts say to just eat until full.

A typical day this far is as follows:

Breakfast: Eggs, pork chops, and bacon
Lunch: 3 - 4 ground beef patties
Dinner: Big steak

I have observed a slight uptick in energy levels and today I seemed to focus on my task much better.

I’m having mild sugar cravings.

My face is noticeably leaner but my body looks slightly less muscular. This is likely due to less water retention and having zero carbs in my system.

I’ll update this thread weekly. If I find succcess on this way of eating perhaps it will inspire others to try it. It really seems to cure a lot of things for a lot of people but I’m still skeptical. Time will tell…

Warped Mindless

 

[Teevster]

- Improves gut and heart health

I have ulcerative colitis, and eating meat recreates a bacterial balance in my gut. So, I can totally buy the whole "better" gut health thing.


Best,
Teevster

 

[James D]

I'm currently doing this!

I eat chicen breast, eggs and occasionally beef.

Been at it for two weeks.

Lost 15 pounds

 

[Alpha13SC]

While carnivore diet is something good to experiment, I see some mistakes.

1. Not enough organs. That's where you get your micronutrients. (Liver, kidney, heart even brain).
2. Not enough connective tissues. You also need some collagen for your body.

Fat would be a problem if you rely most on chicken breasts.

Keep us updated!

 

[hey_lover]

If you exercise and want to build muscle, then you need carbohydrates in your diet. Not only are carbohydrates muscle sparing but they also fuel workouts, whilst facilitating the storage of water and glycogen in the muscles which give them a more round and plump look.

 

[hey_lover]

If you exercise and want to build muscle, then you need carbohydrates in your diet. Not only are carbohydrates muscle sparing but they also fuel workouts, whilst facilitating the storage of water and glycogen in the muscles which give them a more round and plump look.

No carbs is good at helping fat loss though, as long as you implement periodic carb refeed days to replenish energy and leptin which is the hormone responsible for decreasing hunger.

These extreme diets where you eliminate key macronutrients have major flaws. Nothing beats a balanced diet but with a tilt towards lower carbs if you are more endomorphic in nature, and want to lose weight.

 

[Warped Mindless]

If you exercise and want to build muscle, then you need carbohydrates in your diet. Not only are carbohydrates muscle sparing but they also fuel workouts, whilst facilitating the storage of water and glycogen in the muscles which give them a more round and plump look.

I built 15lbs of solid muscle on paleo consuming less than 100g of carbs a day. My BJJ instructor has been keto for over 7 years now and has put on some serious mass in the last few years when he started working out.

carbs are not essential to the human body.

 

[Rakehell]

I can vouch for this kind of diet. I find it boils down to if you can eat like this and remain fulfilled. Carb heavy stuff is some of my favorite food to eat, so while yes being on this diet will get you good results quickly, it’ll sap some of the enjoyment out if you can no longer eat your favorite foods.

Alot of the benefits come from you consuming little to no sugar. If carbs aren’t a necessity, then sugar is poisonous. You’ll find sugar causes alot of the problems remedied by choosing this diet.

 

[Skills]

No carbs is good at helping fat loss though, as long as you implement periodic carb refeed days to replenish energy and leptin which is the hormone responsible for decreasing hunger.

These extreme diets where you eliminate key macronutrients have major flaws. Nothing beats a balanced diet but with a tilt towards lower carbs if you are more endomorphic in nature, and want to lose weight.

Diets like this help with satarity aka feeling full, so it helps to be in a caloric deficit for people that are not discipline to track, so you will lose fat and keep muscle.... the problem like u say, you look flat due to lack of carbs but the main issue is the reaise in shbg so yea total testostrone goes up but shbg goes up killing your free t ( this happened to me)

 

[Egor]

No fiber? Fruit, beans, etc?

 

[hey_lover]

I built 15lbs of solid muscle on paleo consuming less than 100g of carbs a day. My BJJ instructor has been keto for over 7 years now and has put on some serious mass in the last few years when he started working out.

carbs are not essential to the human body.

Less than 100g is low carbs but it isn't no carbs. I eat low carbs myself when cutting and it's sufficient to avoid ketosis, whilst supporting muscle retention during a calorie deficit.

There's many anecdotal claims of people gaining muscle mass on a keto diet, but without having looked at the studies, I'd bet on carb filled diets leading to greater muscle tissue accrual than without, and that's without even factoring the performance benefits of relying on glucose vs ketones for energy.

Are there are/many high performance athletes that don't include carbs in their diet? If there are, they'll likely be in the minority.

To clarify, i'm not saying that you can't achieve your goals without carbs, I'm saying that it's not the most effective way to go about it.