In 2021, we decided to move our farm to another state. We knew it was going to be an uphill battle to build a home and move our cattle business, all while continuing to take care of our daily responsibilities. For my husband, this meant working 80 hours a week on and off the farm. To say we were under a lot of stress, was an understatement. So naturally, I wasn’t too surprised when he started gaining weight. But thanks to the carnivore diet, in 2024, he was able to take off that weight and more, becoming a carnivore diet weight loss success story!
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But let me back up a bit. We finally got moved and resettled in 2022. At the time, I suggested my husband try Trim Healthy Mama or Keto, which works for me. After a few attempts, he quit, stating that he wasn’t losing any weight. And with continuing to work so much from his truck, going from work site to work site, it was hard to stay on track.
But in 2024, he had had enough. He felt out of breath more when working on the farm, he slept terribly, and had a lot of knee pain. And he had continued to gain more weight. So he started researching about the Carnivore Diet.
He liked how super focused the diet was and how it was centered around meat. And he loved that he saw results pretty quickly!
The carnivore diet is a diet that focuses on eating only animals products. It is very strict and streamlined. Whereas Keto is a low carb diet that focuses on protein and healthy fats plus low carb vegetables, Carnivore is considered a zero carb diet. It consists of meat, fish, eggs, cheese, and some cream and cream cheese.
PIN for later: Carnivore Cheeseburger Soup
When starting Carnivore, one does not use seasonings other than salt and mustard. The benefits of Carnivore comes from focusing solely on protein and healthy fats and eliminating seed oils, fruits, and vegetables. It is said to help people with weight loss, inflammation, and brain fog.
I was skeptical at first, wondering if he was going to end up with scurvy like a sailor from long ago, that didn’t get enough Vitamin C in his diet. But I was shocked at what really happened.
Starting out, my husband kept his Carnivore Diet super simple. He would eat bacon and eggs and cheese in the morning. He would often pick up a rotisserie chicken for lunch, and he ate a lot of steak for dinner. I would try to experiment with different meals, but he wanted to keep it pretty simple in the beginning to stay on track. He also went strict carnivore with nothing extra added to his meals other than salt or seasoning salt.
He had a lot of struggles, in the beginning, with feeling bad due to the carbohydrate withdrawl. After a few weeks, he started to feel better and the weight started to come off. At this point he was not exercising, he just changed his diet.
He also had to add “drink water and use salt” to his daily regime. He never drank a lot of water before, but being on the carnivore diet caused him to be thirsty for water all the time. So he upped his water intake a lot. Now, he was already using a lot of salt as he has always had low blood pressure. But he wanted salt even more. We really love this Redmond Real Salt. It is truly great salt! If you are going to do carnivore, you need to pick up this salt!
Complete Carnivore Aldi Shopping List
Also, my husband noticed that every several days, he really needed a juicy steak. He didn’t mind having chicken or meals with ground beef. But about every third day, he needed the good fat from a juicy steak. He found that he felt much better when he had a ribeye every several days.
At this point, it has been over a year and a half, since our carnivore journey started. Here are some tips that helped my husband stay on his carnivore journey.
- Keep it streamlined. Carnivore diet seems to appeal to those who really want things super focused. So use this to your advantage. Create a few meals that you like and just repeat. Lean into the simplicity of eating only a few types of meals to stay on plan.
- Drink lots of water and salt. Keep your body balanced by making sure that you up your water and salt intake.
- Eat healthy fats. Your body is going to need those healthy fats from steak and butter. It may seem counterintuitive from everything you have ever been told. But to feel good, you’ll need all those vitamins from beef. Remember worrying about scurvy. Turns out that beef has all the vitamins and minerals you need.
- Have a cheat day. About once a week, we have a cheat day. In the beginning, there were very few cheat days. But now he has added a cheat day and exercising. My husband enjoys sourdough toast (that his daughter makes), fruit, salads, and even an iced coffee. To stay on plan, its okay to have a few days a month that you schedule to be off plan. It works best to plan ahead. This way you can look forward to it, and it can be a reward, not something you should feel guilty about. And don’t worry, even if you are tempted to stay off plan longer, your body will start to feel bad. And you will want to get back to eating better.
- Listen to your body. While I like Keto better for me, there are a few things I learned from trying carnivore. You really don’t need as much food as you think you do. When you start to eat more protein, your body will start to feel fuller faster. And you will stay fuller longer. But you also have to retrain yourself to not just grab a snack or think you need a snack when you feel “hungry”. When I started to slow down and think about if I really needed a snack, I realized that I wasn’t really hungry. I was just used to snacking.
- Create new rewards. Food is a common reward. If you do a good job, have a bad day, or want to celebrate, we reach for food as our reward. Start to create new rewards that are not food based. Instead you can reward yourself with a massage, 15 minutes reading your favorite book, a new hobby, or 15 minute power nap. My husband now really enjoys working out and looks forward to that time.
- Join Carnivore Facebook groups. Community is super important when you are trying to stick with a new habit. So make sure to find some carnivore podcasts, YouTube, or Facebook groups that are helpful and encouraging for you. Not every group is going to be the perfect fit. So look at several groups before picking one or two that you find helpful.
The carnivore diet is very unique so who is the diet for and who is it not for? Carnivore diet seems to have the best results for people who:
- Want to lose a lot of weight. Carnivore diet can result in pretty dramatic weight loss results. And you can still eat plenty of food.
- Immune or inflammation issues. Carnivore cuts out a lot of the common triggers that cause inflammation in the body. So many people have raved at the results of reversal of joint and autoimmune issues.
- Enjoy a very focused, streamlined diet. Carnivore is very focused, so it is a great diet for those who are singularly focused and like to go all in on a new idea.
- Like to eat meat. If you love beef, you will enjoy the carnivore diet.
For my husband and my daughter-in-law, it has been an amazing journey. It has brought a lot of weight loss and helped heal their bodies of a variety of other issues.
For me, I prefer Keto. After two days of eating meat, I need vegetables and fruit. My gut starts to feel off by the third day. And I actually enjoy creating new Keto recipes. That helps me stay motivated. But I am glad that I tried the Carnivore, and I found it educational. And I appreciate how the carnivore diet focus has helped me increase my protein and realize that often I am not truly hungry.
Carnivore Diet Recipes
If you are on the carnivore diet or thinking about it here are some recipes that I created that we love!
Carnivore Meatballs and Alfredo Sauce
Carnivore Taquitos (who doesn’t love Tex-Mex)
The carnivore diet can be super helpful for those wishing to lose weight and for those who are wanting to explore healing their bodies from other issues.
Have you tried the carnivore diet?
