While an eating disorder might be a thing of my past, I am no stranger to food addiction, the grip it can have on my life or the intensely distracting nature of food. When I started Carnivore I felt like I was set free: set free from plants, set free from meal prepping, chopping, composting, set free from chronic pain, from hunger, from food isolation, set free from restriction – which might be crazy to read coming from a carnivore devotee but I found Veganism to be far more restrictive than my now, meat based lifestyle. At the tail end of veganism I was a prisoner to my failing immune system which I brave to say is restrictive.

This 90 days has been A WILD internal ride. I have changed in so many ways, just to name a few:

• I feel less rigid
• I am more calm
• my exercise isn’t fueled by anxiety
• I’m more satisfied
• My sleep is sound
• My thoughts are more rational
• I am more balanced – mind body and spirit

The first 30 days – pure elation and honeymoon

The 2nd 30 days – life threw some curve balls, I experienced my first oxalate clearing, grief was bestowed (losing our cat, my wedding band and having to move) all the while I remained faithful to carnivore.

The 3rd 30 days – severe energy dips unrelated to keto flu or oxalates.

Commitment to this lifestyle requires discipline, unwavering faith and tons of research. But there’s a sweet spot – too much research will yield overwhelm and you’re already changing so much that heeding what 5 influencers are doing – and all doing differently might leave you wavering: like I was.

High fat?

High protein?

Fat fasts?

Sardine fasts?

Protein sparing modified fasts?

Dry fasts?

Lord have mercy.

Enter: Tracking (the free version).

Kelly Hogan is a huge proponent of Carb Manager – the free app used to track your food and stay accountable. I’ll admit – I was quite resistant to tracking bc I didn’t want to feel like I was dieting. While carnivore seems like a diet to most of society, those of us who embark on this journey embrace it as a full blown way of life. You don’t “do carnivore” with one foot in. It’s a face dive.

I could NOT get to the bottom of my depleting energy and steady weight gain. I kept heeding: eat more fat! You’re not eating enough! Eat more! Well guess what? That’s not the answer for many people and it wasn’t for me either.

I started tracking with the sole intention of seeing which way – high fat or high protein – yielded more energy for my body. Well to my surprise, high fat caused major edema and lethargy while high protein, lower fat, ie. not adding additional fat, yielded more energy, optimism and mental clarity.

The verdict was out: I needed to track my way back to balance because I didn’t know where to start using intuition alone.

Tracking also helped me to spread my meals into three rather than two. 2Mad (two meals a day) and OMad (one meal a day) are common strategies that resonate with carnivores but my experience was: 1 meal felt like I was muscling my way through the day, applying will power which caused much more, not less, food fixation. Two meals was a less intense version of 1 and it still felt like I was overeating and a little unsatisfied after meals. Three meals a day is the sweet spot for me and keeps my energy steady, my metabolism revved and my fixation on life, not on food. Amen Hallelujah the cows have come home!

Another bonus: once I started feeling more energetic (from adding less dietary fat and increasing my protein) my workouts felt more effortless and efficient.

When using Carb Manager there are some important things to consider:

• you can and likely will go OVER your protein grams. That’s ok. If you go over your fat grams it’ll  be much easier to meet your calorie goals quickly so keep that in mind.  You might be one of the unicorns that does well on adding fat like Bella from SBG, Kelly Hogan or Dr. Bright, but if you’re like me: you’ll want to taper down on the fat and focus on what’s just inherent in the meat/eggs/fish itself. When eating HIGH fat you’re likely to eat LESS protein so also be mindful of your protein requirements = 1g per 1lb of body weight.
• you MUST eat within your calorie needs. I usually get within 200-300 cals of my 1900.

I am currently losing 5 lb that I gained while doing high-high fat carnivore (adding fat). Don’t use these charts to compare. My chart also takes my height and current weight and goals into consideration. Once I get to a comfortable weight (for me that’s 128 lb) I will increase my calories to 2000 to maintain that. This highlights the age-old concept of being in a temporary calorie deficit. You want to know the good news?

I feel fed, nourished, safe, focused and not one bit hungry as I make my way back to a steady balance. I truly believe I owe it to: three meals & tracking.

To say I deviated from intuitive carnivore would be fair – while I kept eating meat I also kept adding fat which caused weight gain and fatigue (also less spontaneous movement) – I didn’t know what I didn’t know! Carnivore works a lot of magic but it doesn’t defy science.

Just for show: here’s what I’ve been eating! Doesn’t look like deprivation now does it?

A typical day of eating looks like this:

Coffee + ghee

4 soft boiled eggs

12 oz fish baked cod

9 oz chuck roast

• live your life between meals!

1777 cals, 167g protein, 117g fat

Another day (I ate only 2 meals because my day started late and I went to a morning yoga class – I can swing this 1-2 days a week but it’s not the norm):

Coffee + ghee

Chaffle & burger

12-13 oz Steamed and roasted chicken

1611 cals, 148g protein, 109g fat

And another day:

Coffee + ghee

4 soft boiled eggs

9 oz oil packed drained sardines

3 grass fed burger patties

1771 cals, 150g protein, 129g fat

The protein Question

You need to eat AT LEAST 1g of protein per lb of body weight. This is what we currently understand about protein requirements. Meeting these needs will ensure your body functions properly: hair and nail growth, energy, hormones and metabolism. Protein contains 4 calories per gram. You can eat quite a bit more protein than you might need in a day based on your weight but you don’t want to go under for any length of time which is why fat fasting is only suggested for upwards of 5 days only. If your ideal body weight is 120, you need 120g of protein.

The fat Question

You need fat – period. No fat, all problems. Thankfully carnivore is replete in fat, naturally. Adding fat is a personal choice and based on unique needs such as hormone repair, healing autoimmune conditions or whether you’re at a particular age where dietary fat may actually HELP rather than hinder fat loss. We also derive energy from fat and when we’re in ketosis, we are burning fat for energy. Fat contains 9 calories per gram so it adds up quickly. Best sources are butter, ghee, tallow and fat trimmings on meat. Best cuts of meat with healthy fat:protein ratios are ribeye, eggs, salmon with skin, chicken thighs and breast with skin and 80/20 ground beef. No need for adding more fat to these foods unless it’s medically necessary.

*adding fat made it so I couldn’t enter ketosis because my body was busy burning the dietary fat and not the fat in my body.

The Calories question

You cannot be in a deficit forever. If you don’t eat enough calories from high quality nutrient dense foods like meat and animal fat, your body will suffer. The only time being in a deficit is important is if you are needing/wanting to lose weight. Once you reach your goal weight you must sustain that weight by eating roughly 2000 calories. For some that can be hard because meat is so satisfying and filling, for others it isn’t hard one bit (like me, I can EAT). If you go too deeply into a deficit you’ll starve your body and rather than lose weight it will stall and hold on to whatever it has for fear it might never feed again (which is why those who are expert fasters don’t die and fall over after a week of not eating – you have to be primed for fasting) – remember your body is INTELLIGENT – so don’t try and outsmart it. Your body is working for you: feed it regularly and kindly.

Have I covered my basis?

Track for the sake of balance and accountability.

Track for freedom.

Track for weight loss and weight management.

Track because dare I say it’s actually intuitive!

Eat 3 meals so you don’t go wondering when your next meal might be – have yourself covered!

Simplify! Because it’s not all that complicated

xo

Katie

Featured recipes:

Chaffle

Chicken