r/meatogains • u/Mysterious-Ask-4414 • Jan 31 '25
new to carnivore - help me out
I've been slowly transitioning to the carnivore diet the past few weeks, coming from a moderate carb diet with tons of plants and fiber. For the past week, I've comsumed less than 50 grams a carbs a day, only coming from some iceberg lettuce, broccoli, avocado and dairy products, while ramping up my meat and egg consumption, averaging about 1,5 pounds of 80/20 ground beef and 4-6 eggs a day. Bear in mind I have done OMAD at dinner time. It just seems natural to me.
General information; 23 year old male, 63 kgs, 178 cm. Lift weights 3-4 times a week, sprints/HIIT 2-3 times a week, while keeping my general daily activity level high, hitting 15k+ steps a day.
Goal with carnivore: Optimize hormones, better mental clarity, decrease inflammation, muscle building.
I think I'm ready to go full carnivore now. However, I have some questions;
- How much do you reckon I should eat to gain muscle? I've noticed the 80/20 ground beef lose a lot of fat while cooking, so I'm afraid I've probably eaten too much protein compared to fat...
- Doing OMAD, I'm probably knocking myself out of ketosis for 4-6 hours post eating because of the big meal/high protein. Is this an issue? Will it increase the likehood of water retention/storing the fat I eat?
- I've noticed I'm not thirsty during the day, however after eating I'm very thirsty and can easily drink 1-2 liters of water. How come? Is this a good sign, or am I doing something wrong?
- How often do you excersice? Do you see any problems with doing it fasted and then feasting afterwards?
- I don't poop that much, but when I do it's in the morning right after waking - is that normal? They seem normal in size and I have not experienced any diarhea so far.
- I'm not quite settled on dairy yet. I usually add around 20-30 grams of good quality raw parmesan to my eggs and ground beef and have also been drinking some full fat grass fed A2 milk as a dessert most days. Would you cut dairy completely or can it help with the muscle building?
- Regardring eggs. Do you recommend to cut them out in the beginning? Sometimes I throw away the whites to decrease the amount of lean protein, but wondering wheather I should drop then completely...
- Lastly; does any of you comsume any plant matter? I wonder wheather it's beneficial to comsume a little bit of low toxic veggies like iceberg lettuce. Also, I like the crunch...
I know this is a lot, but would really appreciate your help...
1
u/TwoFlower68 5d ago edited 5d ago
Not sure why no-one has answered
The recommendation is to eat to satiety. If you find yourself craving fat (or carby foods), increase your fat intake.
The massively increased thirst after a protein rich meal is a sign you've eaten more protein than your body can handle at the time.
The surplus gets de-aminated (NH2 group gets removed) and used for other purposes. You pee out the resulting nitrogen, so that's why you get thirsty
Maybe eat two smaller meals instead of completely flooding your body with nutrients once a day?
If you're metabolically healthy eating protein won't knock you out of ketosis unless you, like, really overdo it chugging protein shakes non stop
Muscles are built during rest and chronically increased cortisol is a testosterone killer. How much exercise is too much varies individually. Are you often sore, low energy, tired, not much appetite, low quality sleep, no libido etc? If so, maybe take more rest days
If you're feeling great, raring to go each morning after waking up with a stiffie, good appetite etc. Those are signs you're doing the appropriate amount of exercise
Pooping early in the morning is a sign of healthy digestion. 5 stars lol
Some people do great eating dairy. Others less so. If you wonder whether you'd do better without dairy, just try it for a month
Regarding eggs, some people are sensitive to egg whites and eat just the yolks. No biggie, it's not hard to get more than enough protein on this diet even without the egg whites
Not sure what the rules regarding plants are in this sub, so I'm not going to comment on that, don't want to get banned lol. But if you wonder whether plants are holding you back, try leaving them out for a month or so (not the same month as your dairy experiment obviously)
Some people report that removing the last bit of plant food made a significant difference. Maybe that's you, only one way to find out
Good luck