My Introduction To The Diet
I first heard of the Carnivore Diet when a friend-of-a-friend went out to dinner with our group and he ordered three hamburgers, medium, naked. What??? Who eats half raw ground beef with nothing else? He tried to explain the diet to me and I thought it was not only outrageous, but also dangerous. “His heart is going to explode,” I remember telling our mutual friend.
Years later, I heard about the Carnivore Diet again from Dr. Shawn Baker. I started following him on Instagram and my feed was instantly bombarded with others who had great success following the diet. From massive weight loss to increased fertility, disappearing GI issues and improved overall healthy, I simply didn’t believe it. In comparison to everything I’ve ever been taught about red meat, butter, and eggs, this didn’t make sense.
After diving in, learning everything I could, following everyone I could find who was just starting out and who’d been doing it for years, I decided to try it. I’m not a doctor, nutritionist, or expert — just a mom who wanted to feel better and found something that worked for me, really worked for me.
What Is ‘The Carnivore Diet?”
If you want to jump right in with a true expert, Dr. Shawn Baker wrote a whole book on the subject. In my words, the Carnivore Diet is eating from a “Yes” list and a “No” list. Now, like I said, the true Carnivore Diet can be found with Shawn, but essentially the diet consists of animal-based proteins and fats, and the elimination of the fruits, vegetables, grains, and anything ultra-processed. For me, it consists of only the items myself and my family will eat from those lists. Mostly we eat chicken, beef, fish, eggs, butter, and beef tallow.
Easing Into Carnivore — My First Two Weeks
I’m sure to the average person this all sounds insanely restrictive but we had a major mindset change in what and how often we eat. Not only did we cut out anything and everything ultra-processed, fruits and veggies, carbs and sugar, but we did it mindfully.
We researched grass-fed, grass-fed-to-finish, pastured, air-chilled, aged, soy-free, grain-free, vegetarian diet, and no-antibiotics-ever. All the “buzz” words we were seeing on the packaging of our meats, fats, and eggs, learned what they meant and what was most important to us.
Now, I didn’t jump in full-force overnight. In fact, I purposefully eased my way in. I started by choosing two meals a day — breakfast and lunch — to be fully carnivore. Dinner stayed more flexible, which made it so much easier to stick with when cooking for my family.
Breakfasts were simple:
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2-4 eggs and a couple slices of bacon
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Steak with butter
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Ground beef scrambled with eggs
Lunch was usually:
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A steak topped with butter and salt
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Tuna or salmon with salt and pepper
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Grilled chicken with salt and pepper and butter
One small but important thing I changed right away: I started salting my water with Celtic sea salt and stopped drinking large amounts during meals. I wanted to fill up on nutrients, not just water, so I drank water before or after my meals.
During this phase, I also committed to walking daily (7,000–10,000 steps) and doing squats or quick walks after meals to help my body begin to process my meals. These recommendations come straight from Dr. Casey Means book, Good Energy, which I highly recommend if you’re super interested in how your metabolism works and how you can support it. Little habits add up fast!
Moving into Full Carnivore Diet, Light Fasting, Gym Membership
After two months, I felt good, really good — less bloated, more energized — and I was ready to go all in.
I shifted into full carnivore meals, eating a ton of high-quality beef, chicken, pork, and eggs, and sticking to my “yes” foods list.
At the same time, I began lightly experimenting with intermittent fasting. I didn’t force it; I just naturally started shrinking my eating window. First, I ate between 7am-7pm, then slowly closed the window until most days, I ate between 10am and 6pm. Which later in my journey, I shifted to having my meals in the window of 7am-3pm because I really liked how I felt ate eating first thing when I woke up. This window also aligned better with my workout schedule.
It was very easy to shrink my eating window because I was actually satisfied and full from the foods I was eating. I wasn’t counting calories or macros — I simply listened to my body. Eat until full, then stop.
During this time I began paying more attention to my FitBit. I was making sure I was getting all of my steps in each day and I set cardio and weight-lifting goals. On the FitBit you can also set sleep goals which not only track the amount of time that you sleep but the quality of the sleep you get. Here are some things I tracked daily:
- 30-minutes light cardio
- Lift heavy, 3-5 exercises per day, 8-12 reps, focus on form
- Stretching, flexibility, and mobility
- Quality of sleep goal: 80
For cardio, I have to admit was really easy to reach this goal because the treadmills at my gym had games on them and I always listen to a great podcast or audiobook to help pass the time. I would set my treadmill to the “rolling hills” setting and to 35 minutes, the last 5 minutes for cool down.
Lifting heavy, there is so much research on lifting heavy and the correlation between muscle mass, bone density, and longevity! Dr. Casey Means talks a lot about it in her book, Good Energy and as a guest on many podcasts. It also feels really good and natural to lift heavy things. Once I did it for a few weeks, my body began to crave it.
Can you get up off the floor? I guess I didn’t realize how many American’s can’t! I loosened up my whole body by doing research on stretching and mobility exercises. They great thing about them is they are usually very fast exercises to do and so very worth it! I like to follow Movement By David for all my stretches, he is incredible!
Okay, I love sleep. There are just two major tweaks I needed to make to my sleep habits:
- Eliminate all light
- No phone right before bed
I actually bought an alarm clock so I didn’t need to end my day using my phone to set an alarm and start my day using my phone to turn it off. This clock has different dimming settings for the time including a setting that turns off the light on the time clock so I can keep my room even darker! I also got a sleep mask that doesn’t smush my eyelashes.
Adding Detox and Cleanses
After a couple months on the diet, I layered in a daily heavy metal detox by itself for two weeks, then added a parasite cleanse. Here is the breakdown:
- Start, 2 weeks daily heavy metal detox
- Then, 4 weeks daily heavy metal detox + parasite cleanse
- Now, alternate 4 weeks of just daily heavy metal detox, with 4 weeks of daily heavy metal detox + parasite cleanse
I also made the decision to stop using hormonal birth control during this time, which was much easier than I thought it would be based on my research. I definitely attribute some of that to the diet and detoxes!
Looking back, this combination was huge for my healing.
Detoxing wasn’t super fancy or expensive — just basic, gentle steps over time. But it made a noticeable difference in how I felt.
The Results: 40 Pounds Down and So Much More
Over about four months, I lost 40 pounds! But honestly? The weight loss was just the beginning.
Some of the most exciting changes I noticed:
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Clearer skin — the little bumps on my arms disappeared
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Zero fatigue — no more 3pm crashes
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Amazing sleep — falling asleep easily, staying asleep, and waking up refreshed
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Incredible energy — I no longer had to hit the snooze button 5 times, then lay in my bed on my phone for 20 minutes
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Sharper focus — I felt more productive and creative
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Hormonal balance — shorter periods (2-3 days), light cramps (or none at all), predictable cycles
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No more hormonal acne — painful breakouts around my period were gone
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Stronger hair — my hairdresser kept asking what magic I was using!
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No joint pain — my Millennial body is less creaky and stiff
I also became so much more mindful about how food made me feel — no mindless eating, no guilt, no emotional rollercoasters.
My New Animal-Based Lifestyle
Starting the Carnivore Diet was one of the more amazing things I’ve done for my body. Though my family now adheres to a more “animal-based” approach, Carnivore taught us a ton about our food options, how our bodies work, and what works for us.
I learned that arugula and asparagus cause me to painfully bloat, bread makes me breakout, and blueberries are the only fruit that keeps me feeling great.
If you’re doing your research and thinking about starting Carnivore, I hope my story shows you that it doesn’t have to be perfect. You can take small steps, listen to your body, and make changes that truly feel good to you.
Here are some great people I followed on IG whose stories and experiences helped me get started:
- Shawn Baker it’s been 8 years!
- carnivoreray
- carnivorejt
- Steakandbuttergal
- Itscourtneyluna – she does full carnivore recipes which to me make it less fun because I’m all about the easy and now but the carnivore community loves her!