It’s long been taught that you gain weight if you eat more calories than you burn. And if you eat fewer calories and burn more calories through physical activity, you lose weight. That makes sense. Right?
Stay tuned, as this might change your mind!
In my last blog post, Elevating My Life on the Carnivore Diet, I stated that I could eat far more calories on a carnivore diet. Let’s elaborate with some documentation from my Carb Manager app that dates back to 2020. The Carb Manager app is great for tracking—the free version is all one should need for basic purposes.
While I don’t usually log my food these days (it can easily become an OCD trigger), I occasionally track to ensure I eat enough calories and protein. On Sunday, I decided to look at some of my logs from years past to see the difference in my macros. Honestly, I hadn’t ever thought about comparing my data. I surely didn’t know that I could go so far back into Carb Manager for data.
I was shocked at what I found!
When I began my wellness journey in 2020, being a macro newbie, I was clueless about which macros to choose for health. I’m a person that needs details so that I can set goals. I need structure. Before, I’d only eaten randomly, causing many setbacks of binging and purging. I knew that what I’d done up until 2020 had not worked. I needed a plan and the documentation to hold me accountable. Over the years, I’ve tried the Body Type Diet, the Keto Diet, and the Carnivore Diet. I’ll share the details of each of those and what I learned from each.
Random fact about me- I am a data freak.
*As a note, I’m always a basic eater. I don’t need a lot of variety. I eat the same thing daily for breakfast (which isn’t much as I’m not a morning eater by nature), lunch, and snacks. I switched up my dinners to stay within the guidelines of whichever diet I followed. I did my best to limit sugar and ultra-processed foods with each diet. I ate a plant-based diet with little meat, as I have done until recently.
Let’s analyze these results!
The Body Type Diet
I found the Body Type Diet when I began googling macros for women. It had great reviews! For my body type, the macros were fairly equal, as it was recommended for women who were menopausal. I was excited about this diet because I knew it would be super easy to follow. I walked/ran for at least 30 minutes daily, and got over 10,000 steps daily. Please disrequard the macro goal values in the lighter color. They defaulted to a setting that I used at a differnet time.
The Outcome
I didn’t have good results on this diet, even with eating below the recommended calories. I had constant cravings that caused me to binge on weekends. I took a nap every afternoon and had no motivation. And as you can see, I ate a lot of carbs! I ate many “healthy” fruits, vegetables, nuts, and “clean” foods. I put those words in parentheses because now I realize that fruit is full of sugar that becomes stored as fat, and my clean foods were full of chemicals. Yikes! However, I am horrified at the amount of carbs I consumed then. As I can now clearly see, it’s no wonder my health suffered and I gained weight.
The Keto Diet
The Keto Diet is a low-carb diet that recommends increasing fat and eating between 25- 50 grams of carbohydrates daily. After gaining weight on the previous diet, I knew I had to cut carbs. I was beyond frustrated with my healthy, plant-based lifestyle and couldn’t figure out why I was gaining so much weight. Desperate, I cut my calories, increased my steps, ran more, and fasted during the morning hours. If you are interested in learning about the Keto Diet, Dr. Berg is a wealth of knowledge.
The Outcome
Although I did the Keto Diet for two years, it didn’t work. Although I dropped weight at first, I developed stomach issues that were most likely a result of the amount of vegetables and processed foods I’d eaten in the past. Also, menopause does strange things to digestion! While on the keto diet, I ate a little chicken but mostly stuck to shrimp, bacon, protein powders with junky chemicals, and edamame for protein. I did reduce calories to a ridiculously low level. That, in itself, eventually caused me to regain weight while on the Keto diet. When you undereat, you lose muscle, and your metabolism slows- even with more exercise! Although I did reduce my carbs, I wasn’t eating enough fat and calories to keep me satisfied and binge-free. My cravings were horrendous! The foods I tended to binge on were nuts and low-carb wraps, crackers, and sweet treats. It’s completely easy to binge on healthy foods. The keto diet is wonderful if you can tolerate vegetables and fiber and aren’t prone to binging. My keto advice would include eating animal meat, eating clean food (no low-carb pre-packaged foods), eating adequate fat, and eating adequate calories.
The Carnivore Diet
The Carnivore Diet is an elimination diet. If you can tolerate it, you can eat red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and full-fat dairy. However, the diet excludes all produce, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. This diet is a healing diet that helps you learn which foods you aren’t able to tolerate. It’s recommended to improve or even heal several autoimmune diseases, as well as diabetes and dementia. I’ve followed this way of eating for more than a year, and it’s my happy place! For the first time, I can enjoy food freedom without cravings! For a full detail of my carnivore benefits, read my last blog post, Elevating My Life With The Carnivore Diet. Dr. Ken Berry is a great resource for the Carnivore Diet. If you need a calorie guideline, TDDE is a great help and is recommended by many as a reliable source. For protein guidelines, it is recommended that you eat at least the ounces of protein that equal your lean body mass. I use my Abyon scale to get that information. You can purchase those here. It’s been a great investment, and the price has really gone down. $29 is a steal. I purchased mine for much more in 2020!
The Outcome
This, for me, has been the best way of eating by far. I’m able to consume and keep a steady weight with more calories. Does it look unhealthy compared to my previous “healthy” diet? I’m sure it does! However, it’s been proven we only need two nutrients. We need fat and protein to live. Carbs are not a necessity! I believe in the long-term health benefits of cutting carbs and sugar from our diets. I have my blood tested regularly, and my numbers are great. I’m grateful to live in a time where so many valuable studies are being done on the effects of food on our health. Slowly but surely, the old health mistruths are being discredited! On a side note, starting a carnivore is intimidating to some. I have tips to share in my next blog post. You will note that I eventually cut out my coffee creamer addiction. A little butter frothed in my black coffee with stevia is SO good! It keeps my energy and my mood elevated until it is time for me to eat my first meal. I’m still not a huge breakfast fan; I prefer to eat it as my lunch when I feel hungry. I walk for 30 minutes daily with 2-pound arm weights, much less than I have previously done. Too much exercise on a low-calorie diet tends to stress your body. I believe the carnivore diet is something that can be done long-term, as there are so many who have followed this diet for 20 years or more. For myself, the stomach pain, constant carb cravings, and mood swings just aren’t worth doing anything else. I can’t wait to explore and tweak this eating method for better results.
The best thing (for me)? I didn’t even cut out my wine! I was able to average 10 grams a day with an occasional glass or two. In my book, that’s a win! Having said that, I am working towards cutting out some wine to average 5 grams. While eggs and cheese each have a gram, most carnivores don’t count those as they are used differently in the body.
Do Calories Count?
That will always be the eternal question. I think it depends on the type of calories that are consumed. I will always believe that your body uses 200 calories of donuts differently than 200 calories of protein. Through my research, I’ve realized that it is so important to eat enough protein for muscles, enough fat for optimal energy and metabolism, and enough calories or fuel so that your body works efficiently. Once you learn to listen to your hunger and satiety signals, your body naturally guides you, making it far harder to overeat. Developing the ability to recognize my body’s cues is the greatest thing that the carnivore diet has given me that no other diet could. If you are a person like myself who has always been afraid of calories, I hope this encourages you to know that life doesn’t have to be about restricting calories.
If you have questions, always email me at kathidoggett@gmail.com or message me on any of my social media. I’m always more than happy to answer them.
Love to you all!
