Carnivore diet rapidly accelerated cutting this year. Now the question is how do I maintain this weight or even gain a few pounds? Been eating what feels like a ton of fat (butter, tallow, etc) which has shed so much weight but don’t want to continue losing moving forward. Any tips?
Discussion
Have you measured calories while on carnivore? Currently in a deficit?
I haven’t actually, just been eating when hungry and to satiety. Haven’t been skipping meal or limiting portions. So in a sense, I don’t want to feel like I’m forcing myself to eat or stuffing myself, instead I’d like to know if there’s foods I should incorporate that lend themselves to maintaining or gaining weight if that makes sense. I fear the answer will be carbs lol
Haha quick answer, yes. Simple easy digesting carbs, but I would start tracking your daily calories with how you’re eating now and if you’re still losing weight then up them. Rule of thumb is +500 calories a day. Continue adding more calories until you stop losing weight. Then you’ll have a good baseline of what your body needs to maintain at that weight. If it comes to having to add carbs back I would keep them timed around your workouts.
Carbs shouldn't be at zero, I found. The problem is when we 'cheat' for carbs, we tend to cheat with the worst carbs. We eat some potatoes, fried in seed oils, etc. Very little potatoes are a giant amount of carbs. I can't eat potatoes at all or it's too many carbs.
I found that adding measured carbs stopped my weight loss on Keto/Carnivore.
I added Basmati long grain white rice in a very small amount. Very easy on my digestion, too. Just to keep me out of fat burning during the busiest part of the day.
Good point! As I’ve learned more I’ve found myself agreeing with the idea that the end goal shouldn’t be full carnivore, instead it’s a good way to heal and then slowly reintroduce. Nice to hear you’ve been able to reintroduce a bit of rice even, I’ll look to do the same I think.
You should be good from eating to satiety and working out. If not, maybe adjust the protein/fat mix to be more in favor of protein.
Interesting, why protein? I thought it would’ve been adjusting more towards fat.
Excess protein is gonna basically become blood sugar the same as carbs, but it's not going to come from the plants and industrial processing that is typical of carbs.
Never knew that! Great info. The only concern with that is wouldn’t that risk constipation?
yes, indeed. The right balance of fiber and water is tough to find.
Fiber is not really needed unless you plan on eating more fiber.
I think digestion is a very personal thing. If you're constipated from the carnivore diet, then you gotta do something slightly different. If not, great. There's very few universal truth's when it comes to digestion and food sensitivity.
here's a quick essay on it from chatGPT. Google the Krebs cycle
The Krebs cycle, also known as the citric acid cycle, is a series of chemical reactions that occur in the mitochondria of cells to generate energy in the form of ATP. The cycle involves the breakdown of macronutrients, including carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, to produce ATP.
Carbohydrates are the primary macronutrient used to fuel the Krebs cycle. Glucose is broken down through glycolysis, a process that occurs outside of the mitochondria, to form pyruvate, which is then converted into acetyl-CoA. Acetyl-CoA then enters the Krebs cycle, where it is broken down further to generate ATP.
Fats can also be used as a fuel source for the Krebs cycle. Fatty acids are first broken down through a process called beta-oxidation to produce acetyl-CoA, which can then enter the Krebs cycle. Fats are a highly efficient energy source, as they yield a large amount of ATP per molecule.
Proteins can also be used as a fuel source for the Krebs cycle, but they must first be broken down into amino acids. Amino acids can then be converted into intermediates of the Krebs cycle, such as pyruvate or acetyl-CoA, which can be used to generate ATP.
In summary, the Krebs cycle is a key metabolic pathway that breaks down macronutrients, including carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, to produce energy in the form of ATP. The cycle is highly complex and involves a series of chemical reactions that occur in the mitochondria of cells.
I mean .... don't take my word as fact, lol. I'm taking a guess here and I thought I recalled Shawn Baker saying something similar. Let me see if I can find the source. My thought is you need more protein to build muscle, so if you want to gain muscle weight, you should increase that.
Thanks for sharing the link! I’ll take a look. Zapped ⚡️