u/xGGsushix

Question for the carnivore ladies

I’m 5’5” and 170–175 lbs, with a goal of getting closer to 150 by the end of the year and maintaining a healthier BMI.

I’m a little confused about how much I should be eating. I see women my height (or shorter) saying they eat 2,000+ calories a day, while others say they eat “a steak a day” or “a pound of meat a day.” A pound of 80/20 ground beef is only around 1,200 calories, so I’m wondering how are people reaching those numbers?

Whenever I ask for advice, I’m usually told “you’re not eating enough, eat more fat.” I’m not afraid of fat, but I also don’t want to force myself to eat when I’m genuinely not hungry.

For example, this is what I ate today. I made two carnivore burgers using eggs as the “waffle” buns. The macros shown in the picture are for both burgers, so please cut those numbers in half. I only ate one.

I ate about 4 hours ago, and I'm still full. The second burger actually started tasting gross because I was so full, so I stopped eating.

I’ll probably have a cheese stick before bed if I’m hungry, but otherwise I probably won’t eat again today because its already 7pm.

This is pretty normal for me on carnivore. I’m rarely hungry after my first meal, even when my husband is eating or there’s food around. Before carnivore, I was constantly hungry and always thinking about food. Now I genuinely feel satisfied.

I also feel great. no fatigue, hair issues, etc. The only time I naturally eat significantly more is around my period.

So I’m curious:

Do any other women around my height struggle to eat enough? Do you just eat when you’re hungry and let your portions naturally vary?

And for those who increased their food/fat intake because you weren’t eating enough—did it actually help with weight loss?

I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences. ❤️

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Hello! This is a bit long, but I'm looking for some advice or encouragement.

This is my second attempt at the carnivore diet. The first time, I stayed carnivore for 2 years and got down to 160 lbs, originally 265. I started with low carb and ended up carnivore out of pure laziness. I looked and felt amazing. My cup size even increased from a B to a DD, I finally had the slim-thick body I always wanted, and my cellulite is basically gone amongst other things. I was genuinely happy and confident.

A few days before Thanksgiving last year, my family found out we had until January 1st to move because the homeowner wanted the house back. With all the stress, my family asked me to help cook and bake for the holidays. Even though I had been carnivore for years, I figured one meal wouldn't hurt.

Unfortunately, one meal turned into a full relapse. Between the holiday food and the stress of moving, I became addicted to carbs and sweets again. I was sneaking chips, crackers, Oreos, and other snacks late at night while everyone was asleep. I always found myself at the pantry eating even when I told myself NO and I knew the scale was going up. During the move, we lived on fast food for about a week, and I felt awful.

By February, we were finally settled into our new place. It's just me and my partner now, so there isn't junk food constantly around anymore. But I felt bloated, depressed, my acne came back, and it was frustrating looking in the mirror knowing I had looked completely different just a couple months earlier.

I started with one simple goal: walk every day and stop eating everything except beef and low-carb vegetables. It took me from February until May just to my eating habits under control, get rid of the constant cravings, and eat 1-2 meat based meals. Every weekend there seemed to be take out, family dinners, or someone offering me food (like really pressing me) even when I said no or I wasn't hungry. so I honestly started staying home until everything calmed down.

By May 30th, I was fully carnivore again. Now I genuinely don't care what anyone else is eating. The smells, seeing desserts, people offering me food after I've already said no—it doesn't bother me anymore. I don't fold. All I want is my clear skin, burger patties and bacon, and I'm really proud of that.

Over the last month I've gone from 217 to 205 lbs and lost 3 inches from my waist and lower stomach. My face is noticeably slimmer, my clothes fit comfortably again, and when I turn sideways I no longer look pregnant. Those changes have kept me motivated.

The part that's confusing me is exercise.

For almost two months I forced myself to walk over 10,000 steps a day, tracked and weighed every bite of food, stayed between 1,400-1,600 calories (even though I was really hungry), had zero cheat days, and didn't eat sweets. I didn't lose a single pound. If anything, I gained weight.

Now I've been eating only meat and coffee for about a month, and my weight constantly bounces between 205 and 209 lbs. Whenever I do a workout, the scale jumps to around 212 and takes several days to come back down. I track everything because I like understanding what affects my body. so the constant UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN, is starting not to make any sense.

Lately I've also been getting headaches. Some days I need two cups of coffee and ibuprofen just to get through work, and I've had to use sick time to clock out, turn off all the lights, and sleep it off because the Ibuprofen didn't help at all lol.

Here's the weird part...

When I simply go to work, eat one or two meals, play video games, and sleep, I lose weight.

The lowest I've seen recently was 198lbs during a vacation where I was honestly being lazy. I'd wake up, shower, play Subnautica 2 with my friends, make eggs and cheese, game some more, and go to bed. I wasn't exercising at all.

I was excited, so the next day I went for a walk, went shopping, spent time at the pool, got some sunlight, and ate the exact same foods.

The following morning I weighed 207 and had a headache lol. (SCREAMING)

What is actually happening inside my body? I'd really like to understand why this keeps happening.

For reference:

• I'm 5'5".
• I average about 5,000-7,000 steps a day now.
• I do a light dance workout with light weight twice a week.
• Otherwise I work at a computer and spend most of my free time gaming or digital art.

My usual meal is three frozen Aldi burger patties with bacon, one slice of cheese, and sometimes an egg. I'm completely satisfied afterward and rarely think about food past that.

The week before my period I naturally eat two meals. My second meal is usually chicken wings with butter, bratwurst with butter, shrimp, pork chops, or some combination of those.

I shop at Aldi once a month, buy whatever meat is on sale, batch cook everything on large sheet pans, portion it into containers, and freeze the extras. It's simple and works well for me.

What's confusing is that during my first carnivore journey I ate like 7 eggs with cheese. and then cheese tacos (crispy fried cheese with ground beef and sour cream), and never exercised. I simply changed my diet, and the weight came off incredibly fast. First month I lost 15lbs and it did not come back. The only reason I haven't gone back to that is because Carnivore's are so against cheese and say all the time that it stalls weight loss.

This time I'm intentionally moving more, eating cleaner (less dairy) and the weight loss is much slower. I'm also confused why I didn't lose weight during the 2 months I carefully tracked calories, and was walking 10k steps - whether I was 100% carnivore or not.

My blood work is normal, and my doctor has never mentioned any thyroid or stomach issues even when I requested tests, they came back normal.

I actually feel great overall, I just want to understand so I can relax. I'm not constantly hungry anymore, my cravings are gone, my skin is improving again, and mentally I feel much better. I just feel heavy and want the weight to come off.

I'm also disappointed in myself for falling off the wagon in the first place.

If you're someone who can have "just one cheat meal," that's awesome. But I learned the hard way that I can't.

As soon as I added "normal food" and "moderation" back into my diet, my acne returned, I gained weight quickly, the cravings and food anxiety came back, and I no longer felt comfortable or confident in my body. The food wasn't even anything special—it was the same snacks and food my family has eaten for years. Looking back, none of it was worth it and I felt like I was fighting an addiction for months - stressful af. disgusted.

Anyways, Thank you for taking the time to read this.