It would seem most people are finding great success with the carnivore diet. Many attest to their precious 'keto' diet yielding them miraculous results sustaining itself with minimal effort. Too often does a 400 lb person boast of losing 60 pounds in six months with a variation of Intermittent Fasting or some sort of zero-carb diet. Then there are those like me who struggle no matter which miracle diet or method of fasting they apply.
I ask the question: Why don't these diets work for me? Seems no matter what I do, I cannot drop below 200 lbs on the scale. Even with strict adherence to a carnivore diet with intermittent fasting, nothing can be done to get the scale to move. I don't work hard for mediocre results. I work hard to look and feel good. This lead me to start digging deeper.
I absolutely refuse to refer to this way of eating as "Keto" as the mainstream has corrupted the idea of a ketogenic diet into an abomination far removed from the original ideals. Keto twats on reddit would have you drinking lite beer all day as long as it fits your macros. That's not a ketogenic diet. That's bullshit.
Long before 'keto' hit the mainstream, I was advised to cut carbohydrate intake down to less than 20 grams per day - not counting grams from fiber. Fiber was irrelevant because when you're broke in your 20s, you're spending your money on protein and not wasting any of it on vegetables or novelty foods. With this simple diet, I found great success. At 22 years old, I started at a chubby 210lbs and dropped down to 145lbs in eight months. I was lean with six pack abs. I believed I had figured it all out. After a few months, my appetite had diminished and I decided I would eat fewer calories to "Speed up the Ketosis". In retrospect, I believe my amazing results came from the conscious decision to restrict calories.
In my thirties, the simple rules of keeping carbohydrate intake below 20 grams per day are a joke yielding nothing but struggle. Imagine being diligent about your diet for years only to maintain dogshit results. What would it matter if I ate a strict diet to maintain being slightly overweight, or just ate like everyone else and stayed at roughly the same sloppy weight?
After reading Dr Jason Fung's book The Obesity Code, I was inspired to go back on a ketogenic way of eating. I'd focus on getting plenty of fat in my diet while avoiding carbs and incorporating intermittent fasting. And after several years, that wisdom proved to also yield dogshit results.
It is worth noting any form of no-carb diet wrecks my electrolytes without hesitation. Last time I started a zero carb diet, I experienced heart palpitations every time I ate. I later cured this trouble with magnesium.
By 2020, I decided to try Carnivore. I'd tried everything else. So for 18 months, I ate meat every day salted to taste. I added no other seasonings or spices and continued to drink coffee with heavy whipping cream, a staple in my diet since I first went on zero carb in my early 20s.
At 18 months in, I had settled at 185lbs. While I did lose a bit of weight and feel good, it seemed the scale was at a hard stop. I looked much better shirtless but still did not have the wonderful six pack abs despite never breaking my diet even once. I had done plenty of weightlifting over the decade and was looking forward to seeing my muscles. Still, the results were dogshit considering the amount of effort put in.
In 18 months, I lost 15 pounds on Carnivore. That's rough 0.82 lbs per month. That's bullshit.
What a joke. My friend advised me on a simple calorie counting method which involved focusing on meeting protein requirements first. I tried this for a while but anytime I could sustain a caloric deficit, I felt weak and awful. I never felt awful when I was on zero carb in my 20s and I had amazing results. Counting calories while eating normie food made me sick in both body and mind.
I even decided I would eat the foods I liked and would simply stay under 2000 calories. This involved a lot of salads. I often craved chocolate so I would eat a bar of chocolate so long as it did not exceed 2000 calories for the day. After several months, the scale did not move at all. I was still stuck around 200 lbs. And my friend who sold me on this diet informed me that he had fallen off of it and was now eating garbage everyday and had gained much weight. Imagine that: The dude who originally sold me on this awesome new diet couldn't even stick to it himself.
How can we give any merit to the long term success of caloric restriction if you feel like shit the entire time? And as soon as you go back to eating healthy food, red meat, then you balloon back up to your original size. More importantly, how can I get back to the fantastic results I had in my early 20s while on zero carb? I'm only a decade older. So what changed? I began to suspect there may be more biological factors to consider.
So if you eat a healthy diet of natural foods, you gain weight in spite of your caloric deficit. That's bullshit.
An old friend reached out to me swearing by "Intermittent Fasting". Like, dude, you're preaching to the choir. I've been using eating windows, doing One Meal a Day (OMAD), and doing multiple-day fasting for years with garbage results.
I fasted for three days a few months ago with no lasting change to my weight.
My old friend claims he has lost 50 pounds with intermittent fasting and will eating garbage like Pizzas and McDonalds. I should also tell you that my old friend was close to 400 pounds and is injecting himself with exogenius testosterone. My first question is: How the hell do you let yourself get to 400 lbs? Letting yourself hit 400 lbs and injecting yourself with testosterone are both indications of laziness to me.
Still, with his great results, it started me on the path to researching hormones.
When I was a kid, I used to walk everywhere. When I was a teenager in high school, I used to walk everywhere. While all the rich and middle-class kids had a car given to them from their parents, I was still walking everywhere. I felt like a punk. Even in my early 20s, I remember opting not to use my car when walking was an option. I didn't want to turn into a lazy fatass.
As we were entering winter in the Chicagoland area, I didn't want to walk outside. I always hated walking without a destination. Also, I have the nicest house in the neighborhood. (That says a LOT about the uninspiring neighborhood I live in). So I purchased a treadmill. For the first month, I used it quite often.
It is worth noting that I did start to feel much better after incorporating walking back into my life. But walking did not do a damn thing for my weight. Still, I'll take the win. As I felt better and had more energy, I became more inspired to take back control of my health. As it begins to warm up, I am planning to incorporate walking back into my life.
Over the last several years, there have been many instances where I'd be walking somewhere and would think to myself: "Man, I miss this. I WISH I could build a life for myself where walking would be the primary mode of transportation." Of course, my commute to work was nearly an hour of driving through endless suburbs and an hour for the return trip. Plus I work from home most days.
As I've always been a big fan of grocery shopping, often going to the store daily to purchase fresh meat, I've decided I would try to start walking to the store. I hate crossing busy roads but figure I can build a route to avoid the busy intersections if possible.
Knowing vitamin D is a hormone, it was the obvious first choice for topics of investigation into health. Who gets enough sunlight? Would seem sunlight is a luxury to wealthy yuppies who can afford to spend time outside. The line of work of sitting at a computer would quickly see to it that I never see sunlight again.
First of all: People are dumb. The media did a fantastic job scaring civilizations from the big bright ball in the sky that our ancestors have known since the dawn of time. Conventional wisdom would tell you the sun causes cancer. Good thing we don't drink from the mainstream - Just as keto would have you sustaining yourself off Miller Lite and processed fat bombs as long as it fits your macros, bro.
UV light does not cause the deadly form of skin cancer known as melanoma. Topical skin cancer caused from sunshine can be easily treated. The solution: Don't get burned. Statistically, people who experience sunburns live longer. Sources: Youtube it.
There are several accounts of people on the internet explaining that a carnivore diet has given them a resilience from getting sunburnt. I believe this is from the removal of highly-oxidized seed oils with the reintroduction of animal fats which makes for a much healthier skin capable of tolerating longer amounts of sunlight. I've tested this myself with great success. I've always had very fair skin and have been prone to burning within 45 minutes of summer sun exposure. While on my 18 month stretch of carnivore, I went long hours through direct and indirect sunlight experiencing a red warming sensation that would be healed by morning.
When I was a kid, my mother would walk us to the park almost every day. In this time, I never experienced any problems or sunburns. In fact, the first time I ever felt depressed in my life was when I was 12 years old and made the conscientious effort to stay indoors all summer and watch cartoons. Amazing how quickly my mind and thoughts were afflicted.
Aside from making an effort to get plenty of sunlight by walking, I will also be supplementing with a high dose of vitamin D3. Vitamin D3 supplementation requires vitamin K2 to function. I've read reports of supplementation of D3 alone having no effects until K2 was later added. In my research on D3 supplementation, I found much warning that it depletes magnesium. This then lead me to research magnesium.
Imagine supplementing Vitamin D3 for years without it ever having any effect on your Vitamin D levels because you were unaware that it required K2 to work properly. Then imagine not taking magnesium so you've been slowly making your self anxious, depressed, irritable, and ruining your sleep because you've been depleting a vital mineral. That's bullshit.
I've written about magnesium here. Through reading a book called The Magnesium Miracle written by a doctor who has treated and cured many people with supplementation, it became clear that magnesium would be my first supplement to take. Especially knowing that vitamin D3 depletes magnesium.
Within 24 hours of beginning supplementation of magnesium, my mind had become calmer than it had ever been in my adult life. I did not think I had issues with anxiety since I only experience negative thoughts if I eat the wrong foods the day before. Still, my thoughts were often squirrely. The squirrel brain has gone away. I also am able to sit still for extended amounts of time without fidgeting. It truly is a miracle.
Further reading into magnesium deficiency showed me that it plays a strong role in insulin signaling. Studies state those deficient in magnesium would have a higher blood glucose level after eating. Perhaps this is why the Carnivore diet does sweet fuckall for me for weightloss? If magnesium could have such a powerful calming effect on me the very next day, then I have no doubt in my mind that I'd been deficient of this vital mineral for a very long time.
You cannot legally claim that Magnesium can be used to treat or cure diseases otherwise it would be classified as a drug. That's the gayest bullshit I've ever heard. Eat shit, Medical Fags.
Another interesting side effect of starting magnesium supplementation: I've always been a big fan of the stimulating effects of caffeine. However, I've been enjoying the calmness of mind so much, I no longer want to feel the effects of caffeine. I've noticed I'm only drinking coffee now in an effort to avoid the debilitating effects of withdrawal.
Last night, I decided I would quit caffeine for good. I picked up a few books on Caffeine addiction and listened to them before bed.
I started this morning with a black decaf coffee from Starbucks. It gave me a great opportunity to sit and enjoy the morning sunrise. Decaf coffee tastes awful especially black. By the time I got home, I was already sporting a headache. I popped a 50mg caffeine pill I had purchased specifically for helping ween off caffeine. The withdrawal is tolerable but I'm very low energy today. Went for a long walk and am hoping to only have the 50mg pill tomorrow with no decaf coffee. I'm done with coffee. Fuck coffee.
Sometimes you find gold in the Youtube comments. Despite the gurus and their generic low-carb advice, I've stumbled across some interesting stuff that no one is talking about. Some people report the inability to lose weight despite their diets while on caffeine. Well shit, I've been drinking 200-600mg caffeine daily for the better part of a decade. We know caffeine not only depletes your body of minerals, but also dicks with cortisol hormone. We also know that our hormones are dependent on minerals.
I don't need any stress hormones. Fuck that.
Do I need some dipshit to explain that coffee is perfectly safe in moderation and that I shouldn't question the cult of coffee drinkers? Shove that mainstream shit up your ass. I'll gladly experiment with abstaining from caffeine. Because the generic common wisdom of others have proven to be bullshit before. Seems if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself. So why not experiment drinking from a different stream for once? Besides, we've often proved the fuckers wrong often times before.
Again, going back to the Youtube comments and not taking the generic advice from all the doctors and gurus, I found some very valuable information.
With all the youtube videos on experts explaining how to minimize or stop snoring, why is it only in the comments that anyone mentions dairy? Not a single 'expert' had a damn thing to say on the matter of dairy causing snoring. Nope. Leave it to some rando in the comment section. Anyway, I experimented with this suggestion. The first few days, I abstained from all dairy and my wife reported less snoring than usual. Then I bought a tub of Plain Greek Yogurt. That night, the snoring was catastrophic. Not even turning onto my sides would silence the snoring. Some weeks later, I experimented with Sour Cream. The results were the same: Awful snoring. So all the keto gurus touting their sour cream fat bombs can shove it up their asses.
I find this reported by many commenters on youtube: They report being unable to lose any weight while consuming dairy. So the 400 pound lard ass posting photos of his shopping cart full of steaks, sour cream, cream cheese, and heavy whipping cream, while on his 'keto' will soon meet his inevitable plateau when he's dead in the water at 280 pounds.
We know dairy contains high amounts of estrogen. We also know it causes inflammation. Carnivore gurus on youtube keep suggesting "Raw Dairy". Sure, let me just go to Aldi and buy that shit. Nope, it's not gonna happen. And I've tested Kiefer. Makes me snore like crazy. So you can't get around that inflammation.
Today, I quit dairy. The biggest challenge is that Heavy Whipping Cream tastes amazing in coffee. But I'm done with coffee. So I'm also done with dairy.
I used to say: "No one ever got fat eating cottage cheese." Trusting that it was a healthy nutritious food. But years of consumption have proven to me that you could very well not see any weight loss while consuming it. If you don't have any trouble with dairy, then that's nice. Get off my website.
I've heard stories in real life and online of people who began supplementing with zinc and saw weight loss within six months without making any changes to their diets.
Given the six month time frame, I have no doubt this is hormonal. Zinc supplementation is also linked to boosting testosterone. There are multiple videos available about this connection on Youtube. I've also began supplementing 6mg of boron, something that has been long depleted from the soils of which little research exists.
My friend likes to attribute getting fatter and lazier with getting older. But I like to ask questions. What has changed in the last 15 years besides our age? I'll bet it has much more to do with all the alcohol and coffee we've abused our bodies with over the years and the depletion of minerals which we know are vital for hormones. We know testosterone is at an all time low in men. So maybe start investigating there rather than try to rationalize your unwillingness to resolve things by blaming age.
Maybe it isn't getting older. Maybe it's sitting in a damn office chair all day and using the drive-thru to get fast food like a fat fuck. Fast food prices no longer reflect the value of fast food but that's a different essay altogether. Fuck you, McDonalds.
I don't know how normal everyday people make going to the gym look so easy. But we all know even normies find great success when they commit to hitting the gym and eating less. From what I gather, those who find the most success in the gym are the people with the least amount of responsibilities.
On several accounts, I remember starting a weight lifting routine and, within two weeks, thinking to myself: "Wow, I have SO much energy now. I forgot how good I feel when I work out." Once I'm over my caffeine addiction, I will begin lifting weights again. I just need to find a gym that isn't too crowded as it seems the entire town and their mothers go to Planet Fitness. If I cannot find a gym, I will purchase weights. Let's not forget pushups which are often freely available to us.
I've tried every diet under the sun. None of them made me feel as great as I did while I was on a diet of red meat and salt. I can no longer refer to this manner of eating as 'zero carb' as I won't be consuming any dairy or other bullshit.
Pork sucks and chicken doesn't hit the spot. Will stick to ruminant animals and since lamb isn't as common in this region, beef will be my primary food source. Aldi sells a fantastic prepackaged cut of Skirt Steak which is easy to cook.
It's also worth noting I tried being a vegetarian in high school. I lost a lot of weight. This was coupled with severe depression so I would not refer to it as a success. Fuck, did my abs look great though.
Since everyone and their moms are leaving comments online praising the magical powers of intermittent fasting, I'll be sticking to something that always worked well for me. Interestingly, while most coffee drinkers suggest caffeine to be an appetite suppressant, I've found NOT putting anything into my stomach to be far more effective at not triggering hunger. Fasting actually becomes easier when you're not drinking anything. Getting electrolytes is also hella useful.
I have a powerful appetite. That's something I've always had. This is why I believe OMAD is a viable solution for restricting the total number of calories consumed daily without any conscious effort to manage them. I've met many skinny men in my life who have had the appetite of a little bitch. These types were always very small-framed fellows with little muscle who were happy to graze on small meals. But I am a broad muscular body type where food is welcomed in much abundance - which makes me susceptible to weight gain and diabetes. It is a far trade-off as the rewords are greater on this end of the body type spectrum.
Fasting is an interesting topic because many people have never tried it - not believing it to be healthy. Then you have people online who seem to fast all the time. I sit somewhere in the middle. Each fast is a big mental undertaking.
I believe once I am off caffeine for a while and have built up my magnesium stores, I should have no trouble implementing fasting routines. I had a fiend who decided he would fast every Friday for a year. He found great success with his zero carb diet as he was a big lard ass when he had started weighing well over 300 lbs. He managed to get as low as nearly 200lbs before giving up and gaining much of the weight back in the years that would follow. Why do we always give up? We're stupid.
Here is a quick outline of my new plan for success with weight loss. If this fails me, then I don't know what the fuck to tell you.
One Meal a Day
Fasting one day per week
Diet of Red Meat and Salt Only
Supplementation of Magnesium Citrate
Supplementation of Vitamin D3 and K2
Supplementation of Boron
Quality Multivitamin Supplement
Intentional exposure to Sunlight
Walking to the Grocery Store most days
Abstaining from all Caffeine
Supplementing with Snake Juice Electrolyte Solution
Supplementing ground Kelp for Iodine
Supplementing quality Fish Oil
Avoiding all Dairy
Resistance Training in the form of bodybuilding
If this plan doesn't work then fuck me I guess. Or I gave up like a little bitch.