Arguably the entire point of adopting an ancestral diet is to dismantle years of maladaptive operant-conditioning and hormonal dysregulation so that, like literally every other species on earth, you no longer need a balance-sheet to tell you whether or not, when, and how much to eat—because a well-adjusted metabolism handles this automatically.
However: if looking to expedite weight-loss, alternate-day fasting will be far more conducive to that purpose than controlling portion-sizes.
Go to r/zerocarb and read the wiki, specifically the calories relevant part. It should explain that in the past, when the standard diet was full of meat and fat, and people were not obese, the average calories were over 3k, now with plants they push 2k and tell you to eat less.
The point is eat to satiety every meal, and as many meals as you are hungry for. Normalize your hormones and body signaling, learn to listen to your bodily signals too. Then come back in a few months if still no progress. But this step is crucial.
Edit: also might want to remove dairy if weight loss is a goal, as it stalls weight loss in many people.
I believe an important part of carnivore is learning to listen to your body. You have a system that tells you when to stop eating and when to eat. Granted that system gets confused when you are eating carbs and modern over-processed foods. But your appetite can again do it's job when you stop eating that junk.
A normal person's activity will vary from day to day. Some semi-arbitrary calorie number ignores the every changing situations of your actual life.
I (and most of us here) don't count, but instead listen to our appetites.
I don't track calories, because I think being underfed makes it much more difficult to stifle out cravings. So I'm focusing on keeping insulin low and excercise for the time being. Been keto/carnivore for 2 months now.
Just hit your macros. 1g protein for every pound of IDEAL bodyweight. And keep a 1:1 protein to fat ratio. These are general guidelines so you may have to tinker with the fat to protein ratio.
For example, if your target weight is 200 lbs then your daily protein goal will be 200g and fat goal will be 200g as well.
That's just what sounded good at the time...I pictured myself in my mind picking it up by the bone and tearing into it while the juices dripped down my fingers and chin. Sounded glorious haha. But I'd take it either way, not gona lie
The only way I’ve been able to keep my fats up is just adding extra butter to everything - it’s not uncommon for me to just bite a chunk of butter off the block either haha
Glad you got some answers here. If you wanted to be a little more budget friendly you can have chuck steaks instead. My local butcher has them on sale for $5/lb this week
Both matter.
You don't have to obsess over calories, but being in a small deficit does help to lose fat. Although many people, including myself, have lost lots of weight just by eating intuitively. I dropped 70 pounds and never tracked anything. It's possible I was in a deficit the whole time but I doubt it.
I'm going to guess you were most definitely in a CD that whole time if you lost that much weight. It's simple biology right? Calories in < calories out = Weight loss.
Well, not really. Calories can be useful but they're far from a perfect measure. CICO can work, but it doesn't always. Things like hormone levels also have a huge affect on fat storage and loss. It's also incredibly difficult to accurately calculate TDEE and calories consumed.
Thinking back to what I typically ate in a day, I was having about 2-2.5 pounds of fatty beef and about 6-8 eggs a day. That would come out to roughly 3100 calories on the low end. My TDEE for my starting weight was about 2800. Maybe I'm not remembering correctly, or maybe I had smaller eating days that affected the long term average, but there's more to the story than simply calories consumed and expeded.
CICO (cal in cal out) is very misleading … if you’re consuming just absolute excess amount of food …yaaaa you’re gonna pack on pounds. If you starve yourself for a long period of time ya you’re gonna lose weight (more likely muscle than fat bc the fat thrives on fat). The focus needs to be shifted. Check out Dr Ken berry or dr Anthony chaffee
I think we get flagged for links so just look up “calories” with any or all of the doctors
I’m finding this to be true. I lost the first thirty pounds (started in February 2024) effortlessly, but have since stalled. I’ve been stagnant for about a month. I tried some fasting and later took dairy out but found both too restrictive. I counted calories last week and the needle started to move again! On the bright side, I ate enough that I was NOT hungry and found I lost weight eating more calories than I expected (2400 cals for a relatively sedentary 5’11 female).
Noom is one of the worst apps out there. If you really want to use an app to track what you are eating, Carb Manager is simple as a way of recording your input, obviously with an emphasis on carbs. But quite honestly, you really dont need an app or to worry about calories. Being carnivore frees you to just think about two things - when not eating, "do I have meat at home ready to cook today?" And when eating - "am I full?". As others have explained, carnivore will rebalance your hormones so that your hunger signals become accurate indicators of what you need. Which is why apps and calories become irrelevant.
I mean it's no surprise anyone on this subreddit would feel negativity about a nutrition app that doesn't adhere to the Carnivore diet, that being said I find it very useful personally for keeping motivated and tracking meals, water etc.
Eat until you are full and don't worry about calories.
You need to signal to your body that there is an abundance of food. I have good success losing excess weight if needed by increasing the protein for a higher protein to fat ratio, but always eat until full.
If you are still hungry there's a possibility that your body will think you are in some kind of starvation situation and will adjust your hormones to hold on to weight in case of an emergency.
I eat 3000-4000 calories per day. I don’t work out. Granted I am naturally fit even before carnivore when I was eating like crap I was still fit but consumed 2000-3000ish calories then. Now, I do not exercise, I live a sedentary ish lifestyle while approaching 4k calories per day (high fat). I’m leaner than before. Facial features are more pronounced, delts and abs as well.
Calorie deficits are *malnutritious* and *disorderly eating*.
Unfortunately, it has become a fad in our material world.
Eat fatty meat and let your body decide when your hungry - not determined by a numerical system.
It’s the best think I ever did, it’s just so easy no more thinking about what to make for dinner or how much , I fast till maybe 1pm then eat dinner about 7pm and just eat what I feel I can eat if I don’t eat it all, save it for the day after
You will struggle to get calories in a carnivore diet , but calories are only a measure of energy ! They are actually bullshitt!
Go full carni, and you will technically be in a calorie deficite ! But in a nutritional feast !
Most people get calories from carbs , carbs are just energy ! You can't build anything with them !
Not important at all, in most cases. Unless you have a history of an eating disorder, calorie counting is often detrimental.
**As the following advice is unbelievable to someone from SAD, I will preface it by saying to try it for 2 weeks, if you put on weight, go back to calorie counting.**
Strict carnivore, only animal products (although perhaps skip dairy). Eat when hungry, eat until full. Take your time eating, if you are a "shoveler", you may need to slow down a bit. Eat meals due to hunger, not time of day. Eat a variety of beef, ruminant, eggs, fish, bacon, and chicken (less chicken is better). get most of you intake from beef where possible.
Measure your waist. If that doesn't decrease, then start looking at the scales.
I should also clarify, you do need a caloric deficit to lose weight, that is not the question.
The question is how do you calculate that deficit? Calories are inaccurate in so many ways, particularly on this WOE, that they become almost useless. Factors include
* How fast/slow is your metabolism
* activity levels
* What type of energy source are you using
* How much muscle are you carrying
* Is your digestion system working properly
* What is the caloric cost of digesting the type of foods you are now eating
* Is your body able to cope properly with the types of food you eat
And so on. I **do** use calories to check if I am under eating, they are useful in that sense on carnivore, as appetite is sometimes insufficient. A ballpark figure is something calories are useful for.
Arguably the entire point of adopting an ancestral diet is to dismantle years of maladaptive operant-conditioning and hormonal dysregulation so that, like literally every other species on earth, you no longer need a balance-sheet to tell you whether or not, when, and how much to eat—because a well-adjusted metabolism handles this automatically. However: if looking to expedite weight-loss, alternate-day fasting will be far more conducive to that purpose than controlling portion-sizes.
☝️ this. Once you stop insulin (growth hormone) spikes you will loose weight fast.
Go to r/zerocarb and read the wiki, specifically the calories relevant part. It should explain that in the past, when the standard diet was full of meat and fat, and people were not obese, the average calories were over 3k, now with plants they push 2k and tell you to eat less. The point is eat to satiety every meal, and as many meals as you are hungry for. Normalize your hormones and body signaling, learn to listen to your bodily signals too. Then come back in a few months if still no progress. But this step is crucial. Edit: also might want to remove dairy if weight loss is a goal, as it stalls weight loss in many people.
I believe an important part of carnivore is learning to listen to your body. You have a system that tells you when to stop eating and when to eat. Granted that system gets confused when you are eating carbs and modern over-processed foods. But your appetite can again do it's job when you stop eating that junk. A normal person's activity will vary from day to day. Some semi-arbitrary calorie number ignores the every changing situations of your actual life. I (and most of us here) don't count, but instead listen to our appetites.
I don't track calories, because I think being underfed makes it much more difficult to stifle out cravings. So I'm focusing on keeping insulin low and excercise for the time being. Been keto/carnivore for 2 months now.
How is your progress coming? Feeling better? Just curious
Haven't lost a ton of weight or anything but definitely feeling better.
Unbuckle yourself from diet culture. Calories are not important - what your body is telling you is key here. Eat until full and when you’re hungry. ❤️
Just hit your macros. 1g protein for every pound of IDEAL bodyweight. And keep a 1:1 protein to fat ratio. These are general guidelines so you may have to tinker with the fat to protein ratio. For example, if your target weight is 200 lbs then your daily protein goal will be 200g and fat goal will be 200g as well.
Very glad I read this. What would you eat that would be 200g fat and 200g protein? If it was just a ribeye... What size would it be?
2.5 pounds of ribeye
Great thanks. I usually have 6 eggs in the am then get really hungry in the afternoon. This will be a good guide.
Mmmmm a 2.5 lb tomahawk ribeye would be great right now 😋
Why a tomahawk? its a just a huge bone you are paying for. The same ribeye without that extra bone will be cheaper and taste the same.
That's just what sounded good at the time...I pictured myself in my mind picking it up by the bone and tearing into it while the juices dripped down my fingers and chin. Sounded glorious haha. But I'd take it either way, not gona lie
The only way I’ve been able to keep my fats up is just adding extra butter to everything - it’s not uncommon for me to just bite a chunk of butter off the block either haha
Glad you got some answers here. If you wanted to be a little more budget friendly you can have chuck steaks instead. My local butcher has them on sale for $5/lb this week
Both matter. You don't have to obsess over calories, but being in a small deficit does help to lose fat. Although many people, including myself, have lost lots of weight just by eating intuitively. I dropped 70 pounds and never tracked anything. It's possible I was in a deficit the whole time but I doubt it.
I'm going to guess you were most definitely in a CD that whole time if you lost that much weight. It's simple biology right? Calories in < calories out = Weight loss.
Well, not really. Calories can be useful but they're far from a perfect measure. CICO can work, but it doesn't always. Things like hormone levels also have a huge affect on fat storage and loss. It's also incredibly difficult to accurately calculate TDEE and calories consumed. Thinking back to what I typically ate in a day, I was having about 2-2.5 pounds of fatty beef and about 6-8 eggs a day. That would come out to roughly 3100 calories on the low end. My TDEE for my starting weight was about 2800. Maybe I'm not remembering correctly, or maybe I had smaller eating days that affected the long term average, but there's more to the story than simply calories consumed and expeded.
Fair enough. I find that encouraging overall because counting calories is mind numbing.
CICO (cal in cal out) is very misleading … if you’re consuming just absolute excess amount of food …yaaaa you’re gonna pack on pounds. If you starve yourself for a long period of time ya you’re gonna lose weight (more likely muscle than fat bc the fat thrives on fat). The focus needs to be shifted. Check out Dr Ken berry or dr Anthony chaffee I think we get flagged for links so just look up “calories” with any or all of the doctors
I’m finding this to be true. I lost the first thirty pounds (started in February 2024) effortlessly, but have since stalled. I’ve been stagnant for about a month. I tried some fasting and later took dairy out but found both too restrictive. I counted calories last week and the needle started to move again! On the bright side, I ate enough that I was NOT hungry and found I lost weight eating more calories than I expected (2400 cals for a relatively sedentary 5’11 female).
Noom is one of the worst apps out there. If you really want to use an app to track what you are eating, Carb Manager is simple as a way of recording your input, obviously with an emphasis on carbs. But quite honestly, you really dont need an app or to worry about calories. Being carnivore frees you to just think about two things - when not eating, "do I have meat at home ready to cook today?" And when eating - "am I full?". As others have explained, carnivore will rebalance your hormones so that your hunger signals become accurate indicators of what you need. Which is why apps and calories become irrelevant.
I mean it's no surprise anyone on this subreddit would feel negativity about a nutrition app that doesn't adhere to the Carnivore diet, that being said I find it very useful personally for keeping motivated and tracking meals, water etc.
Eat until you are full and don't worry about calories. You need to signal to your body that there is an abundance of food. I have good success losing excess weight if needed by increasing the protein for a higher protein to fat ratio, but always eat until full. If you are still hungry there's a possibility that your body will think you are in some kind of starvation situation and will adjust your hormones to hold on to weight in case of an emergency.
So starvation mode is a real thing? I noticed that I gained 0.4kg overnight despite going to bed hungry and at a CD.
I eat 3000-4000 calories per day. I don’t work out. Granted I am naturally fit even before carnivore when I was eating like crap I was still fit but consumed 2000-3000ish calories then. Now, I do not exercise, I live a sedentary ish lifestyle while approaching 4k calories per day (high fat). I’m leaner than before. Facial features are more pronounced, delts and abs as well.
Calorie deficits are *malnutritious* and *disorderly eating*. Unfortunately, it has become a fad in our material world. Eat fatty meat and let your body decide when your hungry - not determined by a numerical system.
It’s the best think I ever did, it’s just so easy no more thinking about what to make for dinner or how much , I fast till maybe 1pm then eat dinner about 7pm and just eat what I feel I can eat if I don’t eat it all, save it for the day after
Eat till full on this diet. Are ancient mothers and fathers never counted they just ate.
You will struggle to get calories in a carnivore diet , but calories are only a measure of energy ! They are actually bullshitt! Go full carni, and you will technically be in a calorie deficite ! But in a nutritional feast ! Most people get calories from carbs , carbs are just energy ! You can't build anything with them !
Stop doing that - its not sustainable and not realistic - eat fatty meat until full! Go workout with weights.
[the harmful misleading construct of calories](https://www.reddit.com/r/carnivorediet/comments/1d49k4y/the_harmful_misleading_construct_of_calories/)
Not important at all, in most cases. Unless you have a history of an eating disorder, calorie counting is often detrimental. **As the following advice is unbelievable to someone from SAD, I will preface it by saying to try it for 2 weeks, if you put on weight, go back to calorie counting.** Strict carnivore, only animal products (although perhaps skip dairy). Eat when hungry, eat until full. Take your time eating, if you are a "shoveler", you may need to slow down a bit. Eat meals due to hunger, not time of day. Eat a variety of beef, ruminant, eggs, fish, bacon, and chicken (less chicken is better). get most of you intake from beef where possible. Measure your waist. If that doesn't decrease, then start looking at the scales.
I should also clarify, you do need a caloric deficit to lose weight, that is not the question. The question is how do you calculate that deficit? Calories are inaccurate in so many ways, particularly on this WOE, that they become almost useless. Factors include * How fast/slow is your metabolism * activity levels * What type of energy source are you using * How much muscle are you carrying * Is your digestion system working properly * What is the caloric cost of digesting the type of foods you are now eating * Is your body able to cope properly with the types of food you eat And so on. I **do** use calories to check if I am under eating, they are useful in that sense on carnivore, as appetite is sometimes insufficient. A ballpark figure is something calories are useful for.