I’m getting into a bit of a rhythm. I no longer really feel like anything except steak (beef only), eggs and bacon. My standard meal now is exactly that – 1 middle bacon rasher, 2 eggs, steak. If I have a huge steak, I cut back an egg or some bacon. The rump is doing me a treat, and I’ve just found another bag of 7 rump steaks, so I’m pretty happy about that. I used two to make a ragu (pressure cooked) for my wife which I’m told was delicious, and once I’m done with them, I’ve got a couple of t-bones, and some mince.
That should take me close to the finish line. And I do mean the finish line! I’ve given the carnivore thing a solid crack, and I’m not unhappy with what it has brought me. That being said, I suspect the vast majority of the benefits I’ve gained from this savage dietary journey have been from:
1) Intermittent fasting
Someone laughed the other day and said, “Isn’t that just skipping breakfast?” Well, it kind of is, but it’s kind of not. The health benefits come from skipping snacks, drinks, calories of any kind for that period, so if it was just breakfast it would be a different story I imagine. But this diet has definitely helped me stick very rigorously to my fasting regime – a massive part of its success.
2) No snacking during the day
This one is huge. Maybe it’s because the protein fills you up and keeps you full longer. Maybe there’s just less snacks in the house that are 100% meat. Maybe it would be a VERY different story if I had chosen to add cheese (that Castello creamy blue wheel in the fridge is seriously taunting me). Maybe the way I’ve structured my day as a stay at home dad (the walking, sleeping, eating schedule) has helped cut out all the in-between meals. Either way. 99% of the time I only eat twice a day, and snacking has disappeared from my bad habit list!
3) Massive water increase / getting rid of other drinks
Especially the first few weeks, I was eating a LOT of salt, and was just constantly thirsty. And I had got into a good habit of chugging a litre of water every time I had a meal, plus 3-4 litres after dinner just cause. That’s a massive change from chugging tea and coffee with milk, wine, beer, Milo (a habit which had crept into my afternoon schedule), kombucha, etc throughout the day and evening. The impact of no alcohol, no sugars, no additional calories or chemicals has got to be a massive contributor.
So… maybe in terms of experiments this one was planned a little poorly. Obviously it’s tough to control variables when the human factor is so high, but I feel like I’ve been fairly strict and true to my plan. It’s just hard to measure what exactly is doing the heavy lifting when so many of your habits change at once.
Meal One:
– 1 porterhouse steak
– 1 middle bacon rasher
– 2 fried eggs
Meal Two:
– 1 400g rump steak
– 1 fried egg
Weight: 87.9
Body Fat: 23.1