What Is the Carnivore Zero Carb Diet? My Results!

What is the carnivore diet? What to eat on the carnivore diet? Check out these Zero carb diet results.

zero carb diet plan

What is the Carnivore Diet? Zero Carb Diet Results

Sometime in the last week of February 2015, I was directed to a blog called My Zero Carb Life written by Kelly Williams Hogan (there will be links at the bottom of this article). 

In 2015 I was still wrapping my head around Keto and the idea of losing weight with so much fat and then these people who just eat meat come along!  I think they were there the whole time, I just didn’t notice. And it blew my mind!

Ya, ya so dramatic, I know! That day I read that whole blog, and I mean every single article in it.

I immediately knew I had to at least try it and I starting eating what they called Zero Carb but everyone else in the Keto world calls Carnivore.

I lost 12 lbs the first week which was pretty amazing for someone who complained of a slow metabolism!

This happened without tracking anything in My Fitness Pal, not even once. I didn’t count carbs or felt like I had to eat anything at the end of the day to get my fat up or tweak one single effin thing about what I put into my mouth!

It was both the easiest thing I had ever done in my life as well as the hardest!

So What Did I Eat on the Zero Carb Carnivore Diet Plan Anyways?

The first thing that I want to stress is that the Zero Carbers use the term zero carb, but the goal is not about  ‘eating zero carbs’. They don’t count carbs at all

The goal of zero carb is to eat foods only from the animal kingdom. We are talking about meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and if you can tolerate it, some dairy.

And none of this lean meat stuff either. Untrimmed meat with fat. Eat the skin on the chicken! Leave the expensive lean ground beef on the shelf and get the fattier stuff.

No sweeteners, no chemicals, no processed food, no fruits, vegetables, grains, nothing but basically meat and water.

How can anyone get excited about meat and water?

I don’t know, but I did! I can’t explain it, I know I am still sane, at least I think so. I think sometimes these things are all about timing. 

Maybe if I had read that blog a few months ago, a year ago or whatever, I would have just said wow, this Kelly Hogan, what a crackpot. But I didn’t. 

She talked about giving up sweeteners (something I have struggled on and off with for years) and so I knew I had to do that and I didn’t have a single drop or granule of sweetener the entire 30 days.

And even though I am not strict carnivore any more, to this day I drink my coffee black. Which is a small miracle!

Carnivores don’t measure or weigh anything. They eat until they are full and then they stop. When they are thirsty they drink water. 

That’s it, that is the zero carb diet plan. It’s as simple as that.

So how did I do on that 30 days?

30 Days of Zero Carb Carnivore Eating

So that first week after reading Kelly’s blog, I gave up sweeteners but I still ate a salad with my meat. Then one day I ate a pickle because we all know that pickles have no carbs right. Then I ate another one, then another and then I was off to binge land. 

When it was over I knew. I knew I was one of those people who are hyper sensitive to carbs of any kind, even the  good ones.

So for the rest of the 30 days, I stuck to just meat, no salads. I also ate eggs, but stayed clear of dairy. I’m not gonna lie, it was tough!

Although I was never able to give up coffee,  I never thought I could actually drink it without sweetener. I typically ate meat, as much as I wanted, as well as eggs and some cheese.

Some people seriously eat just meat. No cheese and maybe even no eggs. Meat and water.

I have since found out that there are some different sub camps in the Carnivore world.

What are the different types of Carnivore Diet?

If you are Carnivore Curious, then this list might make you feel better and offer a path to get started if the idea of meat and water only scares you.

  • Strict Carnivore.  Also called Zero Carb and Lion Diet.  This is the meat (focus on beef) and water plan.
  • Standard Carnivore.  Includes meat of all kinds, dairy, eggs, spices and coffee (if wanted).
  • Keto Carnivore.  Also called Relaxed Carnivore or Carnivore-ish.  It is like Standard Carnivore with some plant items, mostly treated like condiments.  For example sauces made with avocado oil or maybe some bbq sauce with your ribs, jalapenos on top of your ground beef, that sort of thing.

How did Carnivore help me moving forward?

I want to be transparent about this. I have periods of time where I am Relaxed Carnivore but I am mostly Keto. I like to do Carnivore challenges on a regular basis because I feel it keeps me on track better and helps with inflammation.

Read here how following a Carnivore diet  benefits women.

I have learned so much from trying this way of eating and have received great benefit from it.

  • I am no longer dependent on sweeteners to get me through the day. This was something I fought for years!
  • I no longer use heavy cream in my coffee and I now generally consume a minimum amount of dairy.
  • Meat is the mainstay of my diet and all other carbs and veggies are seconday.
  • I think twice and three times before eating any processed foods, keto or otherwise.

I would highly encourage anyone who is curious just to give it a try, even if just for a 30 Day Challenge and see what happens! You might not be ready to be 100% Carnivore but that doesn’t mean you won’t benefit. It might be just the thing you need!

Where can you learn more about the Carnivore/Zero Carb way of life?

Since you haven’t run screaming from this page here are some links for you to do further research:

Kelly’s blog My Zero Carb life

I’ve put together some Carnivore Diet Resources here that include authors, youtube channels and tools that I have found to be helpful.

This book is a great resource for anyone who wants to learn more about the Carnivore diet.  

The Carnivore Diet

 

Recipes You can use for Zero Carb or Carnivore Eating

Recipes and Meal Ideas for Carnivore and Zero Carb

These recipes can all be used if you are considering trying zero carb or carnivore. Keep in mind that Carnivores focus on food from the animal kingdom. Some of these are relaxed Carnivore plan so feel free to omit any non animal ingredients.

What is the carnivore diet? What to eat on the carnivore diet? Check out these Zero carb diet results.

 

What is the carnivore diet? What to eat on the carnivore diet? Check out these Zero carb diet results.

What is the Carnivore Diet? Zero Carb Diet Results

24 thoughts on “What Is the Carnivore Zero Carb Diet? My Results!”

  1. hi anita,
    at first the thought of all carnivore scared me. i’ve been listening to kelly hogan and dr. berry.
    but all meat? yikes.
    then i came across your you tube videos.
    all i can say is thank you, thank you you, thank you. you are a Godsend. i am grateful that i found you. Now i can see doing this diet.
    i’ve already been making some of your recipes. i love them. also, thank you for including dairy substitues for your recipes. i can’t handle dairy very well. i appreciate it.
    thank you and May God bless you richly for helping us.

    1. Thank you so much for your comments! While I like the simplicity of just making a steak (which I do quite often) I also like to get creative and have different textures so I’m happy that some people agree!

  2. Hi Anita,
    I want you to know I have printed and made many of your recipes and most will be staples in mine and my daughter new lifestyle. We absolutely love the pasta noodles, and the egg white powder bread. I even made your lasagna after seeing your video.
    Not having pasta or a side dish was a real issue for us, but not anymore and that is thanks to you!
    I also saw your crepe video and then watched a few others and tried the recipe of 4 ounces of softened cream cheese blended with 4 eggs and they were a hit. We sometimes add a bit of Monk Fruit sweetener and/or cinnamon for the French toast taste.
    Thank you again for all you do. You have truly helped us stay the course.
    Yours in mostly carnivore, Karen

    1. Oh this comment makes me so happy! Thanks so much for taking the time to tell me here! (mostly Carnivore here as well!)

  3. Originally went on NC because of a candida overload in my system. Had no idea I was going to lose weight. Lost 25lbs and stopped being sick all the time. Decided I could go back on carbs. Gained back the weight and got sick again! Why are we so hard-headed? Anyway, back on my diet… Feeling great & losing weight!

    1. All of the Zero carbers that I know have left the sweets behind. And after doing it for 30 days I sure lost my taste for those sweeteners! I now drink my coffee black and haven’t had sweetener in I don’t know how long ! And even though I am not a zero carber, just a very low carber, I have gone on to lose another 35 pounds since writing this article about my ZC experiment. I attribute that to giving up sweeteners and dairy! Best of luck to you!

  4. Frances McPherson

    The last post here was about three months ago..

    Are you still ZCing?

    How much weight have you lost all up, if that’s not a rude question..

    I am definitely a ZC eater, as nearly all carbs and dairy cause me grief, but I don’t lose weight as I think I should. Only real difference is, I don’t eat much fat. Could that be it?

    I am 55yo female, but I do running and gym 6 days a week.

    1. I don’t post very often, it’s true! Working full time and keeping teenagers under control takes up a lot of hours. I am not ZC, after my 30 day zero carb trial I crashed and burned and didn’t want to be ZC anymore. But the funny thing is that I have been thinking about it a lot lately so who knows, I might try again. For ZC weight loss questions it’s best to join one of the FB groups because I just don’t have enough experience with it.

  5. Wow your before and after photos are mindblowing, amazingly well done. Just embarking on this jouney myself, couple of months ago gave up sweetners after a serious two-decade lasting addiction and yesterday declared war on bread with the intention to start ZC. Seemed easier than I feared because I love (LOVE) bread but in the night I was sick as a dog, gagged out the entire content of my stomach (sorry too much info) and wondered if this could be a side effect of a life long carb based diet – how did your body react in the transition period?

    1. Going from a carb based diet to zero carb is a pretty rough transition, although your reaction seems pretty harsh! Are you sure you don’t have the flu? If not, many people do experience keto flu and you can feel pretty sick. I hope you feel better soon!

  6. So, few months on, how much weight have you actually lost? have you stayed on this religiously instead of LW or Egg Fast? have you alternated? what stage are you at now? Aren’t you sick of the sight of meat yet?

    1. I’m thinking you missed the part near the bottom of the post where I made an update to the post? Here it is again:
      Update (Summer 2015): I’m not 100% Zero Carb
      I want to be transparent about this. I am mostly zero carb but not 100%. But I learned so much from trying this way of eating and have received great benefit from it.
      I am no longer dependant on sweeteners to get me through the day. This was something I fought for years!
      I no longer use HWC and most days have no cheese unless I’m doing the Egg Fast
      Meat is the mainstay of my diet and all other carbs and veggies are more like a condiment
      I may come back to this at some point, I have no idea. I’m just not ready to be 100% zero carb but I would not discourage anyone else from trying it. It might be just the thing you need!

      So I guess I am just basically VLC (Very Low Carb) which only gives me a loss of 1-2 pounds a month. I have a ton of issues going on and it’s the best I can accomplish at this point in time. I hope that answers your question!

  7. I went from ketogenic to very low carb with slightly higher protein to zero carb. The lack of cravings or hunger is something you have to experience. I absolutely love the simplicity. I never think about food any more. I feel amazing. I look forward to seeing you post more – not that there are recipes needed :)

    1. I really appreciate all the people who come to visit even though I don’t post very often! I work a 40 hour week and keeping up with this can be challenging. I have tons of ideas though, so I’m sure I will add them at some point!

  8. Just curious how your second month has gone. Like you I have also read all of Kelly’s blog and testimonies of Eat Meat Drink Water.

    1. Thanks for asking! I wish I had more time to write about this! Things are going well most days. When I just do meat only, wow zero carb = zero cravings! I’m still kind of experimenting because simple things seem to confound me. :-) Down a couple more pounds.

  9. Wonderful post. I followed from Keto to ZCas well. The light also went on for me after reading/studying/absorbing Kelly Hogan’s blog. I love the simplicity, so sick of chopping veggies, lol. Best of luck on our journeys;)

    1. Yes, thank you so much for your comment and support! I am so loving how simple this is and am pleasantly surprised how great I am feeling!

    1. No, it’s actually a normal thing. It just means that my liver naturally creates glucose from protein. Everyone’s liver does it, and it’s why we don’t need dietary glucose (carbohydrate) to supply those few places in the body that require sugar instead of fat for fuel.

      1. Thanks–I read elsewhere that our bodies only make the amount of sugar we need to stay alive & upright–everything else gets excreted. Far less “sugar” comes from gluconeogenesis than from vegs or the standard LC or VLC diet.

        No more fears–in I go!

    2. Gluconeogenesis is why you don’t die in your sleep from low blood sugar. People are trying to turn it into the new ketosis or something (remember how no one could tell the difference between ketosis and ketoacidosis?), and that’s simply not warranted. One of the arguments I’ve heard is that it causes “inflammation”–let me tell you something, you want inflammation? Eat more than a narrow range of foods from the plant kingdom. You’ll get your inflammation.

      I’m not zero carb but I can see the merits. Because so many people adulterate meat, especially at restaurants, I’m trying to see if I can get by still eating some plant matter. I feel like I don’t really have a choice unless I want to give up any hope of a social life. Someone who has figured out how to make ZC work, though? More power to them.

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