- Outdoor columnist Ben Smith says as a hunter and fisherman, meat is essentially his life. But when he made it his diet plan, it wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be.
For some people, New Year’s Day often marks the beginning of a weight loss journey. A quick Google search shows that eating healthier and losing weight are two of the top New Year’s resolutions each year in America. I don’t make New Year’s resolutions because they just don’t make sense to me. Why wait until the new year to begin doing something you should have been doing all along? The term “New Year, New Me” drives me up the walls.
Some people choose the summer to shed some pounds. Makes sense. It’s hot and you’re going to sweat more. There aren’t any Thanksgiving and Christmas meals to work around, and most people are more apt to spend time outside during the summer months than they are during the winter.
I, on the other hand, like summer foods way more than I like Thanksgiving and Christmas foods. I love barbeque, fried anything, watermelon, and I can sit and eat an entire Key Lime pie in one sitting by my dang self. However, looking at myself in the mirror got to the point of destroying my ego so something had to change.
I began researching several diets trying to decide which one would fit me best. The problem I had during my research was almost each diet left the opportunity to cheat wide open for me.
Some people suggested “portion control” as an option. Nah. I know me well enough to know that when everyone goes to bed that I’ll slip in the kitchen and eat half a tub of peanut butter. I obviously have self-control issues.
For me to dive off in this weight loss and healthier lifestyle journey I was going to have to do something dramatic, or I’d definitely cheat the diet, and myself.
So, I started looking into the carnivore diet. It made sense for a guy like me. As a hunter and fisherman, meat is essentially my life. How hard could it be to just eat meat? Nothing but meat.
I read stories of rapid weight loss from people that started the diet, and I was even more sold. To go along with having little to no self-control, I also have little to no patience. A diet where I could eat nothing but meat AND lose weight rapidly? Where has this been all of my life?
I didn’t want to begin my new lifestyle before our trip to Texas, so I waited until we got back home to begin. Again, I knew I couldn’t keep to the diet on a trip with a bunch of delicious food around me all of the time. When we got back home, I had a “last supper” so to speak ahead of the diet. I washed it down with my last soda, a Dr. Pepper in a glass bottle with real sugar and not the crap they sweeten our drinks with now. I had vegetables and peanut butter crackers for a snack later that evening. Tomorrow begins a new day. At this stage I still thought this would be the easiest diet in the world. Man was I wrong.
For the next few days, I ate nothing but meat and eggs. I drank nothing but water. By day three I had to talk myself out of killing everyone at the office. My head was pounding, my legs were shaky, and I couldn’t think straight. I was warned that this would happen as my body entered ketosis, but I didn’t think it would affect me that much. I was intolerant of anyone and everyone that came into contact with me. My cousin told me before that this would happen on top of probably having some stomach issues. The stomach issues didn’t hit me until about 4:00 the next morning and when they did I was ready to give it up. I angrily told my wife that if I didn’t start dropping weight there was no way I’d keep doing this much longer.
I gutted it out, literally, for the next two days and finally stepped on the scale. Six days into the diet I’d already lost eight pounds. Water weight for sure, but I definitely didn’t feel near as bloated as I did before. I stuck to the diet and over the next few days the weight continued to come off. I began to get my energy back and started to actually feel pretty good.
Another thing to know about me is that I have a very addictive nature. And it can be addictions to weird stuff. I suddenly became addicted to weighing myself three to four times a day just to see the results.
Before you start hollerin’ about the health detriments to cutting carbs from your diet, I’m not saying this diet is for everyone. I’m sure there are some drawbacks like elevated cholesterol and the loss of some minerals. But for me, carbs and sugar were slowly killing me. And if your doctor says it’s okay for you to eat sweets but not okay for you to eat red meat then get a new doctor.
At the time of writing this article, I’ve been on the diet for fourteen days. I’ve lost fourteen pounds and am well on my way to getting back to my fighting weight. But I’d be a huge liar if I told you that it’s easy. First of all, planning your meals is a lot harder than you’d think. Second, you are absolutely going to get tired of eating meat. I never thought this would happen, but I’d almost stab my best friend for a baked potato right now. Third, dang near everything you’ve consumed has sugar in it. Try finding sugar free beef jerky at your grocery store. I’ve become so much more aware of what’s in my food now. And last, you’re still going to have hella-cravings. My daughter’s birthday party was during the first week and she had an ice cream sundae bar for her guests along with fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. That was a tough day.
At this point, I’m committed to seeing it through. I do plan to re-introduce some foods back into my diet once I reach a goal weight, but never back to what I was before. So, if you’re looking for a quick way to shed some pounds this summer fill your fridge up with meat and don’t look back.
