Introduction

The Carnivore Diet has been around for ages. Actually, our primate ancestor thrived on this by hunting animals in the wild to survive. They didn’t have time to waste or even know how to grow plants or grains. The idea was more like, kill, eat and live. This way of living is still around in some parts of the world such as Iceland, where they eat mostly seafood, lamb and some caribou. Historically they depended on an animal-based diet due to their geographic location. Iceland has produced nine World’s Strongest Man and four women winners of Crossfit titles. We can easily attribute this to their animal-based diet. As mentioned by Shawn Baker in his book “The Carnivore Diet,” the Icelandic people are some of the strongest in the world. Also, While Carnivore, many people are noticing weight loss, improved mental health, and reduced inflammation.  

Fitness and Exercise

As with any diet, it’s extremely important to have some sort of a fitness level, while supporting that with enough protein and nutrients to support muscle growth and repair. I’m a big proponent of having a combination of strength training and cardiovascular activity, which could help with your overall fitness. For me, weight loss is not a priority, but if that is your goal, I believe it’s going to happen naturally While Carnivore when combined with a fitness plan. 

Benefits for fitness enthusiasts

As a fitness enthusiast, you’re going to notice weight loss due to the high protein and the elimination of carbs and sugars. In addition to the weight loss, you’re going to have improved body composition (looking more cut). Combined with a strength training plan, the high protein will help with muscle growth and repair. 

Nutrients and the source

While Carnivore, what are you going to eat? Well, meat of course! So what kind of nutrients should you be expecting from an all meat diet and which meats give you those nutrients? Here are some of those:

1. Protein: Protein is essential for muscle growth, repair, and overall body function. On an all-meat diet, you’ll get protein no matter the meat, like beef, pork, lamb, poultry, fish, and eggs.
   
2. Fat: Fat is a crucial energy source and helps with absorbing fat-soluble vitamins. Animal products like meat and eggs provide both saturated and unsaturated fats. I really like ribeye steaks because it has a good balance of proteins and fats.
   
3. Vitamin B12: This vitamin is great for the formation of red blood cells and the maintenance of the nervous system. It is found almost exclusively in animal products, such as organ meats, fish, and eggs.
   
4. Iron: Iron is essential for the production of red blood cells and the transportation of oxygen throughout the body. Red meat, particularly beef, is a rich source of iron. Can also be found in a lot of organ meats.
   
5. Zinc: Zinc plays a crucial role in immune function, growth, and wound healing. Meat, particularly red meat, is a good source of zinc. I like to get my zinc from chicken liver.
   
6. Vitamin D: Vitamin D is necessary for bone health and immune function. It can be found in fatty fish and egg yolks, but the primary source is sunlight.
   
7. Calcium: Calcium is vital for bone health and muscle function. Dairy products like cheese and heavy cream provide calcium in an all-meat diet.
   
8. Omega-3 fatty acids: Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for heart and brain health. Fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, and sardines are excellent sources of omega-3s.
   

Importance of protein for muscle growth and repair

Muscle growth:
When you do any sort of strength training, your muscles will experience micro-tears. Making sure you’re consuming enough protein will help with repairing and rebuilding these muscle fibers, which will lead to increased muscle mass and strength.

Protein quality:
Combining a variety of protein sources like meat, fish and eggs will give your body all the essential amino acids that it needs. In terms of quality, if you go to a fast food chain and ask for beef patties, you’re at the whim of their distributor and how the meat is processed. But if you just stick to red meat (steaks), that is the best source of amino acids.

Protein requirements:
Depending on the type of activity you’re doing, will determine how much protein your body needs. But that’s not the only thing you need to look at. The timing of when you consume protein is important as well. The best time for muscle protein synthesis is right after your workout. It’s kind of like giving your muscles a high-five for getting it done. 

• Endurance Athletes: Will need about 1.2 to 1.4 grams per 2.2 lbs of body weight per day.
  
• Strength Training Athletes: Will need about 1.4 to 2.0 grams per 2.2 lbs of body weight per day. 

Best type of exercise for carnivore eater

There is some debate in this area. If you follow Doctor Kiltz, he believes that minimal activity is needed while on the carnivore diet. But I’m under the belief that any activity is good for the body and you should exercise to your own comfort level. It really depends on a lot of different things, like fitness goals, body type, current fitness level, current consumption levels and more. 

• Endurance: If you’re training for endurance, that might be anything from running, swimming, cycling and even hiking. This will help your body and heart and cardiovascular fitness.
  
• Strength: This is where you’re looking to building strength, building muscle mass and improving your overall physical performance. These workouts can include bodyweight exercises, dumbbells, barbells squats, deadlifts, lunges, bench presses, shoulder presses, load carries and rows.  

Keep an eye for future posts where I’ll go more into depth into different exercise routines. 

Rest and recovery

Even though activity is important to your body, rest and recovery are equally important. When you stress your body through either endurance or strength training, your muscles will have micro tears in your muscle fibers. To repair this, your body will need rest so that your muscle can grow back stronger. Depending on your training, if you push your body to the limit, but keep going, that’s where you increase your chances of injury. 

On top of resting your body, it’s also important to rest your mind. This will keep you from getting burnt out on working out. This can generally happen in the new year when people set a resolution and go all out for a few weeks. But then they push themselves too hard and end up giving up because they’re not mentally prepared to workout for the long haul. So ease your way in.

Sample workout plan

When it comes to working out, some of my favorite workouts come from Shawn T, like T-25. Since not everyone has access to this, I’ll give you a sample workout that you can do without any equipment, but includes some strength exercises.

Sample:
3 rounds – 20 seconds on and 10 seconds rest between exercises. After you complete all exercises for that round, rest for 1 minute, then get into the next round.

• Jump rope
• Push-ups
• Criss cross high knees
• Jumping lunges
• Sprint in place
• Planks
• Jump rope again
• Air squats

This workout will give you a little strength training and get your heart racing.

Tips for success during your fitness journey While Carnivore

Tip 1: Make sure that while you’re staying active that you’re also staying hydrated with water and electrolytes. Depending on your body weight and activity, the general recommendation for water consumption is about 2-3 liters per day. Drinking water helps your body replenish the fluids that are lost through sweating and other natural purges throughout the day. A good rule of thumb is, if you feel thirsty, drink water. 

Depending on the type of activity, a person can lose anywhere from 0.5 to 1.5 liters of water per 1 hour of activity. 

I did mention electrolytes right? Of course I did! It’s important for many reasons. 

Why are electrolytes important?

Why are electrolytes important?

1. Better hydration: Electrolytes will help your body absorb and retain water more effectively.
   
2. Performance: Helps with muscle function, nerve transmission and fluid balance. If you’ve ever experienced muscle cramps and fatigue, it may be because your body needs electrolytes.
   
3. Quicker recovery: Intake of electrolytes after a workout helps to replenish lost fluids and minerals, which will speed up your recovery process.
   
4. Prevention of Hyponatremia: This is where the sodium levels in your blood are dangerously low. This can happen when you drink too much water and not enough electrolytes. If you ever feel nauseous, headaches and confusion, it might be a sign that your body needs some electrolytes.
   
5. Overall health: There are a lot of bodily functions that electrolytes are essential for, like maintaining a proper blood supply. Electrolytes have minerals like sodium, potassium and magnesium, which help with blood volume and pressure, transmission of nerve signals, and muscle contractions. What’s an important muscle that needs proper muscle contraction? Oh, right, your heart! 

I take hydration and electrolytes seriously. As I mentioned above, electrolytes have minerals like sodium, potassium and magnesium. I use LMNT, which has these essential minerals for the benefits mentioned above. 

Tip 2: Listen to your body! There have been times where I have felt my body at that breaking point, but since I haven’t finished all of my reps, I push it a little further. That’s where I end up hurting myself and setting my workout progress back weeks and sometimes months. If you feel something beginning to tweak, I would take that as a sign to stop what you’re doing and get some rest. 

Tip 3: Track your progress. Whether in a workout notebook or in an app, track your progress and maybe do that extra rep, or add a little bit more weight, depending on what your fitness goal is. If you have a goal, but you never push yourself a little harder, you’ll never reach that goal. If your goal is 10 pull ups, but can only do 8 by yourself, do 2 more with a spotter. It’s that little difference that will get you to your goal.

Conclusion

To wrap things up, just remember, what you put in your body really matters when it comes to your body feeling good. If you fill your body up with sugar and carbohydrates, your body is going to feel sluggish both physically and mentally. So have a steak after a workout instead of a sugary protein bar. Your body will thank you for it. The steak will have the right mix of essential vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients for your long-term health as well. 

Most importantly, stay hydrated with water and electrolytes to help your body recover from those intense workouts. Make sure you have a good balance by letting your body tell you when you need to drink water when you need it. If you need a good source of electrolytes, I recommend LMNT since it has all the essential minerals to help replenish your body with fluids. 

Second most importantly, make sure you give your body rest so that it can properly recover to get stronger. I recommend having a good variety of workout types between endurance and strength training, but I like to schedule two days in the week for rest. 

Keep it up! As long as you stay active and don’t feed your body junk, you’re on your way to living a healthy lifestyle.

If you haven’t done so already, go to WhileCarnivore.com and download the 5 free breakfast recipes.

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