The carnivore diet, characterized by the exclusive consumption of animal products, has gained traction as a weight loss strategy. While many individuals experience initial success, plateaus can occur. This article explores the potential causes of weight loss stalls on the carnivore diet and provides actionable strategies to overcome them.
Introduction to the Carnivore Diet for Weight Loss
The carnivore diet involves eating only animal products like meat, fish, eggs, and some dairy, while excluding all plant-based foods. The diet has gained popularity because it allows people to achieve significant weight loss in the short term and is simple to implement (in concept). The carnivore diet works much like the keto diet-lots of fat and protein, almost no carbs. But just like any diet, it follows the basic rule of weight loss: calories in versus calories out. On a high level, the goal of this severe diet is to eliminate all carbohydrates and shift your body into “ketosis,” where it burns body fat for fuel instead of glucose. But the reality is more nuanced. Additionally, the diet's impact on metabolic health can vary from person to person.
Popularity and Potential Benefits
The carnivore diet has gained significant attention because influencers are marketing it online as a solution for various health concerns. The strict diet is touted to help people lose weight rapidly to help control blood sugar levels and type 2 diabetes to clearer skin, better gut health, and everything in between.
Apart from the drastic initial weight loss, other factors make the diet popular, including:
- Simpler food-related decision-making, from grocery shopping to meal planning to food preparation.
- No counting carbs, tracking calories, counting portions, or following complicated recipes.
- No rigid eating windows to follow, like with intermittent fasting.
Potential Disadvantages
While the carnivore diet may offer some benefits for certain people, it’s important to understand that this diet comes with certain challenges, such as:
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- The highly restrictive nature of the diet can make it challenging to maintain over time.
- Foods like fatty cuts of meat and cured meats provide protein, but their high saturated fat content may impact heart health and cholesterol levels when consumed in excess.
- The diet has high amounts of animal protein. A high intake of animal proteins may increase the risk of developing conditions like kidney stones and gout.
- There’s a risk of nutrient deficiencies, particularly in vitamins and minerals typically found in plant foods.
- As the diet eliminates all plants, including whole vegetables and fruit, you’re not getting enough fiber. “Without enough fiber in your diet, you may experience constipation and bowel impaction, where it’s hard to expel a large mass of dry, hard poop,” says Chavez, RD.
Common Causes of Weight Loss Stalls on the Carnivore Diet
Weight loss plateaus can be frustrating. Here's a breakdown of potential reasons why you might not be losing weight on the carnivore diet:
1. Calorie Intake Matters
Even in a zero-carb world, energy balance plays a crucial role in your weight loss efforts. Those delicious ribeye steaks and eggs fried in butter can pack quite a caloric punch. While the carnivore diet can naturally regulate appetite for many people, others might find themselves unconsciously consuming more calories than their body needs.
Solution: "Overeating healthy foods is still overeating. When people stop losing weight on this diet, it's usually because they're eating too many calories, often from fatty foods like ribeye steak, bacon, and butter,” says Chavez, RD. “Other reasons include not recognizing when they're full, which leads to overeating; high-fat foods require less energy to digest and absorb than other foods. You could also watch your salt intake-too much can lead to water retention and weight gain.” He adds, "Research from 2020 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition confirms that even meat-only diets follow the basic rule for weight loss: you must burn more calories than you eat. If you've hit a plateau on the carnivore diet, try using a calorie-tracking app for a few days to see what might be holding you back-often, it's those fatty cuts of meat.”
2. Too Much Protein
Eating too much protein relative to fat can actually stall your weight loss in the long run. When you consume excess protein, your body can convert it to glucose through a process called gluconeogenesis. This means you might unknowingly be providing your body with a steady stream of sugar, even while eating zero carbs.
Solution: "The goal of the carnivore diet is to have a high fat-to-protein ratio to induce fat burning. If this ratio is off, you may lose weight more slowly," says Chavez, RD. "However, not everyone needs extreme diets to lose weight.” Learning to balance your meals and fight food cravings and the urge to binge eat can help you lose weight in a slower but healthier way. But you don’t have to do it all alone; a registered dietitian can help you identify what works best for you.
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3. Meal Timing Matters
Your body needs adequate breaks between meals to help you lose fat. This is true whether you’re on a no-carb, low-carb, or a balanced nutrition plan. If you're eating too frequently throughout the day, you're providing a constant supply of energy, which, in excess, will always be stored as body fat. Consider spacing out your meals without snacking in between to allow your body to fully process each meal.
Solution: "Portion control and meal timing matter, whether you’re on the carnivore diet or not,” says Chavez, RD. "While occasional healthy snacking, like a small handful of nuts, can help manage food cravings, frequent grazing between meals may contribute to weight gain.” He adds, “The key is developing a personalized nutrition plan that helps you eat the right portions for you. Even nutrient-dense foods high in healthy fats, like nuts or seeds, should be consumed mindfully. Larger portions eaten too frequently can hinder weight loss goals."
4. Lifestyle Factors
Weight loss plateaus can occur due to many factors beyond your diet, like not getting enough quality sleep, poor mental health, and being stressed out all the time. Poor sleep can throw your hunger hormones into chaos. For example, one study indicates that sleep deprivation in men was associated with a 24% increase in hunger and 23% higher appetite. Chronic stress floods your body with cortisol, making it more likely to hold onto fat stores. High stress is also known to promote belly fat storage. Additionally, drinking too much alcohol can displace the amount of carbs you’re getting, leading to an increase in calories,” cautions Chavez, RD.
Solution: "Stress and poor sleep are often overlooked, but they are critical factors for weight loss," Chavez, RD, emphasizes. "Even the best diet won't work if your body is under constant stress or not getting enough rest. I always encourage clients to prioritize 7-8 hours of quality sleep each night. Try to manage stress through mindfulness or yoga, and consult with a healthcare provider if you can’t seem to get enough sleep. There may be an underlying medical reason why.” Also, consider avoiding or cutting down on your alcohol intake.
5. Hormonal Imbalances
Hormonal imbalances can significantly affect your ability to lose weight on the carnivore diet. Chavez, RD explains, “Imbalances in thyroid hormones and insulin sensitivity can lead to weight gain and metabolic issues. For example, a reduction in carbohydrates can decrease levels of T3, a thyroid hormone, slowing your metabolic rate.” These hormonal disruptions can make it challenging to achieve your weight loss goals.
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Solution: Consult a healthcare professional to rule out any underlying hormonal imbalances. Addressing these imbalances through diet, supplements, or medication can help promote weight loss. Ensuring adequate nutrition and managing stress can also help regulate your hormones and support your weight loss journey.
6. Medications and Supplements
Certain medications and supplements can interfere with your weight loss efforts on the carnivore diet. Medications like insulin, corticosteroids, and certain antidepressants and antipsychotics can promote weight gain or trigger intense food cravings. Similarly, some supplements, like certain protein powders and creatine, may also hinder your progress.
Solution: To know for sure, work with a registered dietitian to identify potential culprits, understand your health condition, and make adjustments to enhance healthy weight loss. If you are on any type of prescription medication, talk to your doctor first.
7. The Calorie Equation Still Matters
Even in a zero-carb world, energy balance plays a crucial role in your weight loss efforts. Those delicious ribeye steaks and eggs fried in butter can pack quite a caloric punch. While the carnivore diet can naturally regulate appetite for many people, others might find themselves unconsciously consuming more calories than their body needs.
Solution: "Overeating healthy foods is still overeating. When people stop losing weight on this diet, it's usually because they're eating too many calories, often from fatty foods like ribeye steak, bacon, and butter,” says Chavez, RD. “Other reasons include not recognizing when they're full, which leads to overeating; high-fat foods require less energy to digest and absorb than other foods. You could also watch your salt intake-too much can lead to water retention and weight gain.” He adds, "Research from 2020 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition confirms that even meat-only diets follow the basic rule for weight loss: you must burn more calories than you eat. If you've hit a plateau on the carnivore diet, try using a calorie-tracking app for a few days to see what might be holding you back-often, it's those fatty cuts of meat.”
8. Eating Too Much Fat
While fat is the most important macronutrient on a Carnivore Diet, consuming too much fat can lead to a calorie surplus. Some people overuse butter, tallow, or ultra-fatty cuts without balancing protein intake.
Solution: The first rule of a healthy Carnivore Diet is balancing macronutrients, meaning you should keep the protein-to-fat ratio. At first, you should find the right ratio based on your metabolic flexibility, health status, and goals by consulting a healthcare professional. You can also use a Carnivore Diet Macro Calculator to find out the right balance of macronutrients (fat and protein) for your body. You should also use leaner cuts like sirloin, chicken breast, or venison for a while. Avoid adding extra fats unless needed for cooking. Let your body burn its own fat instead of the fat on your plate.
9. Not Eating Enough Protein
Protein is another essential macronutrient on the Carnivore Diet, and you are possibly not losing weight on Carnivore Diet because of consuming low levels of protein, which is not in balance with the amount of fat you consume. Protein supports lean mass and boosts metabolism. If you’re too much fat, you might not be triggering the satiety and thermogenic benefits of adequate protein.
Solution: Use this Macro Calculator and find out the amount of protein you need in accordance with the amount of fat you should consume. You can provide high-quality protein from rich sources, such as top sirloin, pork loin, or seafood. Generally, you need 1g of protein per pound of your ideal body weight.
10. Not Reducing Carbohydrates Enough
Another reason for not losing weight on Carnivore Diet can be consuming too many carbohydrates. Do not listen to others’ ideas and don’t follow their plans because everybody has different needs and reacts differently.
Solution: You can consult a healthcare professional or Carnivore Doctors to find out how many carbohydrates you need based on your metabolic flexibility. You can also use this Carnivore Diet Food List to know what exactly you can eat and find the best sources of nutritious foods.
11. Decreasing Carbohydrates for Too Long
If it has been a long time since you have been minimizing carbohydrates, for example, some months or years, your metabolic rate gets used to this situation and slows down. This slowdown means lower weight loss or a plateau.
Solution: Keep your current weight and focus on gaining muscle. This way, you maintain a strong body and have healthier weight loss in the long run. Also, being on a zero-carb Carnivore for a long time can decrease leptin and thyroid (T3) levels, body temperature, and libido, and increase cortisol and plateaus. So, you need a little bit of balance at this point if you are a long-term carnivore. To boost leptin, which kickstarts fat-burning, you can use cyclical carbohydrates. This doesn’t mean you are cheating or quitting Carnivore; it means you're periodically using carbs as a tool to break plateaus, improve hormone health, and keep fat loss going. You can still stay meat-based 90% of the time and do 1 carb day/week or even 1 carb meal every 4-5 days. Of course, you can do this after consulting your Carnivore coach or doctor on a Carnivore Event/ QA Session.
12. Not Eating Enough Nutritious Foods
Another reason for not losing weight on Carnivore Diet can be consuming too much of low-quality foods or not eating enough nutritious sources. The Carnivore Diet is not just about avoiding carbohydrates. Rather, it is a balanced lifestyle toward a healthier body and mind. To restart weight loss, you need real, nutritious foods.
Solution: Steer clear of processed low-carb foods. They are not as beneficial as whole foods. You can eat whole proteins like chicken, fish, eggs, and good fats instead of refined carbs. So, focus on a low-carb, high-fat, and moderate-protein balance, so your body can enter ketosis and burn fat, which means weight loss.
13. Snacking Too Often
If you are avoiding main meals and going for snacks, even Carnivore-friendly ones, your body may fall into a weight loss plateau. This is because eating too often can keep insulin levels high, reduce fat burning, and make you consume too many calories.
Solution: Have 2 or 3 big meals every day and avoid too much snacking between the meals. This way, your digestive system and metabolism have time to rest and function properly.
14. Overconsuming Dairy Products
Although dairy products are allowed in some versions of the Modified Carnivore Diet, overeating them can slow weight loss. This is because dairy products like cheese and heavy cream are calorie-dense and insulinogenic (keep insulin high) for some people. They can trigger cravings and bloating, stalling weight loss.
Solution: Limit dairy products for 30 days and restart eating them cautiously to see how your body reacts. However, you don't need much dairy on a Carnivore Diet, and it is even forbidden on stricter versions. You can follow your specific plan based on your food list, needs, and body reactions.
15. Hidden Processed Meats
Some meats like bacon or sausages that can be accepted in some versions of the Carnivore Diet contain hidden sugars, additives, and fillers that can stall fat loss.
Solution: Stick to the main foods allowed on a Carnivore Food Pyramid and choose clean, unprocessed cuts. If you want to eat bacon or sausage, look for sugar-free, nitrate-free options with minimal ingredients.
16. Eating Out Too Much
While it is okay to eat out on a Carnivore Diet, restaurant meals are often cooked in vegetable oils or contain hidden carbohydrates/ sugars that you may not be aware of.
Solution: Use these Carnivore Diet recipes to cook healthy, easy, affordable, and yummy Carnivore meals at home. When eating out, ask for plain grilled meats with no sauces or oils.
17. Overeating Nuts
Nuts are allowed in some modified versions of the Carnivore Diet because they are whole foods. However, they are high in non-animal fats, especially walnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds. Nuts are energy-dense, but eating large amounts of them won’t make you feel full, which is why it is easy to eat too many of them. The negative point is that a bag of nuts has more calories than a regular meal.
Solution: If you are following a standard Carnivore, you should avoid nuts. Even if you are on a more relaxed version of Carnivore, you should avoid snacking on nuts every now and then because they increase your caloric intake and stall weight loss.
18. Drinking Calories
You may be careful about eating high-calorie foods, but you should also have an eye on high-calorie drinks. Bone broth, milk, cream in coffee, or even fat coffees can increase calories and reduce your natural hunger signals.
Solution: Stick to water, electrolytes, and black coffee or tea if they are allowed on your Carnivore variation. Also, avoid adding calories to your drinks.
19. Having a Low Body Fat Percentage
One of the most common reasons for not losing fat on a Carnivore Diet that is often neglected is having low body fat. When you have a high percentage of fat in your body, you can generally burn it more quickly when you change your lifestyle and diet than when you don’t have much fat. But as you make more and more progress, your weight loss slows down and gets more difficult. Mathematically, if you have 20% fat, you can more easily bring it to 5% than when you want to reduce 5% fat to 4%.
Solution: If you are already in a healthy range of body fat, you probably won’t need to strive for the remaining percentages. Consulting a healthcare professional can tell you if you have enough or too much body fat.
20. Consuming Too Many Calories
Yes, Carnivore can still cause weight gain if you're eating far more than your body needs, even if it's all meat. Of course, you should balance your macronutrients on a Carnivore Diet, but you should also keep an eye on the number of calories you consume.
Solution: You don’t need to count every calorie you eat; just having a general idea of the number of calories is good enough. So, eat mindfully. Stop eating when you are satiated. Consider tracking food intake temporarily to learn your baseline. You can use these Food Tracker apps to easily record what you should eat and avoid on a Carnivore Diet to stay healthy and eat nutritious, high-quality foods.
21. Not Being in Ketosis
If you’re eating too much protein or snacking frequently, you may be in a glucose-burning state rather than fat-burning ketosis.
Solution: To know if you are in a ketosis state, you can track ketones with a blood meter. To induce and maintain ketosis, you can adjust macros or eating frequency. Generally, if you balance your macronutrient (fat and protein) ratio, you will automatically induce ketosis. Then, you just need to keep the balance to maintain this fat-burning state.
22. Overconsuming Healthy Sugars
If you are constantly using so-called healthy sugars, such as coconut sugar, raw cane sugar, honey, agave nectar, etc., you may experience plateaus on a Carnivore Diet. Sugars are carbohydrates, and eating them is against the low-carb nature of the Carnivore Diet. Even if you are on modified Carnivore diets, you should keep these carbohydrates and sugars at a minimal level.
Solution: While low-calorie sweeteners can be added to your Carnivore food list, you should consider minimizing or avoiding them if you hit a weight loss plateau, especially because some of these products contain digestible carbohydrates as fillers.
23. Hormonal Imbalance
Hormonal imbalances are one of the most common reasons for not losing weight on Carnivore Diet. Thyroid issues, insulin resistance, or estrogen dominance can block fat loss, even on a zero-carb Carnivore.