Initial thoughts on diet adjustment

Nutrition
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so i’ve made an adjustment to my diet. i’ve upped my red meat consumption to twice a day most days, but not all, over the last 2 weeks. added extra eggs and reduced my carbs intake outside of training. still taking 60 - 90 grams sugar an hour on the bike trying a polarized HV plan with about 13hrs a week. some fruit, natural yogurt and salads, and a little veg. eve meals are steak, eggs, mushrooms, cooked in a little oil and butter.

boy do i feel better, training well, recovering well, less hungry, less tiredness mid afternoon. feeling less puffy, and weight is stable or within tolerance, so i’m not losing a load of glycogen/ water. i suspect i will see a weight reduction very soon on the scales

2 weeks is short, but i’m enjoying not being so driven to biscuits, chocolate etc at 8pm each night. perhaps a reduction in processed food is the driver. we did eat out a few nights ago where i let loose but i’m not a prisoner lol.

is a modified carnivore diet a thing anyone else is trying out? a positive start, i think.

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If it works for you great. I am not a big meat eater so I sub a lot of protein powder, raw nuts, hard boiled eggs( I have chickens) for the same result

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That comment seems unnecessary and a bit inflammatory.

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I’ve not done that myself. Less bloat is always great and good on ya for trying it out and feeling better. Check back in and let us know how it’s working for you in a couple of weeks. I am happy with following my macros and keeping my protein steady and then adjusting carbs and fats depending on my workouts etc.

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yep. i’m not saying i’m going to eat this way for a long time. red meat is expensive here, and i enjoy most foods. who knows how my legs will feel in another 2 weeks? who knows if i’m eating more or less calories than before? i guess my scales and legs will tell.
i’m hoping that perhaps a carb free dinner, 3 or 4 nights a week will show a benefit without much effort. i’m not sure if steak in of itself, is a highly beneficial food over my usual chicken based, protein and fat based meats.

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It’s always fun to experiment when you get the itch to do so. Even better when it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort and time to implement. I agree that with the cost of meat these days it can be quite expensive. I have heard of low carb benefitting athletes but it usually take months for the benefits to kick in.

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What do you mean by this? Sounds like a normal carnivore diet to me, but I’m guessing I’m missing your point?

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I do wonder how effective this way of eating is in the absence of the “enhancements” so many of it’s proponents are using. Glad you are feeling better and hope you get some positive things out of it.

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well i’m still fuelling every workout with 60- 90 grams of sugar per hour, still eating fruit and veg and, when my daughter makes cheesecake, its getting ate etc etc, so its hardly strict. probably 80% of eve meals have been steak and eggs in 2 weeks with lunches being steak and salad/ veg. weekend rides will end with overnight oats and fruit. a little dark chocolate each eve. i’ll report back in a week or 2 with how it all fell to pieces :rofl:

ps weight is trending down.

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What is your goal with this? I have a hard time understanding why you would cut out carbs unless you wish to not perform on the bike.

And yes, going low carb makes you feel amazing in the beginning, mostly this is because people overeat on carbs/sugars and then you get the insulin spikes etc.

Tiredness in the afternoon means you’re not really eating the right stuff throughout the day which causes you to crash in the afternoon.

No offence, but there is moderation to everything :slight_smile: You can still follow whatever diet you’re doing now, but adding carbs the night before harder rides etc.

I weigh all my carbs (always do 100g dry weight rice or pasta per meal), just to spread it out better and not overeat and get those crashes.

You can get away with eating like you are doing now for training programs like the polarised, but you’re definitively going to struggle if you start doing back to back long/hard days and not eating carbs.

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Sorry. By carnivore, I thought you just meant “someone who eats meat”, but in retrospect, that would be omnivore. My mistake.

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Sounds expensive. :wink:

Have you tried that same but with lean white meat and oily fish (Salmon, Trout, Mackeral)?

Might be more healthy (omega etc), I doubt you would spot a difference to how you feel as well.

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in a true carnivore diet you only eat animal products, no plant products at all

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I’ve been doing carnivore for year from pretty strict to periods of fueling threshold workouts on the bike. I love it and feel best when I keep mostly strict carnivore

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While getting input on your diet from your cycling obsessed peers may be interesting, the most important input comes from yourself and how you feel. Not even necessarily how you perform, but how you feel day to day. Unless you’re a professional athlete, your performance on the bike is only a very small part of your day, and perhaps also only a small part of why you ride a bike at all.

In terms of my input, I think it’s an interesting and valid approach to diet. Eating lots of animal products and lower carbohydrate outside of training but still fuelling sufficiently on the bike seems to work for you at the moment, and I can’t see why it wouldn’t. Granted, a diet so low in carbohydrate may not be optimal for a world tour rider according to the majority of scientific literature, but then again, you’re not a world tour rider.

In my experience and opinion, most people that switch to a carnivore, paleo, vegan, whatever diet feel better not because of the specific diet itself, but because they severely restrict the amount of processed food they consume. More whole foods will contain more micronutrients, they will be easier on the gut, and fill you up more. It seems that your experience reflects this, so keep doing what makes you feel good.

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This isn’t a modified carnivore diet. It’s more of a modified Paleo diet. It was mentioned above, Carnivore is meat and animal products only.

I will say Paleo (plus eggs and dairy) as the basis of my diet is what I prefer, when I am NOT doing a lot of endurance training and biking. I think you just have to make sure you’re getting enough carbs which includes on and off the bike and fruits and veggies are not always the best way to do that.

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If you’ve cut breads and other similar carbs out, that could be the cause of “less puff” (vs eating more meat). I’ve heard similar comments from a few friends now, none of whom are celiac, but all of whom do better without as much “gluten” (in quotes because none know for sure it’s gluten, just bread-like foods).

I’m diagnosed celiac, and when I cut gluten out of my diet, I immediately looked 10lbs lighter in the face. Didn’t actually lose that much, but there was definitely inflammation that I hadn’t noticed because it was always there. [diagnosed in my mid-30s, no real symptoms, discovered as part of getting my gut scoped for other reasons]

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What is your goal with this? I have a hard time understanding why you would cut out carbs unless you wish to not perform on the bike.

TR is handing me firm enough work in the adaptive version of polarised, and energy, and fatigue etc is good so far. this week:

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i reckon carbs intake and timing is ok as far as i can tell. today was fuelled with 150grams sugar plus a cereal bar for 2 hours.

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@cagiva_wmx125 I made a similar switch about 18 - 24 mo ago.

I highly suspect that the majority of the improvements you are seeing is because more of your calories are coming from fat, instead of sugar [“carbs”… which are all just sugar when we burn them].

I’ve seen astronomical improvements in the past 18 - 24 mo in energy level, zero crashes, recovery, etc. It’s all due to high fat, low carb, and intermittent fasting. [I don’t think I’m anywhere near “keto”. No clue, don’t monitor.]

I eat a fair bit of meat, pretty much every day, def not recommending you don’t eat any.

However, for environmental reasons, I hit a certain amount of protein & fat from meat, and then top up my protein & fat intake with: Tons of nuts, high fat [10%] plain natural yoghourt, lots of olive oil, tons of butter on everything, and cheeses. I also smash Flax oil and Camelina oil. I take 1 - 2 tbsp of Flax daily. Both excellent for increasing your Omega 3 intake, which helps correct your Omega 6 : Omega 3 ratio, which is way off in most people. Flax is superior, but doesn’t taste as good as Camelina.

[Ideal daily Omega 6:3 ratio is 4:1, most people are in range of 9 - 15:1 or even more.]

Proteins & fats from these sources take far less fresh water, artificially fixed nitrogen fertilizers, and energy to produce, and produce far far less greenhouse gas emissions vs. meat sources.

Only if you feel like it, I’d def recommend doing some digging on HFLC and intermittent fasting. Fascinating stuff, has improved my riding & life immensely… and I can help the environment by not making it all from meat sources. :slight_smile:

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i believe its relevant to omega 3:6 ratio, but my blood tests reveal my levels of overall inflammation are nice and low 0.22mg/l (high sensitivity c reactive protein), and HBa1c (marker for diabetes) at 38mmol but i’m certainly going to keep trying adjustments to see how i feel and ride.

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