Trudy improved sleep, fitness, and pain on a carnivore fasting lifestyle

Hi, my name is Trudy; 59 years old, 5’7″, and weigh around 125 lbs. At one point in my life, not that long ago, I weighed over 160 lbs, was sluggish, full of inflammation, stressed, and strung out.

Trudy’s Journey to Fasting Carnivore Lifestyle

I have been a Fasting Carnivore since September 2019 and have experimented with fasting off and on for most of my life. I have tried many different avenues over the years, including Weight Watchers, Nutri-system, Body for Life, Protein Drinks, Elimination Diets, Whole 30, whole food juicing, Paleo, then Keto. Before Keto, I couldn’t make a weight loss stick, ever.

During my Keto journey, I was learning and growing from listening to several podcasts of Dr. Shawn Baker, Dr. Ken Berry, and Dr. Jason Fung. I also found some women carnivores that inspired me, including Dr. Lisa Wiedeman, Laura Spath, Kelly Hogan, and the Strong Sistas, to try Carnivore. I wanted to see if I could heal my back pain.

Health Struggles Before Fasting Carnivore

The health struggles I have had in the past include food & environmental allergies, disordered eating, aggressive cataracts, L4-L5 compression, stenosis, sciatic pain, high blood pressure, anemia, food addictions, yo-yo weight gains, brain fog, inflammation, joint pain, oily skin, stringy hair, weak nails, and much more.

Success of Fasting Carnivore Lifestyle

Most of my issues have been resolved or significantly reduced since transitioning into the Fasting Carnivore lifestyle. A recent visit to the eye doctor was a report that my aggressive cataracts had not grown since last year. My skin, hair, and nails are SO much healthier & stronger. My environmental allergies are gone.

I even have my daughter’s cat living with me for the summer & I haven’t had one itchy eye or sneeze, and I have had him for over a month. I have been told I don’t look or act 59 years old. I love adventure and working out. I may not be a competitive athlete anymore (ok, I do dabble in running, biking, and triathlons, but I don’t consider myself fast).

Trudy’s 21-Day Fasting Experiment

My most recent success was a 21-day fast that I completed. It was an experiment to reset my body and to research the effects of autophagy to see if I could improve the level of pain in my lower back. You see, I kept waking up at night to the point I could barely roll over.

So, the 21 days included three days of water fasting only, then the other 18 days, I followed a fasting-mimicking fat fast where I only ate up to 500 calories daily of bone broth and/or raw beef suet. I had heard coaches Niti and Raymond discussing Niti’s experience with such a fast.

Results of the 21-Day Fast

I had never heard of such a thing as getting to eat while fasting!! The timing with the world pandemic going on around me and the fact that I love being my own experiment, well, it was just the challenge I needed. I learned something new for sure, and I found out how long and how hard I could go. I even lost 16 pounds over the course of the 21 days.

By about day 8, I was sleeping better, and throughout most of these 21 days, my energy was out of the roof. I got SO much $^&#% done and ran, biked, or walked daily. I had an interesting experience of a huge cleanout on about day 9, which seemed crazy. It must have been oxalate dumping, for I had not ingested enough food for what cleaned out of me.

Whatever my body was holding onto, I was glad that this experiment helped recycle some old and damaged cells in my body. The only downer was I got a huge suet aversion by about day 18, which made the last few days tough to complete. I substituted pork belly and more beef bone broth instead of the suet.

I biked four times (34-61 km each time), ran seven times (5-12 km each time), and walked daily (2-5 km) in the fasted state. I also did push-ups and tri-cep dips on run days. So, I lost weight, got some lower back pain relief, and a peace & calm came over me that quieted the old addictive behavior tendencies that I had struggled with in the past. 

Eating fat definitely is something I learned my body wanted me to do, and I operated efficiently. I feel amazing, sleep soundly (and don’t need as much sleep), and am happier, healthier, and calmer than ever before. At the end of the 21 days, I knew I was done, for my energy levels were becoming depleted, and I found my workouts were harder to do, and I was just feeling fatigued.

Overall, would I do it again? Maybe, and with a daily check-in with a coach, I might. Raymond helped me daily on the after-noon social call. I was able to check in and bounce my experience off him daily, which was a huge help & encouragement. 

The Radical Fasting Carnivore,

Trudy