Bryan has been struggling with his weight his entire life. Bryan says everyone in his family struggles with obesity. Bryan also says he has always been overweight and, at one point, weighed over five-hundred pounds. Bryan was diagnosed with gout at just twenty-four years old. Medical professionals at the time told Brian to eat a vegan diet, but Bryan gained over one hundred pounds instead of losing weight while following the vegan diet.
Bryan says he knew he didn’t want to get gastric bypass surgery, despite being obese. His mom had the surgery in the 1970s while in her thirties. Bryan says the gastric bypass procedure ultimately killed his mother. Her body wasn’t able to absorb the nutrients she needed. He says she died at just sixty-four years old, but at the time, because of her malnutrition, she looked like she was in her nineties.
Bryan tried following the Atkin’s diet in the 1990s, but it wasn’t sustainable. In 2017, he had a thoracotomy, which included removing fluid from the lungs. Bryan says his A1C was slightly elevated then, so he was on the hospital’s diabetic diet. To his surprise, the hospital recommended he consume over two hundred carbohydrates daily– despite being classified as a person with diabetes. Bryan says his first meal out of surgery included Fruit Loops and pancakes with syrup. He was shocked that the hospital would have him eating so many carbs and sugar.
Bryan took Metformin for some time but had to quit because it was causing his blood sugar to dip too low. By December 2018, Bryan said he was ready to make some changes to his health. He and his wife adopted the ketogenic diet, where they both lost weight. However, Bryan became frustrated as his weight stalled. One day he was speaking to a friend and sharing his frustrations with the keto diet. His friend told him, “the carnivore diet is much easier.”
Bryan started researching the carnivore diet, where he discovered Dr. Shawn Baker. Bryan and his wife embarked on their carnivore journey in 2019. Bryan says initially, they ate three meals a day, but eventually, he backed down to one meal a day after his weight stalled. Bryan says he is now lost almost 190 pounds. Bryan plans to lose forty more pounds and says his gout is nearly gone, just a flare-up here and there when he eats or drinks something he shouldn’t. Bryan also describes his lack of loose skin on the diet, which he attributes to his fasting.
Today, Bryan says most of his meals happen as soon as he wakes up and consist of a one-pound hamburger, egg, and cheese. He enjoys the simplicity of the carnivore diet and has been recommending the diet to family and friends. He speaks of a friend who is thirty-five days into his carnivore journey and has lost over forty pounds.
Bryan advises anyone looking to start the carnivore way of eating: “find people in your life who are on your side.” He speaks highly of his support system, especially his wife. He also suggests starting the carnivore diet by weighing yourself and taking measurements, then putting the scale and measuring tape away for thirty days. He says you will be astonished at how much your body can accomplish after thirty days.
Bryan is grateful he is regaining his health back. He says though he has experimented with some foods here and there, his health is too important to him to give up eating a meat-based diet. He says, “I’m glad I found the carnivore diet.”
