As an avid weightlifter since the age of 15, Elliot, now 33, is no stranger to nutrition, dieting and fitness. “I’ve always enjoyed weightlifting”, he shares, “and I used to love calorie counting and weighing literally everything I ate to the exact gram. I always had success with everything I tried, but as I got older, it didn’t come as easy for me.”
At age 26, Elliot suffered a fall and completely destroyed his wrist. “They almost had to amputate it,” he recalls, “I had one of the top 10 surgeons in the country, and he told me I’d never be able to lift weights again.” For Elliot, this was devastating news, but he wasn’t about to give up. During his months-long recovery, he gained a significant amount of weight and at 5’11” weighed 235 pounds.
As soon as he regained some movement in his hand, he said, “Screw this, I’m getting back to the gym!” Elliot’s determination to reclaim his fitness motivated him to take up running to lose as much weight as he could. However, something was off. “I got shredded again, but I got this awful feeling and would crash afterwards. I just couldn’t do all the cardio any more, it was awful. That’s when I found keto, and became fully committed to it.”
For the next few years, Elliot followed a ketogenic diet and focused his macros around fat intake over protein and carbs. “I didn’t miss carbs, but I felt I was missing protein. I realized I was always hungry, and tried to add coconut oil and butter, but it was just a pain to keep that up. In the gym, I never had strength and would get fatigued very quickly, even years into it.” Aside from a few breaks while on vacation, Elliot remained committed to low-carb eating, but began looking for a way to regain his strength to enhance his performance at the gym.
After another injury, this time while doing military presses at the gym, Elliot severely injured his shoulder. “I got to the point where I couldn’t do squats, deadlifts, or any shoulder workouts,” he explains. “It was affecting everything, and I was in pain all of the time. It hurt just to walk and comb my hair.” It was then he discovered the carnivore diet, and how it could effectively treat joint pain. “I love trying stuff, let’s do it!” he said to himself.
“Five days later, no joke, my shoulder and knee pain were gone! I haven’t felt them since,” Elliot is pleased to report. He’s been following the carnivore diet for 3 months, and is amazed at how effective it is for his joint pain. “I’ve had some back pain for 15 years, and even that has reduced by 25 to 50 percent on any given day, which if you have back pain, you know that’s a huge improvement.”
Elliot was pleased to find that his strength and performance at the gym have also greatly improved, a far cry from what the surgeon had predicted years before. “My deadlift weight has increased from 315 pounds to 405 pounds, which is huge for me.” He encourages others who may have similar issues to try the carnivore diet as well. “Just give it five days and see how you feel. It’s absolutely worth it, and it gets better the longer you follow it. It helps with joint pain, strength, and back pain. If you’re interested and have any of those issues, I say give it a shot!”
