My Belief in Calories In/Calories Out Theory
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From my teenage years, I fully believed in the calories in/calories out theory. I believed that carbs were good for you and I looked pretty good. I even competed in a bodybuilding tournament (all natural, no steroid show).
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My Active Lifestyle and Healthy Eating Habits
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I played semi-professional soccer and competed at a reasonable level in tennis (winning one singles tournament). As I got older, I began running and being really active. I did not smoke or drink. I ate porridge with skimmed milk and bananas and freshly squeezed orange juice.
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Healthy eating was my thing. On a trip to the United States, I had egg white omelettes for the first time. I was the poster boy for calories in/calories out. I avoided fat. I even did 6 months on a soy-based diet (worst I had ever felt).
Unexplained Health Issues
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I got into running and even in my forties was running some great times. I include this because even though I was doing all this, I was getting fatter! Also, I was getting sicker. Nothing seemed to make sense.
Heart Scare and High Risk Score
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I suffered from the following: rashes to the forehead, athletes foot (for over 10 years), pains in the lower right quadrant (I had a colonoscopy), I developed a cataract, I was pre-diabetic, and I was overweight.
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Yet I was eating right and doing activity and not smoking nor drinking? The final straw was having a heart scan. The CAC is the ultimate measure of how well your heart is doing. My score was 639.
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This is the highest possible risk (you want it to be zero) and it was made apparent that according to my score, I was likely to have a heart attack before I left the hospital!
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The bands of risk go 0-100, 100-200, 200-300, and high risk is 300-400. I was above the high risk. The point being, it really is high.
Misconceptions About Food
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So I did research and saw that I’d been misled about food. I dropped the carbohydrates, starch, and fruit and saw immediate improvements.
- My weight dropped dramatically in just three weeks when I decided to go full carnivore!
- My athletes foot went
- My pain in my stomach went away
- My rashes on my forehead, gone.
- My hunger diminished
- I started to eat more! (but the right things)
- Bowel movements improved
- I noticed a complete lack of gas!
The less carbohydrates I ate the better I felt and looked. I am lucky that I am in the health and fitness industry so I can take my bloods and as a qualified phlebotomist can look at my results and interpret them. All my bloods improved.
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I then tried zero carb and tracked my testosterone and other markers. My testosterone went up by over 30% in 2 months.
Losing Fat and Gaining Muscle
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Further Improvements: I wanted to now add more muscle and decrease body fat percentage further. This I have been able to do. Losing fat and gaining muscle required eating more “calories” than recommended.
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Yes, you can lose fat while eating more food, as long as it is the right food. I tracked my body composition for the next phase. Muscle up, body fat down, bone mass up, and visceral fat down. I intend to keep eating this way; I have never felt so good!
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Yes you can lose fat while eating more food, as long as it is the right food. I tracked my body composition for the next phase. Muscle up, body fat down, bone mass up and visceral fat down. I intend to keep eating this way, I have never felt so good.
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I hope you found my story interesting.
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Stephen T
January 2020
6 thoughts on “Stephen improved his muscle mass, digestion, and skin on a carnivore diet”
When do you plan to re-test your CAC assessment? Hope you post follow ups.
I am hoping to re-test on my 56th birthday. In the Uk they limit radiation exposure so I can’t have one sooner!
Wow, this is a great story with proof and everything. Thank you so much for sharing this! 🙂
Nice banana hammock. 🙂
Please post your CAC scan results when you have next one – thanks
very impressive.im trying the diet but have been gaining weight.how often do you eat in a day and where do you receive the cac ? thanks