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So after losing 70 lbs 8 years ago, in 2015, using HCG, I’ve had four rounds of gaining some of the weight back, and then fighting to lose it. In all of these rounds I have learned so much about physiology, appetite regulation, food and carb addiction, and the science of weight loss.

Round #1 was actually not losing what I had just gained back. It was attempting to lose the last 15 lbs for my original goal with the 70 lb weight loss. I switched from HCG to keto. I had to stop HCG because the more you do it, with each bottle of the “secret sauce” lasting about 6 weeks, the less effective it becomes. I did four rounds. So I started the ketogenic diet and I did lose weight, I had to stop keto because I got heart palpitations. When I stopped the keto the heart palpitations went away, much to my relief.

Round #2 was doing Trim Healthy Mama. That didn’t work. You can read my story here about that. Much as I love Trim Healthy Mama, the diet involves too much food too often for my body physiology, which involves a tendency to high insulin resistance.

Round #3 was improved keto. I tried to resign myself to being at a certain weight and just eat normally. That lasted maybe 18 months? The weight gradually crept back on. So I tunred to keto again. I found out that a friend, Tammi Hyde, has a YouTube channel all about keto weight loss. I learned from her that I needed to use electrolytes in the form of salt. I started taking salt everyday with my keto diet and never got the heart palpitations. This was during COVID, the summer of 2020. I lost 25 lbs, doing keto combined with intermittent fasting. Then I moved to UT from AZ. That totally derailed me from my weight loss journey. In the back of my mind, I still had the goal to lose 25 more lbs but I just needed a break from concentrating on weight loss while I got settled into my new home, place, and routine. This took about two years, LOL.

At this point you may be wondering why I didn’t just go back to HCG if it worked for me the first time. Actually, I did. That was Round #4. Instead of the injections I did the first time, I tried sublingual HCG drops. I did lose weight, but it just wasn’t as fast as I wanted it to be. I’ve thought of using the injections but just haven’t wanted to spend the money for the increased cost of the injections. Plus it’s not very fun. You don’t get to eat any really satisfying food on HCG.

Ok, that leads me to Round #5. Round #5 is what I’m currently on and it’s working! I have lost 30 lbs since March 16 of this year. So that was four months ago. 30 lbs in four months is not an amazing record, but it’s working and sustainable and that’s what counts. I feel nourished and satisfied because I get to eat fatty, delicious food which cuts the cravings for sugar.

So what am I doing? It started off as the carnivore diet, as in zero carbs. On March 16 of this year, the day after my husband’s birthday (the last time I ate pizza and ice cream like a last fling with a lover) I started eating 100% meat, eggs, and dairy. I’ve learned that what works for me better, however, is keto, still heavy on the meat, but I’ve introduced some low carbs back in like zucchini, dill pickles, and tomatoes, combined with intermittent fasting. I can sustain it because the fatty meat suppresses my desires for high carbs. I’ve had a few days, in this spring and summer, like with my son’s wedding in TX, Father’s Day, and a family reunion where I’ve allowed myself to eat some high carby veggies and fruits, like potatoes and watermelon, but I’ve been able to get back on the diet bandwagon after the event is over. It helps to know that I can be a moderator and don’t have to be an abstainer.

My sister-in-law got me into being carnivore because she was doing it. Oh how people change! Ironically, this was the same sister-in-law who was vegan with me and her mother, my mother-in-law, in the late 1990s, for a few years. Yep, been there, done that, and don’t want to do it ever again! She shared with me that Dr. Ken Berry recommends the carnivore diet, as well as Jordan Peterson. Check out Jordan’s story below, as well as the photo of his wife Tammy. Oh to look that good in a bikini at age 60 plus! Wow!!!! Not that I would ever wear a bikini in public, but I’d like to know that I could and not be embarrassed, LOL! Check out everything she fixed by going carnivore. Amazing! My sister-in-law has eliminated her arthritis and food addiction by going carnivore. She loves it!

So how do I, as a practicing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who believes in the Word of Wisdom’s teaching to eat meat “sparingly, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine” reconcile that with eating carnivore? (See Doctrine and Covenants 89:13-14).

My husband, who I’ve taken along for this carnivor- turned-ketovore journey, told me, when I asked him how to reconcile the two, “Don’t even try. They just don’t go together.”

But I refuse to give up!

I reconcile the two by examining the meaning of the words “famine” and “winter.”

In specific, literal terms, famine is a time of lack of food. Winter is a time when it’s cold, even freezing, and therefore food doesn’t grow normally outside.

Let’s take those terms and apply them broadly.

In general, poetic terms, famine can mean a lack of anything. For those of us who suffer from insulin resistance, we lack insulin sensitivity. We are in a famine of insulin sensitivity, hence we easily have weight gain. We also lack the delicate hormonal balance that regulates normal appetite.

Winter can mean a time when anything is slow to grow because it’s so cold. So for those of us who suffer from insulin resistance, winter is a time of slow metabolism, when weight loss is slow to grow.

That’s where meat comes in. In the Word of Wisdom, it’s OK to eat meat in times of famine or winter. I interpret that to mean literal as well as figurative famine and winter.

I learned from Kelly Hogan who lost 200 lbs on the carnivore diet (see video above), to eat two servings of 1 lb of ground beef a day. When I started doing that, I immediately felt so nourished and satisfied. For a while I just ate meat and eggs for a few weeks. I found that fatty beef meat is soooo nutrient and flavor dense. I didn’t feel the need to eat carbs because just the meat and eggs were so satisfying. They are powerful foods, but when eaten with other foods, like carbs, their effect is blunted. When I just eat beef alone, my appetite gets suppressed. Like if I eat a bowl of 1 lb of cooked ground beef, I don’t want to eat anything more for a long time. But in the old days, when I ate like 1/4 lb of ground beef with other stuff, like salsa, lettuce, tortilla chips, and salsa, I always felt like having a second serving. This was an amazing discovery! So, after starting carnivore, I lost weight right away, about 16 pounds, in two weeks or so, but then I stalled.

As I did more research among the carnivore community, binge-watching carnivore YouTubers, I realized I needed to combine carnivore, (evolving to ketovore) with intermittent fasting for longer periods. Wow, that was just the ticket. I finally busted through a stall I had had for about a month. So now I’m at my wedding weight, of 30 plus years ago, and will keep going until I reach my ideal weight, which is 17 more pounds to go.

If you’d like to try carnivore, I highly suggest you watch this video right below, to learn how to start. Then watch the next video below with Kelly explaining how insulin works.