Weight gain

[Beata]

Hello Everyone,
This is my first post here. I commit ed to the Zero Carb lifestyle 56 days ago. I started from cooked meat and water only and slowly transitioned to raw beef, some raw liver and water.

I eat about 1.5 pound of muscle meat daily (30% fat) and 50g liver 3 times per week. The problem is constant weight gain. So far I gained about 10 pounds. I started from 117.6 pounds at 5.4' height, 52 y.o. female. I came to this woe from keto and 'conventional' paleo because of constant sensation of hunger. The hunger is now under control but the weight gain unwelcome. And no, it is not only muscle weight. Plenty of new cushioning called fat.

I eat 2 meals a day, eat till satisfied but not stuffed, experience healthy hunger between the meals, drink water when thirsty and do not cheat.

I will appreciate your comments, ideas and experiences.

[van]

your fat protein ratio should be reversed.   You are most likely gaining weight due to the excess protein being converted to sugar and stimulating insulin, thus storing fat.    Try 70-80 percent calories from fat, ideally soft yellow grass fed beef fat.

  But there aren't many here that would suggest a truly zero carb approach.  Dark good tasting lettuces, radishes, leeks, dandelion, avocados, garlic, cucumbers, tomatoes,cabbages, arugula.... and other low glycemic raw veggies, with some fruit may be a more balanced approach to take.

[Projectile Vomit]

Looks like Van beat my post by a few seconds. At any rate, my take is about the same as his. My first guess is that you're eating way to much protein, given the diet you listed. When we eat more protein than out body needs, our kidneys turn the excess into sugar. When we have sugar in our bloodstream that we don't need for fuel, our bodies can turn it into fat and store it. If we don't get much exposure to cold, this will likely be white fat, which is slow to disappear because it's not metabolically active.

My advice, as unpleasant as it might sound to you, is to make some substantial changes to your daily diet. I'd first suggest adding in a little carbs, as they can help convince the body you aren't about to starve and keep your metabolic rate up. Eating carbs from raw root vegetables like Jerusalem artichokes, onions, sweet potatoes, beets, etc. will add a lot of fiber to your diet, which your gut bacteria will turn into short chain fatty acids. These make great fuel, and will help to coax your body to burn more fat as fuel. My next suggestion is to reduce your protein intake to just barely what your body needs to replace/repair muscle and other tissues. There are equations you can use to estimate what this is. My guess is that for you it is probably no more than 6 ounces of meat/organs per day. The rest of your calories should come from fat.

Getting all of your daily calories from fat and carbs will likely involve eating a lot more fat than you're used to. It might mean eating a stick of butter every day if you're into dairy, or eating a sizable chunk of suet or back fat from a grazing animal if you can get it.

I would also suggest regular cold exposure, especially on your upper chest and upper back. This will turn your white fat into brown, metabolically active fat that has more mitochondria in it. The more brown fat you have, the easier it will be to burn fat and to reduce your body fat percentage. You can start with cold showers, then you will probably want to transition to ice water baths or swims in cold (under 50 degrees F) streams or lakes.

Good luck!

[Beata]

Thank you, Van and Eric for your reply. I am burning in shame as I made a silly mistake. My proteins to fat ratio is about 30/70 which is about 150g proteins, and 1.5 lbs of meat daily. Any less - and I am ravenous. Inspired by Lex's journey I wonder Eric, if vegetables are necessary?
I am also familiar with the Ice Man cold treatment; did it for about 2 months before ZC. Might give it a try- but will need to convince myself. Brrrr.

My blood glucose seems to stabilize at about 5 mmol/l. Interestingly, it for a while it was 1 point higher in the morning.
So, unless the amount of meat I am eating is way to high, at this point I still don't know what is happening.
I wonder if anyone here has a similar predicament with weight gain on meat only diet.

[Projectile Vomit]

What muscle meats are you eating that yield 30% fat? Are we talking by weight, or by calories? Reading through the numbers you're offering us, I see many discrepancies and am struggling to make sense of it.

[Beata]

Eric, I buy a large grass fed beef chuck roll and slice it into portions. The cronometer says that today's daily portion of 700g (1.5lbs) is 30% of proteins and 70% of fat by calories which is 162 g (5.7 oz) proteins and 180 g (6.3oz) of fat.
This is what I have daily, other than when I add a small piece of liver (under 2 oz) 3 times per week. Also on occasion I have a couple of small marrow bones which adds some more fat to the daily meal.

[goodsamaritan]

Are you on any form of birth control chemicals / hormones?
Are you on any form of medication?
When was the last time you were on birth control or any medication and what was it?
Have you had any surgery, organs removed, disabled such as "tubes tied?"

[Beata]

1. No hormonal birth control ever. Progesterone drops since menopause.
2. I take thyroid medications, both synthetic and natural desiccated thyroid.  My thyroid function test was perfect 30 days into the ZC (the best values ever, including TSH, T4 and T3).
3. Never had a surgery and am happy to own all of my organs.

I lead a very natural lifestyle and avoid chemicals both in personal care and household cleaning.

Your line of questions seems to search for physiological causes oh my weight gain.  I am generally very healthy and rarely if ever take any medications (other than thyroid). Very occasional aspirin is all I take as far as the pills.

Any other ideas? I have a hard time believing that i am the only one on the ZC diet gaining weight.

[a_real_man]

1.5 pounds seems like a lot for your weight and age. Judging by Principia Carnivora fb page, most adult heavy males only manage to eat 1-1.5 pounds.

Personally, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps you are underweight.

[goodsamaritan]

Google for

"progesterone drops side effects"

You get

However, progesterone can cause many side effects including stomach upset, changes in appetite, weight gain, fluid retention and swelling (edema), fatigue, acne, drowsiness or insomnia, allergic skin rashes, hives, fever, headache, depression, breast discomfort or enlargement, premenstrual syndrome (PMS)-like symptoms, ...

[goodsamaritan]

You could probably elaborate more on what Thyroid Medication you are taking over the years and why.

Thus you taking both medications above are factors in your health.

Ideally you want to get into a diet that gives you the best stuff you need so you eliminate all medication.

Medication just screws up the predictability of the body healing.

[Beata]

a_real_man. Thank you for your feedback. I am not sure how you got this information? I just checked the files of the Principia Carnivora and read that it is advisable to eat meat until satiety and drink when thirsty. Also from the posts is appears that most of the people seems to consume around 2 pounds of meet. Many eat 4 pounds.
Do you think that eating less would allows me to be satiated, stop gaining and also provide enough nutrients?

[Beata]

goodsamaritan. Thank you for your reply. Before I take any supplement or medicine, I do extensive research. I don't always believe everything I Google.
Let me remind that the weight gain happened SINCE I started the Zero Carb diet. I have been taking the Natural Progesterone for many years now as I was estrogen dominant. It helped tremendously since menopause.
My thyroid has been a problem for all of my life. My mother and grandmother, and great grandmother all were hypothyroid. Yes, I would love to 'cure it' with diet and this is why I came into raw Zero Carb. So far I have not been successful but it is early days yet, as I started this woe on July 13.
My blood tests showed that my body was not producing sufficient T4 and T3 giving me many terrible symptoms. So, this is the reason i was prescribed medication.

Don't you  think that the improvement in thyroid functions should precede dropping of the medication and not the other way around?
Do you think that the raw Zero Carb diet is not appropriate to elicit the healing?

[ys]

Not sure who told you about 2-4lb of meat per day.  Most people on this forum are not ZC.  The only other person I know who is kind of ZC is Lex.

ZC is way too extreme long term. There is a reason our gut is full of plant digesting enzymes.

[Beata]

Thanks, ys. I came across this forum through a link straight to Lex's journal and had an impression - wrong one apparently - that this is a ZC community.
I am curious if anyone on raw paleo experiences unwelcomed weight gain? Will do some reading....

[rami999]

you need to increase protein and  carbs amount in your diet