How Much Meat to Eat on a Carnivore Diet?

The carnivore diet is perfect for people who love meat enough to eat it on all three meals. In this diet, you eat animal food products and restrict anything else. That means that you consume a lot of protein and fats but no carbohydrates.

The foods that one can eat in a carnivore diet is:

1. Meat
2. Fish
3. Eggs
4. Low-lactose dairy
5. Bone marrow
6. Animal-based fats
7. Seasoning herbs and condiments

Since all you are consuming is meat, how much can be too much? Well, the answer to this will depend on person to person. The food you eat in a day is based on your body weight, metabolism, physiology, and need from the carnivore diet. 

The one indicator of how much meat you should be eating should be your satiety response. The carnivore diet recommends eating till you no longer feel the need to eat. Listening to your body is a good indicator of how much food you should be eating. Also, when you eat foods high in protein, you will automatically feel less hungry and feel full faster. 

So, follow two rules:

• Eat when hungry and stop as soon as you feel full.
• If you regularly have three meals a day, then stick to that. If you can do well with 2 meals per day, you might as well do that. The number of meals you have does not matter; what matters is the quality of food and your energy levels.

It is important to note that when you start with the carnivorous diet, you might see an increase in your appetite, it is normal, and you should not intentionally restrict the calorie intake. If we measure an average diet, you can expect to have anywhere between 2lbs to 4lbs of meat per day. However, more than this can also happen if you have bigger body proportions.

If you want to calculate how many calories you should be eating, we suggest sticking to your daily calorie goals. The only difference will be that your calories from carbohydrates will be swapped for fats and proteins from the animals. There is nothing like too much food with the carnivorous diet because your body will automatically direct you.

People looking to reduce weight should keep a check on the amount of meat they consume, but being overly obsessed over the calories you consume is unnecessary here.

What Should Be Your Meal Pattern?

The kind of meals you eat with the carnivorous diet depends on how often you feel hungry. There is no such thing as mealtime and snack time with this diet. We eat most of the time because our body has been trained to eat, not because we are hungry. With carnivorous diets, this is not the case. You eat when you are hungry, till you are full. 

It was seen that on average, 70% of the people who follow a carnivorous diet eat 2 meals per day, 20% can just live on 1 meal per day, and the rest 10% eat 3 meals a day. So, there is no such thing as how often you should eat. You just need to eat enough to feel full. 

Also, when it comes to snacking on a carnivorous diet, there is a rare chance that you will even feel the need to snack with the fat and protein you are taking in your diet. However, there can be cases where people continuously feel hungry throughout the day. To avoid this, you can:

• Eat bigger meals

• Increase the frequency of your meals

Snacking in some people also happens because of the habit that has been formed over the years. Every time you feel the need to snack, try and think if you are actually hungry and if yes, then eat a meal rather than a snack. If you cannot let go of your snacking habit, then eating baked meat can be a good option. Avoid eating fried or meat products cooked in vegetable oils.

You should plan your food around your day-to-day life. It is just a matter of time before your body adapts to the new eating style. Plan out two meals a day if you feel comfortable with two meals a day. If you feel satisfied with 1, 3, 4, or even 5 meals a day, there is no right or wrong eating pattern. You need to focus on what you eat rather than when you eat.

To Sum Up

A carnivorous diet is effortless to follow. You need to just focus on what you eat rather than how much you eat. Follow the golden rule of ‘eat when hungry, stop when full’. Even if your diet increases in the initial days, it is a part of the process, and your body will soon adapt. Also, there is no mealtime decided for the carnivorous diet, so you can eat once, twice, thrice, or as many times as you want to, depending on your appetite.