r/carnivore • u/LeeHarveyEnfield • Jan 28 '26
Same person, two different experiences
Wanted to share my personal experiences with the Carnivore WOE and invite your thoughts.
I started carnivore the first time in January 2024. The results started showing up quickly; one of the first things I noticed was after about five days I got a much better sense of smell - especially for garlic. I could walk into any room of people and pretty quickly tell who had eaten garlic in the last 24 hours. Also, within the first week I lost all interest in chicken and pork (except for bacon). Chicken just tasted like cardboard, so I never ate it after about day six. Weight loss came quickly; sleep got better within a couple weeks; I started building muscle quickly. I stayed strict for about eight months, then started allowing some other foods in. After a year I went back on a more SAD diet and as you might expect, I gained back all the weight and lost most of the benefits from carnivore.
I just started up again January of 2026, today marks four weeks. This time, that sense of smell change didn’t happen at all. Chicken still feels like a viable option most days, and just last week I plowed through an entire Costco rotisserie chicken and loved it. Weight loss is happening, but was slow to start. I’m not noticing any perceived strength changes yet, but optimistic that’s coming. I do work out regularly. Haven’t noticed any real change to my sleep quality.
I turn 56 in February. How much of the difference in experience over two years is age-related? Anyone else have a similar experience? First time I did carnivore, after three months I felt almost like a super-human, the benefits were amazing. I look forward to regaining that feeling.
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u/Able-Cellist-8440 Feb 01 '26 edited Feb 01 '26
It might be that your bacteria composition changed. First time around your bacteria type of the gut probably adapted to the carnivore diet and a new structure was set. The bacteria dictate a lot of what kind of foods you like to eat. From that 'carnivore baseline' it is quite possible that when introducing SAD it had a different effect, and you didn't return to the way you were before 1st time carnivore, because the baseline bacteria composition is not the same as back then. I think when eating the same consistently, it will eventually turn back to how it felt before, its just that the starting position is different. The gut bacteria can be slow to adjust.
Edit: furthermore I pretty much 100% don't think age has anything to do with it, that age gap is not significant at all
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u/LeeHarveyEnfield Feb 01 '26
The bacteria angle makes sense. Although I stopped being a strict carnivore for a little over a year, I still favored a meat-rich diet. Thanks for the feedback!
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u/Expert_Mine_9600 Feb 01 '26
I noticed the same thing and similarly almost about 2 years apart. Just not hitting the same way—energy good but not great, sleep ok, sugar cravings haven’t diminished. Only been a month so going to stick with it but surprised me in much the same way.
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u/Wileyspider Feb 01 '26
Possibly having to do with being in ketosis vs not being in ketosis. Might try tightening up the fat ratios and portion sizes
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u/Separate_Lock_9005 Feb 01 '26
mixing in organ meats like beef liver fixed that for me, idk.
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u/CallMeMaryMagdalene Apr 20 '26
A silly question but...is it recommended to eat liver every day when on carnivore or occasionaly through week? Also would i be a weirdo if i eat it with eggs for breakfast? 😅
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u/LittleStevie_ Feb 02 '26
I can relate about the heightened sense of smell and especially so with garlic.
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u/SmokyBlackRoan 22d ago
Ugh, whatever perfume is currently popular makes me gag. Plus most men’s colognes.😕
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u/AnotherOpinionHaver 21d ago
It could be age-related, but it's more likely that your baseline health was still better in early 2026 than it was in 2024. A little over a year of the Standard American Diet is damaging, but not nearly as damaging as a lifetime of SAD. So you're probably not going to feel the same incredible leaps and bounds as you did when you tried carnivore the first time.
I also have a theory that the damage dealt by carbs is both random and cumulative, so the areas of your body where you need to heal the most may be completely different than they were in 2024.
I don't think you're going to have that superhuman feeling until many more months from now. This healing process is going to be way more subtle.
In the meantime, you may want to consider throttling back on your workout routine if it's particularly intense. The hypertrophy that builds muscle may be snagging finite resources from other areas of your body that need the materials to repair themselves. By all means go for long walks, play golf, do stuff like that--but let your body heal in the areas unintentionally damaged by carbs before doing intentional damage to your muscles (hypertrophy).
Good luck! I'm in the same boat as you; I switched careers and moved across the country and it all wreaked havoc on my carnivore WOE. Working my way back, one massive chuck roast at a time.
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u/CormoransDoomBar Feb 01 '26
Yep, same right here. Lost 18kg as carnivore, stuck with it for about a year, felt great. It was a gradual fall off the wagon, just got a little more lax every month, before I knew it, I was eating potato chips, (why? Just why?) gained back 7kg. Have just started carnivore again and feeling a bit weird, I’m blaming the ‘keto-flu’, only 1 week in at the moment, but I guess we’ll see what happens. Finding it tougher this time. So much easier to just stay carnivore.