January, the month of fresh starts, forging new lifestyle habits to carry on for the rest of your life. The percentage of people that follow through with maintaining their new habits is relatively small. My own observations over the last five years indicate just after Valentine’s day is when most people fall off their new-found habits. Trash magazines will have all the fitness tips and trends for a better you in 2018. Guess what? They are the same as last year and the year before that. One word to remember for your fitness new year’s resolutions, consistency.

  • Consistently be active. Show up on a consistent basis, whether it’s the gym, yoga, martial arts, court sports or running outdoors.
  • Go to bed at a consistent time. Lack of sleep affects your diet, your energy and your metabolism.
  • Consistently prepare your own meals. People who make their own meals consume less sugar, fat and calories.
  • Consistently take time off. Your body and muscles need time between workouts and exercise to recovery and recharge.

I am a huge fan of the Joe Rogan experience. He occasionally has on academics from the health and fitness world to give insight into interesting topics. Recently he had Dr. Shawn Baker on to discuss his carnivore diet. If you are vegan/vegetarian you may not want to read any further. The carnivore diet is exactly what you think it is, a diet consisting of just meat. After further reading into it they have a challenge that does allow certain exceptions such as eggs, cheese, tea and coffee. This is a lengthy subject but I will do my best to summarize what I have found.

Primary macronutrients: High protein, moderate fat and no carbohydrate intake

Cost: Meat is not cheap, even more expensive is the grass-fed variety

Similar to: The ketogenic diet. The ketogenic diet works best on a moderate intake of protein and a slightly higher fat intake than what a carnivore diet. Both are extremely low carb but a high protein moderate fat diet does not necessarily result in ketosis (high fat, moderate protein does). If the carnivore diet does not put someone into ketosis it may not produce the same appetite suppressing effect. It then may be less beneficial then a ketogenic diet from a weight perspective.

Benefits: Weight loss. A typical north American diet is high in refined carbohydrates. If a caloric deficit is created by the reduction of carbohydrates weight loss is very likely to follow. The key to weight loss is actually following the diet. Few people reported lack of energy and cost as reasons why they dropped out of Dr. Bakers studies.

Cause for concern: There are not any advantages health wise over a balanced diet. Saturated fat is not as detrimental as once thought, but it is still important limit saturated fat intake. If weight loss is the goal and if that goal is met is this something that can be maintained for a lifetime? If not when hunger returns there is a higher chance some, if not all the weight returns. If you can maintain this dietary habit then keep it up! Be aware of meat quality, what is its source? Is it wild game or factory farmed? Marketing can be deceiving some foods labeled organic or ketogenic may be processed and higher in calories than their counterpart.

You can achieve weight loss without necessarily following a diet pattern that is so strict. The biggest challenge with these types of diets is sustainability and short-term change results in only short-term benefits.