Zero Carb Diet Plan - My First 30 Days! (2024)

Sometime in the last week of February 2015, I was directed to a blog called My Zero Carb Life written by Kelly Williams Hogan (there will be links at the bottom of this article).

In 2015 I was still wrapping my head around Keto and the idea of losing weight with so much fat and then these people who just eat meat come along! I think they were there the whole time, I just didn’t notice. And it blew my mind!

Ya, ya so dramatic, I know! That day I read that whole blog, and I mean every single article in it.

I immediately knew I had to at least try it and I starting eating what they called Zero Carb but everyone else in the Keto world calls Carnivore.

I lost 12 lbs the first week which was pretty amazing for someone who complained of a slow metabolism!

This happened without tracking anything in My Fitness Pal, not even once. I didn’t count carbs or felt like I had to eat anything at the end of the day to get my fat up or tweak one single effin thing about what I put into my mouth!

It was both the easiest thing I had ever done in my life as well as the hardest!

So What Did I Eat on the Zero Carb Carnivore Diet Plan Anyways?

The first thing that I want to stress is that the Zero Carbers use the term zero carb, but the goal is not about ‘eating zero carbs’. They don’t count carbs at all.

The goal of zero carb is to eat foods only from the animal kingdom. We are talking about meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and if you can tolerate it, some dairy.

And none of this lean meat stuff either. Untrimmed meat with fat. Eat the skin on the chicken! Leave the expensive lean ground beef on the shelf and get the fattier stuff.

No sweeteners, no chemicals, no processed food, no fruits, vegetables, grains, nothing but basically meat and water.

How can anyone get excited about meat and water?

I don’t know, but I did! I can’t explain it, I know I am still sane, at least I think so. I think sometimes these things are all about timing.

Maybe if I had read that blog a few months ago, a year ago or whatever, I would have just said wow, this Kelly Hogan, what a crackpot. But I didn’t.

She talked about giving up sweeteners (something I have struggled on and off with for years) and so I knew I had to do that and I didn’t have a single drop or granule of sweetener the entire 30 days.

And even though I am not strict carnivore any more, to this day I drink my coffee black.Which is a small miracle!

Carnivores don’t measure or weigh anything. They eat until they are full and then they stop. When they are thirsty they drink water.

That’s it, that is the zero carb diet plan. It’s as simple as that.

So how did I do on that 30 days?

30 Days of Zero Carb Carnivore Eating

So that first week after reading Kelly’s blog, I gave up sweeteners but I still ate a salad with my meat. Then one day I ate a pickle because we all know that pickles have no carbs right. Then I ate another one, then another and then I was off to binge land.

When it was over I knew. I knew I was one of those people who are hyper sensitive to carbs of any kind, even the good ones.

So for the rest of the 30 days, I stuck to just meat, no salads. I also ate eggs, but stayed clear of dairy. I’m not gonna lie, it was tough!

Although I was never able to give up coffee, I never thought I could actually drink it without sweetener. I typically ate meat, as much as I wanted, as well as eggs and some cheese.

Some people seriously eat just meat. No cheese and maybe even no eggs. Meat and water.

I have since found out that there are some different sub camps in the Carnivore world.

What are the different types of Carnivore Diet?

If you are Carnivore Curious, then this list might make you feel better and offer a path to get started if the idea of meat and water only scares you.

• Strict Carnivore. Also called Zero Carb and Lion Diet. This is the meat (focus on beef) and water plan.
• Standard Carnivore. Includes meat of all kinds, dairy, eggs, spices and coffee (if wanted).
• Keto Carnivore. Also called Relaxed Carnivore or Carnivore-ish. It is like Standard Carnivore with some plant items, mostly treated like condiments. For example sauces made with avocado oil or maybe some bbq sauce with your ribs, jalapenos on top of your ground beef, that sort of thing.

How did Carnivore help me moving forward?

I want to be transparent about this. I have periods of time where I am Relaxed Carnivore but I am mostly Keto. I like to do Carnivore challenges on a regular basis because I feel it keeps me on track better and helps with inflammation.

Read here how following a Carnivore diet benefits women.

I have learned so much from trying this way of eating and have received great benefit from it.

• I am no longer dependent on sweeteners to get me through the day. This was something I fought for years!
• I no longer use heavy cream in my coffee and I now generally consume a minimum amount of dairy.
• Meat is the mainstay of my diet and all other carbs and veggies are seconday.
• I think twice and three times before eating any processed foods, keto or otherwise.

I would highly encourage anyone who is curious just to give it a try, even if just for a 30 Day Challenge and see what happens! You might not be ready to be 100% Carnivore but that doesn’t mean you won’t benefit. It might be just the thing you need!

Where can you learn more about the Carnivore/Zero Carb way of life?

Since you haven’t run screaming from this page here are some links for you to do further research:

Kelly’s blog My Zero Carb life

I’ve put together some Carnivore Diet Resources here that include authors, youtube channels and tools that I have found to be helpful.

This book is a great resource for anyone who wants to learn more about the Carnivore diet.

Recipes You can use for Zero Carb or Carnivore Eating

What is the Carnivore Diet? Zero Carb Diet Results