You've heard all good things about the popular carnivore diet, but the real question is, will it work for you, too?
I think it's time you find out.
Of course, with this diet's unconventional carnivore menu, you need to have a diet plan and stick with it.
Along with other meat experts, I came up with this 28-day carnivore diet meal plan to help fellow carnivore advocates like you.
Quick Summary
- 28-day carnivore diet meal plan focuses on various animal products, emphasizing good fats, and gradually transitioning to beef-only meals.
- To succeed in the carnivore diet, preparation is vital. This involves setting clear goals, planning meals in advance, exploring different meat cuts, and managing social events and eating out.
- The meal plan provides weekly guidelines for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, suggesting fatty cuts and organ meats.
How To Prepare Your Carnivore Diet Meal Plan
The following four carnivore diet meal plan tips have helped us a lot to stay motivated and achieve some secondary goals in the full carnivore diet meal.
That is the potential to lose weight, get rid of unnecessary body fat, and gain a little muscle without losing the necessary micronutrients. Now let's get into it.
1. Know Your Why
Before you start to eat the strict carnivore diet keto way, it’s vital to set your goals. Remember that this is a lifestyle change - no plants, no carbs, only animal products, and lots of good fat.
Whether it’s to reach your desired body weight, reduce body fat, fight food allergies, combat an autoimmune disease, or build some lean muscle, you need to know why you're getting into the keto carnivore diet in the first place.
You have to set yourself a concise carnivore diet meal plan goal based on your needs.
Maybe it’s to lose 20 lbs before you go on a summer vacation or like gain 5 pounds of lean muscle in 6 months - whatever it is, strictly stick to eating the carnivore diet meal plan throughout the whole process.
Read More: Studies on the Carnivore Diet
2. Plan To Commit To The Carnivore Diet Meal Plan
To eat a high animal fat, keto carnivore diet meal plan for more than a few days or weeks takes full dedication and commitment.
The worst thing you can do on the carnivore diet is just take it day by day and leave it until the morning to figure out what you’ll be eating next.
Instead, set yourself clear goals for the week and use a diet planner and carnivore diet food list to prepare ahead on what animal products to eat.
You can also take a little extra time to find new types of animal meat cuts you might like and preparation methods to add a bit more variety to your animal meat diet.
You can even experiment with eating animal organs (like cow's liver or heart) to explore more diet options and experience new flavors.
If you’re not keen on preparing your carnivore diet staple meals while on the carnivore diet for weight loss, you can take advantage of meat delivery services.
It’s a convenient way to jumpstart your carnivore diet, and most importantly, you get quality beef, chicken, or pork based on your body's needs.
Meat delivery services available:
- ButcherBox (Our #1 recommended delivery service)
- Snake River Farms
- Crowd Cow Co
- Porter Road
3. Social Life Preparations
The fact is eating in social engagements used to be one of our most dreaded situations while on a carnivore diet.
If you eat like at a dinner party and tell them you eat a box of donuts every morning, eat McDonald's for lunch, and pizza for dinner, people won't criticize you too much.
However, when you tell people that you have a carnivore diet meal plan it involves eating mostly red meat, animal fat, and zero plant foods, the whole table will go on the attack due to your preferred diet.
Tell people you’re doing it because of many food allergy issues, and you’re experimenting with the carnivore diet to isolate the underlying causes.
Even with this approach, you’ll still get comments from many people like: “You’re completely crazy for not eating fruits and vegetables, and it’s so irresponsible.”
In this case, we find the best thing that works is to ask whether they are concerned with their health or yours.
Nine times out of ten, this works for us.
4. Dining Out
The good news for people on the carnivore diet is that there are many restaurants you can eat out with quality wellness meats that will cater to your needs.
Eating in steak and BBQ restaurants is probably your best bet.
But be sure to avoid processed animal meats. Eating processed foods is not allowed in the carnivore diet for weight loss.
You just need to be careful of the way the dishes are prepared. The important thing is to avoid eating anything that contains sauces or is stir-fried with vegetables when on a carnivore diet.
Unfortunately, as a carnivore, you’ll most likely avoid eating out in many Chinese and Indian restaurants as pretty much all their dishes are heavy with salt and sauces.
When we started our carnivore dietmeal plan, what we usually do is check out the menus online.
As long as we see many steaks and filet mignon available, we'd be happy to eat there.
The first thing that attracted me to the carnivore diet was the menu. I like meat and other fatty foods and don’t have too much of a sweet tooth anymore. Therefore, it seemed like it would be easy for me to maintain.
- Mike Fishbein, Blogger
After you’ve written down your fitness goals (whether it's to lose weight or bulk up), the next step is to set a timeline to get started on the zero-carb, carnivore diet journey.
Now it’s time to help you out and plan your carnivore diet meat plan consumption for every day of the week. We’ll list out a daily meal prep based on breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with the amount of food you’ll eat. The carnivore diet food list will also help you when you create your animal meat diet meal plan.
This is based on people with average height and size. If you have extreme weight loss or muscle mass gain, then you will need to adjust these.
Also, if you find you’re still hungry after eating these portions, then you may gradually increase the amounts of food in your animal meat diet for long-term results.
Week 1 Diet Plan and Carnivore Diet Food List
We advise people starting on the carnivore diet to take a 3-level approach elimination way of eating where over several weeks, you work towards a beef-only diet.
This isn't the same as many of your regular plant-based or low-carb diets, after all.
For the 4-week carnivore diet meal plan, we will gradually change the meat selection to get you to level 3 by the end of the week.
The first mistake to avoid, and something you will notice below, is that you shouldn’t stay away from fats or fatty meat.
Saturated fat is not your enemy, and there are increasing studies that show the culprit is sugar when it comes to heart disease. [1] Shawn Baker writes about this a lot in his book, you can see my full review here.
You will notice this week on this carnivore diet that we still have some dairy products we can eat. This will help you adjust and stay focused during the initial stages of your diet.
Also, you must have one pint of drinking water with every meal as well as one pint of water in between meals. One pint is equivalent to 470 mL. That’s a total of five pints (2400 mL) of water per day or more.
| - | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 5 slices of bacon (4 ounces) 1-2 100% pork sausages (3 ounces) | The grilled beef burger patty only (10 ounces) with a slice of cheese | Four fresh racks of lamb (12 ounces) |
| Tuesday | 3 grilled 100% pork sausages (5 ounces) 3 slices of bacon (4 ounces) | Roasted salmon cutlets on the bone (15 ounces) with butter | Grilled porterhouse steak (12 ounces) with butter |
| Wednesday | Grilled trout fillets (10 ounces) with butter | Roasted pork belly (10 ounces) | Slow roast topside of beef (12 ounces) |
| Thursday | Grilled ground beef burger patty (8 ounces) with cheese | Roast salmon cutlets on the bone (15 ounces) with butter | Grilled porterhouse steak (12 ounces) |
| Friday | 2 grilled chicken breasts with skin (8 ounces) | Grilled trout fillets (16 ounces) | Slow roast topside of beef (12 ounces) |
| Saturday | 3 grilled 100% pork sausages (5 ounces) 3 slices of bacon (4 ounces) | 4 fresh lamb chops (12 ounces) | Grilled ribeye steak (12 ounces) |
| Sunday | 2 grilled chicken breasts with skin (8 ounces) | 4 pork chops fried or grilled (12 ounces) | Grilled ribeye steak (12 ounces) |
Shopping list for the week:
- Butter: 1lbs
- Cheese: 1/2 lbs
- Trout: 26 ounces
- Bacon: 12 ounces
- Pork chops: 12 ounces
- Pork belly: 10 ounces
- Lamb Chops: 24 ounces
- Chicken breasts
- Beef (Grounded): 18 ounces
- Porterhouse steak: 24 ounce
- Ribeye steak: 24 ounce
- Topside of beef: 24 ounces
- 100% pork sausages: 13 ounces
- Salmon cutlets: 30 ounces (or other fatty fish)
Week 2 Diet Plan and Shopping List
During the second carnivore diet week, we’re going to be removing most of the milk byproducts on our carnivore diet meal.
We’ll still allow some butter to be used in cooking, but dairy foods like cheese should be gone by now.
We would also suggest that you start experimenting a little with the way you're eating other animal foods.
For the beef, move to the rare side of cooking as this will preserve high amounts of nutritional value.
The more you cook these, the more the protein, nutrients, minerals, and vitamins break down.
We’ll still be keeping a mix of seafood, poultry, pork, lamb, and grass-fed beef, but we’ll add in some organ meats as well.
Some people starting on a carnivore diet meal may be a bit squeamish about this, but if you look up the nutrients they contain, you might change your mind. These are a few things to consider if you don't want to try organ meats.
You may also ask your butcher to cut them into slices. We found this helped initially, as it will just look like any other cut of meat.
| - | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 2 grilled chicken breasts with skin (8 ounces) | Slow roast topside of beef (12 ounces) | 4 fresh lamb chops (12 ounces) |
| Tuesday | Grilled ground beef burger patty (8 ounces) | Roast salmon cutlets on the bone (15 ounces) | Grilled ribeye steak (8 ounces) + roasted beef liver (4 ounces) |
| Wednesday | 5 slices of bacon (4 ounces) 1-2 100% pork sausages (3 ounces) | Grilled porterhouse steak (12 ounces) with butter | Slow roast topside of beef (12 ounces) |
| Thursday | Grilled ribeye steak (12 ounces) | 3 grilled chicken breasts with skin (12 ounces) | Grilled ground beef burger patty (12 ounces) |
| Friday | Grilled sirloin steak (8 ounces) with butter | Slow roast topside of beef (8 ounces) + roasted beef liver (4 ounces) | 4 pork chops fried or grilled (12 ounces) |
| Saturday | Grilled ground beef burger patty (8 ounces) | Roast salmon cutlets on the bone (15 ounces) with butter | Grilled sirloin steak (12 ounces) |
| Sunday | Grilled ribeye steak (8 ounces) | Slow roast topside of beef (12 ounces) | 3 grilled chicken breasts with skin (12 ounces) + roasted beef liver (4 ounces) |
Shopping list for the week:
- Chicken breasts: 32 ounces
- Topside of beef: 44 ounces
- Lamb chops: 12 ounces
- Ribeye steak: 28 ounces
- Ribeye steak: 24 ounce
- 100% pork sausages: 3 ounces
- Porterhouse steak: 12 ounces
- Pork chops: 12 ounces
- Beef's liver: 12 ounces
- Salmon cutlets: 30 ounces (or other fatty fish)
Week 3 Diet Plan and Shopping List
For the third week of the carnivore diet, we’re removing all the milk byproducts left, and we’ll slightly increase the shift towards cow's meat.
You’ll notice that there are fewer carnivore diet staple meals covered by fish and poultry, and we’ll even add in a beef-only day in preparation for next week.
At this stage, you should also be eating your grass-fed beef at least medium-rare to get most of the vitamin, protein, and micronutrient benefits.
You will have cooked many kinds of beef and should be getting used to judging other animal foods better.
What you can also do is cut your steaks in half and then cook one part medium-rare and the other medium-well.
One thing you should notice is that there is a lot more flavor to the medium-rare part, even with just salt to season.
We're also introducing a bit more organ meat into the carnivore diet mix. Eating organ parts is highly beneficial to balance your efforts when on an animal meat carnivore diet, even though they are lower in fat.
From one serving of eating liver or kidney, you can get more nutrients and vitamins, especially Vitamin B12 and Vitamin A, than most plant foods, and it's more than your daily needs.
Also, the raw liver does contain some Vitamin C. You won't believe the nutrition these organs can give to the body.
| - | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Grilled Beef (Grounded) burger patty (8 ounces) | Slow roast topside of beef (8 ounces) + roasted beef liver (4 ounces) | Roast salmon (or other fatty fish) cutlets on the bone (15 ounces) |
| Tuesday | 5 slices of bacon (4 ounces) 1-2 100% pork sausages (3 ounces) | Grilled ground beef burger patty (12 ounces) | Grilled porterhouse steak (12 ounces) |
| Wednesday | Grilled ribeye steak (8 ounces) | Grilled ground beef burger patty (12 ounces) | 4 pork chops fried or grilled (12 ounces) |
| Thursday | Grilled porterhouse steak (8 ounces) | 3 grilled chicken breasts with skin (12 ounces) | Slow roast topside of beef (8 ounces) + slow cooked beef Kidney (4 ounces) |
| Friday | Grilled ground beef burger patty (8 ounces) | Grilled ribeye steak (8 ounces) + roasted beef liver (4 ounces) | Grilled porterhouse steak (12 ounces) |
| Saturday | 3 fresh lamb chops (8 ounces) | Grilled ground beef burger patty (12 ounces) | Slow roast topside of beef (12 ounces) |
| Sunday | Grilled ribeye steak (8 ounces) | Grilled ground beef burger patty (12 ounces) | Slow roast topside of beef (8 ounces) + slow cooked beef Kidney (4 ounces) |
Shopping list for the week:
- Chicken breasts: 12 ounces
- Topside of beef: 36 ounces
- Lamb chops: 8 ounces
- Salmon cutlets: 15 ounces
- Ribeye steak: 24 ounces
- Bacon: 4 ounces
- 100% pork sausages: 3 ounces
- Porterhouse steak: 32 ounces
- Beef's liver: 8 ounces
- Beef Kidney: 8 ounces
Week 4 Diet Plan and Shopping List
If you’ve made it this far on the carnivore diet, then you can start looking forward to noticing some health benefits from animal foods.
You should be feeling a lot more active physically with increased levels of concentration as a result of your metabolism having entirely shifted to ketosis and blood sugar levels remaining stable.
This is what happens to your body when you undergo the ketogenic diet.
Some people even experience blood sugar drops while on the carnivore diet because the carbohydrate intake is not right.
This must be a precaution for people with Type 2 Diabetes.
You should also find those high carbohydrates cravings will have reduced because you’re now better equipped to get all the energy you need from fat and protein.
This week, we’ll be removing all meat that doesn’t come from cows. You’ll also notice that we’re adding organ meats on a more regular basis in the carnivore diet. And there is one other thing that you should try and factor in for this week.
All the meat you buy should come from grass-fed only cows, and this will also add more healthy fats. It doesn’t have to be organic fat, but that is an option if you can afford it. If your budget doesn’t stretch to this, try to add in as much grass-fed cow's meat as you can.
Also, because there are limited carnivore diet recipes to follow on a high-protein and high-fat diet, you should try and vary your cooking techniques. We find grilling your meat is a great way to get some of the charred flavors of healthy fat from animals.
| - | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Grilled Beef (Grounded) burger patty (8 ounces) | Slow roast topside of beef (8 ounces) + roasted beef liver (4 ounces) one pinch of salt | BBQ beef ribs (24 ounces including bones) |
| Tuesday | Grilled sirloin steak (8 ounces) | BBQ ground beef burger patty (12 ounces) | Grilled porterhouse steak (12 ounces) |
| Wednesday | Grilled ribeye steak (8 ounces) | Grilled ground beef burger patty (8 ounces) + roasted beef liver (4 ounces) | BBQ sirloin steak (12 ounces) |
| Thursday | Grilled porterhouse steak (8 ounces) | BBQ beef ribs (24 ounces including bones) | Slow roast topside of beef (8 ounces) + slow cooked beef Kidney (4 ounces) |
| Friday | Grilled ground beef burger patty (8 ounces) | BBQ ribeye steak (12 ounces) | Grilled porterhouse steak (12 ounces) |
| Saturday | Grilled ground beef burger patty (8 ounces) + slow cooked beef Kidney (4 ounces) | Slow roast topside of beef (12 ounces) | BBQ beef ribs (24 ounces including bones) |
| Sunday | Grilled ribeye steak (8 ounces) | BBQ ground beef burger patty (12 ounces) | Slow roast topside of beef (8 ounces) + slow cooked beef Kidney (4 ounces) |
Shopping list for the week:
- Topside of beef: 36 ounces
- Beef (Grounded): 56 ounces
- Ribeye steak: 28 ounces
- Porterhouse steak: 32 ounces
- Beef liver: 8 ounces
Because here’s the thing: studies have been quietly accumulating over the past few years that suggest the truth about saturated fat is more complicated and less damning than previously thought. In fact, saturated fat may be necessary, even... healthy.
- Michelle Stacey, Women's Health Magazine
Tips To Optimize Your Carnivore Diet Meal Plan:
When you make a drastic shift to a strict carnivore diet, small mistakes can end up reducing your success rate. Here are a couple more tips (number one is my favorite) to help set you up for the best carnivore diet meal results.
1. Explore The Fatty Cuts
When we first started with our strict carnivore diet, we thought we were doing it right by only getting lean and low-fat cuts of meat and avoiding high fats.
A good example is if you ate fatty steaks, which it has a high healthy fats and protein ratio. In addition, it is rich in nutrients.
However, once your body switches to ketosis, you will need a lot of fat in your diet as a source of energy.
This is what happens to the body when on a ketogenic diet.
Diets like these will use your body fat and convert it to energy.
How much body fat will very much depend on your daily activity? If you have a physical job and head to the gym regularly, then your body will need a lot more body fat.
As compared to a day without much activity (a day that revolves around the bed, car, elevator, desk, elevator, car, couch, and back to bed).
Remember to get your blood work done before the diet to make sure cholesterol from bad fats, and triglyceride levels can be monitored.
2. What About Vitamin C on a Carnivore Diet?
There's been a long ongoing debate about Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid) deficiency in the carnivore diet.
Other people worry about their vitamins and nutrition and the risk of acquiring Scurvy (a disease caused by ascorbic acid deficiency) when on a prolonged carnivore diet.
The right amount of vitamin C you need on the strict carnivore diet meal is debatable.
There have been people practicing a strict carnivore diet for 10+ years without signs of ascorbic acid deficiencies. I recommend you watch this video by Dr. Barry as a guide...
3. Don’t Be Too Worried About Calories
If you combine an active lifestyle with a strict carnivore diet, then it’s rather unlikely that you’ll be in a significant state of calorie overdose.
As well as that, because the calories are not coming from carbohydrates and insoluble fiber, your body won’t be storing them as fat.
If you eat more fat than your body needs, it will get through undigested. Remember that if you want to lose weight while on a carnivore diet, your calorie consumption must be more than your daily calorie intake.
So let’s say your daily calorie intake (from all meals) is 2,000 calories, so it makes sense that you burn at least 2,500 calories during exercise to lose excess fat.
4. Try Out Organ Meats
When you're on a strict carnivore diet, don't limit yourself to meat alone. Diets like this give you the chance to explore other organ meats of animal foods to include in the carnivore diet.
You'll be surprised to find out about its nutritional contents, plus it tastes delicious, too (even when only seasoned with salt).
Examples of organ meats you can include when you follow the carnivore diet keto are beef tongue, heart, liver, bone broth, bone marrow, chicken liver, and more.
For its nutrition, a cow's tongue, for instance, is a good source of zinc, iron, choline, trace minerals, and Vitamin B.
The liver from animals, on the other hand, contains a lot of iron, nutrient, B Vitamins, and Vitamin A.
So, the vitamin and nutrients from vegetables can be taken from organ meats, after all. [2] This will ease any worries about nutrient deficiencies when on a carnivore diet.
Related Articles:
FAQs
Do I Only Need to Eat Grass-Fed Meat on the Carnivore Diet?
No, you don’t have to eat grass-fed meat only while on the carnivore diet, but it is something that would best benefit you. From a nutritional perspective, animal products, more specifically cows, that are fed only with grass will have a much more natural and healthy composition when it comes to the micro and macronutrients.
Since Grass-Fed cows contain certain healthy fat like omega-3. Its nutrition can have beneficial effects on the body’s digestive system. Many people also prefer the taste (me included).
How Often Should I Eat Meat While on a Carnivore Diet?
You should eat meat, and nothing but meat, for every meal while on the carnivore diet.
How Do I Food Prep on a Carnivore Diet While on Budget?
For people on a budget, you can adapt to the affordable carnivore diet food prep by asking your butcher for cheaper cuts of meat.
These may be a bit tougher than the best cuts, but not less valuable from a nutrient perspective. Eggs are also a great option to get protein while on a carnivore diet.
What Happens if I Eat One Meal a Day on the Carnivore Diet?
If you eat only one high-protein meal a day when on a carnivore diet, your body will feel great, the metabolism will be in intermittent fasting mode and the body will burn more fat reserves. [3]
Adding fasting periods to your carnivore diet can be an effective way to lose more weight, as your body will look for all possible resources of energy when not enough calories are coming in.
Can I Survive a Month Eating Only Meat When in Carnivore Diet?
Yes, you can survive a month and longer eating meat with this carnivore diet and you'll feel great.
Some of the most beneficial health effects won’t kick in after a month when your body has fully adapted to ketosis (especially when on a Ketogenic diet).
You will need to allow time for your body to adjust to the carnivore diet, and committing for several months is required to see the full health benefits.
Do I Have to Eat Organ Meats in a Carnivore Diet?
Yes. According to research, it is advisable to eat organs in a carnivore diet. These are nutrient-dense and provide a ton of health benefits, especially for the body’s digestive system and gut health.
How Much Protein Do You Eat on the Carnivore Diet?
We don't count grams of protein in a carnivore diet meal per se, but like on a typical day for us is about 40% of our calories from protein and 60% from fat. And as close to 0 carbohydrates as possible.
