The Biggest Lie About Starting Carnivore
Okay, so here's something that drives me a little crazy about this community. Someone posts on Reddit asking how to start carnivore, and the top comment is always something like "just buy some ribeyes and eat until you're full." Which is fine advice if you've got money to burn. But most people don't. And when someone is already nervous about trying carnivore, telling them to go spend $18 a pound on steak is the fastest way to make them quit before they start.
Real talk: the most successful beginners I've seen in the community didn't start with steak. They started with eggs.
Why Eggs Are the Real Beginner Move
Eggs are cheap. Like, shockingly cheap compared to basically every other animal protein. A dozen eggs at most grocery stores runs somewhere between $3 and $5, depending on where you live and whether you're going organic. That's 72 grams of protein and enough fat to keep you satisfied for about a dollar per meal. Try getting that math to work with ribeye.
But cost isn't even the main thing. Eggs are less intimidating. If you're coming from a standard diet and the idea of eating a pound of ground beef for breakfast makes your stomach flip, scrambled eggs feel normal. You probably already eat eggs. You know how to cook them. There's no learning curve, no figuring out what "medium rare" means, no staring at a cast iron pan wondering if it's hot enough.
Marcus actually broke down the cost of hitting your protein targets on $5 a day, and eggs were a huge part of that math. They're the budget backbone of this whole thing.
What Actual Beginners Are Doing
I've been watching beginner posts on r/carnivore for years now, and there's a really clear pattern. The people who stick with it past the first month almost always have a simple, cheap routine they can repeat without thinking. It's usually some version of eggs in the morning, ground beef at night. That's it. Not fancy. Not Instagram-worthy. Just consistent.
One post from a few weeks ago stuck with me. A guy wrote about how he'd been wanting to try carnivore for six months but kept putting it off because he couldn't afford the grocery haul he saw on YouTube. Then he read a comment that said "start with 18 eggs a day and a pound of ground beef" and something clicked. His first week cost him $28 total. He lost 6 pounds and felt better than he had in months.
That's not unusual. The community is full of stories like this. People who thought they needed grass-fed ribeyes and bone broth and tallow and all the trimmings, who realized the basics are actually pretty boring and pretty cheap.
The "Carnivore Is Expensive" Thing Is a Myth (Mostly)
This is the objection I hear more than any other from people who haven't tried it yet. "I can't afford to eat only meat." And I get it. If your mental image of carnivore is a plate of wagyu with butter on top, yeah, that's expensive. But nobody's doing that every day. Not even the people posting it on social media.
Here's what a realistic beginner week actually looks like. A flat of 30 eggs, two or three pounds of ground beef, maybe some chicken thighs if you want variety. You're looking at $30 to $40 for the week. Compare that to what most people spend on a "normal" grocery run with snacks, bread, cereal, pasta sauce, and everything else. It's often less.
If you want to go even further with the budget angle, Marcus put together a whole nose-to-tail budget meal plan that takes this to another level. But you don't need to go there right away. Eggs and ground beef will carry you through the first month easily.
Eggs Are Nutritionally Stacked
There's a reason people call eggs nature's multivitamin. One large egg has B12, B2, selenium, choline, vitamin D, and vitamin A. The yolk is where all the action is, so please don't do the egg white thing. You're throwing away the best part.
For beginners especially, eggs cover a lot of nutritional bases while your body adjusts to eating this way. Sarah has written about how the first few weeks are where most people quit, and a lot of that comes down to not eating enough or not getting enough variety in their nutrients. Eggs solve both problems. They're easy to eat in volume and they're nutrient-dense enough to keep you feeling solid while you figure out the rest.
The Eggs-First Starter Plan
If I were telling a friend how to start carnivore tomorrow with minimal stress and minimal spending, here's what I'd say.
- Week 1: Buy 3 dozen eggs and 3 pounds of ground beef. Cook eggs however you like for your first meal. Cook ground beef with salt for your second meal. That's it. Don't overthink it.
- Week 2: Same thing, but add butter for cooking if you want. Maybe try some bacon if the budget allows. Still simple.
- Week 3: By now you'll know if you want more variety. Add chicken thighs, pork chops, or whatever's on sale. Your body has adjusted and you can start experimenting.
- Week 4: This is when you can think about steak if you want to. By now the habit is built and the spending feels intentional instead of scary.
The point is that you don't need to go all in on expensive cuts from day one. You need to show up consistently with enough protein and fat to feel good. Eggs do that better than almost anything else at this price point.
What About the Cholesterol Thing?
I know someone's going to bring it up, so let's just get it out of the way. Yes, eggs have cholesterol. No, eating cholesterol doesn't automatically raise your blood cholesterol in the way people used to think. The dietary guidelines actually removed the cholesterol intake limit back in 2015 because the research didn't support it anymore.
That said, everyone responds differently. If you're eating 12 eggs a day and you're curious about what's happening with your numbers, get your bloodwork done. It's the only way to know for sure what's going on in your body, not guessing based on internet arguments.
Stop Letting Perfect Be the Enemy of Started
The community sometimes accidentally gatekeeps by making carnivore sound harder and more expensive than it needs to be. Grass-fed this, pasture-raised that, organic everything. Those things are great if you can swing it. But they're not the entry ticket. The entry ticket is eggs, ground beef, salt, and water. That's it. You can always level up later.
If cost is the thing keeping you from trying this, eggs are your answer. Not someday when you can afford the fancy stuff. Right now, with what's already in your grocery budget. The community will be here when you're ready for the ribeye conversation. But you don't need to start there.
I'm not a doctor. I'm just someone who's deep in the community and reads everything. Take all health stuff with a grain of salt (pun intended). I can tell you what people are trying and what's trending, but you gotta make your own calls.