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You don't need a plan with forty moving parts. You need one grocery trip, one week of simple meals, and a clear idea of what normal feels like. That's this post. Sarah already wrote the why, the medication conversation and the protein needs in her honest guide to starting carnivore after 60. Read that first if you haven't. This is the shopping and cooking companion.
Here's the whole first week in one sentence. Buy about ten things, eat meat and eggs three times a day, salt your food, drink when you're thirsty, and expect days 3 to 6 to feel a bit flat. If you want a starting point for your own numbers before you shop, the free calculator at /calculator.html gives you a protein target in a minute. For week one, though, the list below is enough.
The one grocery trip
Quantities are for one person for seven days. For two, double everything except the salt. Print this, stick it on the fridge, cross things off.
- Ground beef, 80/20: 5 lb. Your main meal most days.
- Eggs: 2 dozen.
- Butter, salted: 1 lb. Cook in it, melt it on meat.
- Chuck roast: 2 lb. One slow cook, three meals.
- Chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on: 3 lb (about 8 thighs).
- Bacon: 1 lb.
- Bone broth: 1 quart carton (beef or chicken).
- Salt: one box, any plain salt you like.
- Optional: 3 cans of sardines or salmon for a no-cook lunch, and a block of hard cheese if dairy agrees with you.
Is it expensive? In most of the US and Canada this trip runs about $65 to $75, which is $9 to $10 a day. Swap the chuck roast for 2 more pounds of ground beef and it drops toward $7. Prices vary by region.
Can you just eat ground beef and eggs? Yes. That's the on-ramp we recommend, and the thighs and roast are only there so you don't get bored by Thursday. Do you need organ meat? Not this week. Liver is optional, and when you do add it, 4 to 8 oz a week is the cap.
How much per meal
Aim for 5 to 6 oz of cooked meat per meal, three meals a day. That's two quarter-pound patties, or two chicken thighs, or a slice of roast the size of your palm and an inch thick. Eggs count too. Three eggs plus 3 oz of meat is a full breakfast. If you're still hungry after 20 minutes, eat more meat. I covered the longer answer in how much meat a day after 50.
Salt and water
This is the part people skip and then feel awful. When you drop carbs, your kidneys let go of sodium and water, so you need more salt than you're used to. Most people on carnivore land around 3 to 5 g of sodium a day, which is about 1.5 to 2 teaspoons of salt, spread through the day. Salt every meal and put a good pinch in a cup of warm broth mid-afternoon. This is not for everyone. Talk to your doctor first if you have high blood pressure, kidney or heart problems, diabetes, are pregnant, or take medicine.
Water: drink to thirst, with a glass at each meal. No gallon jugs. Coffee is fine, black or with a splash of cream. If sleep gets patchy, cut it after noon.
Cook once on shopping day
- Brown 2 lb of ground beef in a pan with salt. Fridge it. That's four lunches.
- Hard-boil 6 eggs.
- Roast 4 thighs at 400 F for 40 minutes. Eat two tonight, two tomorrow.
- Day 3 morning: chuck roast in a slow cooker or covered pot, salt, a cup of broth, low for 8 hours.
The seven days
Day 1. Usually feels fine.
- Breakfast: 3 eggs scrambled in butter, 2 slices of bacon.
- Lunch: 6 oz browned ground beef, salted, a pat of butter on top.
- Dinner: 2 roasted chicken thighs, skin on.
Day 2. More bathroom trips. That's water leaving. Keep salting.
- Breakfast: 3 eggs, one 4 oz patty.
- Lunch: 2 hard-boiled eggs, 4 oz ground beef.
- Dinner: 2 chicken thighs, or two patties if you'd rather.
Day 3. The dip often starts here. Headache, low energy, short temper. Salt and broth fix most of it. This is normal, not a sign to quit.
- Breakfast: bacon and 3 eggs.
- Lunch: cup of salted broth, 5 oz ground beef.
- Dinner: 6 oz chuck roast with its juices and butter.
Day 4. Tired afternoon is common. A leg cramp at night can show up too. A small cup of salted broth before bed helps; Sarah covers it in leg cramps at night on carnivore.
- Breakfast: 3 eggs in butter.
- Lunch: 6 oz chuck roast, cold or warmed.
- Dinner: two patties with butter. Add a thigh if you're still hungry.
Day 5. Cravings for bread or something sweet tend to peak around now. The answer is more meat, more fat, more salt, and 20 minutes. Not a swap.
- Breakfast: 2 eggs, 3 oz chuck roast.
- Lunch: 2 hard-boiled eggs, 4 oz ground beef, or a can of sardines.
- Dinner: 2 chicken thighs.
Day 6. Often the first clearly better day. Appetite may drop. Still eat three meals this week; skipping comes later, if ever.
- Breakfast: bacon and 3 eggs.
- Lunch: 6 oz ground beef with butter.
- Dinner: last of the chuck roast, about 6 oz.
Day 7. Less bloat, looser waistband. The scale may be down 3 to 7 lb, often less for smaller or older bodies. That's water, not fat yet. Fat loss comes slower, over the next weeks.
- Breakfast: 3 eggs, leftover bacon.
- Lunch: finish the chicken thighs.
- Dinner: 6 to 8 oz ground beef, butter, salt. Write next week's list.
Normal, and not normal
Normal in week one: headache, tiredness, irritability, loose stools, a night cramp, and the dip stretching into days 8 to 10. Will you be hungry? Rarely, if you eat the portions above. Some people find they're less hungry by day 6 than they've been in years.
Not normal: chest pain, fainting, a racing heart that won't settle, confusion, or vomiting that keeps you from holding down food or water. Those aren't adaptation. Call your doctor the same day.
Stop overthinking it. Ten items, three meals, salt, water, seven days. Then do it again.
I'm not a doctor. I've coached people and competed myself, so I know what works. But I'm not your doctor. Everything here is based on what works in practice and what research supports. Your mileage may vary.