10 Common Carnivore Diet Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)

The carnivore diet is simple, but simple does not mean people cannot get it wrong. After studying thousands of carnivore diet experiences, the same mistakes appear repeatedly — and they are almost always the reason someone stalls, feels bad, or quits prematurely. The good news is that every mistake on this list has a straightforward fix. If you are struggling on carnivore, chances are you are making at least one of these errors.

Mistake 1: Not Eating Enough

This is the single most common mistake and the source of most complaints about the carnivore diet. People switch from a standard diet to carnivore and unconsciously eat fewer calories because animal foods are more satiating per bite than processed foods.

Signs you are under-eating:

• Persistent fatigue beyond the normal adaptation period
• Hair thinning or loss (usually starts 2-3 months in)
• Feeling cold all the time
• Loss of menstrual cycle in women
• Declining workout performance that does not improve
• Constant irritability

The fix: Eat more. During the first 30 days, do not restrict portions at all. If you are hungry, eat. If you are not sure whether you are hungry, eat anyway. Most active adults need 1.5 to 3 pounds of meat per day, which translates to roughly 1,500 to 3,000 calories depending on the fat content. If you are unsure about your intake, tracking your food for a week can reveal whether you are hitting adequate levels.

Mistake 2: Not Eating Enough Fat

This is closely related to mistake one but distinct. Some people eat adequate amounts of food but choose cuts that are too lean. Chicken breast, turkey, extra-lean ground beef, and eye of round steak are all high in protein but low in fat.

When your protein-to-fat ratio tips too far toward protein, you risk a condition historically called “rabbit starvation” — the body’s inability to process excess protein without adequate fat. Symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, and headaches.

The fix: Aim for at least 60 percent of your calories from fat, especially during the adaptation period. This means choosing:

• Ribeye over sirloin
• 80/20 ground beef over 90/10
• Chicken thighs over chicken breast
• Pork belly over pork loin
• Adding butter, tallow, or lard to leaner cuts

Check out our ranking of the best meats for carnivore to build a fattier shopping list.

Mistake 3: Not Salting Your Food

Sodium is not optional on the carnivore diet — it is essential. When you eliminate carbohydrates, insulin levels drop and your kidneys begin excreting sodium at a much higher rate. Without deliberate sodium replacement, you will experience headaches, fatigue, dizziness, muscle cramps, and heart palpitations.

Many people coming from a standard diet have been told to limit salt for decades. They carry this habit into carnivore and suffer for it.

The fix: Salt your food generously. Most carnivore dieters need 5 to 7 grams of salt per day (about 1 to 1.5 teaspoons). During the first two weeks, you may need even more. Salt every meal liberally. If you experience headaches or cramping, your first response should be to eat more salt. Read our detailed guide on salt on the carnivore diet and our complete electrolyte guide.

Mistake 4: Eating Too Much Lean Protein

This overlaps with mistake two but comes from a different mindset. Some people, particularly those focused on fitness, deliberately choose lean protein because they believe it will help them build muscle or lose fat faster. They eat pounds of chicken breast, lean ground turkey, and protein shakes.

On carnivore, fat is your primary fuel source. Without it, your body struggles to sustain energy, produce hormones, and absorb fat-soluble vitamins. Excess protein without fat also puts unnecessary strain on your kidneys and liver.

The fix: Stop thinking in terms of “protein and fat” and start thinking in terms of “fatty meat.” A ribeye steak is not protein plus fat — it is a complete food that delivers both in the ratio your body needs. When you eat fatty cuts of meat, the macros take care of themselves. This is one of the beauties of the carnivore approach: whole animal foods have the right nutritional balance built in.

Mistake 5: Not Drinking Enough Water

Dehydration on carnivore is common because of the sodium-related fluid loss described in mistake three. When sodium drops, your body cannot hold onto water effectively. Many people are dehydrated without realizing it because they only drink when thirsty — but thirst is a late-stage dehydration signal.

The fix: Drink water consistently throughout the day. A reasonable target is half your body weight in ounces — a 200-pound person would drink roughly 100 ounces per day. More during exercise or hot weather. Pair water intake with adequate salt, because drinking large amounts of plain water without sodium can actually worsen electrolyte imbalance.

Mistake 6: Giving Up Too Soon

This might be the most costly mistake. The adaptation period for carnivore involves genuine discomfort — fatigue, brain fog, digestive changes, cravings. Most of these side effects peak during days 3 to 7 and resolve by week 2 to 3. But many people quit on day 5 or day 10, concluding that “the diet does not work for me.”

They were days away from the breakthrough.

The fix: Commit to 30 days minimum, ideally 90 days. Write it down. Tell someone. Set a calendar reminder for day 30 that says “evaluate now, not before.” The first two weeks are not representative of how you will feel long-term. Read our adaptation timeline to know exactly what to expect and when.

Mistake 7: Overthinking It

The carnivore diet is the simplest dietary approach that exists. Yet people manage to overcomplicate it:

• “Should I eat at exactly 12pm and 6pm?”
• “Is this cut of beef better than that cut?”
• “Should my fat-to-protein ratio be 65/35 or 70/30?”
• “Is grain-finished beef going to ruin my results?”

The fix: Eat meat. Salt it. Drink water. Repeat. That is the diet. If you want to optimize later, fine — but optimization should come after you have been consistently eating carnivore for at least 60 days. During the first two months, the only thing that matters is compliance and adequate intake. Stop researching and start eating.

Mistake 8: Comparing Your Results to Others

Online carnivore communities are full of people sharing dramatic transformation stories — 30 pounds lost in a month, autoimmune conditions reversed in weeks, boundless energy from day one. These stories are real, but they represent the most dramatic end of the bell curve.

Your adaptation will be unique to you. Some people experience rapid changes; others see gradual improvement over months. Factors like your previous diet, gut health, metabolic status, stress levels, sleep quality, and genetics all influence your timeline.

The fix: Compare yourself to your own baseline, not to strangers on the internet. Take measurements, photos, and notes on energy, sleep, digestion, and mood at the start. Evaluate your progress against those personal baselines, not against someone else’s 30-day transformation post.

Mistake 9: Not Eating Organ Meats

Muscle meat is nutritionally excellent, but organ meats are nutritional powerhouses that take carnivore nutrition to another level. Liver alone provides massive amounts of vitamin A, B12, folate, copper, and iron. Heart is the richest food source of CoQ10. Kidney provides selenium and B12.

Many long-term carnivore dieters who skip organs and eat only muscle meat may miss out on optimal micronutrient status.

The fix: Include organ meats two to three times per week. Start with beef liver — even 3 to 4 ounces twice a week dramatically improves your micronutrient intake. If you do not enjoy the taste, try:

• Mixing ground liver into ground beef (start with 10 to 20 percent liver)
• Cutting liver into pill-sized pieces, freezing them, and swallowing them like supplements
• Trying heart first (milder flavor, closer to muscle meat texture)

Read our full guide on organ meats on the carnivore diet for specific recommendations.

Mistake 10: Ignoring Electrolytes

This encompasses salt (mistake three) but extends beyond it. The three critical electrolytes on carnivore are sodium, potassium, and magnesium. A deficiency in any of these causes symptoms that people mistakenly attribute to the diet being unhealthy.

Sodium deficiency: Headaches, fatigue, dizziness, nausea Potassium deficiency: Muscle cramps, irregular heartbeat, weakness Magnesium deficiency: Cramps (especially at night), poor sleep, anxiety, constipation

The fix: Address all three electrolytes proactively:

• Sodium: 5-7g salt per day (salt your food liberally)
• Potassium: Meat naturally contains potassium, but bone broth adds more. If needed, use a potassium-based salt substitute.
• Magnesium: Supplementing 200-400mg magnesium glycinate at bedtime can help during adaptation

Read our comprehensive electrolyte guide for the carnivore diet for detailed recommendations and food sources.

How to Avoid All These Mistakes at Once

The pattern across all ten mistakes is simple: eat enough fatty meat, salt it well, stay hydrated, supplement electrolytes, and give it time. If you follow a solid meal plan and stick to the basic rules, most of these mistakes become impossible.

The carnivore diet is not complicated. Do not make it complicated. The people who succeed are not the ones who optimize every variable — they are the ones who eat fatty meat consistently, day after day, and give their body the time it needs to adapt and thrive.

For more educational content on the carnivore lifestyle, visit our complete carnivore diet guide.