My Experience with Carnivore
I'm finally back after a fairly lengthy hiatus. This wasn't on purpose, I am just not in a habit of blogging like I want to be, but regardless, I am to try to do more this year. But, on to the subject of this post: The Carnivore Diet. Shortly before the end of the year, Matt Fradd from Pints with Aquinas (who has a fantastic Locals page check it out) decided he wanted to do a group challenge for January: Carnivore diet + whiskey, 100 push-ups a day, and morning and evening prayer. He called this challenge the Dumb Ox Challenge. And, being the crazy person I am, I decided I was going to give it a shot.
Why Dumb Ox?
So, the name dumb ox apparently goes back to what teachers would call St. Thomas Aquinas when he was in school because he would rarely speak and the teachers thought he was as dumb as an ox (which I guess means oxen are pretty smart?). I was unaware of this history, I just thought it was a fun, slightly insulting way of referencing us in the Marco Polo chat that was set up because we were all stupid enough to try this challenge. I am not sure which explanation I like better.
The Diet
So, the biggest part of this challenge is obviously the diet. And with almost any diet, you're going to lose weight, so I decided quickly to monitor my weight throughout the month, checking in every Monday and Friday. I decided on those two days just out of convenience, the first day of the month was a Monday, and I initially wanted to see where I was at after a work week of this diet. I started off the month at 218.6 pounds and ended the month at 201.2. All in all, I say that was a pretty good drop. I knew I was dropping weight quickly because, by week two, my pants were fitting better and my belly was starting to shrink. My diet consisted of meat and things that came from animals: I allowed myself seasonings like garlic powder and onion powder, cheese, eggs, milk, and the like. If I were to take a more strict approach, I think I would have failed the challenge after the first couple of weeks. But now that the month is over, I am going to try to maintain the weight loss until Lent and then work on losing some more throughout the rest of the year. I am looking forward to having an ice cream sundae (a small one) tonight and I pray I don't wreck my system coming back into the world of bread and rice too fast. For the future, I plan on going back on to carbs, but I want to focus on portion size and the use of real ingredients and foods I make at home. This diet shouldn't be one undertakes lightly, but the weight loss and how well I am feeling can't be discounted.
The Push-ups
This was the second biggest part of the challenge for me and one I underestimated. On the first day, I did 50 push-ups in the morning, which ended up hurting my collarbone area for a few days, so I couldn't get back up to that level for the rest of the week. I thought I could do more than I actually could, but after slowly working back up in 15 or 20 intervals, I managed to get up to doing 100 push-ups every day. I settled into a routine of 25 in the morning after morning prayers, then 50 throughout the day, then 25 after or just before evening prayers and bed. This has led to increased muscle size in my arms (which my girlfriend appreciates) and an overall feeling of accomplishment (especially after hitting the first 100). I am not sure it is wise to do 100 push-ups a day, every day, but I did because it was a part of the challenge. For the future, I am planning on getting back on to my treadmill, maybe trying heavyhands walking that I read about on the Art of Manliness using the treadmill, and adding in squats and curls. I also want to pick up a new Samsung smart watch to help keep a better eye on the calories I am burning. But that is for a little bit in the future, for the rest of the week, I intend on finally letting my body rest a bit and not do anything crazy until Monday.
The Prayers
The prayers we were given to pray is a set called The Rule of St. Pachomius. St. Pachomius of Egypt was a great monastic father who helped popularize monastic life in the early Christian world. Before he started monastic communities, to grow in holiness, people would go off and be hermits in the desert (see the Desert Fathers). The Rule of St. Pachomius was, according to tradition, given to him by an angel and he would pray it every hour of the day or night. It's not a long prayer, and it is quite beautiful in its own right, but there were some instances of it being a little Eastern Catholic for me (I am a Latin-rite Catholic), but it was wonderful to experience some Eastern-style prayers. I found myself with a new respect for hourly prayer, and starting today, I am going to resume Laudes and Compline from the Liturgy of the Hours, which is the Latin-rite tradition of daily prayer for morning and night (there are more times to pray in the Liturgy of the Hours, but for a layman like me, morning and night are fantastic).
Conclusion
In conclusion, this past month has been a fun challenge, and I've come away with a better appreciation for what I can do when I put my mind to it and a desire to keep it going in my own way and improve my life even more. I also want to work on practicing digital minimalism, journaling, and increasing focus and attention span, making videos for Rumble. So, I have a fun and interesting year planned (that should contain more posts here) and I started it off with a bang.