A Hertfordshire businesss woman claims to have shed five stone and dropped four dress sizes thanks to an extreme diet consisting of 5000 calories worth of meat, butter and eggs a day.
Rachel Ashby, 41, from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, enjoys three steaks and a kilogram of chicken per day, as well as an entire stick of butter.
The mother-of-four hasn’t bought a vegetable in four years — not even for her children, aged nine to 21.
While she still visits the gym often, she claimed she’s able to exercise far less frequently as her diet has helped boost her muscle mass.
Since starting the eating plan — commonly known as the carnivore diet — in 2019, Ms Ashby has dropped from a size 18 to a size 10, and is now more ‘in tune’ with her body’s hunger signals.
‘I never have to go hungry or feel like I need to starve myself,’ she said.
‘I can just eat until I’m full and satisfied, whereas before, I would ignore my body’s hunger cues.’
The idea for Ms Ashby’s diet transformation came to her in 2019, following three years of multiple failed diets.
Rachel Ashby,41, from Hertfordshire, has praised the carnivore diet for its impact on her weight over the last four years. Pictured: Before and after the diet
She experimented with everything from calorie counting to the keto diet but often found herself returning to her original weight and feeling ‘lethargic and bloated’.
In 2019, she came across a video of Dr Shawn Baker, a doctor who claims to have reversed chronic, autoimmune, and mental illnesses through the carnivore diet.
The diet consists solely of animal products, including meat, fish, eggs, animal fats, and small amounts of low-lactose dairy, and it excludes all plant foods such as fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds.
Doctors have long expressed concern about the diet, and it has been linked to several serious health problems including heart conditions and some types of cancer.
According to the NHS, consuming too much meat can increase the likelihood of developing bowel cancer.
The risks are thought to lie with the alarmingly low levels of crucial fibre that the diet contains — a nutrient found in fruit, vegetables and carbohydrates that’s linked to a host of health benefits.
Ms Ashby ditches burger buns when she orders from a restaurant, in keeping with her carb-free diet.
However, Ms Ashby claimed eating this way left her feeling ‘more energised’ after just three days.
Within the first week she said she lost seven pounds, without tracking calories and simply eating when hungry.
She has stuck with the diet ever since — consuming around 5,000 calories of animal products on a typical day.
‘For breakfast, I have ten eggs with a chunk of butter and salt,’ Ms Ashby said.
‘I literally eat fat for taste, so when fat stops tasting good, that’s when I stop eating it, because that’s when my body’s had enough.
‘For lunch, I have a kilo of chicken wings cooked in the air fryer, and if I feel like I need the fat, then I’ll add butter as well.
‘For dinner, I often have two ribeye steaks, and if I’m particularly hungry or have had a busy day and need extra energy, I’ll have three cooked in butter.’
She goes through an impressive seven blocks of butter a week, but has surprisingly found her food bills have not increased.
Ms Ashby said she has not bought a vegetable in four years – even for her children.
Speaking of her childrens’ participation in the diet, Ms Ashby said: ‘My eldest works and buys her own food but my youngest son, eldest son, and youngest daughter all have moments when they are carnivore.
‘They go in and out and if they go and stay around someone’s house or go to a party they might have treats from there.
‘They’re all aware of where the main nutrition comes from.
‘They just kind of sometimes decide by themselves to do it, and then other times they decide to not do it.’
When eating out, Ms Ashby tends to order a steak with a side of eggs or a burger with cheese without the bun.
‘The meat I eat, I like it blue, just warm on the inside, but still red and bloody,’ she said.
Ms Ashby claimed that her mental health has ‘transformed’ thanks to her diet.
Before, she was ‘agoraphobic’ and self-conscious about images of herself posted online.
‘If anyone took a photo of me, I’d make them delete it – it was pretty horrific,’ she said. ‘I felt like my brain was toxic, and everything seemed quite dark but now I’m happy all the time.’
On top of changing her diet, she has even incorporated meat into her beauty routine by using beef tallow as a hair mask and face moisturiser.
In 2023, she launched a cosmetics business, Tallow Glow, selling beef fat beauty products.
She added: ‘Since using it, it has reversed a lot of ageing and made my skin so much better.’
According to the NHS, your GP can advise you about losing weight safely by eating a healthy, balanced diet and regular physical activity.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
