A mum has turned heads by eating an all-carnivore diet of 5,000 calories daily, made up of meat, eggs, and butter – and despite online flak from vegans, she claims it’s “transformed” her confidence and physique. Initially sceptical, she aimed to debunk the diet’s bold assertions in 2019, but after dropping a remarkable seven pounds in just one week, Rachel was undoubtedly convinced.
Now, mum-of-four Rachel Ashby’s routine includes devouring three steaks, ten eggs, a whole block of butter, and 1kg of chicken on a regular day. Since embracing the carnivorous lifestyle, she’s stopped purchasing veggies for the household, including for her children, with the youngest being nine; they’re intermittent followers of her dietary approach.
The NHS might warn against too much meat consumption and its association with bowel cancer, advocating for a balanced diet, but 41-year-old gym enthusiast Rachel credits her meat-only regime with ramping up her muscle mass and losing four stone. She’s even channeled her conviction into entrepreneurship, crafting beauty wares out of beef fat that she proudly uses on herself.
Facing down vegan critics who argue about the validity of calling her diet ‘carnivore’ because she doesn’t eat raw meat, Rachel counters, saying she definitely can consume it raw but simply favours a light sear. Mother to Sonny-Rae, nine, Mya, 15, Kenzie, 19, and Aaliyah, 21, Rachel said: “I get a lot of vegans attacking me… they say, ‘you can’t be a carnivore because you don’t eat raw meat’ – I can eat it raw, I just prefer it with a sear.
“I have a video on my account where I was eating raw meat, but that was purely to annoy the vegans who were attacking me at the time. I’ve had messages from vegan nurses saying they can’t wait for me to get cancer because of the red meat. I would’ve crumbled if someone had said that to me before, but now I just laugh, it actually makes me feel bad for these people”.
At 5ft 5in tall, Rachel, from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, weighed around 15 stone from 2015 to 2018. She spent years trying various diets, from calorie counting to keto, but often found herself reverting to her original weight, feeling “lethargic and bloated”.
Then, in 2019, she stumbled upon a video by Dr Shawn Baker, who claims to have reversed chronic illnesses through the carnivore diet, consisting solely of animal products and excluding plant foods. Despite health concerns surrounding the diet, Rachel was drawn to try it to “disprove it”.
Within three days, she claims to have felt invigorated with no brain fog. Now, she attributes her past lethargy to consuming vegetables, despite extensive evidence of their health benefits, reports Gloucestershire Live.
In the first week alone, she shed seven pounds, without meticulously tracking her calorie intake and simply eating when she felt hungry. As a result, she has continued to follow the diet, consuming approximately 5,000 calories of animal products daily.
“For breakfast, I have ten eggs with a chunk of butter and salt,” Rachel elaborated. “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.”
Rachel revealed that she goes through an impressive seven blocks of butter a week, but surprisingly, her food bills have not increased.
Since adopting the carnivore diet, she has stopped buying vegetables, not just for herself, but also for her children, including her nine-year-old. She explained: “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.”
Rachel, a mum who once felt too self-conscious to be photographed because of her size, has revealed her secret to losing almost two-and-a-half stone.
She credits her weight loss to a the diet, saying: “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. But they always say that their health increases when they do do it. I don’t buy vegetables at all.”
Rachel doesn’t find the diet restrictive and when eating out, she opts for a steak with a side of eggs or a burger with cheese, minus the bun. “The meat I eat, I like it blue, just warm on the inside, but still red and bloody,” she added.
Unlike some carnivores, Rachel doesn’t consume raw meat regularly, but she did film herself eating a raw steak on her TikTok page @carnivore. fitness to “annoy the vegans”.
Now weighing around 10 stone and having dropped from a size 18 to a size 10, Rachel feels her relationship with food has vastly improved. “Before, when I was trying to lose weight, I’d go to the gym every day, or even twice a day, and now I go a lot less, yet my muscle mass has improved. I never have to go hungry or feel like I need to starve myself. I can just eat until I’m full and satisfied, whereas before, I would ignore my body’s hunger cues.”
Her mental health has also seen a significant transformation. Previously “agoraphobic” and sensitive to online criticism, Rachel shared: “If anyone took a photo of me, I’d make them delete it – it was pretty horrific, I felt like my brain was toxic, and everything seemed quite dark but now I’m happy all the time.”
Not only did she revamp her diet, but this enterprising mum has also taken to using meat in her beauty regimen. In 2023, she kicked off her own cosmetics venture, Tallow Glow, offering up beef fat-based beauty goodies.
She shared: “I use beef tallow as a hair mask, rub it on my face, and apply it to my body.
“Since using it, it has reversed a lot of ageing and made my skin so much better.”
The NHS reminds us that for safe weight loss, it’s best to consult your GP for advice on a balanced diet and regular exercise.