What can I expect in week 4?

#1

I think my 1st 3 weeks have been pretty typical from what I have read.

Week 1 was hard and I felt pretty hungry. I was also intermittent fasting which was a terrible idea. I lost a bunch of water weight but by the end of the week I felt dizzy, weak, unable to function normally.

Week 2. I had some better information. I was eating more calories, and hydrating better with the correct electrolites. I felt better. Not great, but better. I didn’t have more energy but did have more motivation to do jobs around the house.

Week 3. I have so much energy that I just want to keep exercising all the time. The only thing that is stopping me is that my legs are totally aching from squats and my cross trainer, which I can do do for 40mins in one go.
I try and eat in the mornings as when I do I do not need to eat again till the evening.
When I’m hungry I no longer fancy anything with carb. I do crave heavy cream and bacon.
Also, when I eat, I do not feel stuffed, bloated and slow.
I am much sharper and my guitar playing has gotten much better.

So, what can I expect in the weeks to come? Wil there be a drop off?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

Depending on how much excess fat you had to begin with, at some point the fat loss will slow and possibly stop. Dr. Stephen Phinney says that what they have typically seen is the loss of an amount of fat equivalent to 20% of starting body weight. But some of us have lost a bit more. Richard Morris, for example, said that he lost about 25%, and I calculate my 80 lb./36 kg loss as being about 26%. Dr. Phinney says that at that point, the body seems to remain stable for a while, but they are seeing patients whose weight had remained stable for a year or two start to lose more.

For me it’s been five years, and my weight has remained in the same 10-lb./half-kilo range, though I can feel my clothes getting looser and tighter, depending on how strict I am with the carbs, so there is obviously some recomposition going on, even though the scale number is not changing. (But since I embarked on this way of eating to reverse Type II diabetes—and succeeded—I’m not particularly concerned about losing more weight.)

(Joey) #3

Guitar typically improves in week 3. Around week 5 you can expect keyboard skills to markedly improve too. Yes, sadly, guitar often suffers in week 7.

Obviously kidding :wink:

Sorry, I have no idea what you might expect next since human health rarely imrpoves in a straight line. Some zigging and zagging (in terms of energy, motivation, overall feeling, etc.) are not unlikely.

But you are clearly on a solid path to a healthier body… Savor the progress and enjoy the general upward slope!

Best wishes :vulcan_salute:

#4

Woot! So glad you’ve stuck with it.

In my experience, at week three, now you’re settled and eating the way you should be most days, forever. It grows less exciting than the first three weeks. It’s less exciting still when you lose most of the body fat you will in the first weeks or months. If you had other symptoms like joint pain, they may slowly ease. No, unless you allow carbs to creep back in, you shouldn’t lose what you’ve won. Whether you’re different on September 1 than now? Maybe yes, maybe no.

And that’s kind of it, the whole story. Not real exciting, is it? Or at least, that’s how it often feels when you’re just living the low-carb lifestyle. I’d suggest you keep a list of benefits–on the inside of bathroom mirror or on the fridge or somewhere you’ll be able to catch sight of it. Because as the initial excitement wanes, and as fat loss slows, it can be hard to stay on track in a world of a zillion processed carby food products, and people calling you crazy or unhealthy, and so on. Your job henceforth is to remember why you did this and keep reminding yourself of what you’ve lost (fat, fatigue, brain fog) and what you’ve gained.

To me, getting through the week 1 sugar/carb withdrawals is only the second hardest part of this way of eating. The hardest is keeping to the plan when there aren’t little dopamine hits all the time of scale changing or trousers drooping or having to shop for new. Now’s the time to get your healthier relationship with nourishing foods in place so that when the excitement wears off, you’re in the right pattern.

I’m a “believe your body” adherent. If it says to eat bacon, eat bacon. If it says to grab the weights, do so. If it says “you know, a half-day ramble across the countryside sounds nice,” do that. “Nap,” it says? Nap. It’s one of the benefits to a healthy way of eating that’s nearer how humans have been eating for more than a million years. Your body was screaming at you all along, but the carb addiction plugs our ears to the sensible messages. Now, listen.

Make good lifelong habits. Keep checking in here. Don’t believe “one won’t hurt me” at this point. In six months, maybe it won’t (or maybe you’re like me, really quite the sugar addict and it really will throw you off for days or weeks!) So give it six months of 100% adherence, even if you aren’t getting the dopamine charges of excitement the first couple of months bring. You can get those as you nail whatever guitar pieces you’ve long been wanting (for me, it’s “Stringing the Blues,” the Michael Fix version. Going to get that one day before I die!)

(Marianne) #5

I agree.

As for Week 4 and beyond, I’d say to expect food and your consumption of it to be just a passing thought and not a focus of your days. Eat when you need and enough to sustain yourself more than comfortably throughout the day. Beyond that, you will come to find that you don’t think about eating or wanting/needing to eat throughout the day. This WOE becomes fueling your body when it tells you and then moving on with other interests and pursuits.

How much weight would you like to lose?

(Robin) #6

Each week should be a little smoother sailing, until you forget to even think about it.

#7

This is all great advice and great way of thinking. Thank you.

I’m deffo getting more and more hungry. But that is probably because I have ramped up the amount of exercise. But that’s fine.
I am slowly changing my kitchen to suit a family of 4 all with different diets. I have always cooked large meals, but am spending a.lot more time in the kitchen trying to please everyone.
My wife gets annoyed that I’m not hungry for dinner at dinner time, but we can work on that.

(Joey) #8

@Rusty How’s the guitar playing coming along?

Seriously: I’ve played a number of stringed instruments for many decades, until “trigger finger” started to get in the way. Fingers would lock up on all fretted instruments (including guitar, banjo, bass). Consulted with hand surgeon but decided to refrain from injections/surgery and just stopped playing those instruments, focusing on keyboards, woodwinds.

When I went keto, within just a few weeks my trigger finger disappeared - completely. It was low level systemic inflammation in the joints, and the carb restriction resolved it ever since (3+ years now).

Enjoy your guitar. :vulcan_salute:

#9

I can’t remember week 3 to be honest, apart from the adjusting to new ways of cooking.
I just kept eating, but cancelled all the crap carbs, fast food, beer and wine.

Replaced with good protein, decent fats, and a handful of cruciferous veg ingredients and mushrooms. And some walnuts and almonds.

I was 100kgs to start with. This tracking app screnshot will show that my progress.
Lowest weight was 68 kgs, but I seem to hover around 70 kgs…which is great for me because it’s within my elusive ‘normal’ BMI. There were stages of plateau though.

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But I know if I start the weights again, I’ll exceed that BMI if I put on a bit of beef.

Good luck!

#10

I don’t really have a number. I want to be healthy and be able to do more exercise. I would rather lose weight by doing exercise than loose weight by not eating much. The last few years I have been struggling.
As for an actual goal. I would like to fit comfortably into my 36inch waist trousers that have been in the loft for years. I was a 44inch waist, but now a 38-40.

My Dad is taking my whole family to Disney World for 2 weeks in May. When he told me I realised that I would ruin the holiday by not being able to physical be on my feet for as long as everyone else.
So I just want to get as fit and healthy as I can.
I do plan to drop the diet while on holiday. I know that’s a dangerous game, but we don’t earn much and there is almost zero chance of us ever visiting America again. So I want to experience everything while I am there.

#11

Nice work! Thats almost the same as me. I was 100kg in Jan. Then 94 when I started keto 3 weeks ago. Now 89kg.
I think that my healthy weight would be around 70kg if I didn’t have any muscle at all. I am 5’6 and very broad so I think I would be happiest around 80kg if I was 20-25% fat.

#12

You’ll be fine bro!

It’ll happen in stages, is what I’ve found.
Sometimes you’ll just feel like going for a walk or a run (I take my pup for walks) without eating first.

I rarely eat first thing in the morning now, in fact it’s normally at least 13:00. And I eat all I want on 2 MAD occassionally OMAD. But they are good meals- I don’t starve. It’s just working for me!

:smiley:

(Joey) #13

Well then, you’ll certainly enjoy experiencing America’s obesity, dementia, fatty liver, heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes epidemics. I believe we lead the world in these afflictions, along with our expert FDA and CDC guidance - a significant export. :zipper_mouth_face:

#14

Coopdawg, It’s so helpful to see a real chart. It’s bumps and plateaus and so on, just like the mts. i used to climb down when I was an avid hiker!

#15

Hi Lou,

Yes, nice to see it graphical.

You’ll also notice how the frequency of me ‘weighing in’ decreased over time, because I knew the WOE was working anyway. (Plus my HbA1C was normal again, and my jeans were falling off me like a rapper gangbanger).

#16

I raerly even use the app now.

Job considered done!

:smile:

#17

Yes. Congratulations :rofl:

The UK is pretty bad to, and getting worse every year.
The major food companies have so much influence over the government in the UK.
I don’t think the general nutrition guidance in the US or UK will ever change. Our government is even supporting cereal based diets. Some schools have ‘Vegan Tuesday’ every week and you can’t opt out.
I believe that the governments will try to push vegan diets on our countries because the profit margins on grains are so huge.

(Joey) #18

Profit is no doubt a big component. But there’s also the reality that “feeding the masses” through industrial food production techniques is how our significant reduction in world hunger has been achieved over our lifetimes.

This is inherently a good thing. The consequence, however, includes rising metabolic disease and related illness onset - because these “foodstuffs” are simply not healthy over the long term. If you die of starvation, there is no long-term. So it’s an ethical dilemma.

Meanwhile, when it comes to feeding your loved ones (and yourself), do your own research and encourage them to leverage the knowledge accordingly. :revolving_hearts:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #19

That’s a curious reaction.

I can’t help feeling that it sounds like the spouses of newly-sober alcoholics, who get annoyed that the alcoholic no longer drinks at meals and at parties. Families often resist the efforts of members to change for the better, since they are familiar with the family dynamics as they are, and change can be scary.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #20

I lost around eighty pounds by eating as much as I wanted and being a couch potato. The only exercise I got during the fat loss was from the daily activities of life. I still don’t exercise for the sake of exercise, though I started mowing the lawn four years ago and enjoy it.