How long to notice a difference? page 2

[DFH]

I dove in feet first in late 2007, and never regretted it. I did it because my doc insisted and I was 120+lb over, and nothing was working.

I noticed the scale start to move within a week, which was something that just never, ever happened.

It took about a week to forget about milk, bread, and sugar, and I never really missed them since I was more interested in getting healthy than old habits.

Think of PB of a healthy lifestyle that is correct and based on human evolution, not a diet option you do pick out of many.

You should notice the scale moving in about a week, and lose 20 in 2 months easy. If the food changes are giving you discomfort, be patient and try different things.

[noncommital]

Thanks, everyone, I'll hang in there.

Eating crap, I felt fine. Giving up grains, legumes and sugar, I feel like crap. And it isn't the "carb flu" that others describe; it's just this stupid bloating and gas pain that's been pretty constant for the last few days. Not sharp pains, just that uncomfortable feeling of pressure, like I literally have a balloon in my belly. No constipation. No diarrhea. No headaches or nausea or body aches. No fatigue.

I'm not worried about losing weight in a hurry, I figure that will come with time. I just don't want to feel bad as a result of eating in a way that is more healthy than the way I was eating.

If it helps, the type of diet I ate before my foray into PB was basically PB but with added junk. I already ate butter. I already drank full-fat milk. I already ate fatty cuts of steak like Ribeye. I already ate leafy green veggies. I already fried my eggs in coconut oil. I already ate full-fat homemade yogurt. I already ate bacon. My body was used to that stuff already. So the only thing that has changed in my diet was getting rid of breads, chips, cereal, root beer, candy, desserts, pasta, peanut butter. I haven't added anything, I've just taken things away.

I could understand the tummy trouble if I was bombarding myself with all kinds of new foods, but I'm not. It just seems counterintuitive that eliminating foods that are supposed to make me feel bad but never actually did is causing me to feel bad eating foods that never caused me problems before.

So what have I been eating the past week? Lots of eggs. Pork sausage. Salad with lots of fatty dressing (olive oil based) and chicken. Maybe an apple a day. Milk. Ground beef stir fry with bean sprouts, garlic, cabbage and onions flavored with tamari and Chinese 5 spice powder. Pork chops fried in coconut oil. Tonight it's shrimp scampi drowned in butter and garlic, sans the spaghetti. Yogurt with some frozen raspberries. All stuff I ate before, just minus the toast, the croutons, the rice and the pasta. Didn't bother me before, but now it does.

I guess what I'm saying is I don't want to end up having to give up milk too. And cheese. And tomato sauce. And cabbage. And onions. And potatoes. And fruit. Just to feel better when I felt fine before I even thought of PB. I want to be healthy, and I do want to lose weight, but I also want to feel healthy.

Dmac24 wrote:
Convince yourself with science and facts

The fact is I don't feel good, regardless of what the science says I should be feeling. That's my frustration. I guess I expected too much too soon, but reading over all of the PB success stories it's difficult not to have high expectations. Since I already felt fine I didn't expect to feel tons better, but I certainly didn't expect to feel worse--I just expected to lose some weight and miss bread in the process. I'll scale my expectations back a bit. Patience is not something I do well, obviously. It's only been 5 days. It's only been 5 days...

No one has mentioned that they had this gas/bloating issue when starting PB, or how long it lasted, so I guess I'm unusual. I know I'm being a baby about it, and if it only happened for say, an hour after dinner, I don't think it would bother me. But it's all day for the last three days. I'm getting tired of it.

But I'll stick with it and hope it goes away, and when/if it does, I'll be sure to update. In the meantime, I'll take all your kind words of encouragement to heart.

[tfarny]

Well I don't think your experience is at all typical - but one thing that happens (and, my theory, is a big part of "carb flu") is your gut flora change / die-off. The mix of bugs that live in your colon has to change since you are changing your macro composition. I'd say, be patient and see. I sincerely doubt that cutting out pasta is going to give you perma-bloat.
Good luck!

[supersellen]

My digestion took a good month to level out with, and I was similar to you, already eating mostly whole "healthy" foods. The transition to begin to repair your gut can manifest itself in different ways for different people. For me it was weeks of very loose poops and frequent nausea. After 3 or 4 weeks of clean primal eating, I literally woke one morning and felt like a new person, better than I had ever felt in my entire life, even though the first few weeks of primal eating were some of the worst I have felt in my entire life.

[noncommital]

Well I don't think your experience is at all typical - but one thing that happens (and, my theory, is a big part of "carb flu") is your gut flora change / die-off. The mix of bugs that live in your colon has to change since you are changing your macro composition. I'd say, be patient and see.

That's what I'm hoping, some kind of "flora war" going on, and that the "good guys" will win.

I sincerely doubt that cutting out pasta is going to give you perma-bloat.

Man, that would suck! Thanks!

[noncommital]

My digestion took a good month to level out with, and I was similar to you, already eating mostly whole "healthy" foods. The transition to begin to repair your gut can manifest itself in different ways for different people. For me it was weeks of very loose poops and frequent nausea. After 3 or 4 weeks of clean primal eating, I literally woke one morning and felt like a new person, better than I had ever felt in my entire life, even though the first few weeks of primal eating were some of the worst I have felt in my entire life.


Very encouraging--exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

[Surfergirlkel]

Hey,
I've only just started PB and I'm bloating up too. The whole bloated thing is not unusual for me anyhow (I have crohns) and I'm assuming my gut is just adjusting to a newer way of eating. Hoping it settles donwn soon though and I can kick the preggers look in the a**!

[Dirlot]

You mentioned Tamari earlier if i is proper Tamari is should not have wheat in it.

You mention a lot of good fat and protein then you mention some salad and other veg in passing. Make sure you are eating enough veg as well...that old adage meat and two veg still applies.

As to your original question I too ate fairly clean leading to going primal, my big sins being a bowl of ancient grains cereal and perhaps a bit of rice, pasta or a tattie in the evenings. So very little of the bad stuff at all. Going Primal I ate the same but replaced the "starch" with an extra helping of veg and I noticed a huge change right away.

[jfreaksho]

Also, your concerns about being ill after a piece of cake are very dependent on the individual. Too much sugar or bad oils can sometimes make me feel a little ill, but some Taiwanese beef noodle soup, or a cupcake on occasion don't cause me noticeable issues beyond (very) minor indigestion or a slight inflammation of my sinuses, if I even notice at all.