Hi Brooke.
I submitted a question to you last month when I joined SCS about the fact that I had been on a medically supervised “fake food diet” for the last 3 months and whether or not to continue that diet for the 4th month or go ahead and switch to a protocol with real food. Your recommendation to me at the time was to switch to real food every other day to ween off of it and to shorten my eating window. You said that I would probably be very hungry during the transition and would likely gain a little weight in the beginning but then we would get it off the right way.
I immediately shortened my eating window to 8 hours and continued the fake food for 1 week. Then I began real food every other day for 1 week. Now I’ve been on all real food for another 2 weeks so far. I was very pleased during the every other day week to have lost 4lbs (after 2 weeks of no loss at all) and also to have lost another 2lbs during the 1st real food week. I was very excited and hopeful that I would not gain as you had said might happen. I was also happy that I have not been overly hungry or suffering from withdrawal during the transition. I even eat in more of a 6 to 7 hour window than 8 hours most of the time without feeling hungry in between meals, and originally I had planned to eat an egg for breakfast in addition to my 2 meals as part of my protocol but I have not needed that and so am not doing it. This is all very good and I am pleased.
I’ve had to do quite a bit of mind management during this 2nd week on real food though because my weight went back up almost 2lbs and has stayed there for the last 6 days. Intellectually, I know that this is unlikely actual weight gain and that I am doing great; but part of me fears that this is the gain you thought would likely happen and that it will continue to go up or at least refuse to go down for a while. So now I am wondering what to expect. If this is the gain you were expecting, how long should I expect it to lasts before I start losing again? My protocol is 8oz veggies, 4oz protein, 3T fat- twice a day in a 6 to 8 hour window. I am 47 years old, 5’9″ tall. I have lost 50lbs (last week 52). My current weight is 191.8. I want to be a size 8, so I think my final goal is somewhere around 150-155 lbs. I am expecting weight loss to slow way down now from the 8-10lbs/month that I’ve been losing, but I was hoping to continue to lose 4-5lbs/month for at least the next 20lbs. I was hoping that you could help me with what is a reasonable expectation. I’ve done well with mind management so far, but admittedly find myself more anxious over the 2lb gain with each passing day that it persists. I know that I am doing everything I can and that patience is required. I am just wondering how long you think it will take my body to start losing again and if my expectation is reasonable. Thank you!