After 17 days of low carb diet, I’ve lost 2kg of weight. I have another 5kg to go.
I’ve cut out a lot of unnecessary added sugars and also stopped eating rice, pasta and bread. I used to eat all 3 in unhealthily large quantities.
I’m feeling hungry almost every evening, but it’s only mildly uncomfortable. Previously, I might have made a large snack late in the evening, but now I just ignore it and wait until breakfast.
Now I need to up my resistance training too.
Consider having a bedtime snack, without increasing your overall carb count. That way you are not looking at such a long time to breakfast.
A large glass of warm water can also quench hunger pains.
But well done, keep it up.
That’s a healthy rhythm of weight loss, congrats! the weight loss as such is not as important, it is more -as you know- removing th sources of carbohidrates and shaving off the fat, and replacing it by muscle! (which is heavier). So you might notice it more in your trousers’ sizing, than in the balance.
Protein shakes are a great way to quench hunger, and will help with your gym training – make sure you go for a non-added sugar one (personally, I take the Lee-sport brand, and I do not go hungry). Of course, a T-bone steak can help also! If you need ballast, I would suggest buckwheat, (it also has a lot of protein, makes you feel full for longer, and wins hands down any rice or pasta as side dish).
Keep it up, we are all on this together! 
p.s. I started taking some creatine a couple of months ago. It helps also building muscle and shoveling off the fat. It worked for me - I have put on 2 kg of muscle, and loss 2 kg fat – all of it, measured objectively by an inBody device-- But…it makes me hungry the whole day! 
I read so much about creatine. I wondered if it could be helpful.
Do you have your own inBody measurement device? Or you go to the doctor’s to get a measurement?
On Creatine, I have been hesitant for some time. I have been reading scholar articles (not the stuff on internet). I still have some ‘questions’ open, for example, the interaction of the metabolites with IOP/Glaucoma, which has not been studied, and could be of concern. That’s why I am taking ‘a little’, and checking. Unfortunately, like any other supplement, when you stop taking it, you come back to your ‘baseline’… yet, personally i have noticed also an improvement on some other factors. again, I do not recommend or not – this one is for your own research!
I do the inBody measurements at a gym ("Sparta’ what a name for a gym! on the wall it has very ‘interesting motivational statements’ - like “train hard, or go home” 
) in my second ‘home’ (in Prague).
I see that here in Switzerland there is also the possibility of doing it (of course, 5x more expensive) in various gyms & fitness centers.
It takes 3 minutes, and the device provides with a 8-10 pages output with all the description, that then you can study in detail – or the fitness instructor can explain to you. You can also obviously, bring that to your physician; more than a ‘one-off’ (which of course is interesting - and shocking!- the first time, it is interesting as an ‘evolution’ tool.
the method has some level of error- but I rather have a low-impedance current across my body for 1 minute, than be exposed to more ionizing radiation on a DXA analyses…
Two kgs in 17 days is not much per se and your weight can fluctuate that much naturally, heck a good dump can set you back by 500g.
Its not so much what you eat and more how much you eat.
Weigh everything and set goals to try to limit the amount.
Last week Monday I started with 1100g per day, not much difference on the scales as you tend to run on the easy reserves for a while, however next week I plan to reduce to 1000g per day and then I should see some results.
Last time I did this I was at 600 to 700g after five weeks and got shut of 10 kgs, it was 15 but the 10 have stayed off for two yrars now.
You go exclusively on the (raw? cooked?) weight of the food, not the nutritional content or kcals?? What about beverages/liquids?
I’ve heard of weighing one’s food before, but not with the idea of using the total weight of all food consumed as a measuring gauge.
I think that depends on your general weight. If you are 150Kg and you lose 2Kg, you wouldn’t even notice and as a percentage of your overall weight, it’s quite a small amount.
I don’t weigh that much and if I put on 3-4Kg, I need the next size up in trousers. If I lose 3-4Kg, it’s really noticeable.
But yes, your weight can fluctuate from week to week so it’s a trend in loss or gain over time which is important.
Cottage cheese is natural and would fulfil the same requirement rather than take a re-hydrated industrial powder.
Can you link to the scholar article(s) which shows how creatine helps to shovel off the fat?
Regarding muscle building, it’s supposed to help if you are getting to your maximum power in sports including heavy weight-lifting by giving you the boost to complete one more rep but it doesn’t actually build muscle though the water retention may make your muscles look better.
Creatine is, however, meant to be good at boosting brain performance in the elderly and the sleep deprived so may be of help to the people on this thread who have young children and so are not getting enough sleep.
I have been taking creatine for the last six months as an experiment.
(My son had some in the cupboard so I thought I would try it).
It has made no difference that I can ascertain to my power output from exercise including the sort of exercise where it is supposed to be of greatest benefit.
I’ve had less reactive hypoglycemic episodes (actually only a few minor ones) since taking it and one of it’s benefits is supposed to be on controlling blood sugar levels.
Cooked, works better that way. Eat what you want, drink what you want, as long as it is not beer, only one if them allowed per day, sometimes it can be two, wine is better as one beer is seven Brötchen.
500g this evening, brings the consumption with breakfast up to 960g.
By the way pumpkin spaghetti.
Where do you buy your creatine from? I was thinking of giving it a go, maybe not so much for the diabetes things, but more whether it could help when I am sleep deprived e.g. the last weeks when I kids were ill with fever and waking me up in the early hours of the morning so I could clean their vomit and give them medicine. I’m like the walking dead right now.
oh no! now everybody knows I’m above the age of the article
Changes in Fat Mass Following Creatine Supplementation and Resistance Training in Adults ≥50 Years of Age: A Meta-Analysis - PMC
On muscle building, it has been well established - the water retention occurs only during the first weeks. In any case, I can move now about 30% more than what I used to, and, much to my chagrin, I look again like a bodybuider --which is not what I was looking for.
Yes, that’s the part that I mentioned ’ other effects’. I had the wonderful menopause’s (in)famous brain fog due to the depletion of progesterone. I couldn’t believe it myself, but yet, it’s **** real. The fog might still be there, but at least now I can concentrate and finish my excel sheets and not lose the thread of my own formulas…
wow, only for that, it’s worth the experiment, congrats.
I didn’t realise it was so mainstream now. It’s even available from my local coop!
also from Lee Sport. @Phil_MCR please notice that I am NOT dismissing the risk for renal-impaired people! Yes, there are clinical studies showing the evidence of benefits related to sleep quality and glucose & TG profiles, but people with severe comorbidities should consult a doctor before taking supplements that could impact the effectiveness (+ or - ) of the treatments that they are on…
As an ageing person with sleep and muscle loss issues I am interested in this topic. Creatine is not a vitamin, humans can synthesise it.
The study you quoted is a meta study of nineteen studies with an average of 33 participants in each study. Whilst quality is as important as quantity, this is still a very low number of individuals. The results quoted were not (IMO) overwhelming.
My experiment is going to be to increase my intake of farmed salmon and see if I notice any improvement.
The rule of thumb is that it should by the monohydrate type and also have ‘creapure’ on the label.
Breakfast: 160g two slices bread. One cuppa.
Laugh all you want but down 1.5 kg since Thursday.
The publication is one of several other studies / meta studies – with larger ## of individuals. This one is looking specifically for very detailed parameters, hence 75% of the previous studies are dismissed.
Yes, humans synthesize (minimally) creatine (like with omega3, we are very inefficient at it) - most of the needs are filled through diet-intake. There are some other studies that prove (with larger cohorts) that a large % of population, particularly older people, or with chronic pathologies, do not intake through the diet enough creatine, and muscles start wasting away. I will send it to you in another post, have to look for them – but now I have to go to work .
natural omega3, yes! anitbiotics from farmed fish… not so much yes… 
keep us posted on your case study advancement!
