Five weeks ago I told you fiber is a metabolism issue, not just a bathroom issue. Let me close the loop on what that actually buys you.
First — the 4pm problem
Fiber can slow how fast glucose arrives, and fermentable fiber nudges GLP-1 and PYY, the satiety signals you make yourself. The practical version: the afternoon stops having an opinion about you. That usually shows up in week two or three — the single best early sign something is working.
Second — composition, not weight
Appetite that behaves means fewer accidental calories, and fiber pairs with the protein work we did in August rather than competing with it. Protein builds the tissue. Fiber helps manage the fuel arriving at it. Together they move body composition in a way neither does alone.
Third — the one you can’t feel
A gut lining fed by butyrate, and a more diverse microbiome. You may not notice that this month. It is the part that matters for your long-term health — which is exactly the kind of thing nobody does anything about, which is why I keep saying it.
HOW TO CHECK WITHOUT A SCALE
Hunger between meals — is the gap between lunch and dinner an event or a non-event?
Regularity — boring and predictable is the goal.
Energy after your bumper meals — no trough an hour later.
If you are tracking body composition, use a BIA scale plus other markers like grip strength. Weight alone will lie to you in both directions.
Progress means the scale moves.
Progress means the afternoon leaves you alone.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU
Hunger between meals stops being a fight — usually the first thing to change, in week two or three.
Appetite that behaves means fewer accidental calories, which moves composition before the scale does.
A fed gut lining and a more diverse microbiome — the part you may not feel this month, but the part that matters for years to come.
DO THIS WEEK
Count your fiber grams one more time this week, and see how far the number moved since Lesson 1.
