4-Week Check-In: How Our LOGI Low-Carb Experiment Is Going

You've probably been curious to hear how Carla and Tom are getting on after 4 weeks of eating the LOGI way. A lot has changed for both of them. At our second get-together, they treated us to two delicious low-carb dishes, and of course the scales made another appearance too.

The numbers after 4 weeks

After just 4 weeks, both are already seeing changes, despite a few early hiccups and not always being 100% consistent about cutting carbs. Men's bodies often find it a bit easier to shed body fat, and that shows clearly when we compare the two side by side.

Carla

• Weight: 86 kg at the start, 83.3 kg after 4 weeks
• Body fat: 43% at the start, 40% after 4 weeks
• Muscle mass: 46.6 kg at the start, 47.4 kg after 4 weeks
• Body water: 43.6% at the start, 44.8% after 4 weeks
• Metabolic age: 52 at the start, 52 after 4 weeks
• Visceral fat: 9 at the start, 8 after 4 weeks

Tom

• Weight: 81 kg at the start, 76.7 kg after 4 weeks
• Body fat: 21.6% at the start, 16.5% after 4 weeks
• Muscle mass: 60.5 kg at the start, 60.9 kg after 4 weeks
• Body water: 55.3% at the start, 59.3% after 4 weeks
• Metabolic age: 40 at the start, 25 after 4 weeks
• Visceral fat: 7 at the start, 5 after 4 weeks

Early wins, in Carla and Tom's own words

Carla: After 4 weeks I've lost almost 3 kg and I feel a lot better generally. No more grumbly stomach or digestive issues, and I definitely haven't been going hungry. So low-carb really does seem to be working for me, and that's without adding any extra exercise, which I still haven't managed. I really do need to get on that at some point.

Tom: After 4 weeks of low-carb eating, I'm almost 5 kg lighter. Honestly, I rarely miss carb-heavy food, though I do make the occasional exception for a slice of cake or a pizza. Sticking to low-carb the rest of the time balances that out pretty well.

Lunch breaks at the office

Carla: Lunch breaks turned out to be far less of an issue than I'd expected. Either I just skip the starchy side and order extra veg instead, or I choose lower-carb dishes from the start, things like chilli con carne or turkey skewers with vegetables. It doesn't have to be salad every time! And you can absolutely still go out to eat with colleagues. The only real struggle has been bread served as a starter or side.

Tom: Lunch breaks haven't really been a problem for me, most of the time. After a short adjustment period, I now know what I can order where, and I steer clear of a few places that don't offer many alternatives. Worst case, I just skip the potatoes or pasta on the side. Works really well.

Chocolate and sweets

Carla: I've realised I just can't go completely without chocolate. So I bought a really good-quality dark chocolate, 80 to 90% cocoa, and enjoy one or two squares of that.

Tom: Sometimes I do have to hold myself back, like when there are sweets going round at work. But on the whole, skipping chocolate, gummy sweets and the like doesn't bother me much. We'll see how that holds up over the festive season.

Meetings and seminars

Carla: Saying no to the biscuits in meetings has been easy enough. The trickier bit was the lunch breaks built into seminars, since it's usually just filled rolls on offer. I ended up eating them because the break was too short to find anything else. At least I properly enjoyed them.

Tom: I just leave the obligatory meeting biscuits alone. But like Carla, longer sessions often mean rolls are the only option, so there's not much choice sometimes. That said, I've also had some client meetings where soup or salad was on the menu, which was a nice surprise.

How they're feeling physically

Carla: The first two weeks especially, I felt great physically and was really motivated. That shifted a bit in week three, even though the number on the scale kept dropping. What I have noticed is that you feel far less bloated and heavy once you cut out the starchy sides, bread and sweets.

Tom: In the first few days I had this constant, low-level hunger. I'm not sure if that was down to the change in diet or just because I wasn't eating enough alternatives. Either way, it settled down quickly, and since then I've felt just as good as I did eating carb-heavy food before. I have noticed, though, that I don't tolerate certain things as well anymore, especially very sugary foods and pasta.

Our takeaway after 4 weeks

Carla and Tom haven't followed the LOGI approach strictly over these first 4 weeks, yet both are already seeing results and their numbers are moving in the right direction. So for them, eating mostly low-carb is already paying off.

We'll catch up with Carla and Tom again in another 4 weeks to see how they're doing. Fingers crossed for them both. This time round, they cooked us a chicken fillet with courgette, artichokes, tomatoes and pine nuts, followed by a cream cheese dip with fresh figs. Thanks again for the lovely food and the new recipe ideas.