Finally getting healthy - some questions about side effects

Hello to anyone who bothers to read this, and a big thank-you to anyone who can share personal insight or links to further research resources.

Having lost a decent amount of weight, I'm feeling some side effects. Some are very contradictory to expectations. So - questions first for the impatient (see stats below):

1. I read up about hormonal and metabolic changes, and how those can impact how cold you feel. I feel a little cold sometimes, but now my hands and feet are cold all the time. Is this part of a metabolic plateau? Has anyone had increased exercise (with increased calories) change this for them? I don't want to gain weight to change this.
2. This one is super weird to me - I sometimes feel actually high in a ridiculously pleasant way during exercise and certain other activities. This is unfamiliar to me. I do use a small amount of legal THC oil for joint inflammation, but it's not enough to account for this. I honestly feel like I've just had 'relations' just about every time I exercise hard. WTF? Is that normal? Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.
3. So uh... the cold hands and feet thing is apparently concurrent with another issue. There's a little bit of performance reduction during intercourse. I'm reading up on NO2, hormonal changes, etc. but could use more insight. Anyone know a good resource regarding dietary additions that could help this? As an example, some have recommended eating celery a few times a week.
4. For anyone willing to read all of this, do you think I have the start of something I can maintain? Any tips on structure? I don't need much exercise advice - I have a good plan there and it's working.

Current stats: 39M, 6' tall, 175 lbs and trying to stay there, no est BF% yet, no metabolic stats measured. I don't count total calories at all.

I've been sick with an autoimmune disease that is relapsing/remitting for about 15 years. I am just now finally getting my head above water on that issue. Things are looking up for the first time in a long time, and there's a good chance I may kick this thing for good.

The pandemic lockdown hit me pretty hard. While I was depressed from being sick, any excuse to stay inside and do nothing was awesome. See this bit if you want to understand my brain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quZU_hA4Pr4 - It's John Mulaney FYI.

As of Jan 2020, I was skinny fat. I weighed at least 185 lbs on any given day, and I felt like crap all the time. I was exercising, but my cardio was exhausting and I felt terrible afterward. Weight lifting was successful, but not in losing weight. Lockdown hit and I did what so many of us did. I sat around for 8 months doing nothing and eating like crap. By Jan 1 2021, I was up to almost 200lbs. I don't even remember making a conscious decision to start changing.

Whether I was thinking about it or not, I reduced my alcohol intake. I started to notice some results (of course I did - stupid me). This really got me interested, so I started researching alcohol and its relationship to visceral fat, and how that impacts health. I came to the following conclusions:

1. I was clearly an alcoholic (high functioning). I decided that I would now have a 4 drink weekly limit, with no more than 2 drinks in a sitting. I know doctors already press this issue, but I think most people are underestimating their intake and its impact.
2. I had to try to lose the gut weight, because otherwise it would kill me. Apparently excess visceral fat is incredibly dangerous to middle aged adult males.
3. Obviously I needed to change my diet. I went back to the actual foods I like, which is actually a fairly balanced diet, though perhaps a little heavy on carbs.
4. No diet I was willing to eat is high enough in soluble fiber. I don't like sugar, so eating fruit to get soluble fiber isn't feasible. A diet that has enough soluble fiber is unappealing to me. I can't eat enough cooked or raw vegetables without severe gastro side effects.
5. I would start supplementing soluble fiber with pure ground psyllium husk daily. This has been a huge change for me, and it helped solve my satiety issue. Getting soluble fiber without carbs is like cheating, and thus is awesome. I have a much healthier GI tract now as well. I can eat almost anything.
6. Lastly, I decided temporary solutions wouldn't work. I had used my illness as an excuse to see everything as short-term. No more.

Here's what my progress looked like (no pics because I was embarrassed about my appearance until now):

1. Progress was slow at first. By June 1 2021, I was starting to shrink my gut and feel a little bit better. I had only lost about 5 lbs, thankfully without losing muscle. I went from 38" to 36" pants size.
2. By August 1, 2021 I wasn't seeing as much visual change, and I had hardly lost any subcutaneous fat at all. I read that this was normal, as most males will lose visceral fat first. That's a win-win in my book.
3. By September 1, 2021 I'm actually starting to feel good. I still didn't take pictures, but I noticed that I was maybe actually starting to lose some subcutaneous fat, fairly evenly. Also, my joints were starting to feel pretty good - they hadn't in years. I finally measured myself again (had been avoiding it), and I was down to 190 lbs. Nice.
4. By November 1, 2021 I was down to 180 lbs. I wasn't quite feeling amazing yet, but the difference was quite pronounced.
5. In the last 4 weeks (writing this Nov 28 2021), I have lost a solid INCH of abdominal fat thickness. I was able to put on my snuggest 34" waist jeans with a little room to spare. I didn't even think that was possible. I actually cried tears of joy one day thinking about it.

Based on my current pacing, knowing I'll probably hit a plateau here soon, I think I can have something close to a six pack by the end of Jan 2022. It might not look shredded, but I'm definitely going for flat. I'm very comfortable retaining like 1/8" or so of fat to have a 'smooth' and not 'vascular' look.

So here I am today, finally getting back out into the world. I'm hoping I've laid most of a foundation that I can build upon to maintain lifetime fitness.

Thanks to anyone who read this or frankly anyone who posts their awesome positive stories here in /r/loseit .

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source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/r3vmie/finally_getting_healthy_some_questions_about_side/