Stage 4 day 8
This stage hasn't been my favorite (that was S3). Was feeling pretty low self-esteem yesterday but its better today, perhaps because its an On day again. Interesting, this 7-day on/off pattern: for me it's now roughly every weekend Off, weekdays On. Handy but I hope to not be so mopey every weekend this month.
Stage 4 Day 18
This third On cycle (season?) has been better already. Second Off cycle had me feeling down again (low self esteem) but then when I started back up I think I've been feeling quite good this week. Was very social in one event. I hardly got any sleep last night because my mind was racing on imagining me tackling some topics at work, though there is stress behind that so its not a blissful state. But good
Stage 5 Day 1
Today I've felt mostly calm. I have a flu and and it was an abnormal day anyway but I've got a slightly better feeling of this stage then the previous.
My experience with stage 4 seems to mirror what Nomad is reporting. Stage 3 was powerful, stage 4 was like stopping the program for a month and slowly losing all the good effects. I was feeling socially avoidant whereas earlier I was feeling engaged. At least the off days were not really that different from the on days towards the end of the stage, because the first ones had me feeling lousy somehow, small.
Ready, go next stage. Quite far into the program already.
One more thing: I'm pretty sure I've put on some overall muscle during this AM run. Probably its mostly fat but I'm pretty sure it's more than that. Heard it from two others also. Training when I can, usually not at the gym.
Stage 5 Day 10
Secure and calm. I really like running this stage, shame that the second off period starts today. I had no troubles with the first - would just like to keep running it since its just getting better every day.