waterbug
The first 3 days are suppose to be the hardest, for me it was 5, during this time I had bad food cravings. What I did to help was wait until my groceries ran out so I wouldn't have food around the house to tempted me.
If your overweight you lose more weight than the average person. I am overweight and lost 12 lbs in 5 days, but that varies with each individual.
As for the side effects, different ones will come and go and it's part of detoxing but they do go. I had no side effects when I started then after a few days I got lower back pain, really bad taste in my mouth, some acid reflux, nausea. I tell myself it's a sign my body is house cleaning and that helps and I take it easy, I distracted myself with movies, books and doing some chores.
Anyways, I hope that helps. Good luck.