[Junrlaeh]

The first thing I would suggest is ditching the Atkins bar. I'm not sure we've EVER had anyone on his forum who could eat them and lose. Atkins assumes that ALL of the sugar alcohols are not digested/absorbed. Most low carbers will tell you that at least half of them are... so that net gram count on the package isn't really accurate in reality. Technically, it is... in the human body... not so much.

Re: ketostixs. Darker readings aren't necessarily a good thing. It can mean you're dehydrated... it can mean you're producing WAY more ketones than your body needs. Excess ketones spill over into your urine... and into your breath. When are you testing??? Is it your first pee of the day?? Anything other than that isn't worth doing... if you eat a high fat meal (like eggs/sausage) the fat in the meal will be digested, metabolized and will produce excess ketones. A dark reading isn't indicative of BODY fat being metabolized. It could be either. So test first thing in the morning... before you eat. The stix are good for one thing (for low carbers)... if you get ANY color change, it means there are ketones in your urine and you're in ketosis. There aren't levels to ketosis... you're either "in" or you're "out". Kinda like being pg... you either are, or you're not. You're no more pg at 9 months than you are at 9 weeks. See what I mean?? So your color change is good... but darker is not better in that sense.

Another suggestion... eat more veggies. You only had 8g carb today?? That doesn't meet the minimum for veggies. You need to eat 12 to 15 net grams from veggies alone. Less isn't always better... don't cut back on your veggie carbs. You need them. You need the veggies. What are you going to do when it's time to move on to OWL if you're not eating at Induction level yet?

If I think of more... I'll be back. LOL