[horaAppagob]

i've been on atkins for a week now and on day three my ketostix turned dark pink in tht evening and then in the morning after but then it went straight back to yellow which it has been for the last few days. i've been eating the same, nothings changed... does anyone know why this is?

xx

[Junrlaeh]

Yup!

The stix only tell you if there are ketones in your urine. Period. If there are, it changes color and it means your body produced ketones when it metabolized fatty acids... either fat you ate, body fat or both. If there are ketones you were in ketosis. NOW, if the color doesn't change, what does it mean? Nothing except there were not enough ketones in your urine to trigger a color change on the stix. Does that mean you're not in ketosis? No. It just means there weren't any EXTRA ketones that spilled over into your urine. Why? Well, maybe you used all that your body produced. Maybe you were keeping up with the water and your urine was too diluted for the ketones to trigger a color change. Maybe you haven't metabolized any fat since the last time you peed. Maybe your body expelled your left over ketones through exhalling instead (that's the funky acetone breath we get).

The best time to test is your first urine of the day, after fasting all night and when your urine is most concentrated. Any other time of day and you have way too many variables. Once you get a positive reading for ketones, you don't need to test again as long as you're on plan.

FYI... darker is NOT better. A very dark reading simply means you're not drinking enough OR you're eating too much fat (and making WAY too many ketones).

The new Atkins book came out in March. The stix are no longer recommended as they don't really tell you anything useful.

Your body will metabolize dietary fat and body fat for energy. It's not one or the other. Eat enough fat for the diet to work and for hunger control. If you suspect you're eating too much or not enough, try logging a few days of what you're eating into fitday.com. Your % (in Induction) should be around 70% fat, 5 to 7% carb and the rest protein. Later on, as you move up through the plan, the fat % is reduced as the carb % is increased. The protein remains constant right into maintenance.

Hope this helps!

[horaAppagob]

this puts my mind to rest thanks
lost 2.7kg this first week, i realise much of this is water weight but still encouraging that i haven't put it on =)
xx

[horaAppagob]

ps looked at your before and after pics tril

OMG!!!

congrats you're smoking!

gives us all hope!

xx

[Junrlaeh]

LOL, thanks Del!

[plalleste]

The sticks will only tell you that you are in ketosis. But they don't measure your progress.

never said they did, i just ment when I'm exercising a lot / drinking more than enough fluids a day will they still show if I'm in ketosis or not or will the exercise and water probably filter out any results?

thanks

[Junrlaeh]

Exercise and excessive water intake CAN reduce the amount of ketones in your urine... which would effect the "results" on the ketostix. But that's ok!!! The only ketones that will show up in your urnine are extra... above and beyond what your body needs. Having excess ketones isn't always a good thing because we don't know where they came from... ketones are a by-product of fat metabolism, both the fat you EAT and the fat on your body. A very dark reading on the ketostix could be the result of excessive dietary fat (you're eating more than your body needs) and not a result of your losing body fat.

Since there's no level of ketosis (it's like being pregnant, you either are or you are not) it really doesn't matter if you have a trace on the stix or you're dark purple. I'd rather have a trace, personally. That would mean I didn't have a lot of excess ketones, but I would know I WAS in ketosis by seeing a trace amount. Once you're "in" there's no need to keep checking unless you think you've eaten too many carbs and pushed yourself out of ketosis.

FWI, most people will make the switch to ketosis within three to four days of dropping to 50g carb per day. Some people can eat up to 100g and stay in ketosis. If you're eating on the upper end, just be sure to spread those carbs out over the course of the day. One carb loaded meal (50 - 100g) will throw you out (you'll produce glucose and insulin). At the pre-M and Maintenance levels you will no longer be in ketosis, by the way. The goal isn't to stay there for life, just for weight loss.

[plalleste]

Exercise and excessive water intake CAN reduce the amount of ketones in your urine... which would effect the "results" on the ketostix. But that's ok!!! The only ketones that will show up in your urnine are extra... above and beyond what your body needs. Having excess ketones isn't always a good thing because we don't know where they came from... ketones are a by-product of fat metabolism, both the fat you EAT and the fat on your body. A very dark reading on the ketostix could be the result of excessive dietary fat (you're eating more than your body needs) and not a result of your losing body fat.

Since there's no level of ketosis (it's like being pregnant, you either are or you are not) it really doesn't matter if you have a trace on the stix or you're dark purple. I'd rather have a trace, personally. That would mean I didn't have a lot of excess ketones, but I would know I WAS in ketosis by seeing a trace amount. Once you're "in" there's no need to keep checking unless you think you've eaten too many carbs and pushed yourself out of ketosis.

FWI, most people will make the switch to ketosis within three to four days of dropping to 50g carb per day. Some people can eat up to 100g and stay in ketosis. If you're eating on the upper end, just be sure to spread those carbs out over the course of the day. One carb loaded meal (50 - 100g) will throw you out (you'll produce glucose and insulin). At the pre-M and Maintenance levels you will no longer be in ketosis, by the way. The goal isn't to stay there for life, just for weight loss.

Thanks, well I'm in now and it was dark purple, I've had plenty fluids though and I exercise so I'm hoping the dark purple was just a result of me just starting and having plenty fat to burn, but luckily I don't have any bad breath or anything I'm hoping to stay like that :P, and I'm sticking to 20g for a couple of week then I think if I really need to move it to 30g but I'm pretty happy with 20g atm I love how my appetite has gone down loads though I'm pretty much a healthy person but I'm always hungry and its never because I'm bored, so its weird being able to just have 2 meals a day and not crave anything else, possibly the best diet I've ever done. hopefully this will help me lose the rest of my weight that I need to shred

loving the forums BTW.

[Junrlaeh]

Excess ketones are expelled through urination and exhalation. If you aren't noticing any ketone breath and your stix are dark purple you may be one of the lucky ones who get to expell the extra ketones in just your urine!! Or... you just haven't noticed it yet. LOL

Glad you're enjoying the forums! It was REALLY quiet here in December. We're happy to have all of the members!!!

[plalleste]

Well I'm loving the diet still, was shitting my self the first few days coz the only aim the first day was to find food until we go shopping that has no carbs and I couldn't find much more than fish, and as I googled and stuff I found any fizzy drinks that are diet or Zero have non and I finally found some nice organic sausages with no carbs and bacon and eggs, this lovely flax bread, the list is slowly raising its lovely how big this selection of food is going up, and still losing weight, still no smelly breath also Guess I'm am lucky, I deserve it after living on them slim-fast since augustish I've never had to use willpower not to over eat so much in my life than on that diet, and I'm 1 lb of losing the rest of my Christmas weight, so then ill feel properly on track hopefully by Monday

[plalleste]

Hey im new just started this will the sticks still help me know when im just starting? although i do go to gym a lot and exercise at home will this + drinking lots of water like i do probably filter any out anyway.