Ketostix and fat burned/weight loss

[DebbieDuh]

This is my first adventure into a forum. Here goes:

I've been on the Atkins Diet (along with my husband) and have lost and gained and lost it again. My husband lost 12lbs the first week and I lost 5. That was fine. Since then I gained it back and then lost it again and he's plateaued.

I purchased Ketostix and range mostly in the bottom "high" rate. He's getting moderate. This tells me that I should be losing the fat fairly rapidly, according to Dr. Atkin's book and my friends who've been on this diet for months. So, what's up with this? I'm still chubby and I'm not losing inches.

Are the sticks accurate and know more than me or are they just a tease?

[Natrushka]

Debbie, there's a past thread about Ketosis that you should read ( http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=247100#post247100 ) It will answer those questions you've asked.

A few questions: Are you doing everything by the book? Are you eating enough? (10 - 12 times your body weight a day in calories) Are you getting your 20g of carbs a day? Are you drinking your water - this is a big one - you need at the bare minimum 64 oz a day + 8 oz for every 25 lbs you wish to lose. Darker readings on those stix are usually an indication of dehydration - not greater fat burning. I personally never get above 'Trace' and I've been losing steadily for months. Are you eating any of those fake LC foods (bars, mixes etc) - many of them say 2 or 3g of carbs per serving but they contain as many as 20g of hidden carbs :eek:

We'd be in a better position to offer advice if we had an idea of what you're eating every day - you might want to stop by the Bootcamp section of the forum and start up a Journal. Remember, quantity of food along with quality. Also, you might like to check out www.fitday.com its a free site where you can track calories/ carbs / fat / protein etc - it is usually an eye opening experience (you'd be amazed at how little you might actually be eating)

As for your husband, the fat loss will slow down after the first few weeks - this is normal and a good thing. Your body needs to adjust to its new size - and you need to learn the skills to eat a new way for the rest of your life. If we lost the fat overnight we'd learn nothing and end up gaining it all back once we went back to eating the ways we used to.

Best of luck,
Nat