I have been on the Atkins diet for 3 days. Watching carbs and eating small portions, several times a day. I have the Ketone strips and do not understand. What is considered good and bad? I thought that the lesser of the mg/dl in the body was better. Am I wrong? Should my Ketone level be above 40? I just need some clarification on this please....

Welcome! Nice to have you here!

On Atkins, you want to register some color on the strips. I don't have my bottle handy (it's in the bathroom, and I'm not! ) Read Ketosis & Ketone Test Strips for further information.

HTH!

Helpful question and helpful and kind response! I have been a bit worried I am drinking enough water and peeing a great deal, and the strips turn purple, but very dark.... might be the other bathroom issue I am having though. Off to post an old question I am sure!

I just wanted to welcome you. I don't use the strips...so I can't help you there.

It looks like you lost 3 lbs so far...that is great

Thanks for the warm welcome and all of the info so far. I did some reading on Ketone's and am still a little off balance with it. I will continue to eat right and stick to low-no carb dieting as this is the basics of Atkins. I want to lose 40-50 lbs so bad. I think I just want it to happen over night and it won't. Hopefully, I will continue to lose weight even if it is only 1 pound a day. It will only take a month or so to reach my goal.
I will be in touch!!! :-)

Do you really expect to lose a pound a day? Or, did you mean a pound a week?

Well, so far it's been a pound a day...but, a few pounds a week will be ok too. I just want to get rid of this extra person I have hanging around...lol I feel like I'm on the right track..?

Hello. Looks like we started at about the same time. I have lost 6lbs. but I am not expecting that to be the norm. If you are trying to lose a lb a day that is just not realistic for any diet. It took awhile to gain the weight and it will take a bit to lose it as well. The initial weight loss is usually water weight and is usually dramatic. I just don't want you to give up if you don't see the results your looking for. I would love to lose 30lbs in a month but I'll be darn happy with 10 or more. After that truly 4-8lbs a month is usually the norm unless you have a lot to lose. Looks like your like me hoping to shed 40lbs. At least thats my first big goal after that I'll let my body decide. Anyway I know that there have been people with amazing losses but usually those people are 100lbs+ over their desired weight. Good luck to you and I'd love to stay in touch as a buddy system if your up for it especially since we started around the same time!

Is there anyway else to tell your in Ketosis? I have heard about "metallic" breath?? Sometimes, mine tastes sweet? I have beeen on Atkins since 12/15/08 and have lost 15 lbs. However I think some of that weight is bc of TOM. But in the last couple of weeks my scale is not moving at all!! Very frustrated. Normally I eat 2 oz of cream cheese daily and meat. Dont know what I am doing wrong...

Your probably not doing anything wrong. More than likely it's because you have less to lose.... hopefully someone else has some ideas for you to break your plataeu...

I would love to stay in touch as the buddy system. I am doing great! My eating habits are pretty much the same everyday. I eat 2 scrambled eggs every morning with a cup of coffee (decaf) and a glass of water. For early snack, I have a 1/4 cup of no carb jello. Lunch is usually a small salad with no meat. Mid day snack is a small banana or 1/4 cup of jello. Dinner is chicken..baked with cheese on top. I am drinking more water now than ever before. I do not eat any sweets through-out the day. I might have a evening snack but not often. If I do it's 1/4 cup of dry special K cereal. I feel great and am seeing a weight lose in my face to start with. I am sure the rest will come. My diet started last Friday (1-18-2009) and so far I have lost 7.6 lbs. Knowing that I won't lose 1 lbs per day, I am not expecting to however, it sure would be nice. Will post again soon...oh and exercise at least 3 times a week. Mine consists of dancing while I clean. email: kjunlad~yahoo.com if you want to keep in touch other than here. Thanks for all of the advice......best of luck on all of your goals. :-)

I gotta say I am confused by your diet. While on induction we are not suppose to eat fruit and a bananna is a no no for awhile because it is higher in in the glycemic index or some such (don't have my book in front of me) We also shouldn't be eating special K or any cereal should we? At least thats the way I am reading it. Meat meat and more meat with a lot of fat added in is what I am doing and what I see most people on here doing.....

Let me know but I too would like to start a buddy system if your game!!!

No fruit, No bananas, No Jello and Definitely No Special K !

Kjunlad,

Welcome aboard!

I have to echo what others have said:

1) A pound a day is an unrealistic - and unhealthy - weight loss rate for a woman your size. More like a pound a week. The initial weight loss when you start a low carb diet is mostly water as (IMNSHO) your body adjusts your water retention levels to match the electrolyte balance associated with burning ketones instead of burning glucose.

2) You are eating a LOT of things you shouldn't, especially on Atkins Induction. A medium banana has over 20g of sugar. That's more than your entire allowed daily carb intake! And it's SUGAR! Down the road you will be able to have fruits in moderation, but not now. The same for Special K and the like.

I strongly recommend that you don't eat anything that you can't get the nutritional data for and that you track everything you eat for the next week and see what your totals come to. You will find that 20g of carbs lets you eat a lot of green, leafy vegetables - and little else that is not protein/fat.

3) Don't worry too much about the color of the test strips - or even using them. If the color is very dark, you are likely dehydrated. Although I think the ketone levels are generally elevated during the transition from a glucose to a ketone metabolism (I have nothing to support that other than observations of what people have reported here).

The "lesser ketones is better" comes from diets that keep you on a glucose metabolism. When you are on a ketone metabolism, there WILL be ketones in your urine.

4) Have you actually READ the Atkins Book? It sounds like you might be one of the many people that have decided to do Atkins based on what you think Atkins is based on what you have heard. There is so much misundertanding and misinformation about Atkins and Low Carbing, that I strongly recommend you that you get the book and read it, pretty much cover to cover, for yourself.

I appreciate all of the feed back. However, I feel that some of you are pretty negative about the way you say things to those who are brand new to dieting (me). I am asking for advice here not someone to treat me like a 2 yr old and say "no no no". I respect all of you and would like to get the same. I am open to suggestion and have received that for the most part, but I could do without some of the negative feed back. You may want to try "if I were you, I wouldn't eat banana's and special K" not answering with a question. If I knew the answer would I be here asking? No!
Thanks, Dawn