Strange reaction to carby intake

[Liz]

I've noticed that when I have an overt carb intake (i.e. sometimes when I'm eating out, though rarely, I decide that I'm going to eat a battered bit of fish, or deep fried kalimari, or whatever), the next day I've actually dropped a couple of lbs. I got a take away Indian meal on Friday, ate 1/2 nan to sop up gravy. Next morning 2 lbs down. Should have been up if anything as Indian food is salty. Wouldn't have thought anything about it except that it happened before during the summer when I was on holiday the occasional overt carb (as opposed to carbs in veggies etc.) and it had the same effect. I'm curious why that might be. My body is unaccustomed to that kind of carb, gets confused, says 'what that??' and expels water in shocked response? I'm not about to take on more carbs, but wondering what the (temporary) weight drop response is about. :confused:

[Karen]

The same thing happened to me until I reached the 50 pounds lost mark. Then, it sadly stopped. I can't get away with anything now. Water weight and sluggishness lands instantly for any transgression, even the LC "treat" variety.

Why it works? Wish I knew too! You're theory may be right. Let's hope the mystery unfolds.

Karen

[Soon2BSlim]

Liz,
I've never heard of that. I guess part of me wishes that I could drop 2 pounds after sneaking in a few extra carbs!

I wish I could be of help. I guess if it's not hurting your diet...then there's nothing to worry about. But just to make sure, I would suggest that you go out and buy the Ketosis Strips (I got mine at Costco (I can't remember the price, but they're not too expensive - They're called):

Ketostix
Reagent Strips for Urinalysis
(Made from Bayer and Bayer).

You can test how deep into ketosis your body is by peeing on the strips. They're GREAT for telling you what's going on.

I would try to monitor my ketosis more than the weight loss. If it is your body dropping water, then it won't help your diet in the long run.

You'll be able to tell if your night out eating battered fish or nan has truly effected your diet or not.

Good luck! :)

Soon2BSlim

P.S. Keep in mind that the gravy you're sopping up with the nan is probably packed with carbs too...often they add starch to gravies to "thicken" them up. :)

[Raven]

Hey Liz that is quite the mystery, but I've heard of that effect on other people too. 2 lbs in one day is most certainly water loss, but again I have no idea why it happens. As Soon2bslim remarked, I'd be careful of throwing myself out of ketosis by eating too many carbs. The color on the sticks however isn't a very reliable indicator of "how much" into ketosis you are. Some people always measure the lightest color, some hardly register at all, and some always register dark. It doesn't seem to have any correlation to actual degree of ketosis, but I think it's helpful to determine the presence or absence of it. Also water intake has a lot to do with what color the sticks will turn. Any degree of dehydration will cause the sticks to register darker and diluted urine will have the opposite effect.

There's a great article on ketostix and ketosis at the top of the page you should check out if you haven't already or if you're interested. Keep up the good work and here's to many happy low-carbing days ahead!

[Liz]

And the overt carb does knock me out of ketosis momentarily. For example, this a.m. no pink showing but by this p.m. pink coming back. I seem to stay in ketosis quite easily, but then again I've also been more or less stalled for about 3 months. Been on Atkins for 8 months now. My overt carb moments have been extremely infrequent over the stretch, and I'm very wary of tipping myself into appetite for carbs, but I have made peace with myself about the occasional carb consumption as I'm on this woe for the long haul.