back on the purple

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62apples
62apples Posts: 132 Member
years ago, I lost on the ketogenic diet.
while my life was very stressful, I could not do the diet.
I have now been on the diet for 3 weeks and have lost 15 pounds.
I am one of those people that do not lose weight on low calories.
I need both calorie and carb limits.
Both have to be right for me to lose.
plus if I think about food or feel hungry, I eat something simple, perhaps 5 carbs max.
that tricks the body and keep from going into a psych focus on food.
I drink 2 cups of water when I wake up and wait one hour before eating.
now, I just need to stay on it for the full 12 week goal.
a person must stay on the diet for 12 weeks to successfully change from a sugar burner to a fat burner.
in the zone right now, no headache, no hunger, functioning just fine.
hoping it continues.

Replies

  • elize7
    elize7 Posts: 1,088 Member
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    I'm back on the deep pink! Hoping to regain some ground I gave back last year.
    Something about those ketostix really motivates me! Luv them, dont care what anyone says.
  • 62apples
    62apples Posts: 132 Member
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    Yep, I like ketostix too.
    I was under too much stress to do the keto diet before.
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
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    I know the ketosticks are fun and I totally use them for that reason myself. It is important to remember though that hydration and how often you empty your bladder has a huge effect on the result and the color you get doesnt really mean much. It's not necessarily correlative to your blood ketones. It's simply the concentration of extra ketones in your urine at that moment in time. So how much urine is in your bladder affects that concentration. Not just how "in ketosis" you are.
    A negative result could just easily mean you're very very well or over hydrated and a dark purple can also indicate dehydration...
    Again, I'm not knocking them. I think it's fun to verify ketosis. Just want to chime in with a reality check.
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,104 Member
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    If you want to know numbers and not just see pretty colors :) you might look at investing in a Ketonix breath meter or a blood glucose meter with ketone strips, though the ketone strips are pricey, to my understanding. Some folks have even had luck using an acetone (breathalyzer) type device once they had data and could correlate it to ketone levels. @DittoDan - Do you still track that way?
  • elize7
    elize7 Posts: 1,088 Member
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    Deep Purple today.
    Happy camper. Life is good.
    Never giving up. Gonna do it this time. Little happy dance. Gonna try on my new reward clothes and pick out my reward du jour!

    Dont really know what it really means...just makes me feel good.

    Luv all youse fitpal guys!
  • RedSquadronLeader
    RedSquadronLeader Posts: 84 Member
    edited June 2017
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    Hi guys, be really careful about trying to be darker shades of pink/purple with ketostix. These are measuring *excess* ketones in *urine*, meaning that two things affect the concentration besides ketone production: your energy consumption at any given time, and your levels of hydration.

    If you're dehydrated it will cause a higher ketone concentration, and dehydration is of particular concern to people on keto because of the increased possibility of kidney stones. Make sure you're getting enough sodium and drinking lots of water.

    In general, studies have shown that "nutritional ketosis" blood concentrations of beta-hydroxybutyrate are best for weight loss, and also for your overall energy levels and mood. This corresponds on average to the lighter pink end of the ketostix -- although that's a loose correlation for the reasons noted above. Remember that your body has regulatory mechanisms to keep your blood pH in a very tight range. Diabetic ketoacidosis develops because the regulatory mechanism fails, and the pH drops below 7.35, causing the blood to be extremely acidic and a host of life-threatening systemic problems ensue. Even though non-diabetics won't see this problem, increasing the ketone concentration in the blood doesn't necessarily correspond to "more fat being burned", and will still slightly decrease blood pH, which has been linked to increased inflammation, decreased immune response, and potentially other nasty things.

    This has been observed in late-stage anorexic patients, hence very high ketone concentrations (but still not runaway concentrations like in the diabetic case) have been termed "starvation ketosis."

    Anyway, just a caution ... some people regularly observe dark purple ketostix, but really if you see it change color at all you're good.

    ETA: by "extremely acidic" I mean relative to the normal blood pH. I don't think there's ever been a documented case when any (living) person's blood has fallen below a pH of 7. =)
  • elize7
    elize7 Posts: 1,088 Member
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    Darkish purple today. The pounds are rolling off this week. Don't know what flicked the switch for me, but I'm all on board!. Feel so psyched again! Like a breath of fresh air.
  • 62apples
    62apples Posts: 132 Member
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    For me, the hardest part is ignoring daily weight and looking at the end of the week weight. Each time I am about to lose weight, the scale will show around a 2 pound gain.
    Most days, I drink 2 cups of water upon waking and then wait an hour before eating or drinking anything else. The Japanese found the morning water heals many conditions. They claim it can reverse diabetes in six months. Let me know if you want a link for that study.
    At any rate, being hydrated is important on the ketogenic diet.
    I am on week 4.
  • elize7
    elize7 Posts: 1,088 Member
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    Can't believe i was pinkish today after too many carbs yesterday. I'm surprised! And grateful. Got to get it together this week. Keep my good streak going.
    I need to plan some non alcohol weekends in the future, for sure. That would definately help my progress even more!