Help! Ketosis is finicky!

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wichy123
wichy123 Posts: 2
in Introduce Yourself
I thought that I was in Ketosis after 1 week on Atkins. The Ketosis sticks showed that I had a small amount. I have been adhering to the 20 gram, fanatically. I tested my urine again today and it was negative. I'm confused. I can't seem to stay in Ketosis? Why haven't I lost weight yet?

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  • MjrFatteh
    MjrFatteh Posts: 15
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    I've read that for some people it can take very few carbs for your body to hang on and some people can eat 50+
  • RiesigJay
    RiesigJay Posts: 151 Member
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    How active are you? If you do no exercise (at all) it will take longer. 2 weeks to a month.

    Are you paying close attention to the nutrition labels of the food you eat? Many foods you wouldn't consider carb-laden are quite high in carbs. Sausages for example.

    Keto sticks are a bit inaccurate, and I do not rely on them. Do not put all your faith in those.

    As for losing weight, once you get into ketosis (and you'll know because you'll be peeing every 30 minutes) you'll drop 10 pounds in about 5 days. But this is water. As soon as you start eating carbs again, you'll gain that water weight back.

    That said, it'll take about a week or two after you've shed water to see weight loss if your calories are below maintenance. If your body requires 2500 calories to maintain weight, and you're eating 2500 calories, you'll lose 10 pounds of water, but that's it. No fat loss.
  • wichy123
    wichy123 Posts: 2
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    I haven't been worrying about calories at all! I have just been following the 20 gram carb limit. I add butter to everything to keep my fat content up.
    I run every other day, 3 miles. On the off days, I walk.
    On average, this is what I eat.
    Coffee with heavy whipping cream
    omelet with one strip of bacon, small amount of onion and 2 oz cheddar cheese
    for lunch:
    Romaine salad, with mushrooms and 1 slice of tomato and turkey from the deli (only ingredients is turkey and water...swear!) with ceasar dressing (2TBP)
    Is usually some kind of meat and I use up the rest of the veggie carb allowance.
    I occassionally have some whip cream (heaving whipping cream with splenda (2 TBP)) I only ate 1/4 cause it was too sweet.
    Keep doing this and wait?
  • Jayneopopsidoodle
    Jayneopopsidoodle Posts: 63 Member
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    I've been checking my ketone sticks daily and they're negative but I've dropped 6lb in the last 10 days with my carbs being below 30g. Keep going, not exactly sure those ketone sticks are always a valid indicator xx
  • RiesigJay
    RiesigJay Posts: 151 Member
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    I haven't been worrying about calories at all! I have just been following the 20 gram carb limit. I add butter to everything to keep my fat content up.
    I run every other day, 3 miles. On the off days, I walk.
    On average, this is what I eat.
    Coffee with heavy whipping cream
    omelet with one strip of bacon, small amount of onion and 2 oz cheddar cheese
    for lunch:
    Romaine salad, with mushrooms and 1 slice of tomato and turkey from the deli (only ingredients is turkey and water...swear!) with ceasar dressing (2TBP)
    Is usually some kind of meat and I use up the rest of the veggie carb allowance.
    I occassionally have some whip cream (heaving whipping cream with splenda (2 TBP)) I only ate 1/4 cause it was too sweet.
    Keep doing this and wait?

    Yes, give it 5 more days. If you can, drop the tomato from the salad and the onion from the omlette. Both are high in sugars. If you're eating a large amount of them daily, this may be what is keeping you in ketosis. Everything else looks OK.

    You should be in ketosis in about 5 days, give or take a day or two. When you're peeing every 30 minutes and it smells different, that's a sure sign.
  • Elisirmon
    Elisirmon Posts: 273 Member
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    If you drink alot of water it can cause error with the ketone sticks I am same way I drank alittle less water and used the stick first thing in morning urine and after a week it was large but then I had a free day went back to small : (.
  • bookyeti
    bookyeti Posts: 544 Member
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    Ketosis is ketosis... regardless of the large vs. small reading.
    Weight loss isn't dependent on the degree of ketosis. :-)
  • LauraDotts
    LauraDotts Posts: 732 Member
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    If you stay very well hydrated, and you should, the ketostix will often show negative. Also, if your body is very efficient in producing and using ketones, there often isn't any excess ketones to spill over into your urine.

    If you are sticking to a keto level of carbs, aren't craving sugars and feel great, you are in ketosis.

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