Oh man, I messed up somewhere. I am in my 4th week on Atkins and I finally got up the courage to try some fruit. I topped off some blintzes I made from a recipe found here with 1/4 cup of blueberries and now my test stick is beige! I ate a total of 30.51 carbs today. I ate 27 day before yesterday and still had a purple stick yesterday. Do you think it was the sudden introduction of the berries? Nothing else was unusual on my menu except the blintzes which supposedly only contained 7.2 carbs for the three I ate (made with all legal ingredients). Argh!!!

__________________
Cindy
161.5/153.5/120

I wouldn't worry about it. Those ketostix don't mean much. The important thing is to learn what food works for you and not to depend on the stix.

I know some rely heavily on ketostix, I have been trying them, but I find them inaccurate just for myself, not for all, for some they are great (trying not to step on any toes, lol)

I wouldn't worry, but watch that you don't go over you carbs daily. Not sure when you decided to add more, I stayed in induction for three weeks, just for me though.

I have decided to add berries to my wol yesterday, due from advice from this board. I started this wol at the beginning of January.

I have recently decided on a certain day of the month for a weigh in, at Curves, love them.

Scales can be evil, so be careful, lol Mind you the post at the top of this forum, "THE SCALE IS A CHEAT AND A LIAR" (sorry can't link) but it is incredibly true.

Good luck!

__________________
Kristie




remember: weight loss slow and steady wins the race

So you guys think I just did too many carbs overall and it wasn't specifically the berries? Also, why shouldn't I worry about the ketostix? Aren't they an accurate measurement of my output of ketones and thus my level of lipolysis?

Hey Kristie, where is is Johnstown? I used to live outside of Burgettstown, southwest of Pittsburgh.

__________________
Cindy
161.5/153.5/120

The ketostix don't always mean much. It can show purple every day and you might still not be losing. Or you could never register at all and lose 100 pounds. So they aren't an accurate measure of anything much, depending on the person. I don't use them anymore.

Johnstown is east of Pittsburgh. We are having a PA get together on April 1 if you are interested. We are meeting in Greensburg.

__________________
Kristie




remember: weight loss slow and steady wins the race

Thanks for the info on the get together Kristie. I live pretty far away from PA now though and have no kin there. I just lived there a couple of years because of my Dad's job. My family has since returned to its San Diego origins. You couldn't drag me out of here with a team of wild horses. I love it!

Have fun at your reunion!

__________________
Cindy
161.5/153.5/120

Hi Cindy!

I'm with you - that the ketostix should be fairly accurate as it is a chemical reaction, right? I am guessing that when you used it in relation to how much water you drank, when you ate the berries and your level of activity could be responsible for the beige. You know?

What's your total lost at this point (almost 4 wks??)

The ketostix should be accurate, but unfortunately are not always a good indicator of whether you're in ketosis.

I can't think of which person, but someone here has lost a lot of weight without ever registering on the stix at all.

Of course, that's not to say that you didn't go out of ketosis, but it's not likely that berries would do it. What was in the blintzes?

Hi Patty!

Water and activity levels were the same. I think it was the berries cuz they contain the first sugar I've eaten in 4 weeks. And man, was that stick BEIGE.

Hi Terrasanct,

I've heard of people losing without ever getting to pink or purple. I think that's because the sticks only register two of the three types of ketones. Hopefully, I'm still putting out the kind that doesn't register.

I'm really leaning towards the berries being the culprits because all other suspects were the usual. The blintzes were made from a recipe found on this forum out of all legal ingredients. I went back and added up the carb counts for each ingredient. It exactly matched the carb count given on the recipe. Either it was those d*mned berries or just too many carbs (32). *Sigh*

__________________
Cindy
161.5/153.5/120

I don't register on the stix lots of times due to my water intake (3L-4L per day), which obviously dilutes the ketones. If you are getting good water intake you may not see a big (or any) color change on the stix. Any other symptoms of 'sugar spike/crash' after eating the berries? (Such as headache, brain fog, lethargy, body ache?)

__________________
"Live strong." ~ Lance Armstrong
SLEEP BE DAMNED! GET THY BUTT TO THE GYM!
Start Atkins 9.1.03
225/198/130ish

Hi Tara,

My water intake isn't especially high (about 64-75 oz per day - I weigh 153) so it's not a dilution issue. I just can't seem to make myself drink more than that. I have noticed a couple of other symptoms - big time cravings returned with a vengence, lethargy, and extreme hunger. This really makes me mad because I thought I was doing everything right. Oh well. I'm still eating lc, albeit in massive and frequent quantities. Yesterday my stick was back to light purple so...crisis over.

__________________
Cindy
161.5/153.5/120

When I ran out of my ketostix, I didnt rebuy them, I'm pretty much going on my gross breath and the wierd taste in my mouth.

I can tell for some reason when I am in ketosis. I also get this wierd tingly feeling.

I think listening to your body is a way better indicator than those sticks are.

__________________
2001 = 230 lbs
1/2003 - 218 lbs
1/2004 - 187 lbs
current 195/goal 150

Well, Cindy, the fruit thing is a hit or miss, trial and error thing. If you think your body really reacts to fruit, best to avoid it for now. BUT, the closer you get to your goal weight the safer it will be to add fruit back. You may not gain from it, but may stall. So when you are in the maintenance phase, that's an okay thing. You may want to try eating some fruit by itself and see if you get the same reaction. It could have been a combination of the blintzes and fruit. See what happens. If you can eat fruit with say.......some whipped cream and still stay in ketosis, heck, indulge then. But don't freak out by being out of ketosis for 24 hours or so. It's not the end of the world. And who knows, it might even ramp up your loss. I find that if I up my carbs occasionally, it breaks a stall. Go figure.

__________________

Thanks Barb. You know, I think you may be right about fruit being difficult for me right now. I'll introduce it in much smaller quantities next time (like 4 or 5 berries at a time instead of a 1/4 cup all at once).

Strangely you also mention that sometime these things can get the scale moving again. Funny you would say that because that's just what happened with me. I've been stalled, gaining and relosing the same 2 lbs, since the beginning of my third week. Earlier this week I had this mess up, then because of my odd and ravenous eating pattern, I ended up eating 32 carbs one day, followed by only 7 the next day, then back up to 27 the day after. Wouldn't you know it, the scale started moving - even though I ate over 2500 calories on my big carb days. Bizarre, but good.

__________________
Cindy
161.5/153.5/120