Yay!!...at least I think

[grasshopper]

Welp, after 24 hours I went into ketosis. Yay!! What joy seeing that little strip turn purple... I wasn't sure it would happen...but now I'm worried about how many calories I am consuming. My understanding is that ketosis is the sign that one is burning stored fat, which suggests that as long as the strips are turning purple I should lose weight. But Atkins said it is possible to consume too many calories. Does consuming too many calories take one out of ketosis? I understand that, due to the metabolic effects of the diet, one can eat more calories on a low carb diet than on a high carb diet, so maybe I'll be ok. I'm trying to eat only enough to stave off hunger, but that still may be too many calories.

I guess my question is whether I can forget about calorie consumption as long as the strips turn purple... or if it is possible to overindulge (inhibit fat burning with too many calories) and still turn the sticks purple, in which case the only way to gauge if I'm eating too many calories would be the scale or tape measure.

Grazie.

-Carmen

[Isabeau]

Well, I guess you can eat too many calories, but if you were still eating mostly fat calories, you'd still be in ketosis. The bottom line is taking in more energy then you expend equals weight gain. However, and it's a big however, it's actually quite difficult to eat too many calories on Atkins induction, at least in my opinion. Atkins is a high fat diet, and this keeps us feeling very saited and full. In fact, many people watched their calories not for fear of overeating, but undereating! So really during your induction, just eat following the rules of induction, and you'll be fine. What we strive for in induction is to eat 65% fat, 30% protein, and 5% carbs, most of those carbs coming from the acceptable veggie lists. And don't get bent out of shape if your ketostix are deep dark purple. If you're drinking lots of water, which you should be, the ketones will not be as concentrated in your urine. Hope that all made sense!

[teejay]

fitday.com

you can enter what you eat every day and it will count up calories and carbs and all that good stuff

TJ

[Kent]

Isabeau had it right. Purple ketostix simply show the presence of ketones being excreted. It doesn't tell where the source of the fat was that was burned for energy. You can overeat on the Atkins WOE no matter the metabolic advantage burning fat for fuel gives you, but if you are indeed following the diet correctly by eating only to satiated, you don't have to be concerned about Calories in Step #1. You are correct that the metabolic advantage (or the fact that it takes energy to convert fat into glucose) allows us to eat a higher number of Calories than a low fat diet, where simple sugars can be converted with little expenditure of energy.

[grasshopper]

Well, I guess you can eat too many calories, but if you were still eating mostly fat calories, you'd still be in ketosis. The bottom line is taking in more energy then you expend equals weight gain. However, and it's a big however, it's actually quite difficult to eat too many calories on Atkins induction, at least in my opinion. Atkins is a high fat diet, and this keeps us feeling very saited and full. In fact, many people watched their calories not for fear of overeating, but undereating! So really during your induction, just eat following the rules of induction, and you'll be fine. What we strive for in induction is to eat 65% fat, 30% protein, and 5% carbs, most of those carbs coming from the acceptable veggie lists. And don't get bent out of shape if your ketostix are deep dark purple. If you're drinking lots of water, which you should be, the ketones will not be as concentrated in your urine. Hope that all made sense!

Thanks, Isabeau. That is quite helpful and it all made sense! I've already experienced the sated/full feeling, which apparently jives with my purple stix. I was too literal in my interpretation of the Atkins statement that "ketosis means you are burning stored fat"... with "stored" being the operative word in my mind. But I am following the induction rules, so I won't worry too much about the calories.

And thanks for the suggestion regarding the intensity of the purple. I'm not turning the stix the deepest purple possible (I'm numbers 3-4 on a 5 point scale, where 5 is the deepest purple) and that could be because I am drowning myself with water. LOL.
:fish

-Carmen

[grasshopper]

fitday.com

you can enter what you eat every day and it will count up calories and carbs and all that good stuff

TJ

Ooooo, thanks!

-Carmen
:joy

[grasshopper]

Isabeau had it right. Purple ketostix simply show the presence of ketones being excreted. It doesn't tell where the source of the fat was that was burned for energy. You can overeat on the Atkins WOE no matter the metabolic advantage burning fat for fuel gives you, but if you are indeed following the diet correctly by eating only to satiated, you don't have to be concerned about Calories in Step #1. You are correct that the metabolic advantage (or the fact that it takes energy to convert fat into glucose) allows us to eat a higher number of Calories than a low fat diet, where simple sugars can be converted with little expenditure of energy.

Thanks! You know, I just HATE the idea of deprivation... don't we all! LOL. So the idea of having to limit calories in addition to carbs annoys me no end. :bang But, in reality, because of the high satiety of the Atkins approach, calories are likely to be automatically limited due to the suppressed appetite effect. I'll do the fitday.com to see where I net out.

-Carmen