I caved....

[JaxMama]

and bought the pee sticks today.

I felt like such crap this morning I was very interested in seeing what would happen. I had never felt like I needed them before based on my body's behaviour but proof is in the pudding right?

It showed I was at the lowest level of ketones (sorry if I am spelling it wrong) at 15mg. I made sure not to dilute my urine.

I would hate to see me in two or three days after only eating legal foods and staying below 20 grams. Will I be able to function?

I am going to use the sticks as an experiment. I am going to use them every other day until I get to 140 lbs on the proper induction. After 140 I am going to go on to OWL and still use them every other day. I am interested to know what my carb limit is and at what amount of grams I get kicked out of ketosis.

It's interesting I was in minimal Ketosis after Saturday's cupcakes and beer and then eating more then 20 grams and more cheese then was allowed over the last two days. And I NEVER gave up coffee and never will (don't throw mean words my way).

Hmmmm, I love a good challenge!

jaxmama

[JaxMama]

Re: I caved....

I just diluted my urine with 40 ounces of water and the stick still read the same -15 ml. Interesting.

[Georgiana]

Re: I caved....

It showed I was at the lowest level of ketones (sorry if I am spelling it wrong) at 15mg.

The color is not important.

And you can be in ketosis without changing the color of the sticks.

I am going to use the sticks as an experiment. I am going to use them every other day until I get to 140 lbs on the proper induction. After 140 I am going to go on to OWL and still use them every other day.

Why do you want to stay on Induction until you get down to 140?

The last 5-10 lbs are supposed to be lost in Pre-Maintenance.

I just diluted my urine with 40 ounces of water and the stick still read the same -15 ml. Interesting.

Is this the same stick?

[atkinsgal08]

Re: I caved....

Have you read:

https://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/atkins-low-carb-dieting-faqs/82407-article-ketostix-color.html

[2big4mysize]

Re: I caved....

if the consnetration of ketones in your urine didn't change when you added the water then check your water cause that isn't mathmatically possible to increase the fluid and not dilute the consnetration.

Every human being on earth will show ketones in the AM because the carbs in dinner are long gone and the body has been burning fats during the night for fuel.

Now put your stix away because they only measure the excess of one type of ketone that is actualy used for fuel by your body. You could easily be in Dr Atkins ketosis and NEVER change the color on the stix cause your body is busy burning those ketones that stix measure as fuel. there is a waste ketone that we pee out but stixs don't measure it.

The feeling bad could be your body making the switch back to being a fat burning system and still in the process of making the powerplants needed along wiht the carrier molecules and helper enxymes so it wasn't able to keep up with all your energy needs and you are a little low right now. OR it could be you are ill from somebug you caught.
either way it will pass.

Make sure you are drinking all your water, eating your 3 cup of veggies, doing the mandatory exercise part of your atkins and eating nothing not on the legal foods lists.

Be sure you measure yourself so you can always see that your body as you work your atkins is getting smaller and burning off excess body fat even when the scales refuse to validate that hard work. That way when PISS hits you will not be discouraged.

[JaxMama]

Re: I caved....

140 because my goal is 133.

I didn't understand the change with the diluted pee either.

I am not putting the sticks away because I am going to experiment when I get out of Ketosis.

[poobears1972]

Re: I caved....

The sticks may not be any good. Even ones new from the store can be faulty if they've been stored in too much humidity. I wouldn't put much stock in the sticks. They really don't mean anything because they are so inaccurate.

[2big4mysize]

Re: I caved....

you didn't say if you did the second test with a new stix or not.

[JaxMama]

Re: I caved....

I used one this morning for fun and it was just a tad darker, getting close to 30 ml. But I was down to 143.00 Yippee. I'll probably use all the sticks since I spent $11 on them. But I wouldn't buy them again.

[not2late]

Re: I caved....

140 because my goal is 133.

I didn't understand the change with the diluted pee either.

I am not putting the sticks away because I am going to experiment when I get out of Ketosis.

You'll produce ketones as long as you stay on a ketogenic diet like Atkins. Ketogenic diets typically have less than 100-130 grams carbs. The average ATkineer has a CCLL and CCML of less than 100-130. So until you exceed 100-130 grams carbs, then you will always be in ketosis.

Also, the alcohol can give a false positive result for those ketostix. The stix measure only 1 type of ketone. That ketone is chemically similar to a by-product of alcohol metabolism. So if you drink alcohol and test your urine, there is a great possibility that the stix are just measuring the alcohol by-product, not the ketone. That false positive can lull you into the idea that you are still burning fat, when you're just burning booze.

[2big4mysize]

Re: I caved....

for any body else thinking about trying the dilution with water

if you do dulite you should know once a stix has been used you can never retest with the same one and you will need a fresh one each time.

[JaxMama]

Re: I caved....

Good thing to know about the alcohol. I didn't have any in my system all 3 times. So that couldn't be the reason why I came out positive. Those tests were the control tests for the basis of my experiment

[not2late]

Re: I caved....

Well, technically if you want to do a controlled experiment, you would have to really make sure you are in ketosis---for a couple of days. Then you can take your control specimen. Conversely, if you want to get out of ketosis, you will have to be out of it for a few days. See, there's a lag time between when you eat and when it affects you and for how long it is in your system.

As 2Big mentioned, you are in ketosis when you sleep. So your first of the morning urine will show ketones. Therefore to make sure those overnight ketones aren't still in your system, you will have take several readings after eating more than 100-130 grams carbs to see how long it would take for your body to react to that carb bolus. Then and only then will you get an accurate control specimen.

I don't recommend giving yourself a carb bolus, but since you are aware of and willing to accept the risks of carb bolusing on your metabolism, my recommendation against it is moot.