Hello

[stokelov]

I'm new in here. My name is Shelley and I joined because weight loss is always easier with support. Having said that, my husband has joined the diet so we're doing it together.

I have a wonderful app on my iPhone that helps me count carbs daily and monitors my water intake. It's been so helpful.

I did try Atkins once before but attempted to do it with the shakes and bars provided and somehow I could never get into ketosis. This time it's working a treat. I just finished induction and started at 64k (142 lbs) and have lost 4.5 kilos (10 lbs) in the fortnight. I've stopped now. I only want to get to 54 k (119 lbs) and I'm obviously not very resistant at all so there's not rush. I'm only rung 1 with OWL.

Wish me luck.

Shelley

[Georgiana]

Re: Hello

Welcome, Shelley!

If you are using Ketostix to test for ketosis, they are not always reliable. One can be in ketosis without changing the color of the sticks, because the sticks only measure the concentration of excess ketones in urine... and don't take into account the ketones in blood.

Yet, I don't advocate eating bars and shakes. Eating real food is better... and products often stall or slow down weight loss.

[liv]

Re: Hello

So are you saying you stopped eating the shakes and bars and you do get into ketosis now?

Welcome Shelley. Good luck to both you guys.

[stokelov]

Re: Hello

Hi Georgiana and Liv,
I tried Atkins the first time about a decade ago and used the products for convenience but I must be one of those that really reacts to sugar alcohols. I finally gave up because I wasn't losing a thing. I used to be 185 lbs and went on a Doctor prescribed low carb plan and lost most of my weight. He's not there anymore so after I put some back on after my baby I surmised that lowcarb must be okay and to try Atkins myself.

This time the weight has fallen off, 9 pounds in my first fortnight and I only want to lose another 13. I'm on OWL rung 1.

That is, until I decided to go to the cinema and treat myself to an Atkins bar. I didn't do anything else differently, I included the carbs on the pack and checked that it was okay for Phase 2. Yep, did all of the right things and, guess what, the little purple square was gone and replaced by a beige one. It's taken two days to get that square purple again.

I'm with you Georgiana, I love my veg too much to waste it on too much frankenfood but it was a cinema trip and supposedly an alright amendment to my diet.

I know that the book advises that the Ketostix can be unreliable but they've been registering for me until the Atkins bar (just the one) so I've found them very encouraging. I blame the sugar alcohol. I didn't intend to have too many anyway, but it's good to know to count the carbs entirely. To be quite honest, I prefer raspberries and cream. I'll be having those tomorrow.

Warm regards,
Shelley

[imagood1]

Re: Hello

Purple on the keotsis sticks may mean you are dehydrated, there not varying degrees of keotsis any color means you are in -- it's like a pregnancy kit - you either are or are not pregnant. How much water are you drinking daily? 64 ounces of pure water is the minimum recommended.

Next time you go to the movies take celery sticks, pepperoni, meat rolled up with cream cheese, etc -- leave the Atkins bars are the store!

Good luck.

[stokelov]

Re: Hello

Hi Carol,

I'm drinking 3 litres of water a day, that's about 96 ounces, I think, and that's my minimum. Thanks for letting me know about the colour coding, that makes me feel a bit more confident.

Yeah, celery and cream cheese would have been much nicer. I was just trying out some convenience foods. The bars don't taste that good anyway and I don't have an overdeveloped sweet tooth (my fatal flaw is starchy stuff) so I'll give them a wide berth.

I'm surprised though that something hasn't been done about food warnings if the foods are so detrimental to 'doing Atkins'.

[Georgiana]

Re: Hello

I'm surprised though that something hasn't been done about food warnings if the foods are so detrimental to 'doing Atkins'.

There used to be a warning on the Atkins.com page that bars can stall weight loss for some people. It's not there anymore. You can guess why... $$$.

[Georgiana]

Re: Hello

Oh, and in Chapter 5 of Atkins Essentials it says:

"Do not consume more than two servings of low carb alternative foods during Induction, and remember that you still must count your grams of Net Carbs. If you have trouble losing weight you may want to replace these products with protein and fat whole foods during the Induction phase."