I called a pharmacist about ketosis and stix...
 

She said "water consumption has no effect on ketosis level shown on the stick."

So, I'm going with the Aktin's explanation. The color indicates how effectively your body is burning stored fat. If you drink a gallon of water, the color of the stix will not be lighter because of it!

I'm following you around...lol. Did the pharmacist say they showed that you were burning fat or burning stored fat? I mean, if you eat a high fat meal (which most of mine are) will the results be skewed by the fact that I ate a lot of fat?

My sticks can vary greatly from day to day, but as long as I'm in ketosis, I don't really care.


L

Whyspers - LOL! I feel like I'm being stalked! :p

Ketosis is burning stored fat! So, the darker it is, the more stored fat you are burning. Congrats on that dark purple stix!!!

I think that that is incorrect -- can someone else please comment on this? It is my understanding that ketosis indicates that you are burning fat for fuel. That fat could come from the fat you eat. That is why it is possible to be in ketosis and not lose weight, and it is why calories matter, even though we don't need to count calories on Atkins.

There are a lot of things that affect ketosis levels as tested by ketostix, water consumption included, dehydration included. That pharmacist sounds like a nut to me - so, I guess you could dilute your urine with 1 million grams of water to 1 gram of urine and STILL TEST THE SAME???

NOT!!!!

Gotbeer, I think your example is a tad exaggerated. :rolleyes:

How many of us are drinking that much water to dilute a urine same to that point???? Seems to me that the ketostix is set to measure urine from a full bladder - which means it's holding all the fluid it can. Tests can be set to be very sensitive and precise.

My urologist said the same thing as the pharmacist. When they test with ketostix, the water intake of the patient is not measured.

As I don't know about your education, I'm going to have to trust Atkins Center, my pharmacist, and my urologist.

OK, my first example was extreme to show how SILLY their argument is - of course water consumption / dilution matters! The more water, the lower the concentration.

The side panel on my Ketostix lists the range of pink to purple as ranging from 5 to 160 mg/dL (milligrams/deciliter). This is the standard for measuring most components of blood & urine.

If you increase the deciliters (amount of water), you decrease the concentration of ketones (milligrams) - in other words, the ketones remain the same but the extra water thins them out. So, add double the water in a moderate reading of 40, and it turns into a small reading of 20.

This is simple chemistry - if it matters to you, yes, I do have a degree in chemistry and a degree in mathematics.

There may be some deeper biochemical explanation for their contrary view that makes sense - I'd love to hear it - but on the face of it, the chemistry says they are wrong.

They may be assuming that one's water consumption stays more or less the same - this works on average, but not for everyday ups and downs in water, temperature, exercise, etc.

:rolleyes: back at you!

yeah from my experience i try to drink a gallon to 2 gallons of water aday. When i drink less than a gallon the stix are definately darker.
But have you actually thought about this, you are peeing a little piece of plastic to give you reassurance, do you realize just how silly that is ? Throw the sticks away and rely on how you feel and on the scales and inches :D

Just my two cents to bust up the debate.... :rolleyes:

Never bothered with those stix...they never gave me the results I thought I should have (as is with so many new Atkins people..."but I was soooo good"!)....

I barely registered ketosis...many of us don't. I can taste it sometimes though...ketones in the breath, etc. but I have learned not to rely on those tools for my progress...the stix, the scale, etc.

It's the long-term results of how I look in the mirror and how my clothes are fitting...THEN I know I'm getting smaller and something I'm doing must be right!

Back to your regularly scheduled program... :wave:

Thanks
 

Thank you for that Donna, I too used to rely on the keto stix and would be very dissapointed if not showing any results. Then I read alot of threads on how everyone is different and it does not matter if its light pink or dark purple its still working. I have stoped checking it all the time. I have been going by how I feel and how my cloths fit.

Another thing I have really noticed is how I am changing bad habits. I am know forming new very good habits with my eating and that is a huge success. (I think anyway)

Maria

On the other hand, I use the stix occasionally as a visual reaffirmation that I am eating correctly even though the scales and tape haven't moved for a while.

Sometimes just a little encouragement can help keep a person from falling off the wagon. If one of those three indicators (scales, tape measure, stix) are positive it's encouraging for me. I've never registered purple, always light to mid-pink, or neutral if I've sneaked a few carbs in I shouldn't have. :nono:

To each his/her own.

Sharon

I think it's important to realize that the ketone test strips are only one tool to measure progress and not a terribly accurate one at that.
Yes, some people feel they need that visual confirmation of the sticks turning color to feel that they are on track but consider that they can also measure alcohol (which is metabolized to ketone bodies) and dietary fat as well as burned body fat before putting too much stock in them or using them as your only tool to gauge the eficacy of your plan. I've seen people literally going to extremes to try to get those strips to turn color even though they were losing weight just fine. I've even seen people quit low carbing because the strips weren't turning color, assuming that the plan wasn't working even though they were losing weight.
Use them as a tool if you need the visual confirmation, but don't panic if they're not the color you think they should be or the color changes from day to day and use other methods of gauging progress as well such as the tape measure and how your clothes are fitting.

Keytones.
 

I am doing with atkins told me on phone. and in his book. will most of it.
Today i checked keytones. i do once a week just to see were iam at. even if i think it is doing me good i work that much harder. I have been dark marve since i started atkins Feb st.
Last week i did a fat fast for 5 days. when i did that my stickwere the darest Purple they have been. Today iam back to marve color. so i think being on fat fast with high fat intake boost that color.
Iam and have been drinking water. i feel goodand iam going to see if i lost inches yet. i just took them last week.
at least now i know from atkins that i can have diet rite any time i want to even while fat fasting. just still get in at least 8 glasses of water.
I also think we have to do what we think and what works for us to meet goals. i know if i dont see weight lost i will end up going back to my own dieting. but i am trying atkins and doing good. like more weight off but am sticking with it. Then i will learn wol and lc. i can not belive atkins dont know what they are saying on phone ect. so for me i will be happy with any v color stick i have but if dark purple that is great. too.
i would like to read more imformation on keytone sticks and read were that shows me that dr9inkinf lots of water will turn sticks or Not enough water is not good and that is why keytones are dark purple. i for one thinks that we have to work hard on any diet plan and keep it going and exersice to get to goals. then the hard part starts. and that is to keep off. just my own way of thinking . it has to work for you to do any good. iam glad atkins has hot lineand web page.

I never got dark purple and sometimes barely registered. However I have lost 30 lbs since Jan and am still losing. I guess I don't care anymore about the sticks. :daze:

Yikes!!! I didn't mean to start a huge debate over this...lol. I just wanted to point out that while I have heard it said that ketosticks results can be skewed by drinking too much water or dehydration...Atkins Center and other medical professionals say it ain't so. If you believe it is...great...fine...s'okay by me...lol. I would rather have all of the information to base my decision on and that's why I posted about it.

Honestly...as long as you are losing weight/inches or whatever...who the heck cares if your little stick changes colors or by how much? If you aren't losing weight or inches and haven't for four weeks and are in a true stall...and at that point your sticks aren't changing, then maybe you might want to try a clean induction again for four or five days to make sure you are in ketosis...that's all.

This really isn't an issue that matters, ya'll. Whether they work or not has nothing to do with your success on Atkins.


L