I have been dieting since September. I would mix the diet up a little. 3 - 4 days I would eat no carbs. Then 3 - 4 days I would eat some fruits and vegetables. I always found myself cheating for a day with pizza and pop this would occur about every 3 weeks. My biggest problem was pop and carbs to begin with. I have managed to drop 50 lbs. since September. I started at 330 lbs.OUCH. I have so much energy right now that I am standing up while I type this letter.lol. I now want to get more serious and stay on the Atkins diet. I just start my 2 weeks under 20 carbs diet.
I started Monday. I bought my ketone sticks. Should you adjust your carbs according to the color on the stick? Should you ever let it go dark purple. I have heard you want to keep it betwwen moderate and large on the color chart. Having to much ketones can damage your kidneys. Is this true? I drink about a gallon of water a day. Will this affect the ketone sticks?

Hi Turbodan,

People vary a lot in terms of how they get into ketosis and the the colour they register when testing with those ketostix.

If you go on a 20 g carb per day, and you get dark results, that is not really a problem, I think this happens to big guys who generally have a higher metabolism. Judging by your stats (goal weight of 200) you're about my size, and I get dark results even when I'm up 50g carbs.

If you're following Atkins, keep the 20g for induction (2 weeks) and then increas 5g each week to see what is your carb limit.

Some people just can't get them dark or even pink, and it may have to do with our body chemistry.

Wa'il