First off-- I don't believe ketosis is dangerous. I've been on this plan since March 2004, lost about 20 pounds, feel better, etc. etc.

For a reason completely unrelated to weight loss or ketosis side effects, I have decided to take myself out of ketosis, to up my carbs to maintenance level, for a little while.

See, I apparently had an ovarian cyst rupture and bleed in my abdomen (that's the current theory to explain some severe pain this last week). The CT scan (to check my appendix, intestines) revealed that I have some fluid around my heart and lungs, some free fluid in my pelvis, and some ovarian cysts. No, there is NO WAY ths is due to Atkins-- I received an extensive list of possibilities from my doctor, and googled on my own. It can be due to a lot of serious things, a lot of less serious things, it can be totally ideopathic, but it's not from my diet.

HOWEVER, I want to relieve as much stress as possible from my body while we look into this. I don't believe ketosis is dangerous, but I feel like losing weight itself is a bit of a stress, and I want to remove that factor. My plan is to go to maintenance level carbs while this is going on, and to stick to basic Atkins principles-- veggies, meat, some fruit, some cheese, no trans fats, no sugar.

The problem is-- maintenance level carbs is determined by a person's individual carb tolerance! I was wondering if you folks could maybe tell me an average maintenance level.

My Atkins progress at the moment-- I've been in OWL, but I found that I stalled at anything over 25 carbs. Then I discovered that I was consuming a heck of a lot of calories, so I've been keeping my calories at 1600, and was just planning to figure out my CCCL at a managed caloric intake.

At the moment, I'm trying to get my caloric intake up to 2000, and my carbs to 30. The last few days, I have had a lot of trouble eating (abdominal pain, doctors visits, that horrible barium drink I had to choke down for the CT scan) so my goal this weekend is 30 carbs, 2000 cals a day, lots of fiber, lots of fresh veggies.

So here are my questions: Am I just paranoid about ketosis/weight loss in general being a stress on the body? As I said before, I don't think it's dangerous by itself. I just think it's a stress. I've never had heart trouble, and have no idea what the tests are about to turn up (lupus or rheumatoid arthritis are possibilities, but I have symptoms for neither), NEVER dealt with this kind of health issue. I just want to give my body all the resources it needs.

And what is an average maintenance level for carbs? I'm going to keep an eye on my caloric intake, and I don't care if I gain back 2 or 3 pounds. I don't want to go anywhere near the typical American diet, since I feel so much better on Atkins.

Thanks!