Banana, as far as I can tell, I'm not in ketosis and, yes, I am losing weight and it is fat, not muscle. I could not fee this strong if I were losing muscle, I've been there, I know what it feels like. And my muscles are becoming more defined as the fat around them disappears, especially in my legs which have always been muscular from my competitive swimming days.

Dr. Schwarzbein says that it is not necessary to be in ketosis to lose fat. I believe her. Also, it takes dietary fat to convince your body to burn fat. Basically, when you have lower carbs, less than you need for fuel, your body looks elsewhere and the elsewhere it looks first is fat if you are eating dietary fat. By ingesting enough dietary fat, your body becomes used to using fat for energy. When it is used to using fat for energy and it does not have enough dietary fat, it will go to your fat stores. But if you lower your fat intake too much, it will go into starvation mode.

There's a great article about it at:

http://www.low-carb.co.uk/lowcarbhighfat

What I wrote above is my understanding of it. To make this all work (I got this from another post) you do have to have low insulin levels. Two things will lower your insulin levels: 1) way too few carbs or 2) balancing the carbs you eat with foods that greatly slow down your carb absorbtion, thereby lowering the need for insulin production. The second way is what you achieve with the Schwarzbein program.

I eat about 50 to 70 grams of carbs a day and that's of starchy vegetables. Dr. S. suggests that I eat about 60 grams for my size and activity level, although as I get stronger and have more energy, my activity level is increasing. I have been counting all my carbs to see what my non-starchy veges are adding, but they don't add that much. And Dr. S. also says that if you are eating a lot of non-starchy vegetables, you don't need to eat starchy vegetables (apparently acknowledging that they do have some carbs ). I have been eating lots of fat, about 60% of my calories come from fat.

My typical weekday is; breakfast - 2 eggs, hamburger, spinach, onions and mushrooms, all cooked in at least 2 tablespoons of butter; lunch - cucumber, tomatoes, grilled chicken and avocado with lots of oil and vinegar dressing; dinner - about 8 ounces meat usually cooked with onions and other veges in butter or oil and maybe with cream or sour cream or creme fraiche to make a creamy sauce -- I am a one-pot-meal type of person. For snacks I have had cheese and veges (celery mostly) or hummus with celery and today I had a wonderful cabbage salad that I found a recipe for that includes walnuts and feta cheese. I usually have only one snack that I call my early lunch.

I eat lots. I don't let myself get too hungry (timing is sometimes an issue at work) and I feel great! That's all that matters to me. If my weight comes down, which it is doing, more's the better. I've been following the plan now for over 7 weeks. My clothes are all becoming baggy and I have lost about 18 pounds.

And of course this just shows that different methods work for different people. If I do go into an extended plateau, I will probably try upping my fat intake first. If that doesn't help, I will try something else. A lot of the time, it seems to me, that all you need is a change to get your body out of its rut.

Sorry to be such a gab... Oh, and I don't count calories except when I am inputting a new recipe and that's just because it's part of the program. That's how I know my fat intake is about 60%.

;-Deb