That's all you need, MarimbaMom! Ketosis has been compared to pregnancy: you either are or you aren't. So it doesn't matter whether or not you are in trace or heavy; in fact a dark purple on the stix can just mean that you are dehydrated.

Personally, I think the stix are a waste of time and money. Losing weight (and fat) is way more important than changing the colour of a little piece of plastic.

Glad to see you're finding answers to your questions here. Have you looked at Low Carb Tips on the orange bar at the top of the screen? And another good place to see answers to questions you haven't thought of yet is "Hot Links" - a "sticky" near the top of Newbies Questions. It's a collection of previous threads where many common questions are answered.

All the best!

Rosebud