hi

I was wondering, do all of you just eat 3 meals and 1 snack? I get so damned hungry all the time I eat a morning snack and afternoon snack.. and sometimes a snack before bed. UGH! I eat all my veggis and dring TONS of water. I am in induction so I stick to the 20 carbs a day. I just dont know what is up with my appetite.. it is like nonstop.:0 Anyone else have this problem?

I know we are not supposed to count calories, but will we still loose if we eat 20gms of carbs and 5000 calories (I dont eat that, just hypothetical)

Also what ketosis strips do you guys use? The atkins ones? I use some diabetic ones I found at CVS and I cam constantly in the slight (lighter pink) level. I cannot get it to read deep pink. Does this make a difference?



Thanks

Ilona

Hi there,

I eat three times a day dont snack except for sugar free jelly...Are you sure you are eating enough fat as this should according to the book curb your appetite and as far as i know if you are showing trace that is enough to be in ketosis as deep purple color indicates that you are probably not drinking enough fluids and you say that you are drinking tons of water so thats probably why you are only showing trace.

Stick with it and look at the amount of fat you are eating it you may need to increase it......

Mary

Hi Ilona:

It's hard to really help without knowing what you are eating. Maybe providing a typical day's foods would be helpful.

My first suggestion would be to log everything onto fitday.com. You'd be amazed at how much information that tells you.

My first lesson when I started journalling my food was that I realized I just wasn't eating enough fat. It was making me constantly hungry. I aim for about 100 g of fat a day. 70-75% of my food from fat seems to be most optimal. Everyone is different, but at least if you use fitday.com, you'll have a starting point to learn what is best for you.

As for the ketostix - if you are drinking tons of water, (how much is tons?), I found the best time of day to test the strips was first thing in the morning when I'm less hydrated. The strips gave me false readings during any other time because my urine was so diluted. Having said that, as long as they turn color, you are using fat for fuel. It doesn't matter what the color is.

Oops.... Mary and I posted at the same time. Here's a link to Atkin's site about Ketosis. http://atkinscenter.com/helpatkins/...ysis/index.html


Wanda

How long have you been on Induction? It takes about a week to 2 for the appetite to go down... Your body needs to get use to it.
Also there are other signs of Ketosis.. a taste in your mouth, energy in afternoon, and lack of appetite are some.
I have a friend who was very upset she wasn't in Ketosis, and after talking to her for a while found she was taking medicine for bad breath she has gotten recently
I said I think she is in Ketosis

Hi Ilona

Your keto stix show that you are in ketosis, so you are doing fine. A positive reading, however small, is all that is needed. You should not get the purple colour and if you were near there it would suggest that you were dehydrated or had other problems.

No, you would not loose weight if you ate 20 carbs and 5,000 calories a day. You would be supplying your body with all the fat fuel it needs and so you would not need to use any of your own. You should eat around 10 times your bodies weight in calories and hence should aim for aroun 1600 calories a day. If you go much under that you will be below your basal metabolism and you will not loose weight as your body goes into starvation mode and reduces your metabolism.

Surprised to hear that you are feeling hungry. This normally goes away after the first week or so. Many of us eat up to 6 smaller meals or 3 meals and up to 3 snacks a day. Make sure you are eating plenty of protein and fat and that should satisfy you.

Every success.

Okay first of all your not suppose to only eat 3 meals a day.

You are suppose to eat 4-6 meals a day.

Give each meal 3 hours

I do that everyday. I lose weight.

I say anywhere around 1500-2200 Calories will be okay to lose weight.

If you exercise hard the high end of the calories would be okay.

It will work... Never be hungry... Hunger just means your not eating enough oils.... Eat more fats...

Fats tend to digest slowly which makes you less hungry

Sorry, but that's not really true. Dr. Atkins NDR (p. 122) states eat either three regular-size meals a day or four or five smaller meals. Do not skip meals or go more than six waking hours without eating.

My goal is NOT to snack. It means I haven't eaten enough fat and my false hunger sets in. Normally for me, it's one step away from a binge.

Wanda

I find that eating 4 meals a day keeps me satisfied. My carb count is around 20 and my calories never go over 1700 and I have been successfully losing about 1-2 lbs a week now steadily since 12/30/02 since changing to this.

I eat almost every 3 hours as well. Just eat when you are hungry and stay low carb and it pretty much balances out.

Relax and learn to enjoy eating again...no guilt... no worries... just healthy.

You can tweak later if you need to but for now learn new patterns.

How this way of eating affects each of us?

I'm finding that I have had to set designated times to eat, or I won't. Once I get off carbs, food/hunger is not an issue. Of course my first three or four days of "detox" from carbs was somewhat..er...hellish. (is that an ok word to say here?) However, once I got past that, food became largely irrelevant.

The Ktty

here is an idea of what I eat a day:

B. atkins lemon muffin w/butter or
3 eggs & 2OZ polish sausage

L. Taco salad (ground beef I make with spices and cream, 1/2 tomato, 2 C salad, 1OZ grated cheddar cheese, 1T ranch dressing) or
1/4 chicken breast with skin, green beans, butter.

D. Meatloaf made with keto crumbs, egg, spices and spagetti squash w/butter or buffalo wings,1T blue cheese dressing and salad with ranch dressing (the ranch is lo carb).

Snacks: Cheese or pork rinds or atkins PB Cups (seldom do I have these), or atkins bar...

Late morning, before lunch I get very hungry, and around 3pm.

I drink ~14 or more glasses of water a day - I like in Florida, it is very easy to guzzle water - hot hot hot

I work out 4-5x a week at 80%target HR for 30 min, plus yoga, pilates, weight training stuck in there somewhere

I have been on atkins for a few weeks, have been loosing quite well. Maybe you galls are right, I am probably not eating enough fat. I havent gotten the keto breath (maybe due to my kick butt toothpaste Pearl Drops ) or my water intake.

Today I took a ketosis test after I worked out and it was darker. I wont worry about them anymore.

Thanks for all your replies, they really help.

Have a nice V-day

Ilona

Ilona - well I think your problem is obvious now to most of us.

You are consuming fake sugars and sugar alcohols that cause cravings in most of us.

You should cut out the Atkins products and the peanut butter cups for a couple of weeks and your appetite will definitely decrease substantially.

Hi all,

Well, Ilona, except for the problems Lisa pointed out, I think your daily menu sounds imagative and good.

This is not my problem, since I cook my own meals, but how in the world could someone follow this plan if they didn't cook themselves -- or have someone who cooks for them?

Can you imagine trying to eat this way if you had to depend on convenience foods and restaurant meals? The world we live in has lots of foods that are low in fat and high in carbohydrate, but it is not very hospitable to reduced carb eating.

Lisa, I like your whole "no guilt" philosophy.

And, Ilona, thought Hunka Burnin' Love was a dandy boy at WKC. Saw an online photo.