Hi all,

I have a question. I have been doing Induction for about 4 weeks now to re-kick start things. It's worked very well and I am slowly adding more carbs back in. I'm trying to remember from the books (and couldn't find it upon a quick perusal), whether it is required to stay in ketosis or not. Common sense would dictate that at least the "small" level of ketosis is required to continue losing weight. But most of the time, more carbs knock me out of K. I've been trying to chart what does this (e.g. Atkins bars, which is a bummer because they are yummy ) so I can avoid those foods. But it seems like it doesn't take much to knock me out.

I just wanted to get some thoughts/feedback from others.

TIA.
Jill in Phoenix

The atkins book state that you may very well still loose weight and not show up as in ketosis on the strips. This would mean that you just are not spilling ketones in your urine. If you are loosing pounds and/or inches, then I wouldn't worry.

I can personally attest to those bars being a staller. At first I had no problems with them, and then I went into a 3-4 month stall - I stopped the bars - first week I lost 2.5 pounds, second week 1.5 pounds. THis is the 3rd week, so don't know about that yet!

There are also a lot of plans that don't worry about ketosis at all. In my opinion, it is not necessary for weight loss. The main thing it helps for me is the curbing of cravings. During OWL I find that I drift in and out of ketosis, but it doesn't have any real effect on my progress. I'm sure many on plans that discourage ketosis, or ketosis is an impossibility (CAD) will still attest that a big factor in LC weight loss is insulin control, not necessarily the ketogenic state.

Hope that helps. I'd recommend to enjoy the freedom of OWL and learn what works for you!

I am not in ketosis all the time but I am not doing ATKINS - I am doing South Beach Diet and have lost .5 lbs since Sunday. If you are following Atkins and in the OWL stage than yes you are suppose to be in ketosis.