Hello one and all

I have been following the Atkins plan for about 3.5 weeks, after an initial and early weight loss of 5 lbs..my scale is not moving

I use the K-Stix to measure my fat burning range and have stayed in high to medium range on them from early start. so if I'm burning fat???? why no weight loss??? where is that fat going??? Also???? If I were to be overly sensitive and my body resistant to caffeine, artificial sugars or other possible stalling agents.Wouldn't it show on the stix and therefore not show me in range? I do monitor my caffiene and artificial sugars, only normally having 1-2 cups of tea daily in the form of caffiene (1-2 packs of Spenda daily) ALSO I'm thinking I am not getting enough carbs in (less then 20) somedays. would that interfere? I stay around 1,500 calories or less.But again...thats why I'm confused..looks to me like if i were in starvation mode I wouldnt get the good results I'm seeing with the K-Stix

Any insight and advice welcome!
Jude

Hi, I thought these were great questions. Although I don't know the answers b/c I'm a newbie in Induction I am going to keep an eye out on your post so that I can also learn the answers to these questions.

I will say I was also using the Keto stix but have now stopped. I was up to the purple range at one time but noticed that everytime I drank a lot of water the result seemed to be diluted as it returned back to "Trace", which was so odd b/c just a few hours before that I had been in purple and I couldn't understand. Then I learned that it will turn purple when you're dehydrated and have not had enough water and if you're drinking lots of water it will not be purple, although you can still be in fat burning mode ??? so confusing, so I got rid of the sticks. I also began using them everytime I used the bathroom, even at work, and when I was out (I kept them in my purse) but it just disappointed me b/c it didn't seem to be an accurate measure of my progress.

My new way of measuring is as long as I know I'm under 20 carbs by tracking daily on FITDAY and I continue to lose even if it's just 1/2 lb then I know I'm burning fat. Good Luck!

Hi Again--
Stumbled across this website that answer the following questions, and thought of you:

EVERYTHING YOU'VE EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT KETOSIS ...

1. What are ketones?
2. How will ketosis help me to lose weight?
3. But, isn't ketosis dangerous?
4. How do the ketone test strips work, and where do I get them?
5. I'm following Induction strictly; why won't my strips turn purple?
6. Will I lose weight faster if the strips show dark purple all the time?
7. Does caffeine affect ketosis?
8. Will drinking alcohol affect ketosis?

Hope it's helpful,
Tina

Sorry, forgot to include the url in the above note:

http://www.lowcarb.ca/tips/tips011.html

It sounds like you may need to up your calories. I'm not for counting calories perse (really just carbs) but if you must, then stay within the 10-12X your present body weight margin so that you don't stay in starvation mode.

See if that helps.

Re: ketosticks - they are unreliable so other then the little ego stroke they give us all, it isn't even neccessary to show the slightest pink to be burning fat and it doesn't mean you are losing weight if they are deep purple. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the replies Tina and Lisa

I'm not a slave to the K-stix or anything, just thought they might be a good way to keep me monitored a bit, but I'm finding out they aren't the most reliable source. I guess this all just calls for more patience and perseverence on my part and some investigative work. I'll monitor myself more closely on the calories and cut out my caffiene for a trial and see what happens then. I need to be more dedicated with personal record keeping and using Fitday. I'm not a planned and structured person, normally..SO thats a challenge in itself

I really thought this post would bring a few more responses with others experiences with stalls and what worked for them?? Any lurkers can still apply

Have a great day Everyone!
Jude