I have been watching my carb intake for the past two and a half weeks. I cant say that I am following the Atkins to the tee but I have been eating around 50 a day. I was a massive pasta eater before I started. I thought I was losing weight, but now I am not so sure. I just went and bought some keto stix. Am I suppose to be purple? I am currently pale. I dont understand what is going on! I work most of the day and would sit and read everyones posts for the answer because I am sure its been posted many times over. Could someone please help me? I want to start dropping. By the way, I was taking in arond 20 carbs a day for a few days, but I started seeing stars and frankly, it scared the hell out of me. Thanks so much for any help you guys/gals could give.
Sincerely
Sobbing in Seattle

You will not be in ketosis if you are taking in 50 carbs per day, however you still will most likely lose weight, but it would be slower than if you were doing 20 carbs per day.

Feeling sick is part of detoxification of the bad carbs from your body. High carbs are an addiction that our bodies miss and so we feel bad, while our body adjust to not eating them. It is just something we all have gone through. It won't last. Must keep it down to 20 good carbs a day during induction.

So the fact that when I eat around 30 like yesterday and today, I feel kinda dizzy and have a headache is a good thing? Man, I dont know if I can put up with this for two weeks though. Its KILLIN me!

Are you eating meat and fat and cheese and eggs and veg's? This should be in your 20 carbs a day.

Mostly I eat chicken *no skin* steak and tons of fish..... lately its been seafood for the kick of choice. I do eat veggies. Up until I started watching what I was eating I did not eat veggies. Most of my carbs come from breakfast which is a spiru-tein shake with soy milk, some berries and corn husk powder for fiber. I take a multivitamin and throw in a alfalfa pill for the heck of it. My biggest thing is eating fruits. I love watermelon but gave it up. I am very concerned about getting down at 20 a day. for lunch today I had mixed seafood, scallops, shrimp and calamari in a red simmer sauce which i figured to be 4 carbs and a piece of salmon with a lemon sauce *6 carbs* this morning was the protein shake and I will probably have chicken for dinner. It just doesnt seem like I am eating anything bad? What am I doing wrong here? I just did a keto stix test and it was pale ONCE AGAIN. The strange thing, my pants all fit better so it FEELS like I am losing.

You seem to be missing your vegetables and that may have a lot to do with the way you feel. You are suppose to eat 1 cup of acceptable vegetables + 2 cups of salad EVERY day. Instead of the shake, perhaps you could have cauliflower or broccoli with a TBSP of cheese sauce for breakfast and then make sure you get your 2 cups of salad with lunch or dinner. You should be able to eat all of this plus meat for lunch and dinner and still be under 20 carbs. Make sure your portions fill you up if you are feeling dizzy or spread out your eating and have a snack of 2 oz of cheese in the afternoon between lunch and dinner or some beef jerky or something else in the in-between times...

Legaleagle, the only big thing you're doing "wrong" is trying to follow Atkins w/o having read the book. While a multi vitamin is recommended, taking it along with corn husk powder (a form of fiber) is going to slow it's absorption and much of the vitamins will be lost.

Feeling cruddy, dizzy, seeing stars are a part of detoxing, but they are also symptoms of electrolyte loss - sodium and potassium in particular. You'd feel better if you replaced these along with the water you're losing - LC diets are very diuretic.

BTW, eat the chicken skin Fat is good for you. And get more green foods in your menu - you'll feel better. But above all, find a plan you can follow and read up on it.

Cheers,
Nat

Hi!

You'll definitely have better results if you pick a plan and follow it to the letter for a while. You were probably fine on your first few days - withdrawal is almost always uncomfortable. If Atkins is too restrictive for you, check out the "which low carb plan is right for me?" link in the right hand column under "quick links."

It also might help you to use fitday.com rather than guessing carb counts. Not forever, but just until you get the hang of it. It's not for the purpose of being obsessive - there's a learning curve with low carbing, and it's necessary to "do the homework", so to speak. It's almost like taking a course in school. Eventually, it'll be second nature.

Good luck!

Hi Legaleagle, I agree with what the others have told you but one other thing I would mention is do your measurements. Weight loss is not the only positive thing about the atkins way of life. You may be losing inches- that is probably why you said your clothes fit better. When I am not losing pounds, I am usually losing inches--so don't get discouraged. Also GET THE BOOKS!!!--and check out the other forms of low carb eating. Maybe one of the others, like the carb addicts diet will fit you better. Anyway--Good luck-- and congratulate yourself for doing something good for yourself. Aleka