I was doing great, but today and yesterday I've kinda strayed. First of all, I don't count my carbs and I'm sure I should so that I really know what's going on. I've been LC'ing for three weeks and from the beginning I have been well into Ketosis...now the last two days it has dropped right down. Differences? Well, I made a pot of chilli (contained ground beef, canned tomatoes, celery, red onion, chilli powder and mushrooms). Yesterday I ate a piece of cheese for breakfast, had three prawns and three scallops for lunch, chilli for supper and some decaf coffee throughout the day (3 cups - 1 with cream and Splenda). I also made these peanut butter cookies a few days back and ate two of them (1 c. sugar-free peanut butter, 1/2 cup Splenda and 1 egg).

Today I got all outta hand. I had four slices of bacon for breakie, a piece of cheese for coffee break, four stalks of celery with cream cheese for lunch, chilli for supper and close to a whole bag of pork rinds (I should have never bought them!). My sweet toothj is screaming at me as well.

So, do you think I'm wanting to eat more because my Ketosis level has dropped or is that normal for it not always to be way up like it was?

Sorry for ramblin', just needed to get this off my chest.

Thanks for any comments.

Suzan

You didn't say whether you were still on induction. I'm assuming not since you are 3 weeks into the program.

You could have eaten a whole lot worse stuff. It looks like you ate more than normal for you, but the foods were all on the safe side from your listing of ingredients. Don't be afraid to eat. Eat when you are hungry!

Some days we are just hungrier than other days. You might find that you have days where you just continually graze all day long...not having any real meal, just eating coninually in smaller amounts of allowable foods.

For the chili, the only thing that might have been on the high side is the tomatoe sauce. It's hard to find one low in carbs. the lowest I've found is plain old Unico in a can. The label is green and red and white, and it's pretty utilitarian (as opposed to designer tomato sauce)

Don't worry too much about the color of the sticks. Ketosis is ketosis, and darker purple doesn't mean you'll lose weight faster. Atkins doesn't explain that well in the book.

Your ketosis level will change throughout the day, and from day to day. You may even not register on the sticks, but still be in ketosis if there are not enough to spill out into your urine. I've used the sticks on and off out of curiosity for a year, the only time I was above trace was on a day I didn't drink my water.

I wouldn't worry about what you ate. You ought to be proud of yourself. You could have gone for cake and bread and potatoes and all the other unhealthy foods.

Keep up the good work!

Hi Suzan,

Angela is right about the keto sticks. IMHO, they aren't worth the bother. Have you thought of registering at Fitday? You may even find that you're not eating enough most days, and Fitday is a great tool to keep track of your carbs/protein/fat ratios.

It really helps me feel that I'm in control when I can see a day's menu ahead of time.

judy

Thanks, Angela! You've definitely made me feel better. Plus, I didn't know that about the ketostix and I'm glad you told me.

The tomatoes I used in the chilli were about 35 carbs for the whole can (which I used 'cause I made a big batch - probably having about 6 servings out of the pot) but I'll check out the ones you mentioned as well. I was hoping it wasn't too bad because I absolutely love it - I didn't know how crazy I would be about it because it doesn't have any kidney beans but it's really good, but it would be even better if I could get lower toms.

Thanks again. You've been incredibly helpful....helped me to stop dwelling on what I've eaten and instead be proud of my accomplishments so far.

Suzan

If you miss beans in chili use black soybeans. They are *very* low in carbs compared to other beans (about 1/3 the carbs) and they taste very good. I don't use tomato in my chili at all any more as I've found I can't tolerate it. I've come to really love my 'brown' chili. I also prefer to use Carol Shelby's Chili Seasoning (just don't use the corn powder included for extra thickening) I use one pack of the chili seasoning to two pounds of meat and two cans of beans.

I've heard when you get over that critical number of carbs, then you're body quits producing the FMS ( Fat Mobolizing Harmone) which is burning your fat and switches over and start burning the carbs/sugars for fuel. When this happens you will start to fell hungry again. It takes about two to three days to get your body to switch back, during that time you feel run down until the FMS kicks back in. You should be energized on the diet, cheat and the fatigue kicks in. But hey, that's the great thing go back to the induction stage for a couple of days and your back in business ..........Good Luck !!

Did you remove the carbs for fiber? I make this chili all the time at our house and we love it, too. Our best guess is about 5 carbs/bowl (sometimes less, sometimes more) and that's with cheese in it. But, I like a thin broth, which means lots of water, BIG batch of chili. It has never bothered me unless I indulged beyond comfort, which I did once and fully regreted.