hi, it's great to have so many friends our there. i have 2 questions.
1) i have heard that if you tend to gain weight in your middle then
atkins is not a healthy diet for for that body type.
2) i have yet to turn a stick DARK PURPLE. i have lost weight (especially in the first two weeks), didn't lose but didn't gain over xmas vacation (at my mom's) and that home is carbo loaded,so i do consider that a good thing. but, i have never been dark purple. only when i did the fat fast did it get next to the last indicator. i'm really being good.so, what gives.?

Actually, turning the stick dark purple indicates that you're dehydrated and isn't necessarily a good thing. Any kind of pink -- light being the best because that means you're taking in enough water -- means you're in ketosis.

Hi there,

I've never heard of the pot belly theory. But I can tell you that many folk here now have not only missing pot bellies, but a lot better health from doing Atkins.

As for the ketostix, as long as you get any colour change at all, you are in ketosis! Purple CAN mean you are dehydrated.

Personally, I believe that the stix are a waste of time and money. I know some folk find them a convenience, but I have seen a huge number of people get worried about the fact they can't get the right colour, when they are losing weight at a grand pace.
Worry about losing fat rather than changing the colour of a piece of plastic is my advice.
And do remember that ketones can show up on the stix just because you've just eaten a fatty meal or drunk some alcohol. It's not always an indicator that you are burning fat.

Rosebud

Hi, I believe you should stick to what you are doing perhaps add in some supplements if you haven't. In my experience so far when I was on the induction diet I was turning the sticks a nice purple color. Although later i found out that purple could mean you are not drinking enough water. Thats when i stepped it up a bit when i started drinking more water the sticks started turning a red color. But then I decided well I'm losing weight why should i keep peeing on a little piece of plastic to confirm it. Now I drink about 3litres of water aday take supplements and excersize and my POTBELLY is slowly but surely dissapearing.

I had always heard that putting on weight around the middle was a sign that a person may be diabetic or was at least developing insulin resistance. In fact that's what made me get real and go back on Atkins.

I drink a lot of water each day and green tea, when i do reach ketosis the first time i am trace, but has the week goes further i reach dark purple and stay there all the time, but i do drink a lot of water, 1-2 gallon a day, on top of the green tea 3-4 to 5 cups a day.

My best weightloss has come when i am very deep purple, weard.

Yeah, I drink a ton of water a too and my sticks have been dark purple as well. I think as long as it's showing even trace your fine. But I'm certainly no expert.

From reading many many posts and the previous replies to your question it seems that as long as you are even at the trace level you are fine. I have been heavy into experimental pee chemistry the last few days and i go up and down the whole range from trace to dark purple. I find that eating more fat will make me more purple but that does not necessarily mean I lose more weight. I have heard that an excess of dietary fat will be eliminated in the urine and can influence the ketosis sticks. A lot of people don't even bother with the sticks figure they are just a waste of time and money as long as they are losing weight why bother

I've heard many rumors surrounding low-carbing but this is a new one.


True. Being an apple instead of a pair shape also puts you at risk for heart disease.

More reason to low-carb!

Karen

All the women in my family gain more weight in their tummy's than any where else and there is no heart disease or diabetes in my maternal side so this theory (for all population) is not true. Its genes.

Check this out

http://news-info.wustl.edu/feature/1999/Feb99-fat.html

Article re belly fat and insulin resistance link. I never suggested it wasn't genetic.

I have never gotten to the purple on a Ketostik. NEVER!!

My theory is and always has been, any PINK is good PINK!!

***I find that eating more fat will make me more purple but that does not necessarily mean I lose more weight. ****

BUT: You are burning all the fat you ate and releasing it in ketones. You could eat high fat all day long if you were eating high carbs and never get ketone readings because you're not in ketosis. So if you eat fat and turn the stick darker rejoice! You are burning that FAT, not storing it.

Color is color is color. If you got any color be happy!

Kay

According to the people at the Atkins center, dark purple DOES NOT INDICATE DEHYDRATION.

For what it's worth...

Actually, it is true. But just because there is a positive correlation between a higher percentage of abdominal fat and diabetes and/or heart disease it does not follow that all people with a higher percentage of abdominal fat will develop diabetes and/or heart disease. All this means is that a higher percentage of those with apple shapes develop those diseases than those with pear shapes. There are many other factors, much of which is still unknown, that determine who will and won't develop those diseases, but it makes sense that if having a particular body shape has been shown to put you at higher risk to not rely on genetics to protect you. There was no history of breast cancer in my mother's family, yet she developed it and eventually died from it. She felt "safe" with not having yearly mammograms because nobody in her family had ever had breast cancer. Then again, most of the women in her family had never had hormone replacement therapy, either. Had she followed the recommendations for yearly screening, it might have been caught in time to prevent what happened. Not having a family history of something does not mean you won't be the first to develop any particular disease.