How do you know you are in ketosis - - for real? And does being in Ketosis mean you will lose weight and/or inches?

I ask because I have been in constant ketosis (sticks are pink/light purple, yucky breath, etc.) and yet I have been stuck at 171 for last 4 weeks.

I have upped my carbs....lowered my carbs...watched my calories...upped my fat...tried fat fast (could not do it)....

Why am I stuck? I know we all hit plateaus but this is the 2nd major one in 6 months and it is quite frustrating. My last plateau broke after I cheated for 4 days and went back on induction. I really don't want to do that again.

Suggestions? And answer on False Reading on sticks...when is it a false reading?

You are in ketosis. Maybe you can try uping your fat. Also you need to eat at least 8-12 oz of protein a day. However, for some people eating over 16 oz/day can cause a stall. It might be that your body is at a plateau before getting rid of fat cells for the next level of weight loss. At that point the empty fat cells fill up with water in hopes that you'll fall off the wagon and they can refill them with fat!

Stay the course. Other than adding fat or more calories in the form of veggies. I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you could try drinking a cup of hot water with lemon juice in it in the morning. That helps get rid of excess water.

Isn't a plateau better than gaining or regaining? In this case, standing still is a success. Be patient and persistent and don't get hung up on either the scales or the ketostix. The stix are a very inaccurate way of measuring the ketone output. More leave by way of breath from the lungs, sweat from the skin and output of the intestines. (Wasn't that delicately put? )

You can tell you are in ketosis if you aren't hungry and aren't getting the shakes or desire to eat everything in sight.

Use this time of adjustment to really get into eating LC because that will work towards keeping you from ever regaining.

good luck - you are 50% of the way to your goal. Way to go.

Well I'm out of ketosis due to eating a few ravioli last night - tested twice today. Plus its PMS time and I seem to fall out of ketosis around the start of it....I guess I'll just stay legal and hope that after my TOM is over, I will see a loss.

You may not be falling out of ketosis around that TOM. My sticks were pretty darn purple during the second week of induction, and then they went to trace and zilch. I did some checking and found this on the Atkins website:



Here's a link to some other interesting gender tidbits on the Atkins website:

http://atkinscenter.com/advice/atki...ssues.html/pg=3