I am coaching a friend on weight loss using Atkins. She is 50-something years old and is currently about 80lbs overweight after already losing 90lbs. Why is she putting herself under my/Dr.Atkins' care if she has already lost 90lbs w/o LCing? Because it has taken her 3 years to lose that weight, over which time she has spent well over $30,000 on personal trainers and nutritionists.

In the 7 days since she started LCing, she has lost 7lbs, come off of a few perscription meds, increased her energy level tremendously, gotten control/eliminated cravings, improved her mood and has gotten several unsolicited compliments from people who didn't know that she had switched to LCing.

My problem is this: she has not yet entered ketosis and her weight loss has rebounded by 3lbs and stabilized for the past few days (she went from 201 to 191 back to 194). She is bummed out about these two things and I'm not sure what to tell her. Of course I have coached her on looking at the bigger picture and all of the gains she has made other than weight loss and that despite the fact that she has gained back a few pounds, she is still losing at a tremendously fast pace.

But, what if her weight loss doesn't resume and she doesn't enter ketosis? If she is really following the diet stringently, wouldn't she have to enter ketosis. I know that Atkins says that you don't necessarily have to show a change in color of your ketostix to lose weight on this diet, did anyone here not enter ketosis during Induction? If she is not in ketosis and her diet is perfect, is there any other explanation for not entering ketosis than that she may be sneaking some forbidden foods (which she has been known to do in the past on other diets)?

Thanks for your advice.

As we all know sneaking food can certainly be the culprit. Has she increased her exercise? Perhaps it is muscle building? I have read many posts that say the keostix are not always correct. Are you recording her success by measurements? I have showed a slow increase in wieght by 2 pounds yet my measurements are going down. The scale should not be the only measurement and Dr A says to weigh once a week.

Those ketone sticks are inaccurate. Stick-readings vary depending on time of day, what and when eaten, amount of water one drinks, etc.

Low-carbing has many health benefits and many people are able to go off presciption drugs for miscellaneous problems, however, it concerns me that you write she was - after ONLY 7 DAYS - able to get off A FEW prescription drugs. Low carbing is great - but not a magic wand. Everything takes time and one should not quit any prescription drugs without a doctor's advice.

You can lose weight without being in Ketosis. Many LC plans do not want you to go into ketosis and yet prove successes. And just because the stix read negative does not mean a thing....sometimes people do not produce enough ketones to show up in urine yet they are very much in ketosis.

Great point yvonne. I had forgotten that there are a number of LC weight loss plans (pretty much every one besides Atkins and Protein Power, I think) that tell you not to go into ketosis. So, if she is not in ketosis, then she still can lose weight effectively. It can just be such a psychological boost, though, to see those strips change color and to know that you are shedding fat.