Just started low-carb

I have been low carb dieting for 2 weeks. The first week I had very
little carbs. This second week I have been trying to add carbs to the
diet slowly, but If I have even 2g of carbs the ketone measurement from
my urine goes to 0.

Am I doomed to zero carbs if I want to maintain ketosis?
Should I worry about ketosis?
Will I get hungry again if I limit myself to say, 40g of carbs? by
hunger I mean will I lose this unusual feeling of never being hungry
since I've started the diet.
Will boosting my exercise help?

Any help will be appreciated.
Brock
www.halfthemaniam.com

wrote:
Am I doomed

Yes.

wrote:

I have been low carb dieting for 2 weeks. The first week I had very
little carbs. This second week I have been trying to add carbs to the
diet slowly, but If I have even 2g of carbs the ketone measurement from
my urine goes to 0.

The readings on the sticks tend to be very high in the first couple
of weeks but then head down towards trace. It does that based
on the number of days not on the exact carb count.

Am I doomed to zero carbs if I want to maintain ketosis?

Note that trace is *positive* for ketosis. The sticks are designed
to tell diabetics if they are life threatening sick not to tell low
carbers if they are in ketosis. We don't even want to target the
darker colors on the sticks.

Should I worry about ketosis?

That depends on what plan you're on.

Will I get hungry again if I limit myself to say, 40g of carbs? by
hunger I mean will I lose this unusual feeling of never being hungry
since I've started the diet.

That depends on your body but the chances are near zero for
that to happen. The hunger returned at maintenance levels not
loss levels. Extremely few people have maintenance levels that
low.

Will boosting my exercise help?

Loss? Yes? Darker readings on the sticks? No.

Should I slowly add carbs to my diet or should I pick a level, say 40g
of carbs and go straight to it?

Does it help to gradually increase them after a week of none?

I know everybody is different but what is the average amount of carbs
that a successful low carb dieter would eat in a day?

wrote:

I have been low carb dieting for 2 weeks. The first week I had very
little carbs. This second week I have been trying to add carbs to the
diet slowly, but If I have even 2g of carbs the ketone measurement from
my urine goes to 0.

Am I doomed to zero carbs if I want to maintain ketosis?
Should I worry about ketosis?
Will I get hungry again if I limit myself to say, 40g of carbs? by
hunger I mean will I lose this unusual feeling of never being hungry
since I've started the diet.
Will boosting my exercise help?

Any help will be appreciated.
Brock
www.halfthemaniam.com

Ketostix encourage us to eat higher fat. If you eat excess fat--let's
say you have some kind of cream cheese sour cream dessert concoction for
dinner on top of a high fat day--the fat you read on the stick is likely
to be last night's undigested fat rather than burned fat from ketosis.

Ketostix can be a tool to help you feel encouraged so they're worth
using if you feel it helps you stay on track.

I wouldn't jump to 40 grams at one time. I've been on about 20 grams
daily since june, after fasting thru april and part of may. But then,
I'm short and sendentary.

wrote:

Should I slowly add carbs to my diet or should I pick a level, say 40g
of carbs and go straight to it?

Does it help to gradually increase them after a week of none?

I know everybody is different but what is the average amount of carbs
that a successful low carb dieter would eat in a day?

Atkins book covers a plan to gradually start adding carbs. I would add
gradually following that plan.

all of your questions are answered in the book. you will have the greatest
success if you read and follow the book.

Pat in TX

Hello,

I did start to follow the book, but as I said in my first post after
only 2g of carbs in the 2nd week of the diet the ketostix showed 0
ketones. I get a reading again after a day of zero carbs.

So if I follow the book I am stuck at zero carbohydrates, I'm not sure
I could do that.

I'm not sure that is necessary, well I hope not.

My wife who started with me gets ketone readings quite high and she is
able to gradually add carbs.

I might try up to 20g of carbs for a week, if that is fine and I feel
good and lose weight I'll up it to 40g. 40g seems like plenty for
salads and vegetables and a few others.

Does exercise allow you to eat more carbs?

Brock
www.halfthemaniam.com


Pat in TX wrote:
all of your questions are answered in the book. you will have the greatest
success if you read and follow the book.

Pat in TX

Listen to what everyone is telling you!!! The sticks don't mean **** to a
tree! Are you changing the way you eat to lose weight, or are you doing it
to make a little stick turn purple? The bottom line is to follow the book,
and watch your progress on the scale and with a tape measure. There will be
some weeks that the scale doesn't move. Don't panic, just make sure you
aren't going off plan by journaling what you eat every day. I'm not saying
you won't have to adjust the plan down the road, but Atkins did do a lot of
years of research and testing of this diet. There is no need to reinvent the
wheel here.

Chris

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello,

I did start to follow the book, but as I said in my first post after
only 2g of carbs in the 2nd week of the diet the ketostix showed 0
ketones. I get a reading again after a day of zero carbs.

So if I follow the book I am stuck at zero carbohydrates, I'm not sure
I could do that.

I'm not sure that is necessary, well I hope not.

My wife who started with me gets ketone readings quite high and she is
able to gradually add carbs.

I might try up to 20g of carbs for a week, if that is fine and I feel
good and lose weight I'll up it to 40g. 40g seems like plenty for
salads and vegetables and a few others.

Does exercise allow you to eat more carbs?

Brock
www.halfthemaniam.com


Pat in TX wrote:
all of your questions are answered in the book. you will have the
greatest
success if you read and follow the book.

Pat in TX

wrote:

Hello,

I did start to follow the book, but as I said in my first post after
only 2g of carbs in the 2nd week of the diet the ketostix showed 0
ketones. I get a reading again after a day of zero carbs.

So if I follow the book I am stuck at zero carbohydrates, I'm not sure
I could do that.

I'm not sure that is necessary, well I hope not.

My wife who started with me gets ketone readings quite high and she is
able to gradually add carbs.

I might try up to 20g of carbs for a week, if that is fine and I feel
good and lose weight I'll up it to 40g. 40g seems like plenty for
salads and vegetables and a few others.

Does exercise allow you to eat more carbs?

Brock
www.halfthemaniam.com


Pat in TX wrote:

all of your questions are answered in the book. you will have the greatest
success if you read and follow the book.

Pat in TX


The book suggests 20 grams. Stay for a couple weeks at induction
levels, which means 20 grams.

That means you can have eggs, cheese, up to 3 cups of salad veggies,
cauliflower, broccoli, strawberries...

You do know you can subtract the fiber count from the carb count to
get net carbs, right?

How much do you expect to be losing per week? I am told if you lose
faster than 2 lbs per week, you are more in danger of gaining it back.