Just needed to ask a few questions about induction. I began Monday morning when I woke up and was surprised at how well I made it through day one. This morning when I weighed myself I was already down 2.9 lbs from Monday morning!! Is this normal weight loss for so early in induction? And are odds good for the weight loss to continue at a steady rate? My other question was about ketosis... I had hubby pick up some keto-sticks today and I tested in the moderate zone. Hubby's also been doing induction with me and he tested negative. Is it possible for me to be in ketosis already? I haven't been paying much attention to the color of my urine, but I do know I've been going more frequently. Also I do have an odd taste in my mouth, but I don't know if it's a definate metallic taste. Are there other signs to look for?

Thanks for any help!

Angel

I dropped three pounds overnight last night (today's day three for me) so while I don't know that it's 'normal', it's certainly possible.

Congrats! Doesn't it feel awesome! I was totally shocked this morning to see my weight drop so much. I'm hoping to see another drop tomorrow!

I'm down another two pounds this morning, so I think you'll be pleasantly surprised this morning. Good luck!

Hi Angel,
Congratulations on your quick weight loss! Usually in the beginning, the weight comes off at a quicker rate due to losing water weight. Also, the more weight you have to lose, the quicker it comes off at the start. It does slow down.
As for ketosis, I believe its different for everyone. I personally lost over 100 lbs. on Atkins and the ketostix never changed color for me. Odd smelling urine and a metal taste in your mouth are usually good indications of ketosis.
Keep in mind, while you may not be seeing the numbers on the scale falling, you may be losing inches. It is important to take before & after measurements.
All the best to you & your DH.
You CAN do this!!!

Congratulations, both of you! Although it is water weight, it still feels good to see the scale go down, doesn't it? And your clothes fit better, etc.

Just be sure to prepare yourself mentally for the stall weeks that can follow - from what I've been reading, it's pretty normal to stall during weeks 3 and 4 and sometimes even 5 and 6, depending, and the scale won't show a loss at all. That's because your body will be replacing the water you lost during the first two weeks. But the whole time, your body is burning fat. Every single week, your body is burning a pound or two of fat. Why not more? Because it's pretty near impossible for the body to burn more than two pounds of fat per week, because of survival mechanisms built in to the human body. The body will outsmart you if you do something like eat too few calories - the body will slow the metabolism down. It's a survival mechanism from the past eons when we were living through lots of famine times. It kept our ancestors alive then, and now it means we can't lose more than two pounds of fat a week.

But since this way of eating (WOE) is pretty easy, you don't feel like you are starving all the time, it's easier to stay on it as long as you need to.

Please be patient and trust your body! And trust the diet!

Hi Angel and welcome.

It sounds like you are really getting a good start here. To go into ketosis by day 3 is pretty darn good. Lori is completely right here...you will learn to not get too hung up on what the scale reads on any given day, as long as you are consistently going down when looking at the big picture.

Another FYI here....you may experience some symptoms soon known as the "Atkins flu"....but it only lasts a few days and after that, you feel more energy than normal. For me, it was mainly achey legs....and it was weird, but it was mainly the backs of my legs....plus a bit of fatigue. I'm sure it has something to do with either fluid and electrolyte balance undergoing a slight alteration or else the body detoxing off sugar and switching to fat burning.

As I got closer to goal, I accidentally found that a bit of calorie alternating seemed to get me out of stalls. Due to family circumstances, there were a few days here and there where I was out of town and did not get that many calories in. As long as those days were few and far between, it seemed to work well for me. Too many days of below needed calories would lower my metabolism and stall me even worse....so I was careful to really limit this.

As long as your husband is showing weight loss on the scale and/or loss of inches, he should not worry about the ketostix turning color. In fact, men usually have much more success with diets than women do, in terms of how quickly they lose weight. But if he does encounter problems, we can trouble-shoot for him if you post his menu for a few days. There are odd little things that can cause certain people to stall that are not a problem for others. I ran into a problem trying to get Atkins to work for me again and having others on a message board trouble-shoot for me solved the problem.....even though I was rather baffled.

BTW, WalMart sells ketostix for about half what they cost in regular drug stores. And they are even the Bayer brand (which I prefer)...but the box is white and blue rather than the yellow ones in the drug stores.

deena

Thanks Ladies! I was so happy to get on the scale again this morning to see it go down another 2 lbs!!! I'm so close to being in the 180's it's driving me crazy! I wish I could fastforward to tomorrows weigh in.

Is it common to have a constant dull headache when cutting carbs? I can't seem to shake it. Also, how do you handle going out and about and sticking to it. Hubby and I have been doing good at home, but today we were invited to a surprise birthday party for Saturday afternoon and I'm already completely stressing about how I'm going to make it through the party without failure. Cake is one of my biggest weaknesses Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.... What do I do?

For me, once I'd done about a week of low-carbing, I lost my craving for sweets completely. I couldn't believe it. I would wake up craving sweets, in the past. Sweets controlled my life. But I could walk right by my favorite foods, watch my husband eating my favorite foods (old favorite foods I mean) and not want them at all!

So I hope that kicks in for you before you go to the party. If it doesn't, it's going to be tough, I won't lie to you. But you can do it. You can choose health over the sugar.

The first week is the hardest. Headaches, feeling weak, aches and pains - they call it the Atkins flu, lol. I know it sucks. But if you can hang in there a little longer, by next week not only will you be happy with your results on the scale, but you will be feeling so much better, maybe better than you ever have in your life or in many years.

I've been reading the books by Dr. Atkins and he said that one of the most rewarding part of helping patients with his program was seeing them feel so much better and have so much more energy than they did before.

I know you can do it!

If they're not going to have anything at the birthday party that's Atkins friendly, I would bring something for yourself.

And here's a real biggie....do NOT let anyone cajole or bug you to eat what you're not supposed to.....the "just one piece won't hurt". You have to be really firm about this....and trust me...and I'm not an assertive person and don't like to hurt anyone's feelings but I NEVER give in to this....and people know not to even think about doing this to me anymore.

I don't even understand why people do this so much. I don't know what it is about someone else being on a diet that makes them so uncomfortable. I mean, even sabotage would make sense but I don't even think that's why most of them do it. I think they just think they're doing you a favor....telling you to go ahead and have something they're sure you really do want to have but won't allow yourself to have.
You have to be very firm with this....don't even get in the habit of giving in...even once. Otherwise...you'll begin to start begging out of social events due to this.

When I'm out...can always get 1) salads, 2) hotdogs or hamburgers and take them off the bun, 3) hard-boiled eggs at convenience stores....and if you can't find anything else and are totally desperate, you can always get either some pork rinds or some nuts out of a vending machine.

deena

A friend of mine always tells people she is hypoglycemic and can't eat those things. People seem to be comfortable enough with that. (She says she's not actually hypoglycemic, she just doesn't want to eat the empty calories.)

Haha...I do the same thing at stores, restaurants, etc....esp. those fancy coffee places. I tell them, oh, I canNOT have any sugar, just letting them go ahead and think I'm a brittle diabetic. I always make a big deal insisting that it MUST be sugar-free syrup or that any fancy coffee MUST not have ANY sugar in it. I just don't elaborate and let them think what they will.

deena

Maybe I will bring along some Jello. I've been using it when I get a sweet craving and it seems to be doing the trick. I have a dish each night after dinner as a "snack". It also feels good to know that I'm having dessert and still losing weight.

And by Jello, I did mean sugar free!

You can also make your own whipped cream by whipping up some heavy cream and adding a tiny bit of Splenda...and put it on your sugar-free jello. That's really good.