Hi guys- I'm wondering about ketosis and how long this lasts. I really felt like I was in it deep due to my gross teeth( remember?)but suddenly that's gone and Im less thirsty than I was. I can see results although I don't WI until Saturday this week. Do we stay in ketosis the whole time we are in phase 1?
My coach isn't very helpful so I'm not going to bother asking before I see her.
Also, my face was looking really thin and has now gotten some puffiness back- salt????

You will stay in Ketosis for the entire Phase 1. When you're in ketosis, your body uses its fat stores for fuel so you'll be burning fat only. I've found over the last 8 weeks, I've hardly felt hungry at all and the weight is melting away...all thanks to ketosis.

Your body eventually adjusts and sets up the "enzymatic machinery" to adapt to ketosis. This is why the symptoms go away, but you are still using ketones for energy.

Ketosis is not something worth worrying about. Follow the program - you'll do great. Dispite what the IP program promotes the reason you lose weight is because you're eating 700-900 calories a day.

You may or may not be in ketosis. You probably are but whether you are or you aren't is irrelevant to fat loss.

This is not true. Your body uses fat storage to make up the difference between what you eat and what your energy needs are. You're burning 80-90g of protein and around 30-40g of carbs per day in addition to fat.

There is a great book by Gary Taubes called Good Calories, Bad Calories, if you want to learn more about Ketosis (or a simpler version, called Why We Get Fat)

Love both of those books...very helpful for me!

Ketosis- burning fat stores for energy.

Forgot to mention that the one thing my coach did say was that I could bring myself out of ketosis if I ate more than 60g of carbs.

That is not what ketosis means. You can gain fat and be in ketosis. You go into ketosis due to a lack of carbs not a lack of calories.

In ketosis, you have an excess of ketone bodies in your blood or urine. One of the ways this can happen is when your body is in a state of starvation. When you are "starving" yourself (major decrease in caloric intake- which can go hand-in-hand with a major decrease in carb intake) your body begins breaking down your fat stores for energy. This breakdown creates ketones, which are taken up by the body as energy.
There are other ways your body can go into ketosis, but for Ideal Protein purposes, I'll stop here.

Laury411, RN

Laury411 -

You're right in that ketosis you have an excess of ketone bodies circulating in the body. The relevant issue is that ketosis is not a result of too few calories. You can be in ketosis and gain fat. That is my point. Ketogenesis is a response to unavailability of blood glucose.

Anyone can read about it. They might not understand it fully but the relevant part is:

"When the body has no free carbohydrates available, fat must be broken down into acetyl-CoA in order to get energy. Acetyl-CoA is not being recycled through the citric acid cycle because the citric acid cycle intermediates (mainly oxaloacetate) have been depleted to feed the gluconeogenesis pathway, and the resulting accumulation of acetyl-CoA activates ketogenesis."

Lack of carbs = body goes into ketosis. Regardless of the energy balance.

What's my point?

I bring this up because the IP programs paints ketosis to be this magical state where all the good things happen and one must strive to stay in. Thus you have many people posting about how they're worried about whether they are in ketosis or not. Extra stress is not something an IP dieter needs.

One only needs to follow the program as laid out. Worrying about ketosis is a waste of energy. Ketosis is not why you lose fat on the IP program.

Any one reading this -

Do not worry about ketosis. Throw away your ketostix. Put your energy into following the IP diet plan as laid out.

I never used the ketostix and I never worry about ketosis. As long as I am losing I am doing something right. I am losing because I follow the sheet exactly. We are burning some of the fuel (food) that we put into our bodies daily. All of us will lose lean mass and fat mass on this program no matter what we do.

Thanks to all who responded. I was also very confused about ketosis. My coach has made this a major concern.

Dawn, You're doing so well! I agree with following/trusting the plan and you'll keep losing. Keep up the great work! Maggie

Hey, I hate to be rude but... what does ketosis smell like??? Thanks!