I've lost about 40 lbs on a low-carb diet and kept it off about two
years. I'm well informed about weight loss in general and have good
health habits. I need to lose more. I'm 5'7" or 5'8" and now weigh
about 200#. I'll skip the other details.

I've been losing weight again, on purpose, for the last two weeks,
because I stayed with low
carbohydrates AND started keeping total calories pretty low. I'm
wondering if ketone test strips - for urine -- will help me diet more
successfully and comfortably. However, I don't understand ketosis well enough.

I'm wondering if periodic measurement of ketones in urine with a test
stick will help me stay on target with weight loss. "On target" would mean
sufficiently low carbohydrates and total calories to be certain that I
continue to lose weight steadily at a reasonable rate, without losing
weight so rapidly that I feel ill and tired all the time, or I'm
otherwise doing myself harm.

What I do understand -- Ketosis occurs during "starvation" and "when
fat is metabolized, in the absence of sufficient carbohydrate." I got
this from Wikipedia.

What I need to understand--

First, what is the difference between "starvation" and a weight loss
diet, with respect to ketosis? In other words, assuming a conventional
low calorie diet, how low do the calories have to go (or how rapid
does the weight loss have to be) before ketosis occurs?

Second, on a low carbohydrate diet, how low does the carbohydrate
intake have to go before ketosis occurs?

Third, given that I'm committed to a diet low in carbohydrate and low
in total calories, what would be a reasonable goal for typical urine
ketone levels?

Looking forward to learning more.

Tim

Hi Flurbyboy

here's some background material from an Atkins site, which is obviously pro
http://www.lowcarb.ca/tips/tips011.html

this approach is not without it's critics however, see:
http://www.uiw.edu/nutrition/atkins/Atkins.html

there is also another overview with references and further links at:
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/psychology/health_psychology/ketogenic_diets.htm

http://www.lowcarb.org/ketosis.html

Great! Thanks!

Tim, aka flurbyboy

Yeah, flurbyboy IS weird. I hate adding numbers to my screen names,
though. Everything else I could think of was taken :-)

I am currently on the Dr. Bernstein diet. It is similar to the Atkins
diet, except for you cannot eat a lot of fat or carbs from even
veggies. Basically you can only consume 800 calories per day. No milk,
no starches, no sugars. It is a very hard diet to stick to, because
you are basically starving yourself into ketosis. I feel horrible. And
when I confronted the doctor about it, they didn't seem to care one
bit that I cannot get out of bed and take care of my children. The
program costs me $1000 for 8 weeks of treatment. However, I recently
found out that you can do the same program from home, MUCH CHEAPER.
I am leary about being in ketosis. I am in it now and I feel horrible.
I am even getting B-12 and B-6 injections 3 times a week and I still
have no energy and feel like crap. I am losing weight though, but at
this price, I don't think it's worth it.