Atkins drives me crazy when he talks in his book about ketostix turning "lavender" or "purple". There are five shades on my bottle (not counting negative) and I wonder what he means by lavender or purple. Back when I first did this (in the 70s), turning purple was a good thing (the darker the better). Granted, no one seemed to push water and if they did, I wasn't listening (I was a TAB freak). So I turned purple all the time. Granted I ALWAYS stayed close to induction levels. Now I'm at about 30 grams per day and I have trace to small amts on the ketostix while drinking gallons of water. My weight loss is very slow and I'm wondering if I cut down to Induction levels will my purple go up and if so, what is a "good" shade? I do understand that some people will lose without turning purple and others will turn and not lose but for me, turning purple usually means losing. I am just curious at what shade people are losing AND getting in their water? I am shooting for the middle and just want to check that is "average". Thanks.

Actually, when Atkins talks about the ketostix turning Lavender or Purple he means that the sticks have various SHADES of lavender or purple.

At least that's what I understand it to mean. Hence you may only get a trace or purple all the way up to the dark purple.

You have to remember that you will go in and out of ketosis throughout the day, because you have eaten way too many carbs, you are drinking a high volume of water and/or depending on your TOM cycle.

I have to admit, I like seeing the ketostix turn colour because it give a psychological boost that something/anything is happening. However, you will find that with time it isn't as important as long as you are losing weight. I often go days w/o checking the stix but I do like to check in now and again especially if I am getting a bit frustrated that things are not happening as fast as I would like.