I'm curious to know when you get the best results.

Depends on your definition of best results. For instance checking as soon as you wake up in the morning would probably produce your best ketosis level. After eating or drinking will most likely decrease your ketosis levels.

I personally check it in the Morning as I know it will fluctuate during the day as I take in food. I try not to get to hung up on the Strips.

Dont be fooled by the stix. Just because they change color in the evening does not necessarily mean you are in ketosis. Your dietary fat (what you ate during day) can make those stix read positive (false positive). I look for physical symptoms to determine if I am or am not in ketosis - - lack of appetite, feeling warm or cold when everyone around me is feeling comfortable, stinky urine and sweat, that "taste" in mouth...and of course, losing weight/inches.

I don't use the sticks, but I am interested in seeing the results of your poll!

My sticks are the darkest color when I'm dehydrated :P As long as there is some color change, you ar ein ketosis. You can even be in ketosis with no change in color if you are using all the keotenes for energy.

In the PM the sticks can also show diatary fat being burned, not your own, so they can give a false positive reading. Alcohol is quickly converted to keotenes by the body and will also make the sticks change colors.

I didn't know when in ketosis you get cold or warm when everyone else is comfortable. Maybe that's why I am always freezing. Sometimes I have to take a warm shower just to warm up. I knew about the bad breath and the stinky urine. Interesting...

I always check in the morning since that is when my urine is most concentrated and I am most dehydrated. In the evenings I would worry too much that my food or water intake would be impacting the results and they wouldnt be accurate.

Mine are darkest when I eat alot of fat. Time of day is not usually a factor for me.

That just does not sound right to me. I thought that it was ketones which altered the color of the strips, not fat.

(ketones and fat are not the same thing)

TC

Colette Heimowitz M.S. who is the Director of Education and Research at the Atkins Health and Medical Information Services answered a number of questions that were submitted by members on another LC Board.

Question:

"We know that any color change in a ketosis stick means you are in ketosis. But is the darker the stick better or does it mean you may not be getting enough water? Or does it mean you are burning more fat??"

Answer:

"Remember in the book it says to test only at night and at least one hour after eating as this will give you a truer reading. ALSO any color change means you are burning fat. The darker the color, the more fat you are burning. It does not mean you are not getting enough water. Water will have little or no impact on the sticks color"

But when your body uses fat for fuel, ketones are produced. This is true for both dietary fat and body fat.

Ive personally played around with this trying to see the effects of water on ketosticks and I drank close to 2 gallons of water that day.

In the morning the sticks were dark purple. All I ate were ketogenic foods and I only tested 1 hour after meals and longer.

The more I drank the more I urinated the lighter and lighter the stick color was. Dinner was at 6pm at 7pm the sticks showed that I was fully out of ketosis.

I didnt drink any more from 6-11 but tested them a few times in between then and what do you know by 11pm my sticks were showing color again.

It makes sense to me that if each time you urinate your body is getting rid of excess ketones there are only a certain number of ketones your body has to get rid of, and if you keep drinking and flushing out your body the less extra ketones your body will need to get rid of in one sitting the lighter the strip color.

That means if you arent drinking as much, your urine is more concentrated your body is getting rid of more extra ketones at that moment and the strips will show a darker color.

I will add that the strips did change to some sort of purple gradually getting weaker through a whole lot of water consumption. I think I had over a gallon and they still turned a trace pink it was only by the evening and close to the 2 gallon point that they didnt change color anymore.

I have decided that myjourney is pretty cool.

TC

I usually test when I come home for lunch and it tends to be the same color (purple or 80). Its been the same for the last four weeks since I started Atkins Induction Phase

I haven't shown ketosis for the last 3 days, but I have upped my water intake. I know I'm ketosising. I also don't get any taste in my mouth, but I am losing.

I get the feeling that the person from the Adkin's site didn't quite get it right, her statements don't make any since compaired to my experience and most people's here.