A few Induction questions...

[n0matter]

1) How do you know when you're on ketosis? Are there any symptoms I should be looking for? I'm on day #3 and, other than increased thirst and constant food cravings, I haven't noticed any differences.

2) I've noticed that I'm already not a regular as I used to be. I'm drinking more water and urinating more frequently, but not passing any solid foods. Where is all of this going? The scale already reflects some weight loss but I can't help but to think it's 100% water weight loss.

[Tired of Chub]

1-weird taste in your mouth. metallic to some. plain old funky butt breath to others. (I fall into the butt breath category.) Loss of appetite- you should hit the point where you realize its 6 hours and you have to eat something, major ketones!. I woke up with my mouth tasting like I had gnawed into an onion overnight when I was on extended induction. major ketones! (FWIW, I no longer notice my breath. my best friend however made the comment one day when I didnt have apiece of gum that dragon breath didnt even come close. lol gotta love friends!)

2- completely normal! if your belly gets painful or you feel bloated from not pooing, try finding some psyhillium (sp?) husks, flax seeds etc to get things moving along. Be sure you are eating your veggies (not just lettuce!) and they help move things around. I went through a period of 2 weeks where I was VERY slow in that department. Now, I dont need the psyillium or the flax to keep things regular. (once a day to every other day is normal for me now. Before Atkins.... 2-3 times per day was normal. Dont be surprised when you have to think about the last time you pooed!).

Dont worry about the cravings, those will go away. If you feel like you are going to go insane from them... eat a high fat item with some veggies. At Day 3 you are still a lil early for Ketosis but it will be coming, I promise you that. As far as water weight loss... you will be playing with it for awhile. eat high sodium foods? water weight. change a workout and gain? water weight. so long as you dont panic over those little gains that can be attributed to those sorts of things, you will be fine.

(welcome to adbb btw!)

[n0matter]

Thanks for the info--everyone here seems very educated and eager to help. I'll tell you, I do have some cotton mouth issues right now that don't seem to go away regardless of my water intake. But I haven't reached a point where I'm NOT hungry yet. In fact, the opposite is true; I'm starving. But not for carbs, necessarily, I just want to stuff myself silly. I did my fitday for yesterday and weighed in at 1693 calories, 17 grams of carbs(minus 5 from dietary fiber) and a roughly 2:3 fat to protein ratio. It's amazing how many calories you cut by not eating the bread.

I keep second-guessing myself about fitday.com, though. Like I want to pad my entries a bit to make sure it's accurately accounting for the portions I ate.

[Tired of Chub]

Ive found what helps me with fitday is to be as precise as possible. The first day it took me 10 minutes to figure out what sort of chicken breast I prepared! lol. Dont forget your spices (garlic powder, pepper etc etc) on there either! I fyou find your cravings or desires to stuff yourself are tied to an emotion, keep track of that. Same thing if they are tied to a certain food. Some foods will cause those cravings, weird foods too! stuff you would never imagine would cause a craving! It took me a lot of work to realize when I was hungry and when I wasnt. When Im bored, I think Im hungry. When Im tired, I think Im hungry. When Im upset, I think Im hungry (see a pattern here?) Keep weighing and measuring and fitday will take care of ya!

[Pineapple]

Something to look forward to: I'm pretty sure once things become more regular again you'll get a massive whooshie! That was the case for me anyways

[boonie stomper]

Bet you'll know really soon - your energy level will go way up and your cravings way down, maybe as early as this evening.

Every time I've started either Induction or a fast, this happened sometime the 3rd day. In the mean time, I sipped bouillion during the cravings to curb them, plus the salt kept my water from rushing out too fast (which can contribute to other symptoms).