Blaine
Mr. Hollywood
From my experience, you are right on, Jack. Keto Strips are a great aide in monitoring what your body is using as an energy source...i.e. body fat.Well I can tell you for a fact it doesn't work that way for me.
And I can back that up with actual urine testing.
I pee on those ketosis strips that tell you if you are in ketosis ... i.e. switched all your bodies functions from glucosis (sugar burning) to ketosis (fat burning). You pee on the strip and it tells you if something you're eating is knocking you out of ketosis, and diet sodas have never been a problem.
The only thing I've ever had problems with actually is low carb bars. They pile the fiber high to get the net carbs down, but still my weight loss is not as high and the ketosis strips show me in a lesser state of ketosis if I eat too many fake low carb products. If I stick to real meat and cheese I'm fine.
238 down to 209 without exercise in I think about 10 weeks (would have to check my journal) plus I took a week and a half off for my birthday.
Atkins recommends Splenda as a sweetener, though it doesn't come in most sodas and the ones it does come in seem to taste booty. But Splenda is supposed to be a better sweeter for low carb dieters.