0.8 keto level -- Day 1 Water Fast

(Leslie S Fisk) #1

Hi, I have been doing keto since January and have been pretty strict. Have lost 15 pound. Bought a keto mojo last week. I am starting water fast. Today Day 1 – just tested my ketones and they are 0.8 – is that okay – I have been doing Keto diet so I should be in ketosis already. I want to lose 30 pounds and get healthy of course. Basically just checking on the 0.8 level. Is that okay?

(Allan L) #2

Anything above 0.5 = nutritional ketosis as defined by Dr Stephen Phinney.

Ketone levels are by no means an indication of weight loss, only that you are eating at a reduced carb level to produce ketones. A low carb diet that produces zero ketones can be just as beneficial for weight loss as a keto diet.

I naturally produce a low ketone level and rarely test, the only way to boost them to a level above 0.5 is to do cardio exercise for 45+ min or fast for 2 or more days.

#3

Mine are low, too. 1.2 is a huge and rare number for me - usually about .8 That might mean you’re using your ketones for energy like they’re there for you to do! It rather freaks me out when people talk about 5.0 levels and stuff like that! Like how the he**? Ha.
I think more active folks have lower levels, as well.

(Jody) #4

This might help explain the way it works. The number measured is the amount of “ketones” in your blood. As you become more fat adapted, you will see less in the blood as you are getting better at actually using them.

(Leslie S Fisk) #5

Day 2 and I just tested at 0.7 and this is on 24 hrs no food at all. Just water and black coffee. Can this be working? Are you burning fat at 0.7?

(Cathy) #6

This does not really jive with my experiences. I test with a blood meter and am generally around 1.2
mm. I have had a rare occasion of fasting (read very high stress event) for a few days and testing at the end of that period of fasting, my ketones were the highest I have ever noted at 3.9 mm. I have been keto for about 8.5 yrs. I did not change my activity level.

I don’t believe that it is well understood why ketones are generally higher or lower in individuals. Like every other thing in human physiology, it ‘depends’ on so many confounding factors. I think the real point is that a person is consistently showing levels at or above 0.5 mm.

(Cathy) #7

Good luck with your fast!

#8

If you have ketones, and you do, then you’re burning fat. If you are burning fat you are eating or burning fat on your body we do not know

(Allan L) #9

No food for 24 hrs, if you were not burning fat you’d be dead by now or insufficient brain function to read my reply! Most standard carb eaters go into ketosis each night and back out again in the morning as the body swaps fuel sources.