2 - 3 months into Keto and funky Lipid panel

newbies
(Ryan) #1

I’m a 25 year old male. I’m 5’10 and weigh roughly 190 lbs. I started the keto diet about 2-3 months ago. I eat mostly eggs, cheese, chia seeds, beef, chicken, lamb, and less than 15g a day of green leafy vegetables. It’s been tough to stick to it 100% of the time, so I will have one cheat meal high in carbs once every two weeks.
I workout for 30 minutes a day, and so far I have lost 15 lbs. I decided to get my fasting lab work done just to see how this diet was affecting me and here are the results:
Blood pressure: 140/78
CBC: Everything normal except the below values.
WBC: 4.17L
Platelets: 140L
RDW: 12.2 L

H1AC:5.1 N
Glucose: 112N

Lipid Panel:
Cholesterol: 217H
Triglycerides: 268H
HDLC: 33L
VLDL: 54H
LDL: 142H
Non-HDL Chol: 184

These values were very concerning to me. I have read that LDL will go up, but HDL usually goes and and triglycerides go down. Has anyone else had these kind of results? I’m thinking this diet might not be effective for me, or maybe I’m eating the wrong foods. Any advice would be appreciated

(Todd Allen) #2

2 months isn’t a very long time. And how long since your last cheat meal when you got tested?

Did you have testing done before starting keto? Knowing how you are changing/progressing is as important if not more so than knowing where you are at.

(Keto in Katy) #3

I agree. My numbers were not great early on but improved significantly later.

(Duncan Kerridge) #4

Same here at three months in, trigs were very high for me but have dropped below 100 now.

(Ryan) #5

I had a massive cheat meal two days prior of popcorn and pizza (Worst i’ve ever cheated). The last labs I had were from 1.5 years ago on a normal diet.

Cholesterol: 158N
Triglycerides: 217H
HDL: 38L
LDL: 77N

My HDL has actually decreased from that time. It’s nice to know people had similar situations at this time. I’ll stick it out for a few more months. Are there any problems with my diet choices?

(Todd Allen) #6

So between your last labs and your new ones you had roughly 16 months of your previous diet and 2-3 months of keto. Your old labs were not very good for a young man and your new labs are somewhat worse but it is impossible to know if the decline occurred before or since starting keto.

I’d be inclined to consider how you feel. If you’ve been feeling like crap and getting worse since starting keto than I’d consider changes to what you are doing. If you feel the same or better I’d continue. Either way your labs are not so terrible that you are suffering major irreversible harm. You have plenty of time to experiment and figure out what works for you.

I’d expect the biggest issue with your diet choices is the cheat days. When you eat keto your body down regulates the enzymes and other factors it must produce to process carbohydrates. This results in a condition known as physiological insulin resistance. People on keto are advised to ramp up their carbohydrate intake over a few days before taking a glucose tolerance test to avoid a diabetic result. If you abruptly switch to a high carb meal or cheat day you are likely in a diabetic state and massively spiking your blood sugar and triglycerides. If you find your diet unsustainable without the cheat days then I would adjust your daily diet to something that is sustainable.

(Ryan) #7

Felt good before starting the diet, feel great now. I’ll just do less cheat days with less carbs. I’ll get new labs at the six month mark and see if there are any good changes. Thanks for the responses!

(Keto in Katy) #8

Just my 2¢ worth here but a cheat day is sabotage. And if you’re looking for favorable lipid numbers the cheats will likely compromise that.

Some people can do fine with a little higher carb intake though. It’s always N=1 on these subtleties, I think.

(Ethan) #9

I think this is a lean-mass hyperresponse case.

(Ryan) #10

My biochemistry professor got me onto this diet. He was saying the majority of any carbs you are going to eat will be used as glycogen and not turn into fat since you are depleted on glycogen on this diet. So I was using this information originally. With these results, however, it appears the cheat meals may actually be kicking me out of ketosis. Thanks for your response, I will definitely be minimizing my cheat meals or cheat with buffalo wild wings instead lol

(Keto in Katy) #11

I am happy to be corrected on this point, but… I don’t think that is right at all.

(Todd Allen) #12

Long duration hard physical exercise will deplete your glycogen. If you are eating keto your glycogen is replaced more slowly, but it is still replaced. Some from the carbs you are still eating and the rest will come from protein and fat through gluconeogenesis.

You can find out your post exercise tolerance for carbs by monitoring your ketones and/or blood glucose. If you crash your ketones or spike your glucose then you are either consuming too many carbs or you are consuming high glycemic carbs too fast.

(Ryan) #13

Anything you guys recommend to check ketone levels at home?

#14

I have a keto-mojo and like it lots. Checks ketones and glucose (different strips, one machine), also checks hgb and hct if you’re interested.

(Todd Allen) #15

I mostly use a $3 breathalyzer I bought through ebay. I also have a blood testing kit, meter & strips, that is helpful in setting my target range on the breath meter but I find too expensive and too much effort to use on a regular basis.

(Giorgio Bertuccelli) #16

This is very similar to one of my concerns. I have excellent health 55-year-old 5 foot eight currently 180 pounds was 175 in December, I work out 2 1/2 hours a day five days a week. Long training that includes running on the treadmill and lifting weights. I have gained about 4 1/2 pounds I am assuming primarily in muscle but my main concern is my lipids table I’ve been on ketosis for approximately six weeks. I felt amazing at the gym but when I got my test back this week I had some concerns about my cholesterol levels. All the rest of my test were fine .
Here is the three month change but I’ve only been attempting ketosis for the last month and a half.
I may have freaked out a bit and stopped my ketosis for the last three days and I feel much weaker. Is there some real concern here or not.

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#17

Were you fasted for both tests? How many hours?