6 day fast so far...no ketones

fasting
ketones
(Aaron Bieniek) #1

Hey everyone - new to the forum. Can anyone explain why testing my blood for ketones 6 days into a fast is resulting in no ketones detected? Other than water, I am drinking a quart of coffee every morning with some heavy cream added. Thanks!

#2

As in “0.0” on the meter for 6 days straight? What kind of meter?

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #3

If all you’re consuming daily is water and a quart of coffee with ‘some heavy cream’, the coffee with heavy cream is the prime suspect. Any carbs in the cream? If you can’t do without it, I’d try black coffee a few days to see if the cream is your problem. I drink a liter of coffee every morning and calculate that the coffee itself contains 2 grams of carbs, so I doubt the coffee is a problem.

The only alternative is either your meter is wrong and/or the test strips are bad/old.

#4

Agreed. If all he’s ingesting is coffee and cream (unless it’s quarts of cream), he is/should be in ketosis…

(Aaron Bieniek) #5

Yes, Keto Mojo. The reading is “Lo” which means no ketones detected.

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #6

If you could post some glucose measurements, too, that would be good. It always helps me to see the trends.

#8

Have you calibrated w/ control solution? Something seems weird to me that you’re ingesting essentially no carbs over 144 hours and reading Lo on the Mojo.

(Aaron Bieniek) #9

Tested both ketones and glucose an hour ago. Ketones are “Lo” and glucose is 70.

#10

Have you tried urine sticks just to see what those show? (I know, I know people…we’re trying to figure this out here! :slightly_smiling_face: )

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #11

As @PrimalBrian wonders, what exactly is ‘some heavy cream’? Also, show us or link the nutrition label so we can see if/how many carbs in whatever quantity you’re drinking every morning.

#12

Did you calibrate that batch of strips with the coding strip?

(Aaron Bieniek) #13

Yeah, I don’t have any control solution or urine sticks…

(Aaron Bieniek) #14

Yes, that I did.

#15

What were your readings before the fast and were you using the same batch of strips?

(Aaron Bieniek) #16

So, the coffee amounts to about 2 mugs worth each with 3 or 4 tablespoons of heavy cream. Total carbs listed on the label is less than 1 carb per tablespoon. Even if I was consuming twice that amount of cream - it doesn’t seem reasonable that this would keep me out of ketosis does it?

#17

What time of day are you testing? My blood ketones are frustratingly (and deceivingly) low in the mornings.

#18

I agree. In the grand scheme of things (6 day fast), this is nothing to negligible on the ketosis question.

#19

If it was me, I’d go buy some urine sticks and if they’re deep purple, I’d suspect something’s up with the meter.

(Aaron Bieniek) #20

Yeah, I’ve been testing 2 or 3 times a day - mornings and afternoons. This same batch of strips has given me readings of 0.2 - 0.3 maybe a week or so ago.

#21

This is so weird. How fat adapted were you before this? if you’ve been in ketosis for a while, you might be so darn’ed efficient that you’re body’s using them as its fuel and there’s just none to measure. How do you feel?