Best time of Day for blood ketones?

[Shortstuff]

Morning’s for me are anything between 0.6 and 1.1
Highest reading I’ve had any other time is 2.4
Lowest I’ve had is 0.5 and that was after training one evening.

[Nick_White]

Check out the “Dawning Phenomenon” that happens when you’re about to wake up. Your body somehow anticipates the start of the day and begins producing glucose. I haven’t tested how this affects my ketones, but it does affect my glucose. Highest reading I’ve gotten was in the evening.

[V1ncentt]

I’m now 3.5 months into ketogenic diet. Lately I check BS and Ketones morning (upon rising) and before dinner and before bedtime. I’m a boring eater. Eat the same breakfast everyday and dinners are a select few. I skip lunch. Contrary to most I have generally higher ketones in the morning. I don’t know why. My pre-dinner and pre-bedtime numbers are usually about the same and a little lower than mornings. I feel like I am seeing a general trend here. I have noticed fluctuations based on heavy activity and exercise which is usually weekends; and more typical numbers during the work week.
I enjoy tracking them, and good numbers are motivating; but the more I read about it- the less concerned I am, because as mentioned previously it is more complicated than it appears. For example, I am trying to wrap my head around how “efficiency” affects the readings i.e. what we measure are ketones not being utilized. I’m hoping that soon, I can stop monitoring all together. Good luck!

[Shinobi_Marc]

I completely agree with you Brenda. You can’t overthink this and learn to listen to your body. My first couple of weeks I was OCD macro nutrients but then my body started letting me know when and how much to eat!

[Adam_Seal]

I am new to this but I noticed after completing a 16 day fast ( 10 just water and 6 coming off the fast) my Blood glucose was 64 and my Ketones were 4.8 (GKI .74) but after 3 days of eating 79%-20%-1% (fat-pro-carb) my blood glucose id now 61 and ketones 2.0 (GKI 1.69) Is that normal or have I done something wrong?

[RedThain]

Triplebgirl
Allison B
Jun 27
So, I got my Precision Xtra meter today. I got a reading of 0.4 I expected higher. I’ve been doing Keto since April 10. I haven’t lost since losing 10 lbs in the beginning, but I feel like I’ve been in Ketosis for well over a month. Lot’s of energy, a need for much less sleep, decreased appetite and cravings. I keep my carbs below 25 net. What could be the problem? My blood glucose also is never under 90 for some reason, even when fasting. Any advice for me?? Thanks

Try cutting the fat grams down. Need your body to use body fat instead of dietary fat for energy. The when you reach your goal weight you add back in fat grams till you stabilize.

[RedThain]

Double post

[SlowBurnMary]

Actually there is an analysis that says that the factor that keeps one fasted is the absence of carbs, not the absence of fats. However, for females who have not fully completed the climacteric - we have a profound biological wiring that throws us into starvation-mode fat storage rather quickly on behalf of the species - there is the argument that just a tiny bit of carbs (1 or 2 gms of half n half) added to the fatty coffee, helps the primal biology be successful at maintaining fat burning.

Also, IF with fats gives the digestive tract an enormous rest whilst feeding the brain’s neurological work. This plays a role in not only reducing enzyme load and enhancing the restoration of natural enzyme balance - but helping folks show up to things that benefit from an awake brain - like driving moving vehicles, producing at jobs and communicating in relationships!

I have been implementing IF with fatty coffee and 2gms carbs the last month and have found it remarkable for addressing the mama-bear belly fat (irrelevant to poundage as I don’t believe in weight scales for myself on more than a quarterly or yearly basis).

I’m a night owl and still becoming keto-adapted I think, in month 5 and as a midlife person at age 51. I occasionally check my ketones with ketonix sticks before bed, in the wee hours of the morning. Consistently high - and undisturbed by modest wine w/dinner a few times a week. I tend to be convinced that the real action of ketones is seen in blood levels - weak ketonix sticks during the day may not mean ketones are inactivated or “low”, they are at work in the physiology. This is apparently validated when one has the funds to get regular lab biomonitoring and medical overviews on progress, which is generally not covered by insurance (if one even has it).

[Robert_Johnson]

An observation concerning morning BG levels and Ketones in urine (currently the only ketone Test I have. I believe blood testing will show much different results as will breathalyzer results.)

I had heard about “sunrise syndrome” for diabetics. Before I was Dx with T2D I never heard such things. Never cared. I now do, so I’m interested in anything I read about it.

Sure enough, my BG levels were much higher in the mornings. Before Keto, my BG levels were hitting the low 300’s while on Metformin. An hour or two later before breakfast, it will have dropped into the low 200’s.

After starting Keto and quitting Metformin, my morning BG would be just under 110. An hour or two later, breakfast or not, BG levels would be in the 80’s.

Shorty after stating Keto I began testing urine for Ketones. I didn’t follow any pattern for testing, just whenever I thought about it. Results were very low. Almost no change in color. I stopped checking for a couple of weeks. Once I began testing again, I was testing first urine of the day. Wow… the Test strip was maxed out. Had me worried for a minute. So I tested again next time I had to go. Reading was down by 25% on the Test strip. A big difference, so I tested again the next time I needed to go (typically between 4 and 6 hours, I never bothered with checking the time). Progressively lower with each reading, and my bedtime reading was the lowest, barely reading at all. Next morning a complete repeat. I didn’t bother trying to log the results, but they were about as identical as I could remember. Same thing a few days later. I did 4 or 5 tests throughout each day with near identical results. Basically a slow reduction in urine Ketones until the end of the day.

A few days later I over indulged in a meal around 3pm. It included a few carbs, maybe as high as 5 grams, but that was it for the entire day. The next morning my BG was 134. I thought, that maybe, I just blew myself out of Ketosis. So I did a urine Ketone check and again it was maxed out.

I did some thinking. I was pretty sure riding my stationary bike for an hour would burn off the excess sugars, but what would happen to the ketones?

N=1 experiment it is. Bike for about 1 hour. Gave myself a cool down of about 20 minutes. Just relaxed a bit. Took readings again. BG level was in the 70’s and ketones were barely visible on the test strips. I went from one extreme to the other in less than two hours.

This leads me to believe that checking ketone levels by urine will be skewed depending on amount of exercise done prior to the reading.

The ketones in the urine are the excess ketones not used for fuel. So I would suspect not seeing any, or trace amounts just means that your body is simply using them. And if you want an accurate assessment of ketone levels, do blood tests or breathalyzer. I’ll be looking for one of those cheap alcohol breath testers soon.

[Ashlee]

What is the best time of the day to check blood ketone levels?

Maria Emmerich’s book says to test first thing in the morning in a fasted state.

[BHolden]

Allison - I’ve had that problem too. I’ve been on keto for about 4 months, and have not reached ketosis yet. I eat under 15 carbs per day, lots of fats and good vegetables. In the beginning I lost about 7 lbs. Then nothing. In fact, I have gained about 3 lbs back. I don’t get it. I’m doing something wrong, but don’t know what it is. Did you ever come up with a solution? Thanks!

[4dml]

Have you tried fasting? It’s guaranteed to work. Just stop eating until you get into ketosis. Then resume eating and monitor it. You may need to do intermittent or extended fasting on a regular basis.

[Dan_Morrison]

It sinters\esting to test, but more ketones doesn’t mean you are going to lose more weight. Don’t chase ketones. You will save yourself hard ache and money

[Stephanie_Lofton]

Probably too much protein. I’d keep the high fat but drop carbs to 20 and protein maxed at 75

[Pnj1204]

For the past few weeks i’ve done a ketone blood test before eating in the morning. Ketone levels have averaged .6 to .9 each day. Is that an adequate level? Having not eaten for 10 to 12 hours, I wasn’t sure if that was appropriate. Would they go higher after I’ve eaten through the day? I’m new to this so I’m really trying to learn.

[Lindaneedsaholiday]

It’s worth researching the net carbs concept. My understanding is net carbs is total carbs minus fibre. Pretty sure I heard on one of the podcasts that we should count total carbs.

Wonder if you track total carbs for a few days to ensure you’re not inadvertently consuming more than you aim to?

[cswarner]

Well, “Keeping Keto with Drew Manning” says to count total carbs and start with no more than 30 total. Or you can go down some from there. Personally I try to keep my total carbs below 25 and/or my net carbs around 15 or so. I try for about 85 grams of fat, about 55 grams of protein. I’ve lost 36 pounds in almost 7 months and lots of inches. Keep right on! Go Keto! Go you!!!

[Jaqueline_Pittore]

Hi Cindy… I’m having trouble coming up with anything above 70 g of fat… can you give me an example on how you reached that high?
Thanks…
J.

[cswarner]

Hey there, Jacqueline. For instance, let’s take a look below at my MyFitnessPal diary from a couple of days ago.

Also, please note that a good way to meet a fat goal is to incorporate cheese, butter, good oils, MCT oil, avocado, eggs, etc. almost excessively. Nuts (I often hear about pecans, almonds and walnuts) are especially good for what we need as they are a good source of fat and many other nutrients… all the while watching other macros and calories. Yeah, you might google for fat bombs, search for fat bomb recipes on google or at Pinterest… They are high fat and fairly reasonable on calories depending upon the size of the fat bomb.

I hope some of this/these info/iseas are helpful.

Cindy

If you need help setting macros or goals by grams, you might check out www.ruledme.com. Look for their calculator. I use it and occasionally recalculate my suggested numbers based upon my ever changing weight.

The screenshots below are probably in revserse or, or close to it. I hope that will not be too confusing.

Also, a good way to meet fat goals is to use cheese, butter, good oils, avocado also excessively. Of course while watching other macros and calories.

[Jaqueline_Pittore]

Thank you Cindy…. This is great help….I’m such a visual learner and your stats helped me a lot….