Blood Ketones Low. Just Kind Stuck?

(Rj Marvin) #1

Hi All -

Little bit about myself. I’ve been doing keto since October. Feeling good, in and out of ketosis. Was stuck for a long time and after getting advice on here I dropped to a zero carb keto for a about a week or so and showed signs of ketosis.

Now, the scale doesn’t move. Not at all. I’m not really showing signs of losing inches so I decided to measure myself. Not much happening and my pee strips show “moderate” amount of ketones regularly. So I felt like I was ok. But after a month of no change and moderate pee strips I bought a blood ketone tester. For two days my pee strips have been nice and pink but my blood ketones have been 0.5 and 0.7 at best.

Today I woke up at 7 after a 12 hour fast, and my ketones were 0.6.
I ate 4 egg whites and 3 eggs with olive oil. Had a coffee with whipping cream and monk fruit.

Ate pork shoulder at 11:45am and wasn’t hungry the rest of the day.

Tested ketones at 7 and they were 0.6

Is this because I’m not eating enough food fat?
Too much protein?
I’ll share any and all details. I’m not giving up at all, just been trying to dial it in and could use some sage advice.

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #2

Maybe this is a new normal range. It is possible for Ketones to settle lower as you get further into keto. It’s also possible that something external, such as food or medication, is effecting things.

Has anything changed recently?

(Rj Marvin) #3

I don’t think any changes. I eat low low carb. 20 or less. Most of my carbs come from eggs. I also eat a lot of iceberg lettuce for meals. I haven’t eaten the best meat. Some processed here and there.
Just don’t seem to be making any positive changes in the weight or body composition.

I’m going to try to clean the diet up next week and see what happens.

I did have a Pepsi zero today and I’m wondering if that spiked insulin. I just want to start seeing those changes.

I scheduled blood work for next month so I can see where I am with my hdl/ldl etc.

(bulkbiker) #4

You are in ketosis as you are registering ketones… what’s the problem?

Ignore Phinney and Volek’s stupid graphic… it’s well past time that was retired…

(Rj Marvin) #5

My urine strips show im moderate, but my blood ketones never go past nutritional ketosis. Seems like I’m urinating more than my body is actually using.

I don’t eat a lot of fat so I’m wondering if this is the cause. My protein being transformed into carbs in my body.

(mole person) #6

I also can easily be in “nutritional” ketosis and not lose weight. There are many ways to increase your levels of ketosis. If you look over at the thread on people following the Paleolithic ketogenic diet laid out by Paleo-Medicina you will see they are all getting ketones of 2-3+ as long as they are adherent. Further, weight just falls off on that diet.

It’s a very restrictive diet and I’m not suggesting that you actually follow it strictly but the basic guidelines might help you increase your ketones and get your weight dropping.

First it’s zero carb. So you should try to keep carbs as low as you can. Perhaps consider shifting to total carbs instead of net.

It has a very high fat to protein ratio. Over 80% of calories are from animal fats. I’m not sure why you are eating egg whites but those aren’t at all great on a ketogenic diet.

Finally, how much are you eating? It’s still possible to overeat on a ketogenic diet.

Looking at the foods above my recommendation to get to higher ketones would be replace some of your protein and carbs with more fat. Also, get rid of everything with any sweeteners.

Finally, and maybe leave this one out initially since it adds further to the restrictions, dairy is completely disallowed on the Paleolithic ketogenic diet. I’ve noticed this change alone will start me losing weight and I’m already quite slim at 106 lbs.

(Rj Marvin) #7

thanks. i will take a look.

I restrict my egg yolks because after i had gallbladder surgery the yolks can make me ill. egg whites give me enough energy to get going in the am.

thanks fo the response.

(Rj Marvin) #8

looking at the paleo-keo thread, i am almost certain it my lack of good fats thats keeping me in the nutritional zone. im going to up the EVOO and Coconut Oil today and test again.

(mole person) #9

Just adding fat won’t help you lose weight if you’re protein and carbs are too high though. In fact it can have the opposite effect since the higher insulin causes the fat to go into storage. What’s important on the PKD is that both carbs and protein be under tight control and that at least 80% of your calories are coming from fats.

#10

Don’t worry about your ketone levels, especially when it comes to pee strips, eat on plan and for your metabolism and you’ll be good. We’re in ketosis from eating near no carbs, not because of a set amount of fat. Do you track your intake, or going by hunger/lack of

(Rj Marvin) #11

As of now my calories are def not coming from fats. They’re coming from protein. Based on how I live, and how I eat, the fundamentals of keto, and how my body hasn’t changed at all in some time, the fat seems to be the only thing out of place. I might been 40-50g a day of fat and 120-150g of protein. So I’m assuming my body is converting protein before the fat.

My best guess is I need to tighten up those macros

(Rj Marvin) #12

I eat when hungry. I track lazily, but I’m tracking more accurately for the next couple days to see where I’m actually sitting when it comes to macros

(bulkbiker) #13

What are you eating to get those macros?

(Rj Marvin) #14

Beef, Chicken, Eggs, Cook my foods in evoo, and a little butter. a decent amount of iceberg lettuce for salads. Some cheese. Heavy cream in coffee.

Sometimes some processed meats if I need a snack at work.

(bulkbiker) #15

Beef is usually 50:50 protein and fat by weight or roughly 75:25 fat to protein by calories so have you been miscalculating?

(Rj Marvin) #16

I punch in my beef into carb manager.

Lately, however, I have been eating 80/20 ground beef for ease, and occasionally 90/10.

Thinking about grabbing short ribs to Sous vide to keep on hand for a little extra fat.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #17

Please forgive a small correction, Mark. If someone’s diet consisted solely of equal amounts of fat and protein by weight, that would be 69% fat and 31% protein as a percentage of total calories. Of course, those percentages would change if carbohydrate were part of the total caloric intake.

(It’s probably worth reminding newbies that protein and carbohydrate contain roughly 4 (kilo)calories per gram, whereas fat contains 9.)

(bulkbiker) #18

Happy to be corrected but according to the UK database fro rib-eye…

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(mole person) #19

@MarkGossage That ribeye isn’t 1:1 though. It’s 1.2:1 fat to protein.

(mole person) #20

@MarkGossage Paul’s values are correct.

1 g of protein = 4 calories
1 g of fat = 9 calories
Total of one of each = 13 calories
Protein/total = 4/13= .307
1-.307=.692
So 1 gram of protein:1 gram of fat is approximately 31% protein and 69% fat by calories.