Cycling In & out of ketosis

#1

Hi everyone,

Just found this forum! I am fairly familiar with the science of the HFLC diet and intermittent fasting. I have been experimenting with a keto diet for about two months but I’m unclear on one thing. Is it optimum or close to optimum to cycle in and out of ketosis over 24 hours? On a 16/8 eating plan, I go from a low of .2 to .4 mmol/L in the early am to .8 to 1.0 in the evening ( For those who use mg/dl I believe the numbers would be x18)
So I’m wondering if this means I am not yet totally fat-adapted?
Anyone?
BTW, I use a Freestyle Precision Neo device to measure ketones and glucose.

(Mark Rhodes) #2

Welcome.

Those fluctuations are normal. For a long time I was very high in the mornings and dropped all day. At 9 months it seemed to start to reverse. I don’t sweat a reading of .1 anymore unless I know I had more of something than I can tolerate or it is a trend. Spikes and lows are normal.

(MooBoom) #3

I use the same meter, almost always read low in the morning (this morning 0.4) and high in the evening (this evening 2.3). Been LCHF since July, full keto since Sep.

So long as you’re keeping your carbs below 20g net (or total as I prefer to do) the blood meter is just a bit of fun for data geeks. No need to live or die by your readings if you know you’re staying below your carb limit.

Also being fat adapted and being in ketosis are 2 different things. Check this site out, it explains it far better than I could!

#4

Yes, agree that they’re normal. I think you can think of the ketones that are measurable in your blood as the ones that you’re not utilizing (or that you haven’t utilitzed). The longer that you’re eating this way, the more your system streamlines its fat metabolism so that you might be running primarily on ketones and fat and still have pretty low readings.

#5

Thanks so much all! The meter readings are not my bible, but they have helped me discover which eating patterns for me keep me cycling up and down. As a former international level road cyclist, I can’t wait to find out how going low LCHF will affect long, hilly road rides, lol. I hope its bye bye icky gels, hello fat bombs!

#6

@Bikeboy, there are a number of active threads on here about cycling and keto.

Here’s one and here’s one on the MAF method

And a recent podcast featured Ian Robathan, an active cyclist and forum member.

#7

Thanks Madeleine! Great to get those links!