HI, wasn’t sure where to post this, but I’ll try here. I’m now solidly keto adapted, barely test positive on the keto strips, but still almost always above one with my blood meter. Lately, my ketonix barely registers into the green. I’m curious if anyone has anecdotal evidence, science, or studies that can tell me if breath ketones reduce as you become keto adapted.
I feel like blood ketones are really the gold standard, and I do know that testing will at some point become kind of pointless. I just feel like the ketonix is no better than pee sticks, but they market it as being as good or better than blood tests. I’m not buying it. Any knowledge or advice would be greatly appreciated.
PaulL
(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?)
#2
I don’t measure, so I can’t say from experience, but it does seem likely. Acetone in the breath is being wasted, after all. For what it’s worth, the definition of nutritional ketosis is based on the level of β-hydroxybutyrate (BOHB) in your blood.
I have been low carb/keto for 5 years on 1/1/19. I have the first model of the ketonix. In looking through my records, I used to get in the 70s when I fasted a while (say 4+ days). Now, I get in the 60s instead. For instance, on 7/13/2018, I had a 72 when fasting 84 hours; on 11/30/2018, I had a 61 when fasting 108 hours. Overall, they seem lower, but it’s hard to tell. Like everything else, they seem highly variable for reasons that aren’t always clear.
They shouldn’t as the breathe acetone is correlated with you burning bhb as fuel. I don’t have a ketonix anymore but mine never seemed to dip after a while like they do in the blood when I used to check it. I’ve heard and agree with the arguments that breathe is the better way to test since like metabolic testing is testing the after effect and not the fuel source. My blood ketones have never been great like many people I’m always in the 0.5-1.2 area unless I’m fasting. Doesn’t matter how much energy I have, or how much I’m loosing.
Just from reading here on the forum, I’ve heard many (including me) don’t have this issue, for some it’s an issue for a few weeks and for others it plagues them for months. I think @Ilana_Rose said it was with her for about a year but it did go away.
Honestly though, the rewards outweigh some temporary bad breath. I remember another forum member whose girlfiend told him his breath stunk to which he said “Thank you.”. For him, it was a clear sign that other good things were happening. Here’s an article that discusses why and what to do about it:
If your primary interest in ketone levels is for weight loss, then testing may be pointless, especially since the weight loss timeframe is (hopefully) finite. If you’re interested in ketone levels for health reasons (ie. cancer, Alzheimer’s, metabolic disorders) testing will useful indefinitely.
I was able to lose weight in a time period measured in months. Restoring my insulin sensitivity will require a time period measured in years.
FYI, my blood ketone meter readings have not “faded” over the past 2 years that I’ve been working on my metabolic health.
So are you happy with the way Keto is working for you?
The Ketonix is indicating that all is not well and that you are not really burning many ketones.
Sure your blood ketones levels are high but this is just a reservoir of ketones which are there to be burnt but you aren’t using them.
From my personal experience when my Ketonix readings register below 4 I know that I am about to get a cold etc…If I supplement with 5,000-10,000mg of Vitamin C, normally as Sodium Ascorbate, my Ketonix readings will be off the charts within 12 hours and the sniffles are gone before they have a chance to get started.
Do you by any chance drink spirit alcohol regularly?
I’m very happy with keto and how I feel. Dropping weight and inches every week. Fasting 24 to 48 hours at a time at least once a week and feel great doing it. No illness and no sign of anything being off other than my ketonix not blinking the color I’d like. I also haven’t had a drop of alcohol in a month. I’m not going to worry about it for now. Maybe I’ll recalibrate my ketonix, but I know I’m in ketosis and burning fat and most importantly that I feel better physically than I have in years. With those things being so, the real question is probably why do I care what my ketonix says.
So the question I have why did you bother to start the thread?
Perhaps re-callibration will help. The newer units do not need calibration as such.
The point is I can test 4-6 times per day. It only takes seconds. The readings are automatically recorded for future reference. Testing gives me positive feedback.
Blood ketone measurement is a completely different animal. After a while it confuses and frustrates people hence we get this continuous steam of posts about blood ketone level angst leading to the don’t bother testing stance.
Both blood and breath are poor indicators. Moreover, they are measuring different things, so they are not directly comparable. Each also has errors (as done any measurement equipment). Here’s a random sample of some of my data. The first two columns to the right of the time are ketones (I have two meters, one at home, one at work, both from same manufacturer). The third column is a readout from the first model of the Ketonix
Currently, I’m just using the Ketonix, and the readings it gives are confusing at best. For instance, the first day of fasting (say 12 hours), I got a 44, then a 30 after about 20 hours, then a 35 after 36 hours of fasting. I’m currently locked in between 30-50 approximately (eating or fasting), and have a difficult time telling what causes it to go up or down. The only true guidance I can get is fasting for multiple days causes them to both go up over time. Eating a lot of fat seems to get them to go up, but even that is questionable.
Low carb (most but not all keto) five years as of 1/1/19, higher protein, lower fat diet currently. Almost all meat. Eat some “keto” meals, but many are just meat. Dairy sometimes. No idea what my “macros” are.
This is the “Sport” setting. Not sure how I selected that. The Standard setting goes to Green 25, Yellow 40, Red 55, and the Nutritional setting goes Green 40, Yellow 70, and Red 90.
Based on this, I’m rarely in the “Green” for the Nutritional setting.
This question is why I haven’t made any attempt to measure ketones since before there were breath and blood monitors. I can feel it working… I can see it in the scale, in my memory, my sleep, and athousand different things.
I am in the measuring blood ketones is a waste of time league. I agree most strongly that there is absolutely no correlation between blood ketones and breath ketones. However, as soon as you stop burning ketones you acetone level will drop quickly while if you take a double whiskey your blood ketone levels may stabilise or even increase if you consume exogenous ketones as well but you are most definitely not in ketosis.
I think you Ketonix is measuring in Ketonix units, the newer ones indicate Acetone in parts per million.
In my Bluetooth version:
Blue 0-4 is Basal level ketosis
Green 4-30 is Nutritional ketosis
Yellow 30-80 is high Nutritional Ketosis
Red 80-100 is very high ketosis
My analysis is that you are generally above 25 which seems to indicate the transition from Basal to Nutritional Ketosis on your device. You are doing well according to the Ketonix.
Now what does your blood ketone readings tell you? Diddly squat!
Well, blood levels actually tell you that you have a reserve of blood ketones available for burning, the Ketonix tells you to what extent you are burning ketones, or more correctly, have recently burned ketones.
Agreed.
Exercise, exertion or rest?
Same here but I originally started out fasting 5 days per week for 4 months, then 4 months ketoish, then finally keto for the last 15 months. Using the Ketonix is all the feedback I need. I am basically keto 5 days a week. I measure only at work. At weekends I relax and don’t bother too much.
