Hello! I lost .2 (point 0.2) LBS today. My keytones really fluctuate when using a breathalyzer. In the morning I’ll have zero keytones and then I eat, and then about 30 minutes later I’ll have a 2.0 to 5.0 keytone according to my breathalyzer.
It is clear to me that I DON’T know what I’m doing. All though this forum is helping take the mystery out of Keto.
Thank you.
How long have you been eating a ketogenic diet? As we go along, excreted ketones (breath and urine) tend to drop, as our body gets better at matching production to demand.
There is aksi something called the “dawn phenomenon,” where cortisol drives up glucose in the morning and drops ketones. Then, in the afternoon, glucose drops and ketones rise.
I’m not sure how accurate the breath meters are, but in any case, the ketones in our breath and urine are not useable. Though of course, the presence of them shows we are at least making enough to excrete as well as use.
Your ketone levels are in constant flux all day long. Blood ketones are ketones you liver has made for fuel and will be around until you burn them off. Breath ketones are a direct result of burning calories. In the end, neither really matter other than that they’re there at all. Low, High, there is no correlation to those numbers and rate of fat loss.
Thank you for helping me to learn. I must do more research.
Wishing you a great day/eve!
Thank you Ifod14 for teaching me something about keto.
Wishing you a great rest of the day/eve.
It’s more likely that you didn’t really lose 0.2 lbs… it was simply misplaced. 
It’ll be back.
But seriously, it’s entirely understandable how you’d want to track ketones (via breath, urine, and/or blood), weigh yourself, and constantly grasp for a sense as to how you’re doing on this keto thing. Most (all?) of us have been there along the way.
The more experienced keto folks told us “Don’t worry about it, just stay the course …” Yet few of us could follow that advice (myself included).
Apparently, you’re now in the club. Welcome to health data obsession.
Enjoy, but don’t drive yourself nuts.
“Stay Calm and Keto On” 
Hello, I can say I’ve never once measured ketones in the 5 years I’ve followed a Ketogenic Diet. I do weigh once a week but my main gauge are my clothes!! I’ve honestly gone down a jean size in a week at times! Also, all labs are in good levels…I have energy and I just feel good! Hang in there!
Thank you Rebecca for your response. I guess I should stop measuring, counting, pricking, etc. I should just enjoy the keto ride.
However, I did jump on the scale today and gained 2 pounds. If I stop checking my weight, ketones, blood how should I know if I am on the right track?
Thank you all for your kind patience!!
You can weigh yourself, if you can avoid obsessing about it. The overall trend is what is important, not the day-to-day fluctuations. But obsession with weight is a problem for many people, so they avoid their scale. A good measure of progress is the fit of one’s clothes. If they are getting looser, the number on the scale is irrelevant, right?
It is not uncommon for people to add lean mass (especially denser bones) while shedding fat. This confuses your scale, and the “weight” we want to lose is fat mass, right? Not lean mass? I put it to you that bigger muscles and stronger bones are a good thing, even if they make the scale number go up, not down.
The presence of detectable ketones is helpful as an indicator that insulin is low enough to permit fatty-acid metabolism (since we can’t measure insulin directly at home). Again, if you can keep from obsessing, measuring blood ketones can be helpful. However, there is a cheap and easy way to know if you are in ketosis:
You are keeping your carb intake under 20 g/day.
You are still breathing in and out.
That’s a cute way of putting it, but it’s true.
Thank you so much, Paul!! I’ll try to stop being so obsessive about my weight. I mainly wear dresses that are loose and so I don’t have any clothes to measure myself with.
I am keeping my carbs low and not going over 20 of carbs. I’ll try and be patient. It’s hard to not to.
I’m someone that likes capturing as many metrics as possible on a daily basis, but can definitely have my mood impacted if I feel like I made an “effort” and then the scales tell a different story. I dealt with that a few years back by purchasing a smart scale that syncs my data automatically, so I know it’s recorded, but I don’t have to look at the display. I simply have some duct tape covering the scale display so that I can’t see the results at weigh-in time, then I look on a weekly basis. I use TrendWeight (synced with my Withings Scale account) for a less volatile trend analysis.
Thank you so much, Gaff for that bit of information. I really like the idea of getting a smart scale. I never heard of that before.
Wishing you a good day!
Hi. I measure mine from my blood. Always highest in the mornings for me. Probably because I’ve been resting and not using them. Keep going. Cheers.