Fasted 36 hours

newbies
fasting
(Nate F) #1

Fasted 36 hours … Checked ketones via urine test and I was between 8.0-16.0 mmol/L. Is that a good thing? Or a bad thing? It use to take me days to get into Ketosis.

(Bob M) #2

It probably just means you’re in ketosis, and the absolute number isn’t that important. (You could be dehydrated.)

(Nate F) #3

I have been drinking tons of water so I don’t think I am dehydrated. Was more worried about diabetes I guess.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #4

Agree with Bob. Indicates you’re in ketosis. With urine strips, unless you’re a T1 diabetic the actual number doesn’t mean much and does not reflect on your ‘state of ketosis’. The ketones in urine are being vented from the system unused. There is little or no correlation between what your pissing out and what you’re actually using. Generally, for the first few months of keto, your liver produces more ketones than get used so a lot gets vented via urine and breath. Once your muscles and organs relearn how to use them, you’ll vent less as production and use get better in synch.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

Ketone levels from fasting typically run higher than the levels of what Dr. Phinney and Prof. Volek call “nutritional ketosis.” Diabetic ketoacidosis does not become a concern until serum β-hydroxybutyrate exceeds 10.0, and symptoms don’t appear until around 20.0.

If you are measuring your urinary acetoacetate, then your serum ketones cannot be predicted. The urine strips are notoriously inaccurate, and besides, the wastage of ketones from excretion in urine and breath does not directly correlate to serum levels. The reason that the strips exist is to give Type I diabetics time to get to the hospital before they fall into a diabetic coma. And anyone who takes his or her insulin properly is not going to have a problem. Nor is anyone whose pancreas is still producing insulin.

Unless you have reason to believe that you are a Type I diabetic or that your Type II diabetes has advanced to the point of rendering your pancreas incapable of producing insulin, then you have nothing to fear.

(Allie) #6

No connection at all.

(Nate F) #7

It was dehydration. I was drinking tons of water
but I didn’t realize how much water we lose while sleeping. Thus one of the reasons you weigh less in the morning. Anyways, I am fasting again today and checked my ketones and it was high again. Drank some water … About 30 mins later checked again and was down considerably. Thanks!