First time in 8 years keto, Testing Ketones w/meter šŸ˜

(Denise) #1

First I want to say, the strips are outrageous thanks to the way the world is more about money than people. But I understand it is what it is. Stupid phrase for much better explanation, I wonā€™t bother going into :blush: I know others see it as well.

I am excited though, thatā€™s the bottom line. I enjoy having the numbers so I can ā€œfollowā€ what the heck Iā€™m doing. Canā€™t believe I waited so long to get a meter, itā€™s so worth it to me, and so glad a ā€œnumberā€ actually shows up, unlike the urine strips.

I tested ketones this a.m. around 5 a.m. No food after 4 pm yesterday, and got an 0.6 mmol. Thatā€™s not bad, a little over halfway to a 1.0 mmol:+1: Btw, I am happy with the Ketosens so far. I know nothing is perfect, but like my Blood Glucose meter, I can hopefully be in the ball-park.

I plan to test again 3 hours at least, after dinner in the evening. Iā€™ll keep a little record of how I do at that time of day.

Feedback welcome if you are, or have tracked your ketones. I know @ctviggen and anxious to hear from others, as well. I wonā€™t get into a debate on ā€œto test or not to testā€. To each his/her own.

I already started changing my fat-intake, but recently looker much further into Saturated Fats. Looking for more info today on those. My macros are reset now at P=15%, F=75%, C=10%.

The carbs are the only ones Iā€™m comfy with right now. I wonā€™t know how those percents play out for me until I get into a routine of such high Fats. Note: the #'s I chose are just a general consensus I googled, so Iā€™ll have to find what works for me :wink:

I plan to test again 3 hours at least, after dinner in the evening. Iā€™ll keep a little record of how I do at that time of day. Feedback welcome if you are, or have tracked, your ketones. I know @ctviggen and anxious to hear from others, as well. Denise :+1:

(Denise) #2

Iā€™ve gotten a little discouraged about my numbers after being only in what a ā€œgoogleā€ called, the beginning of Ketosis.

Has anyone here, using a meter, or some other method of counting ketones, reached the 1.0, and higher amount? I canā€™t remember what Iā€™ve seen in the years Iā€™ve been on the forum, but I want to do way better.

I did test again tonight, but I wonā€™t test/waste another test-strip (got an 0.5 mmol) because I have some work to do first :nerd_face:

(Bob M) #3

If youā€™ve been in ketosis for a while, itā€™s probably going to be harder to get into the higher ketones. Your body has figured out how much you need and makes seemingly less. I commonly have ā€œlowā€ ketones in the morning, 0.2-0.4, but this is my 14th year of ketosis.

I can reach 1.0, but it takes taking ketones at night or fasting a while.

NOTE: Iā€™ve been taking Jardiance for a while now, and my ketones are higher. But thatā€™s due to the drug, so itā€™s not normal.

(Denise) #4

Thank you Bob, I think I read this before, in a couple of places, but it didnā€™t quite sink in. I think I am probably going to get these lower readings too. Do you think itā€™s even worth it to keep this meter? I did order the strips as well, should have waited to see your reply.

Iā€™ve struggled a lot with recovering from a TIA, I think that was in 2022 when I was trying, without help, to wean off too fast from Clonazepam. My memory (short-term) isnā€™t good, but at least I remember what word I need, in a couple minutes, things like that.

Hope you had a good weekend, and thank you for always helping me out here on KF :wink: Denise

PS I am taking MCT oil 2 mornings so far. Iā€™ll continue with that, just a tsp, may try 2 tsps after a week. I still am changing my diet up to higher Fats, and less of the Protein.

(B Creighton) #5

Mine varies from time of day. I think it is usually highest in the morning - based on the toilet smell test - but in Dec 2024, I did a blood test on my OMAD morning, and the blood test came back with a 1 reading for ketone level. I know I am usually not in much ketosis after dinner, but if I donā€™t eat any dessert, I will burn fat while sleeping, and typically have at least some ketones the next morning - especially if I have goat yogurt that morning. This one thing just seems to boost up my ketones more than anything else.

(Denise) #6

Hi dude thanks for your response thatā€™s interesting because tonight I donā€™t have any dessert I usually make popsicles and they are just two carbs each but I like to eat them after dinner about 20 minutes and then I donā€™t have one but Iā€™m out of them so Iā€™m going to be fasting from now on and itā€™s 5 minutes till 4:00 here in Pacific Northwest weā€™ll see what my rating is in the morning. I think itā€™s going to be fun for me to monitor my ketones kind of give me some more initiative to do better with my keeping my carbs under 20 and maybe be pretty easy to get back below 10 againšŸ˜

(B Creighton) #7

If you do any sugar, try adding some allulose to it, and I bet your ketones will stay higher.

(Denise) #8

I donā€™t do any sugar dude but for sweetener I use either monk fruit or stevia and not much of that I mean not per serving of my popsicles for instance the only sugar I can think of I ever have is in my two good yogurt and I just take a cup of that and divide that into letā€™s see 12 popsicles.

I havenā€™t tried alulas but when I think it was the guy in Utah the bald-headed guy thatā€™s all about insulin resistance bickman heā€™s always been one of my favorites I canā€™t even think of his name :woozy_face::face_with_hand_over_mouth:

(B Creighton) #9

Yeah, you got it - itā€™s Ben Bickman. I use lots of stevia and monk fruit too. I get these sprayed on inulin fiber typically, although I use stevia drops a lot. I just brought it up because I thought that your popsicles probably had some sugar. I bought myself a Christmas present this year of a Ninja Creami machine to make ā€œice creamā€ a keto way with my inulin powder sweeteners. I do miss ice cream - butter pecan was my favorite. Perhaps I will have it again in a much healthier formā€¦ :smile:

(Denise) #10

My first priority is my T2D, but if I can have a treat once inawhile, no spikes in blood-sugar, I will probably not give them up. I havenā€™t gain weight either, which is a bonus. Now I want to gain some muscle weight :wink: I had the allulose powder, but never got into it. The Monk Fruit is sort of crystals, looks like sugar. I use 2 level tbsp of that, and 2 of the tiny scoops that come with my powder stevia. I know my brands wouldnā€™t be considered pure, but not ill effects :wink:

Thanks Dude, appreciate you chiming in, as always, Denise :nerd_face::+1: