First Time Testing Ketones, What Am I Missing?

(What The Fast?!) #1

You guys…I need a little help.
I’ve been doing ketogenic eating for over 3 weeks now, and I’ve been SUPER strict. The only carbs I get come from green vegetables and some cheese and nuts, and I’m keeping my TOTAL carbs under 25 most days. The only artificial sweetener I use is liquid Stevia.
I haven’t really felt the “amazing effects of ketosis” so I wanted to confirm that I’m actually in ketosis - I’ve tried using KetoStix for testing but have heard they’re not reliable, so I bought the Precision Xtra.

I tested today for the first time, and my ketone reading was only 0.4…does that even count as being in ketosis?

Today I’ve eaten about 500 cals of food, 75% fat, 20% protein, 5% carbs (43g fat, 26g protein, 6g carbs - from eggs, cheese). I’ve been tracking food daily and I know I’m keeping everything within the guidelines…can someone help me figure out what’s going on? I’m super bummed; I’ve been reading everyone’s stories and am dying to see similar results!

Info you may need: I am not diabetic (though I wonder if I should test for insulin resistance because I’m always hungry), I have no health issues, I’m very active (work out 5-6 times a week) - but have not worked out in the last 12 days because I’m injured), have about 15-20lbs to lose.

Please help! :smiley:

(Dustin Cade) #2

I’ve noticed that it can take some people 4 to 8 weeks to totally get into ketosis… KCKO

it took my lady around 8 weeks for her to totally come into where she felt really good, her hormones where out of whack and they had to level out.

(What The Fast?!) #3

Is there anything to help speed up the process?

(Dustin Cade) #4

Patients, perhaps lowering carbs to less than 20 net, try a few “zero” carb days…

(What The Fast?!) #5

I’m below 20 NET, I’m at 25 TOTAL (before subtracting fiber), and that’s literally only from greens, cheese, and nuts.

(John) #6

Just time, my wife was slower too. I think the reason I dropped so fast is that I was stuffing myself with carbs to try to fill full, just by eating a healthy volume of food I dropped several pounds, add water weight to that and by the time I got adapted it seemed like I was moving the whole time.

(What The Fast?!) #7

Will going a little nuts on fat for a few days speed things up? Right now, I’m focused on 75%+ fat, but without overeating.

(Dustin Cade) #8

i would not really worry about “over eating” you will want to find the balance of not being hungry but not going way overboard… listen to your body… if you feel hungry, eat fat! this is the issue i have with my lady, she has lots of trouble with eating fat…

a way she has found to boost her fat is the new philly cream cheese that is full fat and <1g carb per serving, butter, she like the pyre sweetener, a small splash of vanilla… mix that up and its like a cheese cake filling but super fast… that helps her boost her fat for the day…

(G. Andrew Duthie) #9

Don’t know what timezone you’re in, so hard to tell if this represents one meal, or more, but unless this is just one meal you may not be eating enough. It’s really important not to limit food intake artificially. If you’re hungry, eat. And don’t worry about calories.

3 weeks is not a long time in keto terms, so the fact that you’re registering on the meter is a positive sign.

The focus on calories and worries about “going a little nuts on fat” suggest that you are still being influenced by the CICO mindset and fat phobia.

Remember…the starting point of keto is pretty simple:

  1. No more than 20g of carbs (net is fine, but 20g total may be necessary for some) per day.
  2. Protein sufficient to maintain lean body mass (in the range of 1g/kg of lean body mass)
  3. Fat to satiation.

Note the last point doesn’t say “fat to X calories” it says “to satiation.” Eat until full. Don’t count calories, or worry about eating “too much” fat.

(What The Fast?!) #10

Thanks! Yes - that was just breakfast. I eat around 1500-1700 cals a day, more when I’m working out… :slight_smile: But you’re right - I’m still concerned about eating “too many overall calories.” I’m keeping my NET carbs under 20, but generally my total carbs are even around 25-30. I’m not overeating protein - I’m around 60-70g protein daily; my lean body mass is around 50kg.

That last part…“to satiation” is what gets me. I’m eating around 100-130g of fat daily, but I feel like "to satiation would have me eating some insane amount of fat. Like…I could definitely eat an additional 5 avocados, no problem. (Maybe that’s a bad example, because of the carbs in avocados…but you could say the same about drinking a whole cup of heavy cream, or adding like 5 tablespoons of olive oil to what I’m currently eating.)

I thought that you’d be in ketosis no matter what if you ate under 20g carbs and made fat the largest % of calories. (And feel free to correct me if I’m wrong here, I feel like I read so many differing opinions!)

#11

I’d get rid of the nuts for now, and start looking at the ingredients in the things your eating. Sometimes the grams of carbs are good but the ingredients tell another story. devhammer got it dead on! Also if you want to save a little bit of money the ketostix CAN be reliable but only until your fat adapted then they go to hell quick. They’re kinda one sided, if they say you have a ton of ketones, you typically do, if they say you don’t, can’t really go by that. In the end their meant for non fat adapted type 1 diabetics so it is what it is. I know those ketone strips are like $4/piece. In any case don’t let ketostix or even the blood meter get you down. Do what your doing and be patient. It’ll come, it always does.

(Jaidann) #12

I was wondering myself about unintentional carb creep. I have had that happen to me and it sucks. But do stay on it because it does happen! I think it took me a good month of being very consistent to get there.

(G. Andrew Duthie) #13

If lean body mass is 50kg, consider dropping protein to 50g. 60-70g isn’t insanely high or anything, but it may be more than you need at the moment. Keep in mind that there are two potential issues with protein beyond what you need to maintain LBM. One is the potential for excess to be converted to glucose via gluconeogenesis (GNG). [There are lots of opinions on how, when, and why this happens, and I won’t get into them here], but the other is the simple fact that protein itself is insulinogenic. Far less so than carbohydrates (about 50% of the insulin response or so), but more so than fat. So eating more protein may be increasing your insulin, which would limit how much fat you can metabolize.

There’s no such thing. Fat is not some evil thing that you need to keep at bay. It’s one of the basic parts of food, and arguably one of the more important ones. There are lots of ways to add fat to a meal. You can add some avocado as you mentioned, you can add butter, you can make some tasty homemade mayo, and have that with a burger. Sauces are a particularly good option, because you can add as much or as little sauce as it takes to reach satiation.

There is no “no matter what” in metabolic responses. In general limiting carbs to less than 20g daily should allow most people to get into ketosis. But each of us occupies our own space on the curve of metabolic derangement, and depending on where you are, the general rule may or may not work for you.

I think the first thing you need at the moment is patience. Give it a couple more weeks, and see how it goes. Then, you can experiment with other things. Lower protein. Eliminate dairy for a while. Try limiting your eating window to give your body more time with lower insulin.

But don’t worry.

#14

This sounds like you’re not eating to satiety and instead calorie-restricting and I do understand the mindset, but now I “track” calories instead of “count” them. In other words, I track everything I eat, but I’m logging that to look for trends in data instead of making an effort to restrict.

If you feel like your body is telling you to eat a lot more fat, it could be the signal that it’s begging for the energy and substrates needed to optimize your hormonal environment and by restricting, your body is still sensing a famine and down-regulating import biological processes.

(Dustin Cade) #15

if I’m hungry I eat… the other night i came home from work, fried up a couple (4 eggs) and ate those while i was cooking dinner for the family… i ate dinner with the family, after that i was still hungry so i cooked up 4 more eggs… i was fine after this… this is not an all the time thing, normally i eat dinner and i’m good, though if i’m hungry i eat… i no longer have that super stuffed feeling, i just have a satisfied feeling… just read your bodies signals… it knows what it needs better than we can interpret them…

(What The Fast?!) #16

@devhammer Honestly, keeping protein that low is REALLY difficult. Like, I’m not even sure how I would get just 50g protein in a day while supplementing with fat (especially if I eliminate dairy). I’m not being argumentative here - I’m genuinely asking…Aside from downing spoonfuls of coconut oil and butter, what would you suggest I eat? 4oz of protein is around 30g, depending on what type.
I agree on your other suggestions. I’ll just add fat and (try to add) patience. :slight_smile:

@lfod14 when I do eat nuts, it’s only a half ounce (i buy shaved almonds for that reason), but I’ll cut those out. As far as ingredients - I’m eating only whole, unprocessed foods. The only thing processed is cheese and I make sure to get the most limited ingredient ones. Re: ketostix, I have been using those too and they either register nothing or a slight pink hue. I’m hoping that making these changes will change that.

Ooh! @devhammer I just thought of one - I could make (or find a limited ingredient) Caesar dressing and eat that with romaine lettuce.

I feel like I should add that I weigh about 145-146lb, so that has been my concern with CICO - trying to keep my calories in an “acceptable range” is at the forefront of my mind because my BMR is aready pretty low (allegedly), but that number could be way wrong based on a bunch of other factors. I’ll try to let go of that thinking though.

(G. Andrew Duthie) #17

Restricting calories will not help your BMR, and could make it worse. When you worry about calories, try reminding yourself that the way that a calorie is calculated is by burning food in a calorimeter. Is your body a calorimeter? No. So the relevance of a calorie is limited at best, and the more important thing is what a given food does in terms of affecting hormones and metabolism.

With respect to making changes, try to avoid changing a bunch of stuff all at once. If you do, and it works, you will have a harder time teasing out what worked, and what may have simply been coincidence. It takes longer, and requires more patience, but it’s better to test one thing at a time (i.e. - reducing protein, OR dropping dairy, OR…).

And you don’t have to “down spoonfuls of coconut oil and butter.” If you like eating butter on it’s own, more power to you, but most people prefer to add it to their protein, or use fats in sauces or mayo.

(What The Fast?!) #18

Thanks - I agree on changing too many variables at once. Right now I’ll focus on eating fat to actual satiety. :slight_smile:

(eat more) #19

hang in there…when i first started my protein was always on the higher end and my fat lower…
it flip flopped and now i have to work harder to keep my protein closer to my target…some days i’m 25-30g below my target and not hungry at the end of the day (on these days fat is usuallly higher than target so i figure my metabolism is safe :blush:)

a lot of things will change and adjust and sort themselves out.

KCKO :blush: