High Ketones in morning?


(Keith Bronsdon) #1

Been doing keto for a few months. No huge weight loss, but I only wanted to lose 15 pounds. Lost a bit with ups and downs, but overall confused. Eat zero starchy carbs, and they all come from vegetables like broccoli, etc. Early on, my ketone levels were in the 1.0 to 1.5 range but over a couple weeks they’ve climbed to 5-8ish first thing in the morning. I sometimes check again around 6pm when I get home (before dinner) and they settle down to the low 3’s. If I were to check other times during the day (done once in a while) the are usually in low 3.3ish range. My understanding is the higher morning numbers could indicate “fasting” mode, not having eaten since the late evening before. I often eat dinner at 830pm. Are these consistent high readings early on in the day an indication I should change my diet? I see lots of posts about ketones levels being LOW in the morning. Just the opposite of what I’m experiencing. I am not diabetic.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

Don’t worry about it. Higher or lower ketone levels confer no particular advantage or disadvantage.

Just checking: Are you eating enough protein? Are you eating to satiety? There is some reason to think that you want to finish eating at least four hours before going to sleep, so you might look into that as well.

Also just to warn you, the last 15 pounds of fat take rather a while to lose. This is normal.