I bought a blood meter and now I'm just confused


(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #21

I realise that now, I actually have a BG monitor also. I bought it in a haste when I couldn’t find the ketone monitor and still have strips left.


(Terence Dean) #22

Highest reading I’ve ever had was 0.4mmol/L so I guess I’m in a mild state of Ketosis too, I read somewhere >0.5mmol/L is the optimum, is that true?


(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #23

Between 0.5-1.5 mmol/L is light nutritional ketosis. You’ll be getting a good effect on your weight, but not optimal. Around 1.5 – 3 mmol/L is what’s called optimal ketosis and is recommended for maximum weight loss


(Terence Dean) #24

Oh ok that suits me fine, I’m near enough for what I’m doing; still losing at a steady rate; albiet slow but that’s exactly what I want. 2.5kg away from the 15kg milestone, KCKO!


(Ron) #25

High ketones are a sign you burned fat, not indication of how much or were it came from.
Ketones themselves aid in a few of the processes in therapeutic manner so there is some advantages to having higher ketones.


#26

I have the Keto Mojo, both ketone strips and gluose strips. Really nice meter and I like that the glucose readings give you three numbers rather than just your blood sugar. But regarding ketone readings, you would THINK it would be higher after fasting for 12 or 15 hours but me is always lowest in the morning. If I measure before my evening meal I’m usually at my highest… perhaps because I’ve been active all day and burning more than I do while sleeping?
Sue


(MooBoom) #27

@ava_ad0re I don’t eat more than 20g net carb a day and am also not diabetic, and have the same meter (snap). I also get low ketones in the morning, and notice my ketones drop after meals. The highest readings I get are usually around 6pm, where I’ll read a 1.2 - 2.2mmol.

I’ve been measuring for months and it never changes, my readings always follow the same pattern. I think ketones do fluctuate throughout the day so I put it down to that.

Do you track your blood sugar?


(Melissa Marie) #28

Im not diabetic (possibly was prediabetic though) and my numbers are generally .2 -.8 and .8 is rare. I suspect the dawn phenomenon has something to do with it as it is low in the morning and bg is higher, but evening bg is lower and keytones are higher… @Sue777 may be the same for you.


(Tom) #29

I’m in a similar position, having shelled out for a meter, learned how to stab myself and extract the blood… and get a max ever of 0.5, normally 0.3.

Two things reassure me.

One: I’m doing this to lose weight, lose inches off my waist, feel more energised and healthier. Tick tick tick. I’m not doing this to chase a ketone number.

Two: Both blood and urine measure what’s left over of your ketone production I think. Therefore a higher number doesn’t prove much.

I’m now firmly in the lazy keto camp. I couldn’t give a stuff about the ketone numbers or my macros or measuring stuff (other than weight, waist, BP and I guess cholesterol etc every 6 months). I’m not on a keto diet, I’m eating keto as a lifestyle (though yuck yuck yuck I hate the lifestyle word!). It’s a mindset thing. Do I eat 20g of carbs or 25g. No idea. But it’s all moving in the right direction.

Anyway good luck and keep ketoing on.


(Scott Cavendish) #30

I have been confused by the readings I get a well at times. Just got my Keto Mojo about a month ago so this is all new to me as well. As an example, I fasted for about two days last week. When I was ready to end my fast I wanted to see how the Coke Zeros I usually drink (I know I shouldn’t) affect me.

Wake up - BG 100 mg/dl, K 0.8 - 32 hr fasted for reference.
Pre-CZ - BG 92, K 1.1 - 42 hr fasted - baseline reading.
30 min - BG 79. Drinking a Coke Zero made my glucose drop? Is it because of an insulin spike from drinking it? Didn’t check my ketones here.
1 hr - BG 94 (back to baseline), K 1.8??? I decided to check my ketones again based off the 30 min BG reading. How did they go up? Coke Zero helps ketosis???
2 hr - BG 80, K 1.5. Ketones down slightly, glucose back down 14 points.

On a day-to-day basis my ketones seem to be in the 0.5 to 1.0 range testing upon waking. I have no idea what happened with my tolerance test, so I can’t even say for sure the drink did or didn’t have an effect on me.


(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #31

Hmmm, thanks for the responses everyone!
I am only going to test my ketones once a day from now on as those little strips are bloody expensive. Its only 830am at the moment so I am going to give it a bit of time before I test, I’ll keep a log of the numbers!


(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #32

I do but I had stopped for awhile, as I wasn’t really chasing the numbers but I am just getting interested in the data side of things so shall start testing again!


(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #33

Jebus, well it’s 9:15am and I just measured.
I must also say I had some chocolate mousse for breakfast at 7:30am, lol, I made it last night and couldn’t help myself. It was 100ml of full cream mixed with sugar free drinking chocolate.

My reading was ;

Blood Glucose - 6.5!!!
Ketones - 0.1

Lol I’ve never had a reading that high for BG
Mind you I don’t normally eat mousse for breakfast
I’m also having a coffee with almond milk right now so that might have something to do with it.

I really need to start fasting now I think lol.


(Terence Dean) #34

The first day I tested for Ketones I got a 0.2mmol/L reading, so decided to do several tests the following day just to see whether that would change at all, before exercise, after exercise, afternoon and evening, etc.

These were my results:
8:00am 0.2mmol/L - taken after 14 hour IF last food eaten at 6:00:pm day before
8:20am 0.3mmol/L - immediately after a 20 minute moderate walk (1.2km)
3:10pm 0.4mmol/L- taken before another 20 minute walk
8:45pm 0.4mmol/L - no food eaten for 2.5 hours

All these readings told me was that I was producing keytones, they rose slightly after some exercise, and slightly during the day.


(Melissa Marie) #35

I’ve read the drop is because of insulin spiking. But I’ve also learned to not test in the morning because of the dawn phenomenon, my numbers will be wonky. May be the same for you? Who knows. Maybe try it again after a shorter fasting period and definitely not in the morning.


(Scott Cavendish) #36

This was at like 3pm so it’s not the dawn phenomenon. But definitely something to test again.


(Michael) #37

I don’t have a blood meter at the moment. I plan to but a Ketomojo when they are available for shipment to Europe as i’d like to understand the Keto process a bit better.

I don’t think blood ketones levels are an indication of Nutritiona Ketosis; They are a measurement of the amount of ketones available for burning…

if you are burning ketones then your blood ketone levels should be low. If you are fat adapted your blood ketone levels should be adequate to fuel your normal regular activities.

The best way to know if you are in nutritional ketosis is to get a cheap breathalyser as many people have done on this forum.

I personally use a Ketonix which gives an instant measure of one’s current level of ketosis, basal (blue), nutritional ketosis (green), high nutritional ketosis (yellow), very high (red) and records the data for further analysis.


(Rob) #38

I use a meter similar to yours … the Abbott Precision Xtra. A few things to consider … perhaps someone already mentioned them and I missed it.

  • There is some variability in the meters themselves. I can’t speak for other countries … I know in the US they are allowed a certain ± percentage variation and still be labeled accurate. I did an n=1 test where I tested my blood glucose several times in a row (total elapsed time probably 2 minutes) and got slightly different readings each time with 1 reading being very different from the others.I think the reading (using the scale used in the US) were 84, 87, 83, 88, and 102. I chose to test using the glucose strips because they’re a lot cheaper than the ketone strips.
  • Do a google search on the best ways to draw a blood sample. Evidently there are things you can do (or not do) that influence the result. I read something on one of the diabetic websites that indicated alcohol was probably not the best thing to clean your finger with for accurate results.I saw in several places that squeezing your finger to make sure you get a good blood sample could lead to an incorrect reading.(I was a finger squeezer as I wasted ketone strips early on with an insufficient sample) I’m not a clinician but there seem to be some common mistakes people make that can lead to inaccurate results.
  • My ketone results are always low in the mornings. I always test around 11:00 - noon … and used to test occasionally late afternoon as well, but that didn’t seem to add any value. I test once a week now when I weigh in unless I’m doing an n=1. As you mentioned earlier, those ketone strips are expensive
  • Dr. Stephen Phinney had a great explanation in one of his Low Carb Down Under presentations on ketone levels. He seems to be an authoritative source on that topic. Well worth a listen…

#39

Try adding MCT oil to your diet, it will increase ketones. That being said, once you are fat adapted, your body will be using those ketones for fuel instead of just hanging out in your bloodstream. I’m just ending my week 6 on the keto diet and I’ve had a blood meter since week 2 and I’ve measured anywhere from 0.6 all the way up to 2.1 and it doesn’t seem to matter what I eat. My levels are all over the place so I’ve decided that as of the end of June, I won’t be testing my ketones anymore because it’s gotten as bad as trying to weigh myself every day to measure my progress. I KNOW that I am under 25 grams of carbs everyday so I don’t need to worry about being in ketosis or being fat adapted anymore. More than likely, coming into week 7 I am already fat adapted. The amount of ketones in your blood will vary from hour to hour and day to day so I don’t see any point in continuing to measure them because they really aren’t telling me anything new. I was scolded in one Facebook group for even testing my blood ketones because it was “unnecessary” and I was accused of trying to “chase ketones”, meaning they thought I was trying to get a higher and higher ketone reading which I wasn’t, I was only asking for an interpretation of why my numbers would go from 1.5 one day down to 0.6 the next day. Also keep in mind that once you are fat adapted, you won’t necessarily always be in ketosis. They aren’t mutually exclusive and often people that are fat adapted can up their carbs to as much as 50grams per day and still burn fat as their primary fuel source. For me, those ketone readings don’t really tell me anything except that I have consistently been in ketosis for the last 4+ weeks. If those readings start to drive you crazy, then maybe don’t test every day or take whatever measurement you get with a grain of salt. As long as you have energy, are staying under your carb limits and watching your macros, you should be golden. Good luck to you!


(Barbara ) #40

Alright, that sums it up fo me. I have been doing keto for 12 weeks and lost 7 pounds! So, I thuought okay I’ll get a ketone measurement product. However, after reading so many of people’s experiences, I think it’s a waste of money and pain! Believe me, I have been very religious with this keto plan - no fat bombs or cheating except one 5 oz. Glass of wine several weeks ago!
The only thing that might explain my not losing more weight is maybe my age. I am 82. I exercise although not heavily (weights, cardio twice a week).

So, no ketone sticks fo me! I will keep going because I love bacon and butter!