What am I looking For that will tell me I’m in ketosis? Please help. I’ve lost 13lbs in 2 weeks I’ve peed on those sticks and I get excited when it’s dark. But now I wanna Know how I can use what I **HAVE **. Because it’s expensive enough eating this way. So help me understand what should I look For to see if I’m in Ketosis! Thanks in advance! I actually Signed up to ask questions! Yay!
I only Have a glucose meter and can’t afford a Keto one
Wishbone
#2
If you’re eating fewer than 20g carbs per day, you don’t need gadgets, or sticks. I started 12 months ago with sticks just as a boost, but don’t need anything now. Weight loss, the way you feel, no hunger etc
Anniegirl9
(LeeAnn Brooks)
#3
Chasing ketones is an exercise in futility.
Save your money and use it to buy bacon.
mtncntrykid
(Ron)
#6
The pee sticks are useful if you just use them to understand that you are making and expelling ketones. That is ketosis (lipolysis). Fat adaption is another thing.
roho42
(Robert Hollinger)
#7
I don’t know if it’s any good but I’ve been seeing an apparently new breath meter that is affordable. < $30.
It’s called KHC M2. FWIW.
PaulL
(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?)
#8
You can’t, so don’t even try! Just hand it all over to ME! 
4dml
#9
I’m going to offer a dissenting opinion to the above posts. I don’t count carbs, I don’t track calories, I don’t weigh my food or input recipes into an app. And I sure as heck don’t rely on some rule of thumb that’s the same for a 6’3, 250 lbs college kid as it for 5’2" 60 year old woman.
What matters to me is how my body responds to various inputs (food, sleep, stress, exercise, etc). So I measure results. I keep it as simple as possible: test, adjust, repeat.
I collect a myriad of data using numerous tools (ie. blood meters, fitness tracker, HR monitor, smart scale, DEXA). I’ve gone from obese to normal weight in less than 9 months. Here’s what’s been true for me. Weight fluctuations are most closely correlated with BG. I believe BG provides good insight to what insulin is doing. Hyperinsulinemia leads to weight gain. If my morning BG has risen from the previous morning, the scale will likely that I’ve gained weight. If BG is down I’ve likely lost weight. With few interruptions, I was in a continuous state of ketosis and there was little correlation between blood ketones and weight loss.
If I could have only one tool, it’d be a glucometer. Here’s how I used it. After a few days of testing, I knew what my normal level was. I tested my BG after meals and evaluated how it’s composition effected me. All carbs are not created equal. Neither are all proteins (for example, fish has a different impact than beef).
Being in ketosis requires eating within your carb/protein tolerance. There are only two ways to do this- guess or test.
Anniegirl9
(LeeAnn Brooks)
#10
How do you account for fluctuations in weight due to water retention/dehydration, which can account for a good portion of weight fluctuations?
Anniegirl9
(LeeAnn Brooks)
#11
I disagree.
The pee sticks are perfectly fine for determining whether one is or isn’t in ketosis.
What you are testing for is levels and fluctuations, but that isn’t necessary for knowing the simple question of whether one is or is not in ketosis.
And honestly tracking what you eat is a third way to know whether you are eating within your carb/protein tolerance.
lfod14
#12
If your diet is in check and your weight in trending in the right direction there’s really no need to start going broke on ketone strips, haven’t bought any for mine in months. With that said, if you HAVE to buy one, go with the Keto Mojo, it’s the newest one on the market but the cheapest strips by far. I have the Nova which is half the price of the Precision (the common one), and Mojo is almost half of mine! Tracking ketones is a great tool when it comes to troubleshooting but aside from that, it’s really not worth it. Higher ketones most of the time don’t equal faster weight loss and I feel that’s what most people are going for with them.
Audit your diet, many people spend a lot at first but with some planning it really doesn’t have to be.
IceNine
(Karl)
#13
For as long as I’ve seen you posting your erudite responses to these kinds of threads, I have to admit - I’ve been very curious as to what your results have been. Can you link me to any threads that might show a fellow datamonger the fruits of your labor? I am very intrigued.
Noapples4u
#15
Anyone can afford a $6.00 breathalyzer. It will give you an idea of how many ketones you’re actually using each day, a better measurement than urine sticks. There are a lot of threads here about it, search away!
4dml
#16
I don’t try to account for anything outside of my control. It is what it is. If there’s nothing I can do about it, I don’t waste time thinking about it.
I don’t fret over temporary fluctuations in my weight. The weight displayed on my scale has even increased during an extended fast! I don’t care about my daily weight gains or losses, they’re merely data points. I focus on the trend and identifying any reoccurring patterns.
IceNine
(Karl)
#18
I’m still very intrigued. As a data person myself, I find that data need to “make sense” at some level in order for it to be meaningful to me. I see lots of people in the keto community testing for the sake of testing (or testing for trivial things, like whether they’re in ketosis or not) without really understanding what the data represents…
It’s nice to know there’s intelligent people that value these metrics and can somehow apply them in ways that aren’t immediately apparent (as I have struggled with in the past, which ultimately made me ‘give up’ on testing altogether).
Can you provide any insight as to what your starting point was and what your endpoint is? More importantly, what has this data told you along the way that got you closer to that goal? There are so many people who are simply pissing in the wind by buying up meters and expensive testing supplies without really knowing what they’re testing. It’ll be nice to see the results of someone who knows how to deal with that data the right way.
Thanks in advance.
Anniegirl9
(LeeAnn Brooks)
#19
I guess my point was, you can’t tell the difference between weight fluctuations caused by water weight vs those you are tracking which you say are due to BG.
