I think my blood ketone meter is lying to me/broken/possessed

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #1

I am sure we have all read my posts concerning low blood ketone levels.
I am starting to think this thing is broken lol.
Every day, no matter what time I test, no matter what time I eat, my reading is always 0.1mmol
Sometimes it’s 0.3mmol
I just ate Chinese for lunch, I won’t make excuses why.
I had some sweet and sour pork with some chicken and vegetables, two spring rolls and two prawn cutlets and some special fried rice.
That was two hours ago.
I just test again… 0.1mmol.
Is this thing lying to me or what? How the hell can I be in ketosis after consuming upwards of 60 carbs?
Is that even possible?

(Ron) #2

Katie,
When you are fat adapted your body prefers to use ketone bodies for fuel over glucose. While it still has to eliminate the glucose you have consumed there was still fat in the meal and it will metabolize small amounts but when the glucose is gone out of the system it converts right back to a focus on fat. If you were to continue taking readings every half hour I bet you would see ketone levels elevate as glucose dissipates.
That’s my take on it.

#3

Which meter are you using?

(I’ve been happy with my keto mojo.)

#4

If you’re getting a reading of 0.1 mmol/L, you’re not in ketosis.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #5

Perhaps you have a bad batch of test strips? It’s been known to happen.

(Aimee Moisa) #6

Maybe you’re not in ketosis and 0.1mmol is the smallest number that meter goes?

Just a thought, I keep doubting the pee strips 'cause I ODed on Halo Top last night.

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #7

I can assure you I am in ketosis with that reading. I am also fat adapted.

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #8

I keep a strict 20 carbs every other day and my readings are never higher than 0.3mmol
@richard says he seldom sees much higher numbers and is .2 to .4 consistently.

#9

Okay.

So…

Either the meter is accurate and you’re so well fat adapted that you no longer have ketone readings of 0.5 (or even 0.3) mmol/L or above when in ketosis;

Or your meter is lying to your or is broken or (even) possessed! :wink:

(Empress of the Unexpected) #10

You say strict carbs every other day. How many carbs do you have on the other days? My understanding is that 0.1 is not in ketosis. 0.5 is usually the start, but 0.4 and even 0.3 can be acceptable. But 0.1? I am skeptical.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #11

Let’s not lose sight of a couple of points: First, the real goal is fat-adaptation, and second, it appears that at a certain point the body can become so efficient at burning fatty acids and ketone bodies that not much of them are left in the bloodstream to measure. And this is quite apart from the accuracy of the meter and the quality of the test strips, which are completely other issues.

The 0.5 mmol/dL that is defined as the threshold for nutritional ketosis is rather arbitrary. Even Dr. Phinney, who defined the term, admits that. If we had any way to measure fat-adaptation directly, we wouldn’t be quite so hung up on ketone levels, I’m pretty sure.

#12

Something that occurred to me as I was testing my blood today is the matter of the “coding chip”. Not all meters use these, but the keto mojo does. This is a special strip/chip which is inserted into the meter when starting a new batch of ketone test strips.

I would guess that if you fail to do this or use the coding chip for a different batch, you might get wildly inaccurate results.

I also have a Precision Xtra which I rarely use - it doesn’t use a coding chip.

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #13

Carbs are always at less than 20 net.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #14

I still don’t have a blood ketone meter yet, so it will be interesting! I can’t tell a thing from the strips.

(Deb) #15

Just throwing in my 2 cents here, for what it’s worth.
I also thought I was in ketosis all along, even while in a year long stall. Never tested at all.
Finally got a meter and tested EVERYTHING. Ketones .2.
Started tested BG to ALL foids and dropped all that reacted against macros,etc.
Ketones in about 10-12 days…1.7.
Also started tracking GKI. Start was 25. Now around 3 to 7 ish.
Yes…ketones go up and down depending on if my body is using them or they are floating around waiting to be “called to action” but they are there.

(Bunny) #17

Depending how long you have been doing the ketogenic diet?

I would say you are probably fat adapted if your getting low numbers like that? Even when eating an occasional high carb meal?

Higher numbers means your cells are probably not really fully utilizing ketones for energy (you’re simply in Ketosis) and are ready to be flushed out of the body?

Only way that I am aware of to get a real baseline of what your ketone levels actually are is to test for them during a longer fast? The lower the average of numbers are after testing for a period of time, the more fat adapted you are?

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #18

I’m half way through week 10 and have been fat adapted since week 5.
I am going to start testing and doing lots of science experiments on myself with my ketone levels and then with fasting to see what happens. Interesting :slight_smile:

#19

FWIW…

I’ve been in ketosis (according to my meter) for about eight months now. There have only been a few days with ketone readings less than 0.5.

I’m pretty sure that I’m fat adapted. I’m able to go mountain biking for five hours or more, starting in a fasted state. Likewise for hiking; on some hikes, I’ve been out for up to 14 hours without food. I find that I often feel better later on than I do at the start.

Anyway, with all of that as a preface…

When I take blood ketone measurements in the morning, I still frequently see readings of over 1.0 mmol/L. Last seven days, working backwards are: 1.0, 1.1, 2.0 (but after an 8 mile hike), 1.2, 4.3 (after 11 mile hike), 0.9, 0.8.

For a while, earlier this year, I saw a drop in my morning BK measurements; they were often 0.5 to 0.9. I thought at first that I was seeing that drop due to my body processing ketones more efficiently. But I now think that maybe my carb and/or protein intake was somewhat higher than it should have been during those months.

So, anyway, for someone at 10 weeks in, based on my own experience, I’d expect to see higher blood ketone readings. If you’re really in ketosis, but are only seeing readings of 0.1, I strongly suspect that something is wrong with either the meter or test strips.

(Melissa Kinder) #20

You have a lot of good information. Let me help explain why ketone levels drop first thing in the morning. It is because of a hormone everyone has called cortisol. This is a long term stress hormoneused to wake you up in the morning. Cortisol comes from the adrenal glands that sit above the kidneys and reacts on the liver. It reacts different on a lot of parts of the body but lets focus on the liver. The produces ketones when it has run out of stored glycogen. The liver can also make glucose (sugar) through a process called glycogenosis (building sugar). Cortisol tells the liver we need lots of energy and we need it now. The liver will stop making ketones in the morning to give the brain the energy it needs to wake up. One will always have lower ketone levels in the morning than in the afternoon. Example would be 1.0 in the morning and if you are fasting let say 14 to 16 hours you wake up at 8am test and then test again at 12pm before eating you will see a much higher reading like 1.8 or something. The cortisol will have left your system by then. People struggle getting into ketosis because of high stress levels and the hormone cortisol.

(FRANK) #21

I have been low carb/ keto/carnivoire for over 2 years now and rarely register above 0.5 mmol/L. One time I registered 1.7 mmol/L and almost fell out of my chair. Most days its only 0.3 - 0.5.