Thank you! I truly appreciate your feedback. I probably haven’t been eating as much protein as I usually do, either (too tired to cook/shop). I’m going to make a point of making sure I get enough dietary protein.
The trouble with Keto is that so much of it is guessing because the research is more sparse than we’d like! Throw individual differences on top of that and sometimes it feels like I’m in a constant experiment.
The exception to the need for higher ketones in this case is if mental function declines with lower ketone levels. The blood-brain barrier doesn’t transport ketones efficiently at low plasma concentrations, and there is an n=1 relationship between blood and brain even with higher blood ketones.
You’re forgetting that the body can both metabolize protein and catabolize lean mass for fuel under certain conditions.
This.
I do agree with @Karim_Wassef also in that I think adding more carbs would just worsen the situation by adding higher insulin also into this mix.
The fat isn’t the problem, never has been. The carbs were the problem, with those out the fat isn’t an issue. You’re still showing measurable ketones, you’re in ketosis. Don’t get obsessed with the 0.5 nonsense. I lost my first hundred pounds below that number. You’ve been keto for 1.5yrs, I wouldn’t expect you to have “good” ketone levels, most of us doing this long term don’t. You’ve eaten this way long enough that measuring ketones is a waste of money. You know how to eat correctly.
You could be, are you eating adequate protein? Are you working out? I’ve become very good at loosing muscle mass thanks to worrying about a scale number. Took unfucking my brain and cranking up my protein (because I used to be afraid of it) and lifting more to put on more muscle which stopped me loosing it and helped my metabolism. I also have a high stress floor even when things are “good”. Just gotta find ways to manage it. There’s always something that works for you, just gotta find it.
You’re not eating enough carbs to be carb powered, your not on the floor unconscious, and muscle can’t burn fast enough to completely sustain you without you knowing it because you’d be a zombie… You ARE burning it! Again, donate your ketone meter to the trash barrel. Seems that’s a pretty descent stressor at this point.
Yes, you are right. Husband has been telling me the same thing…I’m such a tracker, though. It’s hard to give it up!
Thank you, Carol. You nailed it on the head. THIS is why being in ketosis is so important to me. Without being at least .5, I am too tired to accomplish anything and unhappy. When I’m over 1.0, I’m happy, productive, and enjoy life (most of the time, obviously I still have good/bad days, but at least there are way more good).
Are you sure? Most people have higher fasting blood sugar in the morning. They call it the dawn phenomenon. Diabetics can have it pretty intensely.
@SporkyDonkey Yes, I experience elevated morning glucose levels. Maybe I was confused by the conversation, I meant that high ketones are more evident later in the day and higher glucose in the morning, AKA dawn phenomenon. I thought that @ctviggen was stating the opposite in his case. 
I just can’t think of anything overall about our health and well being that can be improved by ingesting sugars, starches, processed food-like substances and seed oils. We evolved this far without them for thousands of generations. Seems like our real troubles began when we started eating them.
