I've searched and cannot find - Is it better to track Blood Glucose or Ketone levels? I've plateaued

ketones
glucose
(Chris Caldwell) #1

I read an article that checking ketones is a bit of a false narrative because the more fat adaptive / better your body is at processing ketones makes checking ketones a poor gauge of ketosis. True? Also, I haven’t been checking glucose. Is this better? I’ve been on a “Keto Diet” since Jan 1, 2018, and have lost 22 pounds but I’ve plateaued - I was 222 and I’m at 198-201 for the past three weeks. I’ve kept carbs < 20g with a variance of 5g on some days. I skip breakfast 80% of the time.

Do I need to check my glucose as a better measure for trying to get another 15 lbs off? Thanks for the advice or a link to a prior post.

(Mark Rhodes) #2

I track both. I also go a step further and divide glucose by beta-hydroxybutrate for a Glucose Ketone Index (GKI) There are many links with this info such as here

It does seem my weight fluctuations correspond far better with my GKI rather than any other method.

(Todd Allen) #3

I used to check blood glucose a lot more than ketones mostly because of the cost difference between the strips. And for the most part when blood glucose was low ketones tended to be higher. But now I mostly test using a breathalyzer which responds to breath acetone as it is even easier and essentially zero cost. I still sometimes check blood glucose especially when making big changes.

Many find little to no value in testing and if you are pretty fixed/stable in your routines and diet there probably isn’t much point to frequent testing. But I like to mix things up a lot and see the impact of various forms of fasting, periods of high and low protein, my tolerance for various forms of carbs, etc. Also, I’m not particularly good at deciding what to eat “listening to my body” which says stupid things like “eat all the peanuts…” but when I goof and get some feedback I find it easier to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

(Adam Kirby) #4

I would say neither, since neither metric necessarily correlates with weight loss. Insulin would be better, and even that isn’t perfect.

(Ken) #5

The best thing to do is keep your Pie Hole shut unless you’re really hungry!

(Allan L) #6

Ketone or glucose levels are not related to weight loss.

Higher glucose levels will require a higher insulin response and lower insulin is the key to weigh loss on a keto diet so if I was to pick one that would be it, but don’t bother.

The best approach is to just keep things simple as you are already doing. Maybe try increasing your fasting period to 18:6 or OMAD or ADF. Remove dairy for a while. Exercise. Drop your fat. Try Zero carb etc.

(Mark Rhodes) #7

Since there is no cost efficient insulin test, many of us use glucose as an approximation. Early on I tested AS, protein and almonds to see how much my glucose would rise. I think I will go check all that old data and see if anything changed.

AND some people just need to know things, to have a metric that guides them. For me thats my GKI for others like you its how you feel. Both get results for the same reasons, they work within the scope of our understanding.