Keto Beginning and Blood Results

(Andrew) #1

Hi everyone, I recently began my Keto adventure and I just wanted to get some feedback. I discovered Keto because calorie counting got tiresome, I would never stick to it and gain weight, and recently I had a bad (1st) gout attack in early July that debilitated me for a few days while on vacation. Keto sounded like a diet I could stick to, as well as offer results that look attractive. Originally I was going to do the Carb Night solution, but I think I will stick with pure Keto.

Let me share some early benchmarks for context.

  • 35y/o Male
  • BMI - 28 (185lb) (Overweight)
  • BP- 120/85 90p (Normal range)
  • Father has gout, high cholesterol and BP.
  • Week 1 Complete - Keto Flu wasn’t too bad, drank lots of pickle juice and water 3-4L per day.

I am targeting 150-155lb as a goal, I plan to review at the 4-6 week mark. I have lost about 5-6lbs of water weight, to date.

I wanted to get blood tests on day 1, but I was only able to get them yesterday (day 6). My results are ok, but my doctor wants me to stop the high fat, high salt (we have all heard this before) to help solve this. I had the panel run after a 20hr fast.

Thyroid TSH 2.23 uIU/mL (Normal)
Liver ALT 30 U/L (Normal, but slightly elevated)
Kidney CREAT 1.07 (Normal)
CBC (Normal)
Glucose 77 (Normal) But is this Normal for a KETO diet?
Triglyceride 190 mg/dL (Normal)
Cholesterol 256 mg/dL (High)
HDL 33 mg/dL (LOW)
LDL 185 mg/dL (HIGH)
Gout Uric 13.9 mg/dL (HIGH)

My Cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and Uric measurements concern me, could they be a sign of my Keto Diet not being good for my body? I meet my marcos, occasionally going a bit over 30mg of carbohydrates.

While I am not looking for “medical” advice, I’d like some perspective or comparison. Perhaps it is just too soon to tell, and I will retest at week 6.

Thanks for any feedback.

(Siobhan) #2

Denitely too soon to tell, but here are some things to keep in mind:
LDL does not correlate well to heart disease risk, high or low. Low LDL people are just as likely to die from a heart attack and people with LDL 2-6x higher than normal are not more likely to die either. It isnt a good predictive factor.

HDL goes up with saturated fat intake.

Triglycerides tend to go down on keto - which is good. High circulating triglycerides indicates you have energy going around not getting to cells or storage which is less than desirable.

6 days is definitely way too soon to see any huge difference, generally it isnt even recommended to check until 6 months.

Welcome to the keto lifestyle though! Good on you for getting a baseline, I wish I had.

EDIT: Also yes 77mg/dL glucose is fine, that is around where mine sits too.

State of the Keto; Week 10 (3rd Update)
(Doug) #3

Hi Andrew. :slightly_smiling_face: Okay, definitely not a doctor here. In fact, I’m just an old nut on the internet. But this stuff is really interesting, so what the hey…

I think you’re on a good course. Looks to me like you have no problems with insulin resistance, so being in ketosis should come pretty easily to you, and the fat burning should be good. Your new diet may screw around with your numbers for a while - seeing changing/elevated cholesterol numbers seems to be pretty common, especially the newer to keto we are.

I was diagnosed with gout 17 years ago. While eating ketogenically or fasting, I’ve felt a little soreness in a big toe - the beginnings of a gout attack - several times. The diet can definitely raise blood uric acid levels, at least temporarily. Never have had a real, really painful attack, but I know there’s more uric acid there once in a while.

As time goes on, I think you’ll see that keto is good for your body. Normal levels for men, uric acid in the blood, are 3.4 to 7.0, so at 13.9 you’re really up there. Some people run high all their lives on uric acid, without it being a problem. If you don’t get gout attacks, I really don’t think it’s anything to worry about. Also think that level will come down in the future for you.