Keto meter confusing readings after cheat

#1

Hi all, I’ve been lurking on this forum for a few weeks since I began keto ~3 weeks ago and hope to contribute and learn from everyone here! I’m a 120-125 lbs, 5’6" female and have been on strict keto (<20g carbs per day) for the last 3 weeks, no cheating. I have a keto mojo meter for testing ketones and I use it almost every day, partly to make sure I’m adhering to keto the way I think I am and partly because I’m one of those people who thinks it’s fun to track and observe patterns and how my day to day eating/life in general affect me. My ketone levels on my meter have consistently been >1.0 to 1.5 for the last two weeks.

Yesterday I made the conscious decision to cheat and get those nostalgic longings for my old favorites out of my system. I wasn’t particularly craving anything, I just wanted to have some old favorites more out of curiosity I guess. I Didn’t binge or go absolutely overboard but did have a few ice cream bars, soda, and sugary iced coffee. If I had to guess I might’ve consumed 150-200g carbs at the high end. Late last night I had too much to drink and had a good 7-8 hours of sleep. After being awake for an hour or so today I decided to test to see how that impacted my levels. First test was .7, I was shocked because I was sure I blew myself out of ketosis, tested again and it was .2, tested again and it was .6, once more (yes I was hating myself because these strips are expensive) I tested and it was .2! Each time i tested on different fingers, in case that matters. I’m done testing for a while but I’m wondering if a ketone meter gives you a couple different results like this, do you take the highest one? Is it possible to get a false positive like .7 on a ketone meter? Especially after my cheat yesterday? I have no reason to believe my meter is faulty, it’s been consistent. I’m not asking because I’m worried, just trying to understand how unreliable a ketone meter might be and in which direction that unreliability may swing. Thanks for any feesback!

(Dom DePlume) #2

You’ve done the “double whammy”: carbs AND alcohol. Remember: alcohol is processed by your liver. Ketones are generated (primarily) by your liver. Your liver had gotten used to being a generator of ketones. Now, it has to process carbs and alcohol. Instead of doing one thing, you’ve now got it doing three things at once. No surprise your numbers are all over the map as far as ketone bodies go…

(Lesley) #3

I’ve often (well not often but enough to notice a pattern) had a glass of wine and maybe had about 60/70g of carbs and I don’t get kicked out of ketosis until 12 hours later. So delayed reaction for you?!

(Dom DePlume) #4

Actually, it sounds like 12hr after anyway. A carby day + a late-night drink or three, and 12h later, screwy results…

(Jay AM) #5

Blood meters measure BHB which is then generally converted to actual useable energy. Imagine them like a backup battery. On the list of things to be processed, alcohol is first and carbs are second. Your insulin likely rose significantly as well which could have caused a ketone dump but, can also cause a hold. Your body has to work through everything else. Alcohol is an immediate poison threat, glucose is second, BHB is low on this list of potential threats (not even high enough to make it on the first page of the list). So, you ended up with remaining ketones on hold, some being dumped, some being produced or moved. On top of that, the potential for thicker slower blood due to dehydration from drinking and high glucose, etc.

Just registering ketones does not mean ketosis.

#6

Wow really good info, a lot of this I was never aware of. Thank you for the replies! I didn’t know about the delayed effect when combining alcohol+carbs but it makes sense. I was pretty perplexed about how it could still be possible to register ketones after a heavy carb day and it was making me doubt the accuracy of my meter and the possibility of getting a false positive. I’m not too worried about having blew myself out of ketosis, I intend to do a 24-36 hour fast with a bit of exercise and get back on track. I just needed to understand how this works better. Very very interesting and I appreciate everyone breaking it down for me!

(Chris W) #7

I doubt the alcohol did much to the way of shutting down ketosis, it was probably off by then according to your description so the liver just dealt with the alcohol anyways.

Another thing that happens when you shoot your insulin through the roof it shuts down the ability of the cells to use ketones, they are forced to use the glucose first, with amount you ate it was probably also kicking in fat storage as well. So after your blood glucose drops your insulin will drop as well, since your cells were not being forced use glucose, and they started to suck on the ketones again hence the drop. But you liver does not kick ketosis back in so quickly, and then you dropped off. One of the requirements for ketosis to happen is your liver must also be low on glycogen(which you just filled back up) so it has to burn through all of that as well by releasing it to the body over some time in the form of glucose to the blood. Sort of like a short term battery of sugar. Then if your insulin is low, and your glycogen is low, and you glucagon is higher you will start ketosis, and later on fat burning in the cells once you adapt.
Another thing is that what you are seeing is BHB floating around in your blood stream that is not being used when you test. Since you went though a minor energy management crisis, you did not have any spare energy as your liver can only uptake so quickly, I doubt that these process work like or at the speed of a light switch but more like a dimmer switch being turned slowly.