Keto Mojo- Blood Ketones

(Sarah) #1

When do people test ketones ? I find myself testing 3-4 times a day.

(Running from stupidity) #2

Once a week, maybe, if I see the breathalyser. I’ve put it in a drawer so I don’t see it.

#3

I seem to be hovering around the 9am, 3pm, 9pm schedule. I was also doing a midnight one but trying to cut back to save money

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #4

Generally after I’ve eaten something I know I shouldn’t or if I am fasting.

I do not test as much as I used to, blood ketone test strips are kind of useless for people who are fat adapted like me.

(Sarah) #5

How do you know if your fat adapted?

(CJ Young) #6

I don’t think you need to burn through strips quite that fast unless you’ve got a good reason to keep such close metrics. I only test myself once every week or so and usually after I’ve had a carb heavy day just to see how I’m doing. If you’re early into keto as long as your blood ketones are registering within ideal range you’re doing fine and probably don’t need to check so many times a day, once should be ok.

(Sarah) #7

I have been very lo carb- some days even less than 10 … and I will test and the moniter will read LO. It’s very frustrating. Trying to what spikes my glucose and kicking me out

#8

I never test. At the level of carbs I eat, I know I’m in ketosis.

But, because I’m a T2 diabetic, I do test my blood sugar at least once per day. So that does give me some level of feedback.

(Diane) #9

I test about once a week or if I start retaining a lot of water (as that’s one sign I might be out of ketosis). The only exception is when I’m doing an extended fast. I’m weirdly fascinated by how high my ketones get during fasting. I don’t think I see any benefit to testing more than once per day… at the most. Ketone strips are so expensive. I would rather test my blood sugars every day, which gives me some day to day info to track.

Also, if you’re still very early in your journey (within the first few months of eating ketogenically), you can pick up the urine ketone test strips at any pharmacy (I believe). They are much cheaper and will give a yes no answer as to whether you’re producing ketones. The cheapness makes it more feasible to check multiple times a day. You can keep 3 or 4 in your pocket and test every time you pee. Just remember that these are sensitive to the air, so once you take them out of the container, either use them or throw them away at the end of the day or you can get false negatives.

On days I’m testing, I try to test my ketone and blood glucose levels about 3 hours after I get up in the morning, but before I eat anything. That should be the lowest my ketone readings get during the day, per my previous experience. This also helps me avoid testing my blood sugar when it’s still at its highest, as per the ‘dawn effect’.

(Running from stupidity) #10

Much cheaper and easier just to use a cheapo breathalyser.

(Allie) #11

Hardly ever now, but multiple times a day at first.

(Diane) #12

I don’t think I have the knack for using my cheap breathalyzer. I get wildly inconsistent results.

(Jane) #13

I Iove mine!!

This evening I registered the highest level ever and it also coincides with my longest fast ever. Fun to see the numbers!

(Running from stupidity) #14

In general, that’s what I found as well.

However, because I was feeling so crappy earlier, I dug mine out and had a huff, and blew 1.15, which is not far off the 1.2 I blew near the end of my 86 hour fast, so I dunno.