Ketone levels change over time?

(LAURA) #1

Hey there fellow keto lovers:

I’m not a newbie, been keto for a year next month. I’ve lost 103 pounds, doing great. Over the last year, I’ve measured my ketones to keep me on track and to provide positive feedback. I’m 11 pounds away from my 150 goal weight, but over the last month or 2, I’ve noticed my ketones levels dropping. No carb creep or adding foods, been very strict as I have been for the last year. I used to always be 2.0 and higher and lately, I’ve been coming in around 1.0 to 1.9. Now I know that the number isn’t important as long as I’m in nutritional ketosis. I’m not stressed about it, but I was wondering if there is a reason that my ketone levels are dropping. Just curious as this is a new phase in my keto diet and I’m really not sure about it. Also, I’ll be entering into maintenance hopefully soon, do I want lower ketones in maintenance? Thanks for any thoughts, comments, or support. Blessings!

(Karen) #2

You are using your ketones? Or your body adjusts.?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #3

In the initial stages of eating ketogenically, the liver produces ketone bodies in great quantity. As the muscles adapt to fatty-acid metabolism, however, they start refusing to take in ketones (saving them for other organs) and rely exclusively on fatty acids. At this point, the liver apparently starts to match ketone production more closely to demand. Some people continue to register higher levels in in their blood and urine, but others notice a drop.

The ketone bodies in urine and breath are, of course, being wasted, so it makes sense that the body would eventually stop doing that. The problem with measuring ketones in the blood is a similar one, in that we can measure the circulating amount, but there is no way to detect the quantity being produced in the liver and used elsewhere. If there’s not a large difference between supply and demand, the circulating amount will appear to be low.

Also, as mentioned in another recent thread, our blood measurement also depends on how hydrated we are at the time of measuring. A lower blood volume will give a higher reading, whereas a higher volume will give a lower reading, and all for the same absolute amount of the ketone. This is one of the reasons not to obsess too much over measurements.

(LAURA) #4

I have noticed the difference when I am hydrated vs non-hydrated.

My numbers have just been consistently lower, but like you said, it sounds like my body is just adapting after almost a year of being keto. I think it’s amazing how our body works and adapts. Thanks for the response.

#5

A Tiny bit off topic of what your asking… but - . Gratz simply on the 103 LB’s lost. Thats Awesome !

(LAURA) #6

Thank you! I’ve made this a way of life… Not a diet and I haven’t cheated on this way of eating. I made the whole family do it too. Hubby lost 45 lbs, my son who is 14 and has/had high insulin lost 20 lbs… It’s been a journey but I went about it as an addiction vs just wanting to cut carbs. Changes your whole outlook. :heart:

(Karen) #7

Congrats!!

(KCKO, KCFO) #8

We measure what we haven’t used. Your levels can vary through out a day. As long as you’re at nutritional levels, you’re ok.

Congrats on the awesome weight loss. Be sure and join the Maintenance subforum. That is the toughest part for most of us, keeping our weight within a goal range.

(Bob M) #9

I don’t think “nutritional levels” are useful, either. Here’s a snapshot from about 4 years ago for me. The first column after the time is blood ketones (Precision Xtra), then ketonix, then urine ketones (gave those up years ago), then blood sugar using which meter, I forget (I’ve used at least 4).

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Compare those values with the following, taken about 3.5 years later. The first column after the time are blood ketones (Keto Mojo), then ketonix, then blood sugar by pinprick Free Style Libre:

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The only thing similar is the morning blood sugar, and you can see how that varies quite a bit too. You can also see that “nutritional ketosis” for me is pretty meaningless now. Now, I can’t get >1.0 mmol/l of blood ketones unless I fast multiple days.

But I still have higher blood sugar in the morning and lower in the evening, and it’s opposite for ketones (lower in morning, higher in evening). See below. I have over a year’s worth of data that shows this same pattern: my lowest blood sugar is while I’m sleeping, and then it goes up until near noon, then goes down all day. Eating “rides on top” of that. Part of this may because my first meal typically is not until 10am-noon, and I exercise early in the morning, which causes higher blood sugar. On the days I don’t exercise, it looks similar, but my overall blood sugar is higher on the days I exercise.

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(Bob M) #10

By the way, I’ve basically given up on testing. For one, the meters are terrible. I have a picture (one day I’ll find it) showing two Keto Mojos and one Precision Xtra using the same blood at the same time and the values were 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8. Let’s not even get into pin-prick blood sugar meters, which are really bad too.

Take a look at how wildly variable my morning blood sugar is. I was convinced that eating later caused higher blood sugar…until I kept testing and found lower blood sugar many times while eating later. Similarly, for ketones, I thought that an increase in fat caused higher ketones, but even that was questionable. For protein, I could eat as much as I wanted and never experienced a blood sugar rise I could see, and I tried to make one.

Then, for protein, people think it causes lower ketones. But if all you have to manipulate is protein and fat (carbs are near zero), how do you know higher ketones aren’t caused by higher fat, not lower protein? That seems to make sense, as you now have extra fat that your body has to do something with. And it’s impossible to test this with any accuracy.

So, I’ve pretty much given up on testing. And when I do test, I use ketones as a gross measure of whether I’m producing ketones or not. That’s it.

(Bob M) #11

Hmmm…Just today:

(LAURA) #12

Interesting… The only thing I can think of is I’m not eating as much, OMAD, and I’m getting close to my goal weight so I’m running efficiently on ketones. Thanks for posting the article.

#13

Same here. I have to (a) eat quite a bit, and (b) eat quite a bit of fat, to get a 1.5+ reading on a urine stick. Otherwise, I am mostly “trace” on the urine stick even though I am always <20g net carbs. I am near my goal weight so I just assume my body is burning ketones efficiently.