So after a lil carb splurge the back end of last week my cheap and cheerful Greenwon breathalyser registered 0.00bac during my Sunday evening test. Ketostix also registered no ketones.
Fast forward 5 days under 20g net carbs and although I’m feeling ‘in keto’ and don’t have any carb cravings (for me a big sign I’m in…or so I thought) my Greenwon is showing 0.03 and 0.02 throughout the day but Ketostix are showing nothing. Do those things ‘go off’ if not used for a couple of months?
Yesterday my blood ketones showed 1.8 and I immediately tried the ketostix and it showed pale peach nothing. The stick show surplus. The only use for me now is target practice.
They can show you when your body is producing a certain type of ketone but are no use for actually measuring how many. So potentially useful for those just starting out to know if they’re headed the right way, but no real use after the first few weeks.
A lot of people say the stix stop working after you’re more fat-adapted. I guess many people stop spilling urine ketones. However, there are some of us (I’m one) who still get positive readings many months later (almost a year for me).
So basically, a negative reading on the Ketostix probably doesn’t mean anything, while a positive reading means you are in ketosis.
Mine just went off. They were 6 months out of date. i was on day 14 of a water fast and only said level 4 out of 6 - when I know after 36 hours im usually the highest. They certainly do go off suddenly.