Ketostix stopped turning purple after 3 weeks!? 6 weeks in and still no positive result?

#1

Hello :smile:
I have been on the ketogenic diet for 6 weeks now, since 8/1/19 and originally I found ketostix very useful on working out my carb intake each day. After about 3 weeks of it always being 1.5mmol+, it stopped showing at all and now not even a trace can be found when i used them!
Originally I thought it was because i became more complacent with my carb counting but after forcing myself to be strict, I have still had no luck. Now i understand that you can become keto-adapted and utilise ketones better rather than waste them but i am anxious that I am doing something wrong :frowning:

For reference, my carb intake varies from about 20-30g a day and I’m a reasonably healthy 19 year old girl. So far I have lost 16 pounds in 6 weeks which I am very pleased with, however weight loss has slowed a lot in the past 2-3 weeks.
Do you think it’d be worth restricting myself to a strict 20g a day or keeping it up to 30g? The reason I allow myself to have up to 30 was originally to help me adapt to lower carb diet but also i gathered that seeing as i’m younger, my metabolism is fairly decent anyway. I know a fair bit about the science of keto as I am a biomed student but don’t know a whole lot about how the body uses ketones which is why i am asking.
Basically what I am trying to get at is: am i ketone-adapted so the pee sticks are showing negative or am i eating too many carbs??
Sorry for the lengthy question! Thanks :slight_smile:

#2

You can test eating strictly 20g net carbs, but honestly stop using the strips. They’re pretty much useless, they measure excess ketones and by this point you’re probably efficient and using them.

(Frank) #3

16 lbs in 6 weeks is stellar! Weight loss is not linear and will slow down the closer you approach your goal weight. KCKO.

#4

Your body makes several different types of ketones, the pee stix only measure one kind, the kind which shows up early in the adaption phase. (For some people that type keeps going but that’s the exception not the rule).

The fact that you see nothing is good, it means you are probably keto adapted, but then again it might mean you have been knocked out of keto by hidden carbs. See the problem.

If you really want to measure use a blood analyizer. Don’t chase any particular number, that’s like chasing shadows but I measure my blood - it helped me catch hidden carbs 3 times! I’m looking for a zero or not zero number, I don’t care if it’s 0.4 mM or 2.4.

#5

Thank you :slight_smile:

#6

Thanks very much and yes you are right, I suppose I am still losing weight with my 20-30g carb intake so will stick at it and try and forget about the strips!

#7

Oh right I didn’t realise they only tested for one type. I will keep your advice in mind and watch for the hidden carbs, thanks for the response :smile: