Low Blood Ketone Readings - Exercise Related?


(Justin Durgin) #14

I’m metabolically healthy. Don’t often test my blood glucose. Last time the doctor did it was low, but healthy. Can’t remember the number.


(Justin Durgin) #15

I do 30 to 48 hr fasts once every 2 weeks. LONGER? For what purpose?


(Justin Durgin) #16

It is. I did use MyFitnessPal consistently for 4 months but there’s hardly anything to track now. What I listed above is about all I eat. Seriously. No keto bread, no heavy gravy keto dinners. Coffee and butter, nuts sometimes, cheese, meat (not a ton) insoluble organic veg. And bacon!


#17

Insulin rises indeed, but not to the same level. Different meals can exert lead to different insulin secretion. For example, I tested a few days ago both my blood glucose and blood BOHB before and after a meal of ~1,500kcals, 44g carbs (18 fiber), 62g protein and the rest was fat (about 125g fat)…Before meal:

BG 64mg/dL (3.6mmol/L)
BOHB 1.2mmol/L

After:

BG: 84 mg/dL (4.7mmol/L)
BOHB: 1.0 mmol/L


(Justin Durgin) #18

Right. Excellent! Thank you guys very much. I appreciate all the help. I do understand all the biochemistry and the nuances of the diet. I’m quite well versed in the information regarding ketogenic metabolism. This isn’t going is at all the way I anticipated. If any of you have any experience in full ketosis and also are extremely fit or are extremely active, I would very much like to know your typical BOHB readings. None of what I’ve seen so far would explain my experimenting with exogenous ketones either. If I were not in ketosis, and I were taking exogenous ketones, would I not have an extreme surplus of ketones in my blood, waiting to be unloaded because my body can’t utilize them? Half hour later? Hour later? 2 hours later? I’ve tested for all that. How would you explain me working out for 2 hours in the morning at a heart rate of 147 average, fully fasted, after eating less than 20 grams of carbohydrates for over a month, and then taking exogenous ketones and my Ketone readings dropping from .4 before my workout to .1, 1 hour after I took exogenous ketones (1 hour post workout). ? Again the only conclusion I can possibly come up with is that I’m just using them like a super-efficient monster machine!


#19

I interpreted your original inquiry to be about ketone production. When you fast, your ketones should increase. Is that not happening to you?


(Justin Durgin) #20

They don’t increase to levels that would be considered deep ketosis. I’ve never gotten a reading over 1.0mmol/L.


#21

what ketone meter are you using?


#22

I switched from the Precision Xtra to the Keto Mojo because the strips are cheaper. Same accuracy.


(Robert R Messerschmidt) #23

My wife and I use keto mojo as well and about 3 weeks ago our readings dropped like a rock. We had just gotten and started using a new batch of keto test strips. I took 2 1/2 weeks to prove that the strips were defective. The company is now sending new ones. We have gotten readings as low as low on the meter when we were fasting. This is not possible.
I my self went from 4.1 in the morning to .2 that same day in the afternoon using the first new strip.
No we are not chasing ketone levels, but incorrect readings are simply incorrect. It throws off the glucose, ketone index and with out that you are just guessing if you are in ketosis or not. These readings alert you to when you have eaten something that has hidden carbs, they help us to stay on the path to healthy living. Stay calm, keto on.


(VLC.MD) #24

Did new strips solve it ?


(Robert R Messerschmidt) #25

We haven’t gotten them yet. We hope so.


#26

Couple of things. Not all nuts are equal. Cashews should not be eaten daily on a keto diet. Same with pistachios although not as bad. Look at DietDoctor.com where it lists carb content. Also, other Macadamias, I eat all my nuts raw (packaged but raw). The oil they cook most nuts in are not healthy

Next, I am not sure what you are trying to accomplish by getting deeper into ketosis. It is a number. Are you stalled in weight loss, are you not feeling the benefits of ketosis? Assuming you feel good and are losing well or are at your ideal weight, why does it matter whether you are at 4 or .4? It is simply a number without context. Are you trying to determine whether exogenous ketones are helping you? Again it would depend on how you feel on those ketones more than anything else


(Justin Durgin) #27

I may look into that. I am getting a bunch of “LO” readings as well, particularly at times when I seriously doubt I should be


(Justin Durgin) #28

I’m not trying to accomplish anything. I am simply curious why my numbers don’t seem to be correlating with the numbers that are typical for someone who eats like I do, exercises like I do, fast as often as I do, and has been doing it as consistently as I have been. That’s all. I was looking for a slight bit of enlightenment. I am happy with my ketogenic state. I’m happy with my weight loss. I’m happy with my diet, my energy, and my disposition. I am not trying to gain a thing. I am simply experimenting and asking a question.


(Dan Dan) #29

You can try a Cheap Breathalyzer I think it would work better for your purpose :thinking:

IF/EF Keto WOE is Self-Discovery :wink:

Good luck and much success in your journey in IF/EF Keto WOE :grin:


(Saleem) #30

it is frustrating …im in the exact same place, i have been on a ketogenic diet for almost a year, i stopped measuring ketones (In blood ) for a while. Recently i got some strips and cant get them to go higher than .3. I also work out in the AM from 5 till 7,i tested a couple of times post work out and still .3(Sometime just LO).i do measure blood glucose and was never higher than 86.

Could it be that we have become very efficient in using ketones that our body is only converting small amount of FFA to ketones to suffice brain and other organs that can not use FFA.

or is it that our body fat has dropped low enough that the body is trying to hold on to the fat and is only converting as per above. im 8.5 % body fat.

i was thinking of trying an exogenous ketones but from your post i will not attempt it.

i have also tried going zero carbs but still the same results are showing up.

If you find a reason or were able to increase your Ketone levels please let me know.


(Ryan Hoover) #31

This is fascinating to me. I am in the same boat. My body fat has been as low as 7% and my ketone readings are often “low” on the keto mojo reader (Jimmy Moore) or at .1-.2. I recently did a three day fast and got to 1.7 but the minute I ate some eggs and ground beef it plummeted. I have taken exogenous ketone products but I think they are useless unless you’re in competition. Why take what my body can produce? I control my calories to 1800 per day and I’m 6’0" at 170lbs. BF is more like 10% right now. The ONLY thing that has raised my ketone level is a multi-day fast. And I am strictly under 20 grams carbs per day. The only trace carbs I get are from eggs, spinach and almonds. I’m thinking about trying out a carnivore lifestyle for two weeks to see what happens. Overall I feel good but I ALWAYS am hungry four hours after I eat. I eat three meals per day that are pretty equally divided. Don’t eat after 6:30 pm. Intermittent fast daily. I am at the point where dropping weight seems to be impossible so I’ve reverted to calorie reduction. I too believe it must be an efficiency of ketone use.


(Joyce Birk) #32

Same here my keto mojo bottomed out about the beginning of December. Nothing changed in my diet, if anything less carbs. The company just told me to do all the things I always do when taking a reading, they were no help at all. What I wanted to know is could these steps be bad ?


(Pam Neal) #33

Hey Justin, not sure if you got your questions answered re low Ketones or not. I just wanted to comment on the ice cream.
Halo = serving size is 1/2 cup, in that half cup is 14g total carbs, 6g sugars (it does have Organic Cane Sugar), 5 g sugar alcohol. 4 Serves per container. You are having two serves late at night which isn’t good to have food at least 2 hours before you go to bed. I’m not sure what “late at night” is for you? But the ice cream you are having has 28g of carbs AND 12g sugars in that 1 cup (1/2 pint). I don’t know much about this vegetable glycerin I know guar gum is a carb it’s grown as a vegetable and fodder but I don’t know how much you need to have to make it not good. It’s not just about the food though Justin, you have to make sure you get adequate amount of sleep, natural sunlight, monitor your stress levels, watch your insulin levels. It’s really a whole body deal, your hormones play a huge role in this and if one is off like you’re insulin for instance it has a cascading effect on everything else. You also said you were drinking alcohol daily (did you say alcoholic)? Keep in mind that would have been doing damage to your liver, this would cause metabolic damage and just as it takes a long time, over years and years of your life to build up metabolic damage, it’s going to take years to get everything healthy and back on track. A good example is that there are lots of insulin resistant people out there that it is a daily work in progress now just to try and keep their numbers in check. So many things come into play. I’ve been keto three years, I weight train 4 to 5 days a week fasted. I IF daily, I usually save the carbs for my dinner at around 6pm with a piece of steak and some fats…I still have readings some days of 0.2, I figure I am utilising my Ketones really well. Anyway Justin, I just wanted to touch on that ice cream and how long it really does take some people to heal their metabolic damage.