Low ketone levels in the evening with IF

(David Karlsson) #1

Hi!

I got a bit different question I’d like to get some clarity on. I’m a rather fit male (25 years old).
I’ve been doing keto for a few month, and I love it. What I have been doing for quite a while now is eating one meal per day. This work really well, I get to enjoy all the good food, don’t need to worry about food during the day and have tons of energy.

From what I’ve heard, ketones levels are lowest in the morning and highest in the evening (correct me if I’m wrong, due to cortisol etc). For me however, my ketones are lowest in the evening (just before my meal) where I it’s close to zero. I use Ketonix for measure and the levels shows high values during the day.

I do not worry about it in any way but I would like to know if my theory is right. Could it be that somewhere in the evening, the fat that I ate the previous night have been fully consumed and due to my low body fat percentage (~5%) my body rather hold onto that? Strangely enough my energy is highest in the evening but I guess that could be due to like liver glycogen being released.

Thanks in advance!

(Allie) #2

It’s different for different people. Mine are normally lowest in the evenings and after training, mid-range first thing, and highest around lunch time / mid-afternoon.

(Mark Rhodes) #3

As above.
And, yep my levels are much higher in the day and drop in evenings. I also prefer to stay awake late into the night but cannot due to my current employment. I have always thought my circadian rhythms were more attuned to the nighttime activities. Not sure if this is relevant or not but thought I would put it out there.

(David Karlsson) #4

Thanks for the replies! Interesting thought if ketone levels would be lower in the evening due to a persons circadian rhythm. I’ve always been a morning person so it would make sense it would be lower in the evening I guess.

(Allie) #5

I’m up at 5am for work and in bed by 9pm so it may be a possibility

(Crippie) #6

One thing that could be contributing to these results is the fact that when you measure your ketones, you are measuring the excess ketones that are being spilled over into your blood and not being used by your cells.

So when you measure in the morning your body has not really been needing that energy so it is not pulling the ketones into its cells and it spills them over which is what you measure. Whereas when you measure in the evening when you feel very energetic but have a very low reading, you could be making the same amount or even more, but measuring less, because you are spilling less ketones over, which is what you are measuring. This could be why you feel more energetic, because you body is actually using those ketones and giving you their energy.

(David Karlsson) #7

Wouldn’t a breath analyzer (Ketonix and not ketostix :slight_smile: ) measure ketones being used or have I got it all wrong? From what I’ve read the acetone (?) levels have a decent correlation to blood ketones, but I might be misinformed.

Thanks for taking the the time to reply! Much appreciated!

(Crippie) #8

It is a good indicator of blood ketones but even those are ketones you are not using. There isn’t really a way to measure the ketones you use. Even a blood test is testing excess ketones. The ketones in your blood are pulled into cells as they are needed so any that remain is what shows up in a your blood, urine, and breath.

If ketones are present then you know you are in ketosis, but just because ketones are low does not mean you arnt. It just means your body has become more efficient at producing the right amount of ketones it needs and better at using what is available.

(David Karlsson) #9

That makes a lot of sense. Seems my understanding of measuring ketones have been a bit wrong so thanks for clearing that out. And again, thanks for taking the time to reply!

Have a great day

(Brian Ernst) #10

According to this comment and his link, breath reflects the ketones in use, besides the excess available: link.