New here :)

(Erin ) #1

Hi I just started IF a week ago. I’m doing my second 36 hour fast today. I have a question about ketosis. I purchased keto strips and the supplement Keto Drive. (Exo keto powder) I read that it will put you into ketosis in one hour. Even when I was on the hcg diet for months I only ever had trace ketos.
Does anyone know if this supplement works? Or how fast it can help me get into ketosis? I feel like I never get there. I’ve never shown anything more than trace on the strips. Should I try drinking it throughout the day?

Has anyone had experience with this type of supplement? On my feast days I am trying to stay as low carb as possible.

How long does it usually take to get into ketosis without supplements?

Thanks :slight_smile:

(Sebastian Franco) #2

Depends on how you do it, but the fast way is to FAST for at least 2 days, that will deplete your glycogen stores, you should be in ketosis after that (unless u start eating carbs again and then u’ll just go back to using glucose instead of ketones).

The slower way of doing it is to slowly move towards a ketogenic diet, this way the process will take a few weeks, (up to 12 weeks, but that’s a super conservative number). With this method it depends on how fast you cut carbs out of your diet (or to the level where your body can handle while still being in ketosis, this number varies but is usually lower than 50g of carbs / day, you usually hear people go down to 20g or lower (excluding fiber)).

#3

Keep in mind that the strips are probably the least accurate way of showing whether you’re in ketosis. If you have been doing keto for a while and are fat adapted, your body will be using the ketones instead of passing them in your urine.

Here is an article I read a while back that was really helpful for me. Being Fat Adapted Vs. Being in Ketosis

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

Welcome to the forums!

I see people have been posting some really helpful advice, so I’ll only add that if you’re doing keto for the metabolic benefit or for weight loss (as opposed to for some medical reason that requires you to have high blood ketones), a ketone supplement is really not of any use. What you want is for your body to be in the state where it is fat-adapted and producing ketones on its own. Supplemental ketones do nothing to help that process along. So you can save your money—and use it to buy more bacon! :bacon: :grin:

(Erin ) #5

Haha! Noted!!
Well I wish I had read here before spending the 60$ on it!!! I had read it’s a good way to push your body into it.
I am doing it mainly for weightloss but also for the health benefits. I have always been a carb/sugar addict. I want to stop that!
I gained 20lbs after I stoped breast feeding my son so I’m just trying to get back down to my original weight.

I had paid a trainer 200$ to follow his diet of 6 meals a day and I literally didn’t loose one pound :roll_eyes::roll_eyes::roll_eyes::joy:
I’m so glad I decided to read books about fasting and keto. It’ll be my new way of life!!
Thanks for your advice

(Erin ) #6

Do you suggest the glucose/keto monitor?

(Erin ) #7

My first day I did 24 hours. Now I’m doing 36. Started last night at 10 and aiming for around 10 tomorrow morning. Would this be enough time or should I go longer?

(Erin ) #8

Also, how does one know if they are “fat adapted” or not

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #9

Now that is the question! Blood ketones will tell you if you’re in ketosis, and ketosis is sort of a marker for fat adaptation, but measuring the amount of ketones in the bloodstream doesn’t tell us what the body is actually burning.

A lot of it has to do with how you feel. If you are eating a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet, especially if you are eating under 20 grams of carbohydrate a day, and you are not hungry, can go hours without eating, have plenty of energy, and feel mentally sharp–that’s being fat-adapted, right there. (If you can run a 100-mile endurance race with no glucose supplements, then you’re fat-adapted beyond question, lol!)

(VLC.MD) #10

6 meals a day is an insulin nightmare. Newborns should eat that often because their stomach is the size of a walnut. OMAD is fine for adults. Two meals a day is borderline excessive.

#11

I had been thinking about getting one for a while, but I am very confident now that I’m fat adapted. A lot of people on this site use them and I know they’re handy, but the article I posted a link to gives several ways of telling by what’s happening with your body. So, I don’t think I’d spend the money on one that only measured ketones at this point. I might get a blood glucose meter at some point, just to see how some foods affected my blood sugar (I am not diabetic). There are a lot of foods that affect different people’s blood sugar completely differently, from what I understand.

(Erin ) #12

I figured. It’s torture anyway for me to even eat 2 meals. I’m just not that type but ofcourse all these years I was being told I was starving myself and have adrenal fatigue bc of it. So the only way to fix it was to eat 6 small meals a day. Plus he told me the time of day I eat doesn’t matter and I’m a night shift worker so I would be eating at 1am. Once I read some fasting books I learned that eating late will spike your insulin much higher than eating earlier in the day. I’m sure that added to my 20lb weight gain. I’ve been eating mostly at night for a year now and only had lost 3lbs on his diet and exercising.

(Erin ) #13

Paul,
Thanks for that. I’ll keep it in mind. Right now I don’t feel fatigue or “bad” I just get headaches, which I’m assuming is part of the “keto flu”

I really jumped into this without easing in. I just stopped carbs and sugar all together. I’m sure I’m not yet in the fat burning stage, but hopefully after this 36 hour fast I will be headed there.

I did my 24 hour on Friday, and started my 36 hour last night (wed) at 10pm. I’m going to go until tomorrow around 10, or do you think I should go a little longer to make sure my glucose is totally emptied?

#14

@NinMD Thanks for sharing the link - a useful read!

#15

Hi y’all. I just wanted to weigh in since I noticed mention of urine strips and blood glucose meters. I used urine strips to begin with, had no desire to stick myself daily, and could not justify the expense of that or a Ketonix. Luckily there’s a thread on here about using a cheap breathalyzer to measure acetone in the breath. I ordered a really inexpensive one off of Ebay and use it daily. I think it was less than $10.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #16

Go until it’s time to start eating again. You’ll know. In the meantime, Keep Calm, and Keto On! :bacon:

(Dave Corbett) #17

Nope - that’s not how ketones work! Your body will just burn those ketones like food. Then when it’s used up, you won’t be in ketosis.

Here is my analogy;

Sawing a log in half produces sawdust. Sawdust is a byproduct of cutting wood. If you sprinkle sawdust on a log, that won’t cut it in half.

OK, now just replace a few words;

Burning fat produces ketones. Ketones are a byproduct of burning fat. Drinking ketones won’t burn the fat on your body.

So ketone supplements are like the sawdust - They won’t help with weight loss.

(Erin ) #18

Oh wow. That is sad to hear lol. So what is the point of them then? Lol!

And it’s funny bc I tested 4 different times of the day the other day I was drinking it and it first showed trace, an hour later showed moderate. I drank more a few hours later and tested a little later one and showed the same. Later that night after a few more hours it was back to trace. So I figured in order for it to show up I would have to be steadily drinking all day every day.

So it’s basically just showing ketones from the exo ketones but it’s not actually burning fat?

(Erin ) #19

Also, if I’m not burning fat what is the 5lb loss? Is it just water then? Meh :weary:

#20

No problem. I really thought so too.