New to Keto, though I did go low carb before

(Robert Jesionowski) #1

Hi,
Tried low carb in the past. Started KETO. Using Keto-Mojo to track GKI. Tracking Macros with Carb Manager (CM). I have been at this for a month. Using CM I can see I am consuming 14.1g of carbs/day.

My macro ratios are 3.4%/66.8%/29.1% carbs/fat/protein for the past two weeks (using numbers from CM, do not know how to get that report, so I did it by logging the numbers into a spreadsheet). I am losing weight slowly.

What is not making sense is that my GKI will not go below 15. Given what I read, my GKI needs to fall below 9 to be in ketogenesis.

What is this newbie doing wrong?

(Robin) #2

Welcome!
If your carbs are under 20, you’re in ketosis.
I think when I began (and used Carb Manager) I had 5% carbs, 25% fat and 75% protein. So, to me… your fat seems disproportionately high. But I may be misunderstanding and/or may just set my goals at a different ratio than others.

Patience.
Some lose fast… whoosh.
Others lose slow and steady. That’s my preferred speed… feels more maintainable. I saw differences in my clothes more rapidly than on the scale. It’s an inside job. Some 0f us need to avoid the scales because of maddening fluctuations that mess with our heads.
Others weigh every day.

One thing most of us agree on is to use a tape measure on arms, legs, waist, etc… the scale can stall and yet inches will fall.
You got this!

#3

I’m using the KetoMojo too and find that it’s my blood sugars that are preventing me reaching GKI ketosis, even if ketones are 0.4, 0.5. I know I’m eating a low enough number of carbs so I don’t worry about it too much. I’m losing weight every week so doing something right.

Try to focus on keeping carbs low and I’m sure you’ll do just fine :slight_smile:

(Robert Jesionowski) #4

Thank you. If you are wondering why am using high fat is because of what I read, “Generally, popular ketogenic resources suggest an average of 60-80% fat from total daily calories, 5-10% carbohydrate, and 10-30% protein.” I am just here to figure things out. I am typically trying to match what CM is yelling me. Right now, CM calls for 143g protein and 178g fat. I am keeping carbs as low as possible. I wonder why your macro ratios are different? (Asking to understand)

(Robert Jesionowski) #5

I can’t get my ketones above 0.3 … My glucose dropped from 109 to 86 over the past month. I am starting to wonder about insulin resistance, but the glucose number, I think, does not support that.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #6

The GKI is one guideline, but the definition of nutritional ketosis is a serum β-hydroxybutyrate level of 0.5 mmol/dL or higher. The presence of ketones in the blood indicates that insulin has dropped sufficiently for the liver to be making ketones, and it is the lowered insulin that is the real goal. A team led by Ralph DeFronzo determined that the insulin threshold is just under 25 μU/mL. Below that threshold, we are in ketosis, above, we are in glucose-burning mode.

(Robert Jesionowski) #7

Thank you for all that. Really. When you say, “the definition of nutritional ketosis is a serum β-hydroxybutyrate level of 0.5 mmol/dL or higher.” I ask myself:

  1. What is “serum β-hydroxybutyrate”?
  2. How do I measure that? Do I need to get a blood test?

Thanks in advance.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #8

B-hydroxybutyrate is one of the three ketone bodies that the body makes from fatty acids. Chemically, it is not actually a ketone, but it is made, along with acetoacetate and acetone, as part of the process of fatty acid metabolism (ketones are partially-metabolised fatty acids, just as charcoal is partially-burnt wood). In fact, β-hydroxybutyrate is the principal ketone body, and researchers therefore use it as the primary marker of nutritional ketosis.

If you have a blood meter that measures your GKI, then you are already measuring your serum β-hydroxybutyrate, because it is the “K” in the GKI, your glucose/ketone index. I’d be willing to bet that your meter has a setting that will give the glucose and ketone readings separately.

Under conditions of very low carbohydrate intake, the brain still needs to be fed. So the liver takes fats and turns them into ketone bodies. The liver also makes a small amount of glucose, to feed the red blood corpuscles (which cannot use ketones at all) and those parts of the brain that absolutely require glucose (the brain requires a certain small amount of glucose, but it can get nearly all the energy it needs from ketones). These twin processes of ketogenesis and gluconeogenesis are the hallmarks of nutritional ketosis.

In conditions of dietary glucose above a certain amount, the liver stops making ketones and glucose, and the brain feeds almost entirely on glucose. The problem is that excessive glucose and insulin levels (hyperglycaemia and hyperinsulinaemia) are very damaging to the body, which is the rationale for a low-glucose diet to prevent hyperinsulinaemia.

If you are concerned about low ketone levels, make sure to get plenty of fat, since fatty acids are the raw materials for ketone bodies. You will naturally be eating quite a bit of meat, so make sure not to trim off any of the fat, cook with butter, lard, tallow, or bacon grease, and you can even butter your meat, if you want. When we eat like this, the resulting low insulin allows the metabolic rate to increase, so we can metabolise both the fat we eat and some of the excess stored fat in our adipose tissue (fat cells).