Out and back in ketosis?

(Ethan) #1

So I am not sure if I just fell out of ketosis or not. I have been in it for 6 weeks. I decided to eat a single meal today (entire pollo rotisserie chicken). I ate it with some buffalo sauce, which I suspect had hidden sugar. My ketones are usually between 1 and 3 (by blood meter). 10 hours now since I had the sauce, my sugar was measured at 124 (usually at night its lower) and ketones at 0.4. I can’t imagine that the one sauce container had a TON of carbs. Could I have fallen out of ketosis? How hard would it be to get back in after this setback?

(Mike Glasbrener) #2

Some people have problems with chicken… I had a problem that seemed correlated with chicken legs I ate. Thus chicken for me is relegated to a small portion as a side dish. It was posted to me by someone who was involved in a Keto study @ Ohio state. The chicken was identified to him in a prescreen questionair.

Edit:
I had legs for the fat. Otherwise there’s not much fat to fill you up in chicken breasts.

#3

That’s a lot of protein and not much fat. You’re likely seeing gluconeogenesis at work, which is raising your sugar level and reducing your ketones. In my personal experience, I’d expect it to rebound in a day or so. KCKO.

#4

likely a large bolus of sugar(sauce) and protein did it. just get back on track and everything will be fine.

(Ethan) #5

Well, I was back at 1.4 in the morning. My morning sugars continue to be cruddy though. I gained 1.5 pounds that next morning, but lost it again–I guess it was water weight.

(Ethan) #6

and it happened again… japanese food…somehow got some hidden carb. Sashimi was fine, but the eel had a sauce. Also, had two miso soups and seaweed salad…must have had a hidden sugar.

#7

Definitely the eel sauce. Seaweed salad has some sugar in it, too. KCKO…

#8

Oh I love, love, love seaweed salad AND eel…ugh! I would love to eat at the Japanese steakhouse, but I’m sure that those sugars are going to get me. So hard to resist. It’s nice to think though, can it be possible to splurge on a non-keto/carby food, go out of ketosis and then swing right back in in a couple of days?

I’m sort of asking that question because I am heading out soon for a much needed vacation and know the temptation to stray may be too difficult. I am hoping for the truth regarding this in-keto-out of-keto-back-into-keto possibility…just in case :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

#9

YES***. In fact, I’m unfortunately doing this right now, due to way too many carbs last night. Fasting until dinner and doing 60 minutes of activity to get me back into ketosis.

***(caveat: as long as you trust yourself to “swing right back in” after the vacation. For me and I’m sure many of us said that to ourselves many times and those three days turned into three weeks, months, years, etc…)

#10

Thank you for this, it helps as does the WARNING. I’m feeling pretty committed to doing keto and really healing the insulin resistance, so I think I’ll be able to stay on track. Mostly, I was concerned about whether or not I might go through the whole adaptation period again? Or, since I am now becoming fat adapted (or so I think) will I return to ketosis much more rapidly if I follow your example and get right back on the horse after perhaps one night of…ice cream or other wild dessert?

#11

Here’s my personal experience, backed up by what I’ve read.

  1. The longer you’re in ketosis/fat-adapted, the more “margin for error” you have on cheats. One cheat meal might temporarily kick you out of ketosis, but you’ll re-enter ketosis within a day or so. You should not experience many or any of the induction/keto flu type of symptoms. Of course, this isn’t a good idea, and I’m not recommending it…

  2. The longer/deeper the cheat (days, tons of sweets, etc.), you run the risk of having to start the adaptation process over again.

Translation: cheats aren’t really worth it, but maintaining a consistent state of ketosis and fat adaptation will help you recover more quickly if you slip up.

#12

As I suspected, cheating is never a good thing in any context! :smiley: I’ll be bringing my keto foods with me, and have a rental home to cook up just what I want or “need”, so hopefully the temptations will be avoided. I would love to know that I can do this, even when tempted by all the usual excuses. Thanks again

#13

You can do this!

If it’s any inspiration, I kicked off my most recent Keto journey in Disney World. Seriously. My biggest failing at home is mindless nighttime eating. I knew I could get into ketosis if I could just avoid food at night. Hmmm…how to do that? Well…how about in Disney World when there’s no food in the room at night? Oh, and how about walking 7-9 miles a day for a week? Hm…OK, then I’ll just have to eat Keto at Disney during the day, which was very doable because I didn’t want to derail getting into Ketosis. Tons of water, lots of salads, and the biggest steaks/fish/chicken dishes I could muster at night. I didn’t think I was able to do it given all the temptations in Disney, but I was 100% LCHF for the entire week.

Came back from Disney in ketosis and now fat adapted. If I could kick this off in Disney, you can do it. :+1:

#14

Thank you SO much for your encouragement! I think I have my husband at a point where he understand this is for my health as well, and not just some flaky idea. Having him support my efforts, and no longer being surprised by my food choices as well as those things I decline, will go a long way in making the trip a success in ketoville.