Puzzled about my progress

(Peter T Lin) #1

Hi everyone!

I am using keto as a way to lower my a1c, since it’s on the high side, 5.7.
Ever since I adopted keto 6 weeks ago, I’ve seen dramatic improvements. I saw my glucose drop from 130 down to the 90s.

I do have a question. In the past 5 days, For some reason my glucose is creeping back up to 100~105. My breathalyzer says I’m blowing a BAC of .25. That’s without alcohol consumption and I must be in ketosis. I’m limiting myself to about 20-30g of carbs a day. I’m puzzled why my glucose is still 100 and I feel I’m going backwards in progress. Do you have any tips or insights?

Also, I noticed I’m sleepy and fatigued the whole day, since last week. I started introducing fat bombs into my diet last week and I wonder if that’s the culprit (cream cheese, butter, coconut oil, organic no sugar peanut butter). The whole thing has no sugar, not even stevia. Should have little to nothing carbs and just all fat.

Has anyone had experience where their glucose level creeping back up after successfully adopting keto for 4-5 weeks?

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #2

If you think its the fat bombs, and you haven’t mentioned any other changes, it might be worth cutting them out for a week or so to see what happens.

(Bob M) #3

It could also just be that your morning glucose is higher. Try testing it in the afternoon or near bedtime. Mine looks like this (from Nov. 2017, so I was about 4 years low carb then):

Onemonth
Onemonth.JPG969×482 47.3 KB

If you multiply by 18, you’ll get US units, so I’m about 95 or so in the morning, then it does down to less than 80 by the night. Note that the absolute values aren’t critical, it’s the higher morning and lower night that’s why I’m putting this here.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

The higher glucose level is possibly an effect of keto-adaptation. This is a state in which the muscles have regained their ability to metabolise fatty acids, in preference to glucose and even ketone bodies. It is often accompanied by a phenomenon called “physiological insulin-resistance” or “adaptative glucose-sparing,” which involves a slight rise in serum glucose, since the glucose is being spared for those cells (such as your red blood corpuscles) that cannot metabolise anything else. The distinguishing factor is that the rise in serum glucose is not accompanied by an increase in HbA1C.

Sleepiness and fatigue could be a sign of inadequate protein, but it could also be a sign of increased carbohydrate intake. Check your foods. If anything you eat has a nutrition label, look for a sign of increased carbohydrate; manufacturers often reformulate their products without warning. We call it “carb creep,” and it can happen to anybody. If you don’t eat any processed foods, then re-examine the quantities of leafy greens and vegetables you are eating, and try to keep the total under 30 g/day. If you think the fat bombs might be the problem, then cut them out for a couple of weeks and see what happens. In any case, make sure you are getting adequate protein, and then eat fat to satiety. Prioritise protein, not fat.

One last possibility: could you be sick? I’m “sleepy and fatigued the whole day” right now because I’m dealing with a viral infection. Now, this current infection is quite noticeable, with high fever and a bad cough, but often I get a little under the weather without feeling particularly sick, because my keto baseline is so much higher than my carb-eating baseline was, if that makes sense. So I’m wondering if you don’t simply have a mild viral infection that is sapping some of your energy, but not affecting you otherwise.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #5
(Susan) #6

This means you are not sure of the carbs, so not tracking I am guessing? cronometer.com is a free program you can use to figure it out for sure =).

There are so many hidden carbs, we encourage people to eat 20 grams or less of carbs, no sugar, enough water and electrolytes and healthy fats and proteins. If you track you might find that you are eating more carbs then you think you are and that might be the problem.

Welcome to the forum, and good luck in your keto journey.

#7

100-105 isn’t high, you’re doing fine. Even if that’s your fasting # it’s fine. Even if you sat on 100 all the time (which you won’t) that’d be an A1C of around 5.1 - 5.2. Don’t get in your head about the exact number. Your glucose will always fluctuate for many reasons.

(Peter T Lin) #8

Hi thanks everyone.

-I’m using Carb Manager and my carb intake is 20g ~ 30g a day, mostly from nuts.
-I consume about 100 ~ 140 grams of protein.
-There’s a range because I don’t eat the same amount every day.

-I don’t feel sick.

-If I’m going through psychological insulin resistance, how long will it take for my body to adapt? It’s been 6 days.

-My breathalyzer feels accurate. I could be testing it consistently, my wife could be testing it consistently, and the reading are always consistent. I’m also using a Urine Ketone meter and it’s consistent as well.

I do suspect I’m going through psychological adaptation. I am puzzled at how long it’s been taking me. My wife who is less strict than I am (she is eating carrots, peas), is not going through the same thing I’m going through.

(Susan) #9

If she is eating all that, then she is probably not in Ketosis so that is why she is not going through it.

(Not a cow) #10

Interesting Ifod, I would have just divided by 18 and got a percentage of 5.8 , but I see that there is an actual A1C calculator that shows you to be correct. This makes me feel better about BG in the high 90’s

(Peter T Lin) #11

-My wife is also in keto. She was in keto since week 2. Her Breathalyzer reading and ketonstix urine test readings are similar to mine.

Go figure… my blood sugar finally dropped to 91 this morning. I introduced more carb rich veggie back into my diet just for the sake of trying… I added carrots, peas and corn, about 1 cup’s worth.

I guess I will keep monitoring. I guess it’s confirmed I’m going through physiological insulin resistance and my body panicked. I guess I really can’t go below 10g else my body responds… My fatigue is gone and I’m going back to feeling great today.

(Peter T Lin) #12

Feels like my sweet spot is around 40-50g worth of carbs. My workout felt better today as well. It’s almost night and day.

#13

I’ll never understand why we measure sugar in mg/dl when the thing they care about is always in mmol/l, descent meters (and all the good ones) allow you to switch to mmol/l so you can always measure in A1C speak. Much easier to keep a mental hold on. If it wasn’t for Walmart meters and strips being so cheap I would have done that a long time ago. These days I just do an at home A1C a couple times a year and don’t worry about the rest.