Raising ketone levels

(Laura) #1

Need some guidance on how to raise my ketone levels to 1.5 and keep them there.

I do 1200 calories, 20 net carbs, 100 grams of fat and 60 grams of protein.

I’m trying IF usually 16/8 or 18/6 or 20/4

I can get to 1.5 usually after 2 days of 16/8 or 1 day of 20/4 but then I will wake up the next day and my Ketone level will be 0.4.

It’s like the only way I can get into nutritional Ketosis is if I starve my self and that sucks.

I am a crazy diet person. I have done every fad diet there is plus prescription diet pills for 15 years. So maybe I’m insulin resistant…I don’t know. But I’m frustrated as hell that I can’t get truly into Ketosis and stay there.

Any ideas or suggestions would be great.

(Allie) #2

Stop stressing as the levels aren’t as important as you think they are. 0.4mmol is perfectly acceptable for an early morning reading as they’re almost always lower first thing due to the increase in cortisol. Ketone levels are constantly up and down throughout the day, don’t get fixated on them and lose sight of what’s really important.

(Terence Dean) #3

You’ve already proved that your body can produce ketones but are you doing things like excessive exercise to get those ketone levels up? If you are that is not true nutritional ketosis.

Rather concentrate on keeping carbs under 20g, make sure your protein macro is correct for your weight, height, BMR and body fat%, whatever that calculates to make sure you are pretty close to it, you need that amount for your daily protein needs, its important that you don’t go too far above them and also don’t go lower either. Then eat fat to satiety. If you are doing all three correctly, whatever you read when you wake up will be the level of ketosis you truly are.

When I wake in the morning my ketones are usually 0.9 mmol/L, they rise naturally during the day and I do not do anything strenuous to raise them. By about dinner they are somewhere around 2.0 mmol/L. Try not to become obsessed with chasing high ketones, what you are actually measuring in the blood are the ketones that the body has not used, so having a lot does not mean your body is using them efficiently. That’s what keto adaption is all about and when the good stuff begins to happen. My early morning readings for the first 10 weeks were no higher than 0.4mmol/L it wasn’t until week 12 that I noticed that my ketones were finally in the optimal range of 1.0 - 3.0 mmol/L consistently throughout the day.

My point is don’t starve yourself to get higher ketones, that’s not how it works. Trust the science and stick to the basic rules and you will get there. I’m only relaying what other people more experienced than me told me when I first started keto and it does work. Good luck and Keep Calm, Keto On! :keto:

(Ron) #4

Ketones are a byproduct and if you have higher numbers that means excess ketones are floating around in the blood stream and not being utilized by the body. The lower the number most likely the better your body is utilizing the ketone bodies it is creating from fats.

(Laura) #5

Thank you for the advice and encouragement!! I really like this forum! I have finally found a keto diet app that I like…carb manager. I was using the keto diet app but I think my macros were to high. The carb manager asked a lot of questions and I think it might work.

#6

Calories too low… get about 500 more fat calories, if you can.

#7

It sounds like you’ve vested your latest hopes on ketosis. There is no magical weight loss that occurs with high ketones levels. It’s merely an indication of the fuel the body is using. It’s even possible to gain weight while being in a state of ketosis. To the extent that there is a magic bullet (there isn’t), it lies in influencing hormones (insulin, cortisol, leptin, etc), and is more nuanced then just regulating food intake.

If you’ve done every diet, then it’s not the diet, it’s you. Forget about the specifics of the diet and focus on figuring out how to create a framework that enables you to succeed. I’ll share my experience as an example.

My life (by design) is relaxed and relatively unstructured. Any “diet” has to be flexible to fit into my lifestyle. Furthermore, food isn’t a central element of my life, apart from it’s impact on my health. It’s easy for me avoid processed foods and eat real, whole foods most (but not all) of the time. Severely restricting carbs is too limiting for my eating situations. But I’m insulin resistant, so my carb tolerance is relatively low. I know it’s not realistic that I would weigh my food, count calories, track macros, etc. By nature, I’m impatient. I need feedback. I’m results/efficiency driven.

Given all these considerations, fasting has been my tool of choice. For several months, I ate on average, one meal a week. Eating only when social occasions dictated it, fit into my life well. The rapid weight loss it caused made it unsustainable over the long run. Eventually I transitioned to eating in a manner that keeps my blood glucose within a desired range. This allows my insulin sensitivity to continue to improve, even at my ideal weight.

I maintain a state of ketosis primarily through regulating my eating windows, and secondarily through diet composition. This works for me, your milage will vary. I hope that describing what works for me will help you design a structure that will work for you.

(Laura) #8

Yes your advice was very helpful. Thank you!!

#9

1200 calories a day doesnt sound fun. What got you to that number?

#10

My personal belief is net carbs are a slippery slope. What’s your total carb intake?

(Cindy) #11

I had a similar diet and similar experience. I finally stopped counting my calories (hard to do after a lifetime of calorie counting!) and piled on the fats all day long. I end my day with a fat-bomb-only dinner. Now my ketosis is always strong, day and night, and my weight dropped even more than it really needed to. So now I’ve added even MORE fat to keep from losing more weight, and it works like magic! Easy maintenance, lots of energy, and good brain clarity.

(Laura) #12

Hi Cindy what does your diet look like? What are you eating to up your fat? Thanks for the advice.

(Laura) #13

That’s what the Carb Manager App recommended for me to loose 1 lb a week

(Allie) #14

Do not restrict calories, especially not in the early days when you’re trying to get your body fat adapted. Too many people restrict themselves, get hungry, don’t see results, then convince themselves keto doesn’t work and give up. It is not a low calorie restrictive diet.

Keto works, you just have to get used to how it works, and how your body works too.

(Ron) #15

Set your macros at maintain level (not deficit) at least until you are adapted. Your body needs the energy to do all the transitions required for this WOE.

(Raj Seth) #16

Set it to maintain. Then throw away the results. :rofl: Limit carbs to below 20, and eat the fattiest real food you can get till you are not hungry. your macros will fall into place automatically.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #17

Read these posts and clear your mind:



We only try to make keto hard, it isn’t: lower carbs, eat moderate protein, fat to satiety.
This podcast can help you out:

(Ron) #18

But if your like me, don’t do this as I would have been consuming 4/5000 kcal’s daily being a glutenous eater for the last 20 years.:pensive: Many can use satiety as a tool in the beginning but some do have to track (I was one) and hope that satiety signals heal as they progress.:blush:

(Cindy) #19

Here’s my food for yesterday:

01%20AM
Screen Shot 2018-08-07 at 8.37.01 AM.png1384×1276 125 KB

This was a higher meat day for me, which I do 1-2 times per week. My normal days are 2 oz of meat.

I’m maintaining my weight now, and being careful not to lose, so I keep my carbs between 20-25 for maintenance.

I do an hour of bike riding daily along with this, which also helps my ketosis.

With this plan, my ketosis is always from 1.3ish to 3+