Sharing N=1 and ketones

(Mandy) #1

Hi all,

A month in here. On the 19th of May I started tracking my ketones via a blood monitor. I started tracking them several times a day. I did so not because I was obsessed with it but because I find it really interesting how the body changes over time in respect to production and use of ketones. When I first started tracking, I saw wild swings from .1 to 3.1. That continued for about a week. After that week, I saw a steadying of my readings. Usually first thing in the morning it was .8 or so and by noon, I would be at 1.5 or so. What I am seeing I believe, is that over time, the swings are getting closer in their lows and highs. My diet is the same and I will say that I have a glass of wine every few days. In the beginning, this caused a very wild shift down to .1 mmol. Lately, I do not see this. I could be wrong, but I believe this may be caused by being more adapted. I also wonder if my levels steadying as they are, means my body is getting better at using these ketones. I’m feeling great over all, have not stepped on a scale in a few weeks though. I will save that until much later as I am 100% certain there is a lot of healing going on and not much fat burning. Just thought I would share some stuff I find pretty interesting!

Thanks for reading.

55%20AM

Sudden drop in keytones. Is it a good thing or a bad thing?
#2

Does your spreadsheet allow for plotting the graph so that time intervals between readings are reflected? I’m just curious to see what that looks like.

So the x-axis is constant, I mean, I hope that makes sense.

(Mandy) #3

Hmm…I will take a look and see if that is possible. I use google sheets so its not super filled with cool tools, that I know of!

(Mandy) #4

I cannot seem to find that functionality…doh. if someone else uses sheets and has experience, i would be appreciative.

(Rob) #5

Great post!

I wish I had mapped my ketone levels throughout the day earlier in my keto experience. I initially did my readings in the morning and was discouraged by what I saw. Took me a while to figure out that they were consistently lower in the mornings.

I still feel like a kid at Christmas with my ketone/glucose meter … particularly after I replaced the devil spawnd lancet device that came with the meter. I’ve been doing some personal n=1 type stuff with glucose to see how MY (not someone else’s, not a rat’s) body responds over time to various things I’ve wondered about. I hate guessing on that type of thing.

Good job on getting your ketone levels up in fairly short order. It took me 7 seeks and a 4 day fast to get my afternoon or evening ketones consistently above 1.0. next time I order ketone strips I may do a similar study.

A couple of questions … may I assume the dips to near zero were after a glass of wine? I noticed the last big dip was May 22nd. If I’,m reading this correctly, it sounds like you haven’t seen a dip after a glass of wine like you used to see. Were there any dates shown on the graph after May 22nd where you had a glass of wine and didn’t see the dip?
Understand I’m thinking out loud and not asking you to do more work … but this kind of thing interests me … I can understand based on my limited knowledge why the lows may get higher as you get more adapted. Not that I think it matters but I wonder why the highs are getting lower?

After listening to a number of Dr. Phinney’s presentations, I’m convinced that after you’re over say … 1.0, it really doesn’t matter and that number can be influenced by a handful of things. having a mind that tends to wonder about things taht may not matter I’m curious about the highs coming down and wonder if thats the way it’s going to be from here on out.

Always interesting and informative

(Mandy) #6

I do love to use the meter but I try not to get discouraged by readings.

So the dips to near zero, you are absolutely correct. If you’ll notice they were odd time readings. So those tests would have been right after I had alcohol. Which made sense to me. I’m noticing lately even after alcohol, I don’t dip to so near zero which I’m not sure if that’s means I’m bouncing back quicker as I get more adapted or what. It’s definitely interesting. I also hope my readings being closer together and not very high anymore means I’m using the ketones better and not that I’m producing less… Doh!