Sorry for the long post

startingout
(Laura) #1

Hi Everyone
Feeling a little frustrated and would like some advice and tips… something is going on with my glucose and ketones and I am not sure how to fix it.

  1. I am bouncing in and out of Ketosis…one day I am at 1.5 and the next morning I am at 0.4. My glucose levels are up and down every day…

  2. I am tracking everything I eat with about 80% accuracy, I have lowered my macros now to 1200 calories, 100 fat grams, 15 net carbs, 60 grams of protein. Hoping this adjustment works

  3. I have started drinking Dr. Bergs wheatgrass because I think all the veggies are taking me out of Ketosis.

  4. My weight is fluctuating by 1 or 2 lbs

SW 151
CW 143
GW 125

  1. I am 27 days in, doing IF, started with 16/8 and working towards 20/4.

Things are confusing to me and I’m getting very frustrated. I have posted my notes below so you can see what my levels are doing.

Pls give me some advice. I don’t want to give up this WOE.

Thanks

Day 16
5:51
Weight 145
Glucose 95
Ketones 0.3
11:20am
Glucose 76
Ketones 1.1
9:28pm had salad and 3 oz of chicken
Weight 155.4
Glucose 82
Ketones 0.7

Day 17
5:15am
Weight 143.5
Glucose 80
Ketones 0.9
11:10am
Glucose 63
Ketones 1.3
9:39pm
Glucose 100
Ketones 0.6
Weight 145

Day 18
6:33am
Weight 144.8
Glucose 87
Ketones 0.8
9:07pm
Glucose 84
Ketones 1.1
Weight 145.5

Day 19 Friday
4:38am
Weight 143.5
Glucose 96
Ketones 0.6

Day 20
6:00am
Glucose 87
Ketones 0.6
Saturday Baby shower

Day 21
8:17am
Glucose 94
Ketones 0.6

Day 22
Weight 146
Glucose 95
Ketones 0.2
Was traveling and had to eat out… not good
12:00pm
Glucose 82
Ketones 0.8
8:35pm 1 hour after eating my OMAD
Glucose 108
Ketones 0.4
Weight 146.5

Day 23
4:53am
Weight 145.5
Glucose 77
Ketones 1.4
1:00pm 18 hour fast
Glucose 78
Ketones 1.7
8:27pm
Glucose 87
Ketones 0.6
Weight 146.5
2 hours after dinner

Day 24 reduces calories to 906
6:27am
Weight 144.5
Glucose 104
Ketones 1.1
1:43pm 18 hour fast
Glucose 77
Ketones 1.2
9:03pm
Weight 145.5
Glucose 109
Ketones 0.5
2 hours since dinner

Day 25
Weight 143
Glucose 101
Ketones 0.8
2:03pm 18 hr fast
Glucose 71
Ketones 1.7

Day 26
Weight 144
Glucose 105
Ketones 0.4
Going for a 19 hour fast today
11:26am
Glucose 80
Ketones 1.1
9:18pm 3 hours after eating
Glucose 102
Ketones 0.2
Weight 146

Day 27
6:17am
Weight 143.5
Glucose 91
Ketones 0.4

Day 30
Weight 142.5
Glucose 103
Ketones 0.5
12:30 18 hour fast
Glucose 71
Ketones 1.4
Did not check blood at night

Day 31
Weight 142 - lost .5
Glucose 95
Ketones 0.2
12:00pm
Glucose 74
Ketones 1.0
9:00pm
Weight 144
Glucose 95
Ketones 0.6

Day 32
Weight 142
Glucose 91
Ketones 0.4
1:00pm
Glucose 68
Ketones 0.9
Weight 144
Glucose 104
Ketones 0.5

Day 33
Weight 142.5 had 2 vodka sodas
Glucose 90
Ketones 0.4
Board retreat

Day 34
5:45am
Glucose 108
Ketones 0.3
Board meeting eat 3 times a day

Day 35
Did not check

Day 36
7:53am
Glucose 96
Ketone 0.4
4:08pm
Glucose 80
Ketones 0.9

Day 37
5:00am
Weight 144.5
Glucose 99
Ketones 0.2
Taking phendimetrazine 35 mg
20 hr fast
2:22pm
Glucose 70
Ketones 1.2
8:50pm
Weight 145.5
Glucose 98
Ketones 0.6

Day 38
Weight 143
Glucose 87
Ketones 0.8
1:36pm
Glucose 68
Ketones 1.8
9:15pm
Weight 145.5
Glucose 98
Ketones 0.4

Day 39
Weight 143.5
Glucose 105
Ketones 0.3
This is what happens when I over eat and eat to much protein
11:21am
Glucose 77
Ketones 1.1

Day 40
6:30am
Weight 142.5
Glucose 99
Ketones 0.2

#2

Hi @LWW, I cannot speak to the ketone measurements; hopefully someone else can, But I can speak to the BG measurements. Your glucose is fine most days; it is normal for it to be 80-100 range. What concerns me are the BGs below 80, which look like they occur after fasting. Your BG shouldn’t be that low; you are running into hypo scores and you need to be careful.
I don’t understand why you weigh yourself 2x/day. Weigh yourself 1st thing in the morning; there is no point in weighing yourself after a meal! You will weigh more then.

Day 16 you had salad & 3 oz chicken. It doesn’t look like you are getting enough fat in your diet. Keto is a low carb, high fat (LCHF) way of eating (WOE). With all your fasting days, you need to have eaten a lot of fat before beginning the fast to tide you over during the fast. It should help prevent the hypos (BG in the 70s). What are you eating before you fast?

(Laura) #3

Hi Ann
I haven’t really paid attention to what I have eaten before a fast and honestly I am fasting everyday day either 16/8, 18/6 or 20/4.

Do you think I I should do a a week of 3 meals a day and see if I can level out my BG? The ups and downs have worried me.

#4

I think you’re overanalyzing it a bit. I’d give it some time. Keep it up and workout hard. If your goal is rapid weight loss, I would say decrease carbs and protein somewhat even further if possible.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

Even if you are eating low-carb, your body will not part with its fat store if you don’t give it reason to believe that it is safe to do so. In times of famine, i.e., reduced calories, it reacts badly to giving up its extra fat. This is why we say “eat fat to satiety.” Doing that will show the body that it is safe to let go of extra fat, because you are in no danger of starving to death. As you probably know, the body is much more willing to part with stored fat when we fast, ironically, than it is when calories are restricted. Dr. Fung explains that reducing calories forces the body to respond by reducing the metabolic rate, whereas when we fast, the body just provides enough energy to run the metabolism out of stored fat and doesn’t have to reduce the metabolic rate.

(Laura) #6

Hi Paul
I think you may be right. I jumped right into keto and IF from the get go with out any adjustment period. I think I am gonna try 3 meals a day for a couple of weeks and see what happens. I am gonna keep my carbs under 20 grams and calories between 1200 and 1400.

Do you think that will work?

(Ron) #7

About ketone readings.
When to measure ketones
When and how often to test ketones will depend on what you’re looking to find out.

If you’re looking to compare whether you’re keeping in ketosis from day to day or week to week, then it makes sense to test at the same time (or times) of day. This will ensure you get consistent results.

As ketones vary through the day, and are affected by different types of meal and exercise, you may want to test at different times through the day to see how your level of ketosis varies.

Guideline targets
The sweet spot for weight loss is 1.5 to 3.0 mmol/l. This level of nutritional ketosis is recommended by researchers Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek.

Ketone levels of 0.5 to 1.5 mmol/l, light nutritional ketosis, is also beneficial although not to the degree of full nutritional ketosis.

The longer you stay within these levels, particularly within the sweet spot of nutritional ketosis, the more fat you will burn and the more effective your weight loss efforts will be.

If you are starting (or re-starting) a ketogenic diet, it can take up to a few weeks for your body to switch to using ketones as its main fuel source so don’t give up too early.

(bulkbiker) #8

Not quite true… when fasting I have seen bloods at 63 mg/dl and felt fine…your body will not let your BG get too low without releasing some glucose or bringing gluconeogenesis into play.

(Bacon for the Win) #9

What may be hypo for someone on the SAD may be perfecty fine for someone eating KETO. If you’re not symptomatic then you’re probably ok. “Treat the symptoms not the numbers.”

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #10

I’m not a fan of counting calories. It never worked for me, so I tend to discount it. All the researchers who got me into this way of eating in the first place talk about “fat to satiety,” which for me means eating in such a way that I don’t leave the table hungry.

When I was eating my old high-carb diet, I would fill my belly to the bursting point with pasta or rice and still be hungry for more. On keto, eating to satiety means that I stop wanting food long before my belly gets full. I am simply not hungry, to the point where the thought of more food is actually a little revolting. What I love about eating this way is that (a) I never have to count calories, and (b) I’m not keeping calories low, so I never have to go hungry. On top of it all, I’m sixty pounds lighter and am no longer pre-diabetic. So I’d say that this way of eating is an all-round success.

#11

It’s amazing to me how many times I would literally be incapacitated by the amount of food I eat, but I eat that much because I thought I was hungry. Little did I know, I just wasn’t feeding my body the right kind of food.

@PaulL I identify with so much of what you said. I eat way less food than I used to, but now, when I’m full, I’m done. I don’t need anymore. It’s an amazing sensation for me.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #12

The first time it happened, my thought was: “I can’t be finished eating—there’s still food on my plate!” :grinning: