Stuck at 0.3 mml on Keto Mojo

(Ernest Jahn) #1

I have been on Keto/carnivore for over a year and am in a spot where I cannot get a reading other than 0.3 on my Keto Mojo. The breath meter shows me in ideal ketosis. I have lost 42 pounds since last June 2nd, by December. Have not regained weight and am in ideal body BMI by the new NIH standards for elderly (I am 75 years old) and the high end of the old younger version, by height and weight. Have gone from size 2XL to just L, and waist from 44 to 36. My bloodwork is perfect, per my Dr. But I am eating the same as before when my ketones were showing .8 to 1.5. Iā€™m beginning to wonder if my Keto Mojo is broken? Any suggestions?

#2

Your ketone numbers are meaningless, being in ketosis is what matters. A suggestion would be to stop checking them, itā€™s a waste of money unless youā€™re managing a medical condition that actually benefits from high ketone levels in isolation. From what youā€™ve said, everythings going great, youā€™re losing fat, your blood work is good.

I almost never made it above .5 - .8 when I was actually checking years ago, lost 100lbs inside of a year like that. I wasted a lot of money, and that was long before Keto Mojo when ketone testing strips cost almost double what they are now.

If youā€™re going to track a metric for a good idea of whats going on, slap a CGM on your arm, thatā€™s usefull for a lot of stuff.

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #3

Thatā€™s a good indicator too. Your weight is coming down, waist is getting trim and BMI perfect. No worries.
Whatever your doing itā€™s gotta be good. Everyone gets hung up on Ketones. I did too at one time.

(Ernest Jahn) #4

Thanks.

(Ernest Jahn) #5

Thanks you for the info.

(Ernest Jahn) #6

I enjoyed your response. Thank you for the positive response!

(Werner) #7

For what itā€™s worth, I boosted my ketone numbers from 0.3 to around 1.0 /1.5 by having 2 teaspoons of MCT oil in my coffee twice a day, walking 5km with a bit of jogging thrown in, getting to bed before midnight, 7- 8 hours sleep and moving to one meal a day between 3 and 4 pm.

(Shawn Smith) #8

I am in the same boat. I have a keto-mojo just to see how things progress.
I have now finished day 13 (yesterday) of strict keto. I use and app to track every meal and weigh everything for each meal. I have not gone above 20 net carbs in 13 days and my average is closer to 10-15 per day. I eat the same every morning which is 2 eggs lightly fried or scrambled in butter or beef tallow, 3 eggs if a gym day, half a small avocado and sometimes I add a little bit of clean ham to my eggs. I eat mainly protein sources like hamburger, pork, salmon, beef, chicken thighs. I add some real cheese to some meals and veggies tend to be brussels sprouts, cauliflower mash (small), asparagus.
My fat/carb/protein ratio is generally 60fat/10carb/30protein. I have been lighly fasting from 7pm until 10 am most days. I started day 3 into .3mmol/l then moved to 1.0 then hovered 0.7-1.0 and hit 1.5 then since have been 7-8 days straight of 0.7-1.0 and cannot get back up even when I repeat the day before the 1.5 reading. I go to the gym 2-3 days for resistance training. My scale has gone more or less nowhere, 1-2lbs maybe in 14 days. Oh I also drink 48-64oz of water per day and get 7-8 hrs sleep.
All the research I do says I am eating the right foods. My caloric intake tends to be around 1500cal/day and I am 190lb male with above average muscle but about 25-30lbs of excess around my mid section.

50 keto related websites later I cannot seem to find any more suggestions to get to that 1.5-3.0 level. I know the ā€œactualā€ reading is less important but practically zero loss in 2 weeks seems like itā€™s not where it should be? Oh I also started taking MCT oil 1-2 times a day.

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #9

I would eat more. I lost weight eating double that ā€¦ and I didnā€™t do exercise at all!
Under eating triggers ā€˜Fat Storageā€™ mode

(Kirk Wolak) #10

Straight up. If I include artificial sweeteners at all (Splenda, Stevia, etc).
It does that stuff to my Ketones.

Also, I can still take the same calories I would eat in OMAD. And spread it out to 3-4 meals. And completely crush my ketones and weight loss.

Eating itself is insulinogenic.

Finally, as you progressā€¦ Your body is fine tuning (less wastefully) creating ketones. Excess Ketones are expensive for the body, itā€™s literally wasting calories (why we like it). So, consider some air squats throughout the day. Make sure you are not sipping on something with flavor or dairy in it. Especially not something with a sweet taste.

Remember. Zero Calories <> Zero Impact on your metabolism!

(KM) #11

You could try some pee sticks. Theyā€™re not a very useful or accurate tool overall, but they should give you an indication of whether your ketones are fluctuating, which you could compare to your keto mojo. Painless and cheap.

(Denise) #12

I struggle with ā€œnumbersā€ a lot, been on keto 4 years + now. I donā€™t know what a Mojo even is to be fair, so I canā€™t answer your question. But Iā€™m 72, and really have found my best days are when I just look at my progress and how I feel, kind of listen to my body thing.

It sounds you are doing just fabulously, and the only way you might know is to maybe try another monitor. Seems like I recently heard something about being able to know yourself if you are out of ketosis?? Canā€™t recall what I was watching right now, or reading.

If I am eating my normal, keto foods, I feel very safe that I am in ketosis. I eat under 10 grams of carbs most days. Iā€™m a T2 diabetic so that keeps me pretty straight :grin: Have no cravings, few if any snacks in between, I much prefer this ā€œlifeā€ than the previous one before keto :wink:

(Denise) #13

this seems good to me, better than spending your dough on a new Mojo :wink:

(Denise) #14

Funny, or opportune that you mention this. I hardly do any stevia anymore, but I sometimes wonder about ā€œotherā€ sweetners. While I was in the hospital 4 days or so days, they gave me splenda as they didnā€™t have stevia, then they came up with ā€œstevia in the rawā€ just for the mush (gag), and tea. My bgā€™s were through the roof for my T2 :roll_eyes:

#15

This is often true. But I have been testing some artificially sweetened juices for two months now and my blood ketones are 2.0-4.0. Glucose is steady 4,5 to 5. I drink many glasses every day. I also drink three mugs of creamy,buttered coconut oil coffee every day.

OP may have lost so much fat already that ketone production has sloved down, as often happens over time.

(Denise) #16

this just proves to me that for centuries weā€™re all given the same drugs, but our own bodies are all different so have we are just guinea pigs for doctors. I am now my own guinea pig, rather that so I can at least see my own reactions to different meds, foods, drinks, additives, fake this fake that.

Arenā€™t we all only able to tell some ā€œreactionsā€ after many years of feeling fine, or remedies after years of checking reactions after years of certain foods. Itā€™s very discouraging in my opinion.

I mean yes, I feel better talking to others ā€œreactionsā€ because I can at least hope the same may turn out for me, if itā€™s a good reaction that is, geesh!!:woozy_face: Some of us can have a stroke thinking about putting anything in our mouths :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

(Kirk Wolak) #17

Dude, this feels like running up the score to those of us struggling with low ketones.

YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary. But this person is clearly NOT in your camp.
I am not. I appreciate the insight, but it is frustrating.

My BFF went low-carb with me. I have to keep my carbs < 5-10g (TOTAL) to stay in ketosis. He can have a small bowl of real ice cream and stay in ketosis.

KETO means doing what YOUR BODY needs to generate ketones.

Also, be careful. MCT Oil is a KETONE source. So, yes, I can drink JUICED Water with an artificial sweetener AND add EXOGENOUS ketones and get GOOD Ketone numbers on Keto Mojo. Does that mean I am in Ketosis? Or just consuming Ketones?

Finally, NOT EVERYONE responds the same. My same BFF would see his numbers go down if he had DIET SPRITE. (Most other diet drinks were meaningless to his body). But something in the DIET SPRITE threw his ketones off.

And I would not recommend ā€œHave the sprite, just drink ketones, and your numbers look fine externallyā€.

Iā€™m envious you can do that. I am 100% opposite of that.

#18

Sorry,I did not mean to offend. Iā€™m at the same total carb amount.

Iā€™m not boosting my blood ketones with coconut oil to brag here,they were 4.0-5.5 in March without coffee or coconut oil. Notice blood, not Mojo.

Itā€™s my 75-80% dietary fat and low carb/low intake calories that does it. Fat keeps burning away,weight is going.

I simply shared my surprising sweetener experience,sorry for that. I was even going to tell what those two non-keto-wrecking sweeteners are. But no, someone might get hurt.

Iā€™m out of this board now,I seem to disturb too many people by actually succeeding in keto. Sorry for that,too.

This ā€œDUDEā€ is over and out. Bye.

(Denise) #19

I didnā€™t see you bragging at all, and I donā€™t think Kirk was offended, of course I can be wrong, I just hope you donā€™t leave because Iā€™ve seen a lot of things that can be taken wrong on forums, or even if they did mean to get jacked up over a comment, I never give a crap, if I know my comment wasnā€™t to offend anyone :wink:

Your post has helped me a lot, look at things I hadnā€™t looked at, Denise :grin:

#20

And why do you blame me for drinking MCT oil to boost ketones? You just made that up. Why? I never had a sigle sip. Natural coconut oil only,solid in room temp.

So Iā€™m not in real ketosis,huh?