Very first blood test showed 5.6 mmol/L

#1

Hello all,

I suspect I’ve been in ketosis for about 6 weeks, maybe 8. I have all the “symptoms” :slight_smile: including pretty rapid weight loss. I’m consistently staying under 20g net carbs, usually 15 or as low as 10, every day. No cheating at all.

But wanting to really know if I was in ketosis, or how deeply, I broke down and bought KetoMojo’s blood analyzer. Did my first prick tonight and it came back at 5.6 – which kind of surprised me, while not exactly flooring me.

Just in case I did it wrong, I’d sure love to read comments from others about this.

My routine for months now has been a 4 hr feeding window from 11 am to 3 pm. The only break in that is some ACV maybe a couple of hours before the fast ends, taken with a healthy amount of sodium.

This test, my first ever, was tonight at about 7:45 pm, or nearly 5 hours after my food window closed. Normally, I would have done some aerobic walking between then and now, but I was exercise free tonight due to other obligations.

When should I test this again, do you folks think? Is there any reason to think the number is wildly off? I was very careful to do the test properly, as careful as I am to cut my carbs and do my 20 hour fast each day.

As I say, I’m a bit surprised at that number, but not to the point of shock. My macros have been about 70% healthy fat, 25% protein, and 5% carbs, mostly from green veggies. So I’m not surprised at all that I’m in some degree of ketosis.

Thanks for reading this far.

Yuki

(Omar) #2

If I may ask how do you feel in general?

What is your energy level?

Do you feel your body warm than pre keto?

#3

In general, I feel very good. I walk nearly 4 km both morning and late afternoon, in roughly 30 min each session, so it’s a good pace. Energy does ebb and flow. Sometimes I feel large reserves, even in the morning walking at nearly 18 hrs into a fast. But sometimes I’m a bit tired. I also do resistance training 3 days a week, or so.

I can’t say I feel especially warm or cold, other than we just started to get colder weather, and we haven’t turned on the heat yet, so my hands and feet are a bit cold. But I’m sure that’s the mid November weather.

Thanks much for your reply, and I look forward to reading what you have to say.

(Omar) #4

very encouraging

the main thing is how you feel regardless of the ketone level

but 5.6 is a little bit in the high range from what I have seen in this forum members.

#5

Thank you Omar. Yes, I was expecting maybe something in the 2.0 to 3.0 range, but having never tested myself before, I really didn’t have much of an idea beyond knowing I was *very strictly following a keto diet.

I suppose the best thing is to keep testing and see how it changes. I’m not sure when most people would test when on a routine similar to my own, however.

I’ll try it again when I wake up tomorrow morning. Thanks again.

(Bob M) #6

You should also be aware those have a relatively high error rate at times. Here’s a test I did, two different monitors (both from KetoMojo, different strips, each monitor calibrated to its strips):

Test
Test.JPG1188×87 23 KB

I think for this test I used the same pinprick for each test (instead of using two different pinpricks on the same or different fingers). I’ve done similar tests with the same strips and different pinpricks on the same fingers, and gotten similar results.

Exercise is tricky. I sometimes get ketones to go down, from before to after exercise, but then they seem to rebound quite quickly. If you can afford it, take one day, take upon waking, before exercise, after exercise, before bed, and periodically throughout the day. This would give you one day of good data.

(Bob M) #7

Should say the reason I did this test is that the 0.1 in the morning after 30+ hours of fasting didn’t make sense. Was it correct? It’s hard to know. But you can see there’s a 50% (or 100%, depending on how you look at it) error between these readings.

#8

Thanks Bob. I just did a test at about 5:40 am. Rested, about 15 hrs into my 20 hr fasting period. The number was 4.8 this time. Still pretty deep into ketosis, it seems. (And body weight matched yesterday’s, which was a cycle low.)

I have read that different people can tolerate a higher or lower level of carbs when it comes to being/staying in ketosis, and that you really have to find that level yourself. Wanting to try this and also to be pretty sure I got there, I may have gone somewhat below the carb limit of what my body can tolerate, which might explain the high numbers.

I’ll keep testing and see, but at the same time I may bump up the carbs just a touch, and see what the numbers are then. (There is much more variety “on offer” in the kitchen if you can tolerate 10 or 15 more grams of carbs a day, too, and still stay in ketosis.) I’ve been keeping the carbs to a daily average of about 12 (net) over the past 4 or 5 weeks, whereas before that I was probably closer to 20. I’ll be curious to see how my number changes if I go back to the 19-22 range on carbs.

I’ll do another test this am, too, after I do my morning aerobic walk, but before I eat.

Thanks again.

#9

Further to this, Bob. My partner just woke up, likely from my espresso machine sound, :slight_smile: and I was telling her about my testing. She’s not on a low carb diet (enviable body condition, ballet and jazz dancing). So we decided “Let’s test her”, and see what the number is.

As I say, not on a low carb diet, but definitely not on a SAD either. Probably eats fewer carbs than the average person, but I’d be surprised if the number of carbs per day was lower than 100, or even 150 or more.

The blood number was 0.8

This makes me wonder about meter calibration. To my understanding, she would be in very mild ketosis with that number, and I just don’t think that’s possible. I was expecting zero, or at least something below 0.5.

Am I thinking correctly about this?

The one thing that did *not come with my kit (disappointingly and somewhat surprisingly) is any test/calibration solution. The number on the strips is correct, and matches the meter readout. But unless I get a solution, I can’t really calibrate, I guess.

Thanks as always.

(Bob M) #10

I think it would be unlikely (maybe highly unlikely) she’s in ketosis. It’s possible, but unlikely. The KetoMojo comes with an electronic “plug” that somehow calibrates the machine for the current strips. Did you use that?

If you did not use it, use it then report back. If you did use it, it seems like those values are off. I get values usually less than 1.0 unless I fast for multiple days, but I’ve also been doing this for about 5 years. It’s possible for me to get values >4, but I have to fast 4-5 days to do so.

Yes, I bought the testing solution, as I found differences between my two meters (one for work, one for home), and I wanted to ensure that they both tested fine with the solution. I initially thought one meter was bad, but they both get exactly the same value with the testing solution.

If you are just starting, you can also get some urine strips, which do work initially.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #11

Can you briefly elaborate? I have received many vials of test strips and have yet to encounter an electronic plug. Ok, I’m an idiot. It is in the box, not the vial. Have some arriving tomorrow, will be more careful. What happens if you don’t use the code key? Will it not work, or just have skewed readings?

#12

Yes, Bob. Used the “plug” first. The number on the plug was displayed on the meter, and was the same as the number printed on the vial of test strips. This seems to be a rudimentary ‘calibration’, I guess.

As an aside, about 30 min after my aerobic walking, I tested again, at 5.2 this time. I’m convinced this meter is “running hot”, and I’m contacting the vendor.

I’ve read that the urine strips are very inaccurate, and color matching is sometimes rather subjective, too. I thought the blood test would be, relatively speaking, much more accurate. Will be disappointed if that turns out to not be true.

Thanks again. Yuki

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #13

That is because they measure ketones wasted through urine, and are usually dependent on dehydration and how much water you drank that day, ultimately when you become fat adapted these test strips are redundant because you constantly measure ‘trace’ readings and that is because your body has learned to use the ketones you are producing.

Can I ask why you are concerned with such a high number?

#14

Thanks for the input, Katie. I’m not terribly “concerned” with the number, but it is quite higher than I really expected. And given my partner’s number of 0.8 (not involved in any ketogenic diet or carb restriction), it would seem to make my numbers doubtful.

Assuming a constant level of “hot meter readings”, this wouldn’t be very bothersome … if I knew the correct offset. When I’m trying to adjust my carbs to the highest point that still keeps me in ketosis however, not knowing how far off the meter is would be a real disadvantage, yes?

If I knew my meter was actually, say, minus 1.5 from the number displayed, I could live with it. But I don’t know that.

Yuki

P.S. My understanding of the urine strips (which could be incorrect) is that they don’t actually measure beta hydroxybutyrate, but some acetone waste product, as you say. The blood test is supposed to actually measure the real deal, which is beta hydroxybutyrate.

(Michelle) #15

She may have been in a mild state of ketosis. It’s my understanding that upon waking one is often in a mild state. Given her muscular body composition, maintainance of that muscle eats up glycogen while she sleeps, leaving her in a mild state of ketosis.

#16

Michelle:

Interesting idea. But I’ve gotten a lot of other opinions on this, that almost no one “accidentally” gets into ketosis. I really have no way of knowing of course. But she eats a *lot of high carb foods, because she does large amounts of exercise and movement, and considers them necessary. I suppose she *could run low on glycogen, but …

And thanks for the interesting reply.

I had a 3.9 this evening, a few hours after having 150 ml of nihonshu with my lunch. That’s the lowest number I’ve posted so far, mostly being in the > 5 range.

#17

Hi Yuki,

It looks like we have very similar readings. I have been measuring mine almost daily, and can be anywhere between 2.5 to 5.5. I was 4.9 yesterday.

I haven’t yet tried upping the carbs to see if my weight loss is affected or the ketone levels reduce. But I probably will soon. My pre keto reading was 0.1. From what I can gather, that is about normal.

I feel fine and weight loss is going well, so I’m in no rush to change anything just yet. If you’re doing ok, I would stick with it also (as suggested by others).

(Bob M) #18

I wonder if this is just human variability? Or perhaps something in your blood is interfering with the test? It would be interesting to see results from the urinalysis strips and also breath. As an engineer, I like data. :wink:

#19

Thanks mememe. Pretty much what I will do (stick with it). Any changes I make will be at the margin, as they say. But I am interested to find what level of carbs I can tolerate. The difference between restriction to around a dozen, and three dozen, offers a lot more menu variety for sure. But let’s see how two dozen goes first. :wink:

My lowest so far was this pm, a 3.9. My highest so far, a 7.4.

#20

I am assuming that the ketone level and carb intake are inversely proportional to each other. ie when carbs come down a certain amount, ketones will go up that certain amount. But that might not be the case. It may be that, when you get to a certain level of carb intake, the ketones will just switch off (or at least drop dramatically).

Maybe someone here can put me right on this?