Weird Ketone Stuff

#1

Hi all,

I am not new to reading the forums but I am new to posting.

Just a little background: I started keto ramp up on March 5th, though I generally eat low carb and healthily, and have limited processed carbs to special occasions in the past. I’ve done a TON of reading about keto, from Phinney and Volek to Jason Fung and everyone in between. I listen to a lot of keto podcasts, so I like to think I’m well informed about what I’ve taken on as my way of life.

To my knowledge, I don’t have any major metabolic damage, cycles are pretty normal and blood sugar and markers are good. I chose the keto lifestyle because it just makes sense and I want to age healthily. I do have about 5 lbs to lose but plan to make keto my way of life for the long term. Once you learn the depths of damage high carb can do, it’s hard to ignore and revert. Plus, the food is delicious and you can find a keto sub for pretty much anything you think you’re missing.

I was in a group of all women ketoers and I got in to ketosis pretty quickly, but due to the high amount of fat we were instructed to eat (close to 200 grams and I am 5’2" and started at 112 lbs), I gained a lot of weight in the beginning. I reassessed my macros and am following what you would see across most macro calculators online. I have not lost any weight yet (I did lose some of what I gained on the previous macros but still have a lot of fat on my butt, thighs and hips - not happy about that) but I feel GREAT, I have regularly been registering in the nutritional ketosis range (.9>2.6, though I know higher is not necessarily better) and my hunger is WAY down, and I rarely have cravings.

I have frequently read that ketones are lowest in the morning. However, mine can be really high in the morning, regardless of what I have eaten or not eaten the night before. Additionally, and here’s the real reason for my post, after I overindulge (and this is always on keto friendly food, but too much of it), my ketones register in the >2.0 range for a couple of days after. For example, I was compliant on Friday and then Friday night I came home and had a few glasses of wine and baked and ate a bunch of keto cookies (erythritol and almond flour based). I realize this is not great behavior but comparably speaking, it’s awesome compared to what I might have allowed in the past and it’s rare. Does anyone know why my ketone readings would be HIGHER than average for me, instead of lower? This typically happens in the morning. So, I woke up on Saturday, Sunday and today and in the am, my ketones were >2.0. By last night, my ketones were 1.0.

Just to give you more color, I regularly check my fasting glucose - I plan to graph it to see if I can draw any relationship between my glucose and ketone readings - and it’s been normal, around 70-82.

I’m not obsessed but I just think this is weird and so counter to everything I’ve read and I can’t seem to find any info about it on the interwebs.

Any light you can shed would be awesome and thank you in advance!

Regards,
Linda

(Dan Dan) #2

You fasted for the amount of hours you slept so naturally you would be in deeper ketosis :thinking::smiley:

(Allie) #3

This, and then during the day you were moving around so your body was using the ketones as fuel.

#4

but why the high ketone readings only after too much sweet stuff the night before? On a normal day, my ketone readings are around .9-1.0 in the am?

(Jay AM) #5

It’s possible you saw a rise in insulin due to the sweet food and it prevented you from using ketones efficiently which caused a build up. Some people have an insulin response to anything sweet, even erythritol and stevia. Instead of snacking on sweet stuff, consider making yourself some savory fat bombs and if you feel like you have to snack, eat some of those instead.

#6

my insulin levels were consistent with what they usually are. I only see this change in ketones after an exceptional night.

(Dan Dan) #7

LOL which one is it :thinking::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

#8

no, I mean they are EXCEPTIONALLY high the morning after overeating. I would expect them to plummet or even have me being knocked out of ketosis.

(Dan Dan) #9

It takes quite a bit to kick you out of ketosis and the body can switch from fat to carbs easily :smiley:

(Jay AM) #10

Not everyone’s body dumps ketones. In some people, the ketones build up. What you are measuring when you measure blood ketones are the ketones waiting to be used. If your insulin is high, they can’t be used until it goes back down.

(Rob) #11

Unless you have a lab, I don’t think you can test your insulin levels. There isn’t a good proxy, e.g. BG.

(Dan Dan) #12

My Breath Ketones increase for 5-8 hours after my 3hr feast (OMAD, OM2D, OM3D) before decreasing and leveling off for 8-12 hours and then increases again :thinking::smiley:

#13

I meant glucose, not insulin.