Long-time ketosis - how many carbs to get kicked out?

april731

Hi all - I've been in ketosis for close to 10 months, (I think, continuously, but I don't check every day). Today I ran in a Hot Chocolate 5k (which has chocolate treats at the finish) and had to go to a birthday brunch for a friend, so I decided I would be a little more relaxed than usual on the carbs. I'm not sure how many I had but it had to be north of 50g - and I just checked using ketostix and I'm still well into the moderate-large ketone range. I thought for sure I would have been kicked out of ketosis, so I was really surprised by that. Or maybe I was able to stay in ketosis because of the intense run/using up any existing glycogen stores?

Here's what I had today: After the race I had a marshmallow dipped in chocolate, a few sips of hot chocolate; at brunch the two strips of bacon had some powdered sugar sprinkled on them, and had about a 3-inch square of a red velvet waffle and one bite of the birthday cheesecake. Other carbs I had today were a couple of packets of Splenda in an iced coffee, a crab cake that had some bread crumbs mixed in (but was mostly lump crab), and a slice of Thin Slim Foods bread (1g net carb) with about a tablespoon of a cream cheese/PB2/cocoa powder mixture I made.

I'm not looking to see what I can get away with in the future or anything, as I feel loads better staying away from sugar and grains, but I'm wondering if I could start incorporating a bit more starch, like sweet potatoes, into my diet and still stay in ketosis. I guess trial and error is the only way to know for sure, but I'm just wondering what others' experiences have been.

FIT_Goat

It is always an individual response. Some people are more sensitive than others. It almost certainly is related to physical activity levels as well. And, 50g or slightly more is probably an amount that many people could remain in ketosis after consuming. That's especially true after a race. As you get closer and closer to 100g, it becomes more and more certain that you'll be knocked out, at least temporarily.

april731

Thanks, FIT_Goat. I've been trying to stay around <20-25g net carbs, so I may experiment a little and see what increasing them a bit does to my weight loss. As an aside, even with my carb "extravaganza" yesterday, I'm down 0.5 pound on the scale this morning.

sljohnson1207

The 5k likely counteracted any carb up and that's why you didn't get knocked out. For me, it doesn't take much to knock me out. More than 40-50 carbs, and have to start over again. Though the shorter the duration of splurging, the easier it is to get back, esp. if you add some intense exercise.

GaleHawkins

Not sure why but I think women in fair health can get away with a few more carbs than most guys. I find I can eat a few more carbs from time to time and while it will lower my blood ketone levels it does not always knock me out of ketosis. Even when I get knocked out I can pop right back into ketosis. Like sljohnson pointed out a run like that can burn some of the excess glucose created by the extra carbs.

Keep up the good work and glad you were down 0.5 pounds today. This morning made three days in a row that was at 212 with a BMI per the Health O Meter scales was 29.6 which is a 20 year low for me. I am not big on BMI but being under 30 moves me out of the obese division and that is a plus going up for a life insurance renewal exam this year.

april731

Thanks, guys. I don't plan on making higher carbs a habit - I'm back in the swing of things today and don't seem to have any cravings or ill effects, but it's nice to know I can have a small treat (even a banana!) after a good run and not get kicked out of ketosis.

GaleHawkins - that's awesome! Congrats on being "just" overweight!

KnitOrMiss

I know when I did ketosis years ago with Atkins, I found that the longer I was in ketosis, the more it took to knock me out. Also, certain types of carbs affected me more than others. My problem was that as soon as I figured out how far I could push and stay in ketosis, it was a downhill slide for me!

sljohnson1207

^^Yep, KnitorMiss brings up a very valid point. The slippery slope that is inching carbs upward. It's doable for some, but others it causes serious cravings to return.

april731

That's very true and why I haven't ventured into starch territory on a regular basis. I still have more weight I want to lose so I think I'll just stick to what I know works for now! Thanks for your input!!

GaleHawkins

For me to get out of ketosis really is not worth it. When I did the pasta and milkshake load in NOV I actually felt awful for the better part of a week. When I ate a ton of Christmas fruit that was starting to spoil it did not stomp my butt like the pasta/refined sugar carbs and I did get back into ketosis but just stayed at a low level of ketones for about a week. I pasted up a free shake yesterday in part because of my bad experience two months ago.

I too find if I am in a strong state of ketosis I can take a large carb hit and not totally get out of ketosis.