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When to test for ketosis via. Blood test?

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RenaTX
RenaTX Posts: 345 Member
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Hi everyone,

I can't find this information. If you were to use a blood test to test for Ketosis is there an optimum time of day to do so?

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  • eatsyork
    eatsyork Posts: 71 Member
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    It's going to fluctuate throughout the day based on what you ate, if you didn't eat, and how active you've been. Personally, if I'm keeping my carbs low I know I am in ketosis so I only test if I ate or drank something that makes me question the state I'm in. In that case I usually measure several hours after the offending substance was consumed. Ketone testing is expensive so if I've eaten under 50g net carbs I save the money. If for some reason you intend to test daily I would do it around the same time in my routine so I could identify any trends in the readings.

    If you are an elite athlete trying to get and stay keto-adapted for performance then blood testing can be a lot more important. That doesn't apply to me so I don't know much. If it applies to you seek the answers from Drs. Phinney and Volek.
  • RenaTX
    RenaTX Posts: 345 Member
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    Thank You very much Eatsyork! I'm just trying to figure out where I am with ketosis, whether not some processed products such as Quest bars hurt me and what net carbs I need to be at to be in optimal ketosis. After that I'm not going to continue testing because it's so expensive. I mean they really get you on these strips and I have supposedly the best priced strips.
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,104 Member
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    You can cut them in half width wise, @RenaTX or so I've been told. As long as it is wide enough to see the color, you can extend usage that way!
  • RenaTX
    RenaTX Posts: 345 Member
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    KnitOrMiss wrote: »
    You can cut them in half width wise, @RenaTX or so I've been told. As long as it is wide enough to see the color, you can extend usage that way!

    Really?? I'm going to try it! Thank You so much!
  • eatsyork
    eatsyork Posts: 71 Member
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    Speaking of cutting in half width wise, I do that with quest bars. Half of one is plenty of protein for a snack for me without blowing my macro ratios. The isomalto-oligosaccharides are also digested to a small degree so I like to somewhat limit my intake. I usually have about half a quest bar a week. The half bar doesn't do much to my ketone readings but some people have said quest bars will really mess them up.
  • nill4me
    nill4me Posts: 682 Member
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    RenaTX wrote: »
    KnitOrMiss wrote: »
    You can cut them in half width wise, @RenaTX or so I've been told. As long as it is wide enough to see the color, you can extend usage that way!

    Really?? I'm going to try it! Thank You so much!

    I'm going to bet they are talking about the urine ketostix and not the strips for your blood ketone meter....since they mentioned "color".
  • nill4me
    nill4me Posts: 682 Member
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    From what I've read, most folks are in their lightest ketosis in the morning, and it generally only goes up from there, due to activity increases, and ingestion of fats, etc. Of course ingestion of non-ketotic foods will decrease it but you get the gist.

    I usually blood test in the early morning when i take my fasting glucose reading....my glucose is always high in the morning, and higher glucose generally equates to lower ketones. SO...if i'm ketotic @ 6am....the rest of the day is cake...but of course YMMV.
  • RenaTX
    RenaTX Posts: 345 Member
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    Ah Thank You nill4me for your feedback. I'll try testing in the PM as well.

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