How can I tell if I'm in ketosis?

bookyeti

Hello, Keto veterans out there! How do I know if I'm in ketosis? I know it's not overly necessary to know, but I'm curious.

I've been sticking to Keto faithfully for 5 days now, keeping my macros at 5%C-25%P-70%F. I've never been over 20g of net carbs since I started, and I have been hitting my 70-75% fat macro almost perfectly.

I have read about the "ketosis" signs to look for ('fruity' breath, different smell to urine, metalic taste in the mouth, more energy), but I haven't noticed any of these. The only thing is that I lost 2 lbs. overnight. I also haven't been experiencing the dreaded "carb flu" that everyone talks about, but that may be because I've been keeping my fat intake quite high (70-75%) and drinking plenty of water (10-12 glasses at least). Also in the past month I have been reducing my carbs gradually down to about 100-125g/day, until I started keto five days ago.

Is there anyway to know for sure?
(Unfortunately, I don't have any Keto strips, at the moment - they don't sell them near here, so I had to order them online. They're in the mail.)

RiesigJay

My personal glucose-to-ketones transition may be unique, but I remember sitting at the dining room table, doing homework on my laptop, when I got the sudden urge to go for a run or exercise or something.

I ended up cleaning up the whole apartment (at the time I was attending college and had 4 housemates - I'm sure you can imagine how messy it was). I literally could not continue sitting and clacking away at the keyboard. I had to move.

That was my transition and I knew, without a doubt, I had entered ketosis. Perhaps your experience will be similar.

albertabeefy

Hello, Keto veterans out there! How do I know if I'm in ketosis? I know it's not overly necessary to know, but I'm curious.

I've been sticking to Keto faithfully for 5 days now, keeping my macros at 5%C-25%P-70%F. I've never been over 20g of net carbs since I started, and I have been hitting my 70-75% fat macro almost perfectly.

It would be virtually impossible to NOT be in ketosis at this point. You're well on your way to being fully keto-adapted.

I have read about the "ketosis" signs to look for ('fruity' breath, different smell to urine, metalic taste in the mouth, more energy), but I haven't noticed any of these.

Many people do NOT experience those. Those are signs during the initial entry into ketosis usually experienced by someone who's done a much-more drastic dietary change than you've done.

If you're used to eating 50-60% carbs, then go into ketosis, you'll likely experience some or all of those symptoms for a day or two, sometimes more. For someone that's reduced carbohydrate more gradually, and is already relatively low-carb, the shift is often asymptomatic.

The only thing is that I lost 2 lbs. overnight. I also haven't been experiencing the dreaded "carb flu" that everyone talks about, but that may be because I've been keeping my fat intake quite high (70-75%) and drinking plenty of water (10-12 glasses at least). Also in the past month I have been reducing my carbs gradually down to about 100-125g/day, until I started keto five days ago.

The weight-loss is likely a result of lost water/glycogen as you push further into keto-adaptation. Because you were already quite low-carb, you'll likely not experience the 'keto-flu' or other symptoms.

Is there anyway to know for sure?
(Unfortunately, I don't have any Keto strips, at the moment - they don't sell them near here, so I had to order them online. They're in the mail.)

Ketostix sometimes don't even register, especially for those of us that stay well-hydrated. If you test on a day when your water intake is lower, you'll most definitely get a pink result. Purple would mean you're very dehydrated ...

If you've already been under 100g and at a reasonable caloric intake, it's also quite possible you already WERE in ketosis and didn't know it. Many people mistakenly think you need to eat 20-30g to be in ketosis, and that's not necessarily the case.

It's easier to GET ketogenic starting at 20-30g a day, and some find best glycemic control, etc., at very low levels, but most people eating 2000+ calories a day can easily maintain ketosis/keto-adaptation at 100g a day of carbohydrate if they're not sedentary.

As an anecdotal example, for me to get OUT of ketosis takes 2-3 full SEDENTARY days of 150g + carbohydrate intake. There are some people that think I'm not ketogenic at 50 or 70g of carbohydrate a day . . . they're simply misinformed.

Lyle McDonald - a leading expert on ketogenic diets - states:

"Since many books give the 30 g/day value for a ketogenic diet, folks get a little anxious about carb intakes that are higher than that.

However, strictly speaking, any diet with less than 100 g/day of carbohydrate will cause ketosis to develop to some degree (more ketones will be generated as carbs are lowered)."

Those who engage in exercise, especially strength-training, can often eat a little more than others without issue. Lyle did some calculations (rough, by his own admission) and states:

"The carbohydrate requirements for weight training actually aren’t that great. I did some rough calculations in The Ketogenic Diet and concluded that, for every 2 work sets (assuming a set length of 30-45 seconds) or so, you’ll need 5 grams of carbohydrates to replenish the glycogen used.

So if you did a workout containing 24 work sets, you’d only need about 60 extra grams (24 sets * 5 grams/2 sets = 60 grams) of carbohydrate to replace the glycogen used."

24 sets is 4 sets of six exercises ... which is a fairly heavy day for many of us. I typically do 5 sets of 4 exercises every-other-day. This would be 20*5/2 = 50g ... however I'm a little larger than most so I'll typically have 50, 70 even 90g of carbohydrate on my strength-training days, depending on the effort.

So, what I'm saying is if you were exercising, especially doing strength-training or any anaerobic interval training, etc., while eating 100-125g of carbohydrate a day, you were quite-possibly already IN ketosis . . .

bookyeti

What a wealth of great info! Thank you so much for sharing, both of you!

I'm excited to think that I may in fact be in ketosis! :-) I guess I just supposed that it would be a lot more difficult than this. I'm really glad I decided to reduce my carbs gradually... over a month's time. It wasn't easy, as I love my whole grains, but as I slowly cut them out I started to feel better. The gradual carb reduction may have saved me a lot of headaches (quite literally). I did feel a bit more "up" today than I normally am (I struggle with severe fatigue most days). I also woke up earlier than I regularly do, feeling a bit more 'awake'. That's quite unlike me in the morning. hehe!

I know that this initial weight loss is pretty much water - I'm not a huge proponent of frequent weigh-ins, but will be doing so more often during my first month doing Keto just to get an idea of water loss vs. fat loss (I'm monitoring my BF% as well). My sodium is consistently high as well, so perhaps that helps.

I haven't ventured into strength training yet -- just mostly cardio and regular interval training (speed walking, dancing, Zumba). Hoping to start soon... just waiting on a kettlebell DVD.