KETO: How few carbs you need to maintain ketosis?

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Replies

  • missladyfit
    missladyfit Posts: 54 Member
    jonjoefischer wrote: »
    Well there are many people who monitor ketone presence but do not monitor calories at all, which is extremely foolish.
    IMO with keto/low carb, if you can really learn to listen to your body, the weight loss/reduced calories is practically incidental. No need to monitor ketones or calories religiously once you start to get familiar.
  • jonjoefischer
    jonjoefischer Posts: 13 Member
    Wow, yeah we're in the same foxhole brother.

    Those blood ketone meters are pricey! A Swedish company called Ketonix just came out with an inexpensive and very accurate meter if you wanna go for that.

    I understand how protein can creep up!! 75g is not much for a 250# human, but it's enough to avoid going catabolic. Are you trying fish like orange roughy for protein instead? You can have a good filet of that and fill up. Glad you're also having such great results!
    suessm wrote: »
    jonjoefischer wrote: »
    I've been in nutritional ketosis for 47 days, and went from 205-173 in that time.

    Nice,i saw similar results... went from 320 to 250 in about seven weeks...
    jonjoefischer wrote: »
    ...monitored ketones daily (which, by the way, those strips don't work once you're in for a couple months because there aren't any more ketoacetones in your urine).

    Very true... I use blood ketone to test my levels...
    jonjoefischer wrote: »
    Michael, you should check with your doctor regarding your ketone monitoring- 1.5mmol/DL is still a little lower than optimal. 2.5-3.5 is a better range to maintain in my opinion, but you would have to get down to <20g carbs daily.

    Yeah, I know those levels are optimal, I just don't like how I feel... Plus I tried a doctor, they kept saying I was losing too fast, they said ketosis is very bad, had Yada, Yada, Yada... Needless to say I dumped that doctor quick. I eat near 20g of carbs daily, my problem is keeping my protein intake low enough... I struggle to be below 75g...

    Oh well.

  • loisseau
    loisseau Posts: 14 Member
    Easiest and most accurate way to measure blood ketones is this:

    http://www.novacares.com/nova-max-plus/index.php
  • suessm
    suessm Posts: 33 Member
    edited June 2015
    loisseau wrote: »
    Easiest and most accurate way to measure blood ketones is this:

    http://www.novacares.com/nova-max-plus/index.php

    Well, that's better than my abbott xtra meter I have, in regards to the disposables... Otherwise very similar... It costs me about $7.50/test, where it appears that nova max is about $2.00/test. I might consider switching once my disposables are depleted.

    Otherwise,I might go to the breath unit: https://www.ketonix.com, but at $169 + s/h, that's a lot of test strips...(though I've already consumed over $400 in disposables thus far.) But I wouldn't need to buy any more... Hmm.

    True it's only a tool, and not needed for the layperson... I'm just a fanatic.
  • JPW1990
    JPW1990 Posts: 2,424 Member
    edited June 2015
    suessm wrote: »
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    Ketosis by itself has no meaningful impact on weight loss. Plenty of people gain weight while in ketosis - it's really not very hard.

    Really, hmmm that really surprises me, but whatever... I would think that reducing the food that affects blood glucose by increasing it, weight loss would be a good side benefit, though when I decided to try ketosis,I eliminated grains, sucrose (heck avoided all sugars,) breads, fruits... and I lost like a fiend... If you have gained weight while truly in ketosis, please let me know how... I could use that information to try to break through my temporary weight stall...

    Always learning!

    Michael.

    I gained over 2 years in keto because I was bedridden for a lot of it and never bothered to adjust my calories to my new level of non-activity. Plus I felt like hammered crap and didn't bother weighing/tracking what I was eating. I was still in keto the entire time, though. You want to gain? Put the butter or oil in the pan without measuring, put the cream in your coffee without measuring, take seconds on the meat and cheese at dinner whenever you feel like it, and if you're having a really bad day, have a shot of vodka for dessert.

    ETA: the reason I know I was in keto the entire time was not because I micromanaged and try to test every drop of blood and urine. It's because I wasn't hungry. Period. The obsession people have with micromanaging their keto levels makes no sense to me. In 15 years, I've never once had to use a tool to figure out if I was in or not, it's pretty obvious one way or the other.
  • kuriakos_chris
    kuriakos_chris Posts: 48 Member
    missladyfit wrote: »
    Hello Keto friends!

    I have been low carb on and off all of my adult life. I started keto the first time last year and got the "keto flu" and that's the only indication I ever had that I was actually in ketosis. I know that maintaining ketosis means limiting carbs to anywhere from 20-100 grams a day. As a person that's never experienced or noticed the other indicators of keto (bad breath, weird urine smell, etc.) I am wondering if anyone figured a method (other than blood testing) to figure out their ideal carb intake for keto? Or to know you're not in keto? Looking for answers other than "stay under 20 and you're in for sure."

    TL;DR: How many carbs can you eat and still stay in ketosis? How do you know?

    Thanks!

    You say that you had a lifestyle without many carbs in your diet, though you gained a lot of fat.
    Then how do you expect to help you going zero carbs?
    The problem isnt on the carbs, you should eat em, Just lower your fat intake and minimize all bad fats/carbs.
    Start walking and progressively runnig. Be active everyday and you ll see the results coming,
    If i am not mistaken keto is almost zero carbs and its different from low carb diets.
    Dont get me wrong here, i am not offensive, this is just my opinion, you can take it as advise or move on.

  • missladyfit
    missladyfit Posts: 54 Member
    kuriakos_chris wrote: »
    missladyfit wrote: »
    Hello Keto friends!

    I have been low carb on and off all of my adult life. I started keto the first time last year and got the "keto flu" and that's the only indication I ever had that I was actually in ketosis. I know that maintaining ketosis means limiting carbs to anywhere from 20-100 grams a day. As a person that's never experienced or noticed the other indicators of keto (bad breath, weird urine smell, etc.) I am wondering if anyone figured a method (other than blood testing) to figure out their ideal carb intake for keto? Or to know you're not in keto? Looking for answers other than "stay under 20 and you're in for sure."

    TL;DR: How many carbs can you eat and still stay in ketosis? How do you know?

    Thanks!

    You say that you had a lifestyle without many carbs in your diet, though you gained a lot of fat.
    Then how do you expect to help you going zero carbs?
    The problem isnt on the carbs, you should eat em, Just lower your fat intake and minimize all bad fats/carbs.
    Start walking and progressively runnig. Be active everyday and you ll see the results coming,
    If i am not mistaken keto is almost zero carbs and its different from low carb diets.
    Dont get me wrong here, i am not offensive, this is just my opinion, you can take it as advise or move on.
    No worries, I'm not offended but I think you may have misunderstood the intention or misread the post. Zero carbs is not an option, nor is it anywhere near feasible for anyone to be healthy that way. As mentioned in my original post, keto is normally limiting carbs to 20-100g a day. I'd consider it the lower carb end of the low carb diet spectrum. I'm not sure where you read that I gained a lot of fat with a low carb diet. For full disclosure, I did not attempt low carb until halfway through college, which coincidentally was when I weighed the most. I've fluctuated since then while being on and off keto/lowcarb. I've gained and lost while eating a traditional diet, but have never gained while in keto.
  • missladyfit
    missladyfit Posts: 54 Member
    shell1005 wrote: »
    JPW1990 wrote: »
    suessm wrote: »
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    Ketosis by itself has no meaningful impact on weight loss. Plenty of people gain weight while in ketosis - it's really not very hard.

    Really, hmmm that really surprises me, but whatever... I would think that reducing the food that affects blood glucose by increasing it, weight loss would be a good side benefit, though when I decided to try ketosis,I eliminated grains, sucrose (heck avoided all sugars,) breads, fruits... and I lost like a fiend... If you have gained weight while truly in ketosis, please let me know how... I could use that information to try to break through my temporary weight stall...

    Always learning!

    Michael.

    I gained over 2 years in keto because I was bedridden for a lot of it and never bothered to adjust my calories to my new level of non-activity. Plus I felt like hammered crap and didn't bother weighing/tracking what I was eating. I was still in keto the entire time, though. You want to gain? Put the butter or oil in the pan without measuring, put the cream in your coffee without measuring, take seconds on the meat and cheese at dinner whenever you feel like it, and if you're having a really bad day, have a shot of vodka for dessert.

    ETA: the reason I know I was in keto the entire time was not because I micromanaged and try to test every drop of blood and urine. It's because I wasn't hungry. Period. The obsession people have with micromanaging their keto levels makes no sense to me. In 15 years, I've never once had to use a tool to figure out if I was in or not, it's pretty obvious one way or the other.


    Me too. I know when I am in and when I am out. That's all I need. Seeing how much the above poster has paid to measure makes me even happier I am not a "fanatic."
    I think I've reached that point but I just wish I had a definite answer. Not a fanatic of keto specifically, but I do have a tendency to micromanage things LOL so I guess that's where the original post stems from. Also out of curiosity to find out what works for others.
  • suessm
    suessm Posts: 33 Member
    shell1005 wrote: »
    Me too. I know when I am in and when I am out. That's all I need. Seeing how much the above poster has paid to measure makes me even happier I am not a "fanatic."

    Yeah, I don't measure to know when I'm in or out of ketosis... Like many have said, you know... Your body definitely tells you... The reason I decided to spend the capital I did was more of experimentation... Understanding what foods do what to blood glucose and ketones... So I could compile my findings... that's really the reason why I do what I do. It gives me something to analyze and learn from, so that I might shed some light on nutrition.

    Later.

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