If you eat less than 50 grams of carbs a day, you will become keto adapted, pretty darn quick. You can eat even less if you want to be more keto adapted. I don't know if your blood levels are supposed to be consistent or not. I don't see why they would, since you use more or less energy at various times. Taking your readings first thing in the morning might give you more consistent levels for comparative purposes.

You're in ketosis! Problem solved. Not everyone has a rough transition.

nvmomketo wrote: »

BTW, I'm another who usually has trace readings on the keto stix. If I eat 30g of carbs in a day ketostix are negative.

Ketostix don't work like that.

The ketostix show the concentration of acetoacetate in the urine. The concentration can be affected by:
1. The amount of ketones you're making.
2. The dilution of your urine

So, if you're fasting and exercising, it's a safe assumption that you'll register a darker color.
If you're fasting, exercising and drinking a whole lot of water, you may get a lighter color. Even though you're making the same amount of ketones. They also basically show how many ketones you were making 2 hours ago. Not right now.
It's mostly in this way that the strips are inaccurate. Or, they can become inaccurate when they are older. THEY EXPIRE 6 MONTHS FROM THE DAY THEY ARE OPENED, no matter what the date on the bottle says. There is a place on my bottle to write in the date you open them. I also think different brands could be more accurate than others. Mine have always been very reliable, but I use the ones we get by prescription for my T1D daughter. They should be available without prescription too though. They are Nipro Diagnostics, True Plus. In case anyone cares. I know people say they are inaccurate all the time, but not in the way that they fail to detect ketones that are actually present. Otherwise that would be a problem for T1D's who's lives depend on figuring out what's going on with themselves when they are sick.
They can be inaccurate in that they measure a lower concentration than what you are actually making due to the dilution of your urine from drinking a lot of water.

Idk. I've always tested exactly the same since day one. After 9 months, I can pretty much tell you exactly what color that strip is going to be before I use it.
Anyway, OP was using a blood meter. And is still new so I don't think even if the theory that you spill less as you become more efficient would apply yet.
Plus, I was just really responding to the idea that @nvmomketo couldn't get a negative reading by consuming 30g carbs. She definitely could. For one, she is very carb sensitive. The presence of insulin would negate her ketone production. And she could be particularly hydrated even and that would also affect it.

I do these every now and then just out of curiosity.

@jocelyn1577 I was about six weeks before I got into ketosis and stayed there most of the time. You did well. It is not a race. In my case the "hidden" carbs kept tripping me up.

Lillith32 wrote: »

Hmm. Though that when your body gets more efficient at using ketones less of them get secreted in the urine, so some folks register negative on those keto sticks?

I was under this impression too, even if you are dark purple it may indicate you're not using them as efficiently