Day 19 on Keto and still showing over 4.0 on keto strips
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hollywood769
Posts: 2 Member
I have been reading that Ketones are supposed to reduce in the urine once the body starts using them properly. I have been at or above the 4.0 color since a couple days after starting. Does this mean my body still isn't adapted yet.
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Replies
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No. I’ve been keto for 3 years and I still turn them dark sometimes.
It has more to do with hydration that anything else.
If you’re very hydrated you might test negative or trace. Dehydrated and it’ll be the opposite.
This is why people say the urine strips are unreliable. The color doesn’t tell you what you think it does. It’s more of a “you have ketones or you don’t” it can only tell you the concentration in that sample of urine which can change simply due to the frequency of your urination due to your level of hydration.
Think of it like a pregnancy test.
It’s yes or maybe. You can get a false negative but you’ll never get a false positive.
It cannot tell you how many ketones you’re making or using.1 -
I have been following Suzanne Ryan on Instagram and just recently bought her book Simply Keto. She says that the urine tests are not always accurate and she recommends buying the blood glucose and ketones monitor if you want accuracy. She recommends the Precision xtra blood glucose and ketone monitor. Just a thought.1
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I have spent more money than almost anyone on here, tracking ketones. I lost track of how many hundreds of dollars that I spent on urine strips, ketone breath meter, and a blood ketone tester/strips. Through all of that time and money, I did learn/confirm several things.
1. A positive result on the urine strips means you were definitely in ketosis in the recent past. It does not mean you are currently in ketosis. The color does not provide an accurate assessment of your level of blood ketones. I have had (relatively) low blood ketones (~0.6) and very dark urine strips.
2. A negative result on the urine strips means absolutely nothing. It can neither confirm nor deny your status in regards to ketosis. I have had fairly high blood ketones, and negatives on urine strips.
3. The breath meter is a little better than urine strips when it comes to answering if you are in ketosis or not. A negative does not always mean you're not, but most positives only happen when you are in ketosis. The meters that tell you levels are not always accurate as to blood levels. I was unable to consistently find a relationship between the breath level and blood level readings.
4. Blood strips are very accurate, but have very high levels of variance. Your recent activity level, time of day, food and macro consumption, and the phase of the moon will all have significant effects on your blood ketone levels. You can pay a lot of money to see a number that will change significantly in the near future.
5. My blood ketone levels did not predict or otherwise track my rate of weight loss. A high number did not mean I was losing weight faster than when I got lower numbers. I did not see a positive correlation between ketone levels and weight loss, just that being in ketosis (consistently) was related to weight loss. The level didn't seem to matter.
In the end, I came to the conclusion that ketosis is like a switch. It is either on or it is off. If it is on, it doesn't [really] matter how "on" it is. Your body is burning fat for fuel. The longer the switch stays on, the better and more adapted your body becomes to using fat as a primary fuel source. If it is off, your body is [primarily] burning carbs for fuel. The longer and more often the switch is off, the more adapted your body is to depending on carbs for fuel and the harder it is (for many people) to utilize their fat fuel sources.
The easiest way to know and ensure that the switch is on? Eat right and keep the carbs below a certain level. For most people under 30-40 grams of net carbs is fine. It's almost a certainty that 20-25g of net carbs will be enough. If you keep your daily carbs under those limits, you're in ketosis. You don't need to pee on sticks, breath into electronic tubes, or bleed onto expensive little strips. You just need to eat right, trust your body, and live your life. Eating should not be hard. It should not be complicated. It shouldn't be work. Just do it. Do it consistently. It will take care of itself.
Save your money and sanity. Reduce your stress. Just keep the carbs low and know what you're going to be in ketosis.15 -
I have a similar problem as the original poster. I'm on Day 11 of a keto diet. I've tracked all my eating carefully and have been testing my ketosis levels with a Precision Xtra tester. I was not able to reach ketosis (>.5mml) until yesterday when I tested .6
Today I tested, and I was disappointed to find that I'm back down to .3. I don't see anything different in my food consumption, and I'm under my target carbs (20g net) and calories (1600) for the day. I'm not sure why I'm having such a hard time reaching ketosis.
I'm not discouraged (the good news is that I lost 6 pounds and 1 inch from my waist in week 1!y), just curious about what I should try.0 -
I have spent more money than almost anyone on here, tracking ketones. I lost track of how many hundreds of dollars that I spent on urine strips, ketone breath meter, and a blood ketone tester/strips. Through all of that time and money, I did learn/confirm several things.
1. A positive result on the urine strips means you were definitely in ketosis in the recent past. It does not mean you are currently in ketosis. The color does not provide an accurate assessment of your level of blood ketones. I have had (relatively) low blood ketones (~0.6) and very dark urine strips.
2. A negative result on the urine strips means absolutely nothing. It can neither confirm nor deny your status in regards to ketosis. I have had fairly high blood ketones, and negatives on urine strips.
3. The breath meter is a little better than urine strips when it comes to answering if you are in ketosis or not. A negative does not always mean you're not, but most positives only happen when you are in ketosis. The meters that tell you levels are not always accurate as to blood levels. I was unable to consistently find a relationship between the breath level and blood level readings.
4. Blood strips are very accurate, but have very high levels of variance. Your recent activity level, time of day, food and macro consumption, and the phase of the moon will all have significant effects on your blood ketone levels. You can pay a lot of money to see a number that will change significantly in the near future.
5. My blood ketone levels did not predict or otherwise track my rate of weight loss. A high number did not mean I was losing weight faster than when I got lower numbers. I did not see a positive correlation between ketone levels and weight loss, just that being in ketosis (consistently) was related to weight loss. The level didn't seem to matter.
In the end, I came to the conclusion that ketosis is like a switch. It is either on or it is off. If it is on, it doesn't [really] matter how "on" it is. Your body is burning fat for fuel. The longer the switch stays on, the better and more adapted your body becomes to using fat as a primary fuel source. If it is off, your body is [primarily] burning carbs for fuel. The longer and more often the switch is off, the more adapted your body is to depending on carbs for fuel and the harder it is (for many people) to utilize their fat fuel sources.
The easiest way to know and ensure that the switch is on? Eat right and keep the carbs below a certain level. For most people under 30-40 grams of net carbs is fine. It's almost a certainty that 20-25g of net carbs will be enough. If you keep your daily carbs under those limits, you're in ketosis. You don't need to pee on sticks, breath into electronic tubes, or bleed onto expensive little strips. You just need to eat right, trust your body, and live your life. Eating should not be hard. It should not be complicated. It shouldn't be work. Just do it. Do it consistently. It will take care of itself.
Save your money and sanity. Reduce your stress. Just keep the carbs low and know what you're going to be in ketosis.
THANK YOU for this!! My ketone strips have never shown more than trace, but I've lost 42 lbs since January (no exercise), so something had to be working!
(Only saving grace....I was able to get them using Flexible Spending money that I have to use or lose, so I don't feel gipped!)
Had just gotten a cheap breathalyzer & was concerned that I kept getting zero. Though lately, I might have been going closer to my upper carb limit. And not getting my fat. So when I reigned it in & it then showed a number, I thought, OK, good, I've got it. Rather than worrying about numbers, I guess if I use it, it can be a "is the switch on" kind of thing!2
