High ketosis - should I be worried?

[PaulinaB]

Hi all!

So, I'm following LCHF diet and I like it very much. My BG is stable and in range and I feel good. The thing I noticed is that my ketosis seems to be quite high - around 8mmol/l (checked on Ketostix, so the second highest color that's on the scale). I feel ok, my BG is in range, never really going above 7.5 - 8mmol/l (lol, maybe my ketones just like to be the same as my bg? ).

My boyfriend is following the diet with me (he's not diabetic) and we eat mostly the same things (apart from lunches at work) and his ketones are lower - he hovers between 1.5 and 4 mmol/l on Ketostix. I hover mostly between 4 and 8mmol/l.

I read about ketogenic diets and most articles seem to talk about "optimal ketosis" - somewhere around half of what I have now, kind of the area that my BF is in. I'm assuming it's just how I am - with high ketones, but I wanted to make sure - is it anything to be worried about? What are people's usual ketones levels? I eat no more than 30g of carbs a day.

 

[zand]

If I were you I would try drinking more water. It could be happening because of dehydration. I'm using ketostix too and my readings have stayed steady at 4.

 

[PaulinaB]

I tend to drink tons of water and my kidneys are prone to stones. We also have the scale that measures fat/muscles/water is body and my water % is always around the healthy 50%.

 

[zand]

Well I've not heard of there being a problem with ketones that high as long as BG's aren't high too. I hope others can advise you better on this subject.

Are you losing weight?

 

[PaulinaB]

Well I've not heard of there being a problem with ketones that high as long as BG's aren't high too. I hope others can advise you better on this subject.

Are you losing weight?

I think so too, but wanted to make sure.

And yes, I'm losing weight, though it slowed down after initial crazy loss

 

[Brunneria]

I would have said the same as zand.

So really all i can suggest is drinking even more water for a few days, just to eliminate it as a possibility.

The various websites i have checked on how-much-water-to-drink seem to suggest 1 litre of water for every 5 stone of bodyweight, not counting coffee (because of its diuretic effects). You may already be drinking more than that, but i have found that i feel significantly better on a day when i exceed that quantity.

Having said that, my understanding is that ketones only become harmful when high blood glucose is present at the same time. Im unsure what level actually constitutes 'high' (maybe a T1 can explain) but a BG of 7-8 definitely isnt!

 

[Pasha]

High blood sugar is 250 mg/ dl or 13.9 mmoles/l

 

[Humma]

Bodybuilders suffer from ketosis in the final days of a diet for competition....http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbinfo.php?page=Keto

 

[Mrs Vimes]

Ketosis is due to a lack of carbs - this is good. Diabetic ketoacidosis is ketones due to a lack of insulin. If you gave normal blood sugars you are in Ketosis.not something that you suffer from. I aim for that being type 1 - it has got me off the bloodsugar roller coaster. I eat roughly 30g or less of carbs. I only get carbs from green veg. If you have normal range blood sugars you are fine.
The highest I've got on a ketone meter is 4.