Ketostix

[LincolnLizzie]

Hi, I've been low carbing successfully for 9 months now. BG reading averaging around 5.8, managed to reduce meds, so now only on 16 units Lantus and 1 X Forxiga daily. Great improvement.

I thought it might be helpful to see if I was achieving ketosis to aid weight loss so have bought some Ketostix, but whilst it shows you how to test, it doesn't suggest when during the day would be a good time and what reading I should be aiming for? Also how often should I test.

Can anyone help me please? Thank you.

 

[psignathus]

Morning is a good time however if you have been in keto for longer than a few months it may not show as your body becomes better at using the fats and therefore they are not lost in urine. Testing for ketones in your blood is far better once fat adapted. I suppose what i'm saying is don't think your not in keto just because the ketostix say your not.

Edit...testing for ketones in your blood is more accurate but a tad expensive at two pounds a pop.

 

[chalup]

I use an Abbot freestyle precision neo meter to check blood ketones. The strips are expensive but you only need to test once a day or less. I check before bed.

 

[CapnGrumpy]

 

[chalup]

That is for blood ketone levels. Ketostix won't tell you where you are on this chart

 

[CapnGrumpy]

@chalup, Ketostix have both mmol/L and mg/dL values that correspond to the colour the stick turns. I've just tested my blood ketones on a Freestyle Optimum Neo and got 1.1 mmol/L and with a Ketostix strip and it was roughly half way between 0.5 mmol/L - kind of light pink - and 1.5 mmol/L - pink. I'd say they're the same.

 

[Robbity]

Different types of ketone tests actually test for different chemicals in your blood (beta-hydroxybutyrate), breath (acetone), and urine (acetoacetate), so AFAIK there's no direct comparison. Blood gives the most accurate figures and wee the least, and this last can only test for the waste ketones that are being flushed out of your body. But it's cheap and obviously if you're eliminating ketones you must be producing them, though as already mentioned you may well no longer get any waste when you're properly keto/fat adapted - which is what happened to me and until I discovered what was actually going on, I was completely flummoxed!
I use a Ketonix breathalyser gadget to test for ketones as although it was a bit expensive (and is apparently more so now, but also more sophisticated) it's a self contained one off purchase, so a cheap compromise in the long run.

I've never had much correlation between breath and blood tests on the rare occasions I've done both at the same time. Nor have I ever found any between my glucose and my ketone levels.

Robbity

PS Sometimes you may be able to taste the acetone (apparently like peardrops!) when you've gone into ketosis and I've sometimes had this, so that's a possible freebie check...

 

[CapnGrumpy]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17320448

Apparently the correlation isn't too bad at lower levels, but gets worse once it goes higher (although it does refer to hyperglycemic patients). I guess I know what I'll be spending too long Googling today.

 

[LincolnLizzie]

Thank you all. This has been very helpful. X

 

[BrianTheElder]

Hi, I've been low carbing successfully for 9 months now. BG reading averaging around 5.8, managed to reduce meds, so now only on 16 units Lantus and 1 X Forxiga daily. Great improvement.

I thought it might be helpful to see if I was achieving ketosis to aid weight loss so have bought some Ketostix, but whilst it shows you how to test, it doesn't suggest when during the day would be a good time and what reading I should be aiming for? Also how often should I test.

Can anyone help me please? Thank you.

I have used Ketostix, a Ketonix breath tester and an On-Call ketone blood test meter that I bought on Amazon (about £30). By far the most convenient and reliable is the On-Call meter. It has not got very good reviews, but I think that's for an older model. The one I have has an electronic insert that comes with each tub of strips that calibrates the machine specifically for those strips. I measure daily and the readings vary but I can usually relate them to what I have been eating. For instance, if I have quite a few carbs, the reading goes to zero. If I have a lot of protein, the reading falls. My current average is 1.9mmol/l, which puts me in the nutritional ketosis range and I think that's correct. I don't think you can comment on accuracy unless you calibrate it against another meter, but it gives me a very good idea of how I'm doing and doesn't seem subject to random fluctuations and errors.
As far as the strips go, they're about 80p each, probably the cheapest around.

 

[BrianTheElder]

Morning is a good time however if you have been in keto for longer than a few months it may not show as your body becomes better at using the fats and therefore they are not lost in urine. Testing for ketones in your blood is far better once fat adapted. I suppose what i'm saying is don't think your not in keto just because the ketostix say your not.

Edit...testing for ketones in your blood is more accurate but a tad expensive at two pounds a pop.

You may be interested in my later post - my ketone meter strips are about 80p each!

 

[CherryAA]

Thank you all. This has been very helpful. X

I test

Morning is a good time however if you have been in keto for longer than a few months it may not show as your body becomes better at using the fats and therefore they are not lost in urine. Testing for ketones in your blood is far better once fat adapted. I suppose what i'm saying is don't think your not in keto just because the ketostix say your not.

Edit...testing for ketones in your blood is more accurate but a tad expensive at two pounds a pop.

I use the on call meter and test twice per day

One thing I have noticed -morning readings are always lower than evening , and there is a kind of stepped effect
eg - I am actively trying to get into deep ketoisis at the moment with a 75% fat, 5% carbs and 10% protein diet
it is working however the readings have been as follows :

Day 1
Morning zero
Afternoon 0.8
Day 2
Morning 0.1
Afternoon 0.9
Day 3
Morning 0.5
Afternoon 1.1
Day 4
Morning 0.9
Afternoon 1.8
Day 5
Morning 1.1
Afternoon 2.4

Ideally I would like to get my morning readings up to 2 + before I give up this phase.

 

[chalup]

You might want to recheck your numbers as they only add up to 90%

 

[BrianTheElder]

I test



I use the on call meter and test twice per day

One thing I have noticed -morning readings are always lower than evening , and there is a kind of stepped effect
eg - I am actively trying to get into deep ketoisis at the moment with a 75% fat, 5% carbs and 10% protein diet
it is working however the readings have been as follows :

Day 1
Morning zero
Afternoon 0.8
Day 2
Morning 0.1
Afternoon 0.9
Day 3
Morning 0.5
Afternoon 1.1
Day 4
Morning 0.9
Afternoon 1.8
Day 5
Morning 1.1
Afternoon 2.4

Ideally I would like to get my morning readings up to 2 + before I give up this phase.

That's interesting. I wonder if it's caused by the morning liver dump raising the blood sugar levels. Blood sugars and ketones seem to be opposites. I always test at 21:30 as I stop eating at 19:30. I'm not sure if there is any logic in that, but it's what I do and it's consistent. I would be very interested to find out what times other members test.

 

[chalup]

I test ketones at about 3 am before I go to bed.

 

[CherryAA]

That's interesting. I wonder if it's caused by the morning liver dump raising the blood sugar levels. Blood sugars and ketones seem to be opposites. I always test at 21:30 as I stop eating at 19:30. I'm not sure if there is any logic in that, but it's what I do and it's consistent. I would be very interested to find out what times other members test.

I think it must be connected to the morning liver dump. It is very consistent for me - my morning reading is 0.6-0.7 lower than my evening one and it carries on as I get more ketotic- this morning 1.7 last night 2.4. I have been able to predict exactly what the number will be in the morning from the previous evening figure for a 5 days in a row now.