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blood ketones levels

R

Rafael RF

Newbie
Hi everyone!

I am in a keto diet (25g of net carbos) for more than a month and even fasting for 14 to 18 hours, my ketone blood levels keep around 0.2 to 0.4 before start eating. Am I missing something? Thanks in advance.
 
Hi and welcome!

I don’t think it really matters. You’re either in ketosis or you’re not, and like all other measurements your levels likely fluctuate during the day. You may also find that the numbers increase over time, but if you’re getting the other benefits of eating ketogenically I wouldn’t worry. If you’re not seeing other benefits you could consider dropping carbs even more.
 
Many thanks! Yes, I have remarkable improvements after a 2 months of diet (low calorie first and them low carb), like a 9kg drop in body weight, fasting glucose from 8.7 to 5.4, HbA1c from 7 to 5.5%, and normalization of liver enzymes levels. Just a little worried about not to loose muscle instead fat.. Any tip about that?
 
Rafael RF said:
Many thanks! Yes, I have remarkable improvements after a 2 months of diet (low calorie first and them low carb), like a 9kg drop in body weight, fasting glucose from 8.7 to 5.4, HbA1c from 7 to 5.5%, and normalization of liver enzymes levels. Just a little worried about not to loose muscle instead fat.. Any tip about that?
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Being in ketosis helps with that as the body is burning fat in preference to glucose. Best if it’s body fat it’s burning rather than added fat, so while you’re trying to lose weight, stick to natural fats attached to meat but don’t feel the need to add slabs of fat on top, unless the meat/fish is lean. And ensure you’re eating plenty of protein to support muscle growth/maintenance.

Oh and some gentle weight bearing exercise will help support the uptake of blood glucose by the muscles.
 
I don't think it absolutely necessary to have higher ketone levels - they're there as fuel to be used rather than just floating around in our blood looking good, so higher levels might suggest that we've not yet completely adapted to using them.

(I used to be quite pleased with myself if I saw higher ketone levels, until I thought a bit more about their actual function...:oops::oops:)
 
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