# My keto experience



## arin (Jan 6, 2011)

Right, so im on the keto diet

Been on for about a 2 weeks and a half now.

Initially i lost alot of weight, obviously water, and my face immediately looked thinner.

Ketostix showed traces of ketones, so i assumed i am in ketosis.

This week i decided to add in dark chocolate, peanuts into my diet while still always staying under 30g net carbs excluding fibre

Chocolate has 5.6g sugar (net carbs) per serving - only have 1 a day

Peanuts 1.1g - 1 serving a day

Still peeing on ketostix, always shows ketones in urine... So assume im ketosis still.

BUT

no bad breath, no smelly urine(drink alot of water) so no purple readings on stix

Face has got a little fatter (as if waters back)

Havent seen fluctuation in weight on scales which would relate to water

Stix still reading ketones

Weight steadyish (obv wanting it to lower from fat)

Q Is it safe to im still in ketosis and still losing fat?

Also as a side note, wanted to see if diet drinks kick me out of ketosis.

So drank one, had some water(pint)

Peed hour later

Ketostix read positive for ketones

Peed few hours later again read positive.

Peed 5-6 hours later and still read positive.

Q Is it safe to say they dont kick me out , due to insulin spikes?


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## ausbuilt (Nov 22, 2010)

Hi Arin,

By themselves ketostix are unreliable; they are indicative of UNUSED ketones- i.e when your activity level has not been high enough to burn the ketones produced. If you've been active, you may well have none during the day, and only show traces in the morning when you first urinate.

Buy yourself a blood glucose monitor. Test your blood glucose level (BG). If it is over 5.6mmol/l (i.e above fasting glucose levels) it is physiologically impossible to be in ketosis.

take tests at 15,30 and 60mins after meals to see if you get any insulin spikes, until you build up a list of foods you know you can eat (i.e peanut butter kicks some people out of keto, not others).

There is a lot here on keto diets, do a search. you will see that if your proteins are to high, you can be in gluconeogenesis (where the body makes glucose from amino acids)- this shows up in your BG tests as giving a reading above 5.6, even though you are eating no carbs..

As you can see test you BG levels is the best way of knowing you're in keto...


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## arin (Jan 6, 2011)

Thanks aus,

As a side

Im eating 107g fat

140g protein

25ish g carbs

Aiming for 1600 cal a day, 500 below my maintenance

Does this sound right

Most of my calories come from the fat as it has more cals per g thank protein

Thx


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## kernowgee (Jan 30, 2011)

Arin as this is the female thread I guess you are female, if that is the case and you are dropping a quarter of your calories, then you are not helping dropping weight by eating less as your body thinks you are starving it and fighting against you. I promise you once keto sets in you will know, headaches and breath. Eating chocolate and Peanuts is one way of not getting into keto particularly with your body eating muscle for energy as it thinks you are starving


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## arin (Jan 6, 2011)

Oh dear! Justrealised wrong place!!

Im male lol, how do i move the post??


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## arin (Jan 6, 2011)

Even though the post hasnt been moved,

I wanted to continue, as it is for the benefit of all anyway.

Right

So i went and bought a BG meter,

Took a reading at some point during the day.

Read 3.9

Can assume from that, and that the ketostix (unreliable) that im probably in ketosis.

Then ate rowntrees sugarfree jello (1 serving / 1/4 pint)

Read BG again 15 min . Read 4.3

30 min 4.7

60 min 4.6

Now can i assume from that that the jelly causes an insulin spike? And would kick me out of keto?

Or that as it didnt go above 5.6 that its fine to eat?

Can i also assume that the sweetener in it (aspartame) wont kick me out of ketosis ( when i have other things that are sweetened with it)?

Thanks

arin


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## bayman (Feb 27, 2010)

kernowgee said:


> Arin as this is the female thread I guess you are female, if that is the case and you are dropping a quarter of your calories, then you are not helping dropping weight by eating less as your body thinks you are starving it and fighting against you. I promise you once keto sets in you will know, headaches and breath. Eating chocolate and Peanuts is one way of not getting into keto particularly with your body eating muscle for energy as it thinks you are starving


There's so much wrong with this statement I don't know where to start.


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## bayman (Feb 27, 2010)

arin said:


> Even though the post hasnt been moved,
> 
> I wanted to continue, as it is for the benefit of all anyway.
> 
> ...


You've had a small rise in insulin, but not enough to kick you out of keto. Insulin is released when your body senses something sweet (when you taste it) but because there's actually no carbs present in the meal it can't truly spike as there's no rise in blood sugar anyway. Going on those readings the sugar free jelly is fine.


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## Jim78 (Aug 20, 2010)

Stop over analysing things first off mate.

From your posts after buying the BG monitor, yes you are in Ketosis and should be burning fat!

However, stop worrying, IMO you will still look better AND be burning fat by keeping the meals nice and simple, protein and fats...end of.

Now just keep your meals as such and watch the weight fly off.


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## arin (Jan 6, 2011)

Cant help it with the over analysis lol

Its in my nature.

But thanks for all the help guys!


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## Jim78 (Aug 20, 2010)

arin said:


> Cant help it with the over analysis lol
> 
> Its in my nature.
> 
> But thanks for all the help guys!


On a serious note mate you sound like your on the right track, now you've a BG mtr you will find it a lot easier to monitor being in/out of ketosis as Aus said.

You may find keeping fat cals per meal higher than protein calories, per meal will also help a ton too, protein shakes can kick you out of ketosis too, quite well known.


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## arin (Jan 6, 2011)

Thanks jim,

With the bg meter, when testing, i know aus said do 15 30 60 min, but the amount of strips that uses is expensive, can i not just test once?

Before a meal and then after it (15 min)


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## Jim78 (Aug 20, 2010)

arin said:


> Thanks jim,
> 
> With the bg meter, when testing, i know aus said do 15 30 60 min, but the amount of strips that uses is expensive, can i not just test once?
> 
> Before a meal and then after it (15 min)


Yes mate, prob best 30-45mins after, let things settle a little after eating.

Once you know how you react you might only test once, twice per day.


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## Ironclad (Jun 23, 2009)

Good luck. I reckon the ketostix are ok, an indicator is good enuff for me anyway. Mine practically went black so I upped the green carbs a tad. (hate cal counting)


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## ausbuilt (Nov 22, 2010)

arin said:


> Thanks jim,
> 
> With the bg meter, when testing, i know aus said do 15 30 60 min, but the amount of strips that uses is expensive, can i not just test once?
> 
> Before a meal and then after it (15 min)


I don't use the strips at all anymore.. but then I only eat a certain choice of foods, that i know my reactions to, as I've tested plenty before... new foods would need a test though..

As an example, I find if I eat nuts, even cashews, i don't get above 5.6.. but peanut butter can put me up to 6.0... so can straight whey protein... BUT only if in the morning, on an empty stomach.. no probs later in the day when I've already downed a lot of fats.. fats are about 70% of my cals...according to fitday.com

At any rate, you only need to check BG when you are unsure of the effect of a food... I guarantee if you have more than 60% of cals from fats, AND you only have incidental carbs (i.e No choc, NO soft jelly lollies etc) you won't need to test...

and, I agree with witch king- normal ketostix are OK... but no OK post carb-up.. so thats often a time you want to know your BG to make sure you're getting into keto as fast as poss..BG readings help...

Oddly 2 weeks ago, i came back from hols/work trip (VERY RELAXED eating) and decided to go back to a more traditional weekly carb up (not the daily i was doing). Sat night was the start of the carb up (6pm) and I was still gettnig readings on keto stix (pink) at 11:30pm... but belive me... i was NOT in ketosis! LOL


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## arin (Jan 6, 2011)

Thanks guys


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## arin (Jan 6, 2011)

I had my evening meal today. And after 35 min checked bg. Was dead on 5.6 . Am i out of keto???

Is that the threshold or is there some play?

Thx


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## The Ultimate Warrior (Dec 20, 2010)

arin said:


> I had my evening meal today. And after 35 min checked bg. Was dead on 5.6 . Am i out of keto???
> 
> Is that the threshold or is there some play?
> 
> Thx


Stop worrying you! just know that 5.6 and below is fine.

What was your evening meal? Is this a meal you have normally?


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## arin (Jan 6, 2011)

Jpay i cant helppp itt!

Im a student , so we normally all eat the same thing , cook together, but i ensure i dont eat the carbs and keep my fat high

Today had 2 chicken thighs grilled and then pan fried with butter

And 3/4 breast in sour cream

Veg boiled and pan fried in butter


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## arin (Jan 6, 2011)

my weight has been at 151 lbs in keto since my last weigh in 2 weeks ago!! :s


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## Mr Mongol (Mar 20, 2011)

wow great


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## The Ultimate Warrior (Dec 20, 2010)

Its very difficult to structure a keto diet without eating the same things tbh. BUT aslong as your leaving carbs alone then your fine.


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## arin (Jan 6, 2011)

My weight hasnt changed 1 bit in 2 weeks . Why!?


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## ausbuilt (Nov 22, 2010)

arin said:


> My weight hasnt changed 1 bit in 2 weeks . Why!?


well if your BG readings are under 5.8 (5.6 is is very safe); and you are eating more fat cals than protein, you're eating more cals than you are burning..

a diet, regardless of structure requires a calorie deficit- are you under maintenance? do you know your BMR/maintenance cals?


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## Jim78 (Aug 20, 2010)

arin said:


> My weight hasnt changed 1 bit in 2 weeks . Why!?


sod weight, what is the mirror telling you?

I lost little the 1st two weeks but looked different and had some changes.

I seldom drop lots of weight, even with very low cals, some do, some don't.

As Ausbuilt says though, its not a case of whacking down protein and fat, total calorie consumption is paramount, if you want to eat slightly over maintenance, then your going to have to put the work in, on the treadmill to equal things out.


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## arin (Jan 6, 2011)

Bit of a Resurrection here, but thought it best to ask here.

tonight I had prawns and pork, both had some sort of a bbq glaze. which in total for the meal was 7g carbs, of which 6g sugar.

I tested 35 min after and had no insulin spike.

however i looked at the ingredient list and both sugar and dried glucose syrup were in it.

my carb intake for the day including this has been 22g

how come the sugar didnt affect my ketosis?

is it because its within my gram intake?


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## ausbuilt (Nov 22, 2010)

once you're in keto (not just getting there...) as long as your carbs are under 30g for the day, and under 10g for a meal-and the meal has a load of fat- the fat SHOULD slow the absorption of the sugars so you don't spike..


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## arin (Jan 6, 2011)

brilliant , thanks aus, straight to the point and greatly clarifying for me, much appreciated


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