Getting into optimal ketosis (1.5 – 3 mmol/L) was trickier than I thought. After ten days of stricter LCHF than usual I’m still stuck at a mediocre fasting level of 0.7 – 0.8 in the morning. Later in the day the levels are higher, with a record of 2.8.
Tonight my brother arrived for a visit. Just for fun I let him test his ketones (see picture). Wow. But perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised, this guy can eat half an inch of butter on top of a block of cheese for breakfast.
The ketone master has arrived.
90
Sure.
I just tested my ketones and they were.....0.1 Ugh. And that's a couple of hours after lunch.
What do I have to do to get into ketosis? ( think my question is rhetorical.)
In the morning our bodys do rise blood sugar by cirkadian cycle, what ever we want, and in the sleep its restore our glycogen depoths as much it can.. to be prepared for an active day!
So if one want a high blood keton mesuring, one should eat an ketogenic diet and do a lot of exercise.. if one want to be able to get higher blood ketons than others.. to brave about!
But ofcourse this have nothing to do about your healt.. its a normal regulation.. that one dont need to mesure att all.. and its do regulates by its self.
The only thing about it.. its that ketostix is not any good to mesure ones ketoadaption.. there is blood ketones better.. to mesure if one realy eating to get in to ketosis.. if one have this as a goal.
And ofcourse everyone dont need to be in ketosis, but its a nomal state, and not doing any harm.. mayby its tell that you is realy dependant of fat and you is burning fat.. but it cant tell if its diet fat or dephot fat.
Neighter its tell if you losing any fat.
And its variates the whole day, dependant of a lot of things.. like if one have a meal.
The healt benefits from a low carb diet is probaly moste by one do eat real food.. with all its nutrishment.
Mesuring of blood ketones is just another hype.. like ketostix was.
Mayby some peopel hav to be verry strikt, by metabolic reasons and those can have a benefit of the mesuring?
I'm just wondering what the difference is between your everyday LCHF and your "stricter than usual" LCHF mentioned above. Mainly, what is different or what is being excluded in that?
I've been LCHF for almost a year now and very happy with it!
Diane, you are right. Low-carb diets are a range. On the lowest end, there is ketosis with total dietary carbohydrate intake at 20 to 50 grams. On the highest end, there are low-carb diets with the total dietary carbohydrate intake in the range of 100 to 125 grams per day.
To get into ketosis, most people need to reduce their carbohydrate intake below 50 grams per day.
If you are loosing body fat, I think you need 60 percent fat and 35 percent protein, with 5 percent carbs.
This is what I have read.
Jimmy Moore just had a guest (Dr. Donald Layman) on who said that the amount of protein consumed matters at EACH MEAL more than the cumulative daily total, and suggested that the very minimum amount per person should be at least 30 grams per meal for optimal fat metabolism. On the other hand, there have been anecdotal reports from people using ketone meters that "excessive" protein impairs nutritional ketosis, ostensibly because of gluconeogenesis.
The question is then how much protein is adequate for optimal fat metabolism and how much is too much? And that seems to spark a range of opinions from 0.5 grams per pound of lean body mass to 1.5 grams per pound, although the majority of "experts" seem to be in the 0.5 grams/pound range. For small statured people like me, that makes 30 g/meal too much.
Looking forward to hearing what dietary changes were necessary to get you into the ranges of nutritional ketosis and what effects you saw--doesn't appear to me that you need to be losing any weight, Dr. E!
So while many individuals may be concerned about having a much lower blood ketone level, their concern may be unfounded. I'll be blogging about this next week.
Josh
Zep: the young zep, the chef that I met in Amsterdam?
One probably have to be swedish to understand why a cat can be cald Zepp, its a sound mening notthing.
I know its sounds like german or dutch, but that name is rather spelld, Sepp.
It takes almost scientific approach to eating and I'm in doubt that our ancestors left apple trees behind, because they would kick them out of ketosis.
I'd say your problem is not too much carbs/insulin then. There are other reasons for weight gain, that's why even ketogenic low carbs diet are not enough to make every single person super slim.
The good news is that I'm in good health in other regards (cholest./blood sugar).
I don't understand the science behind it, but I'm assuming we all have a natural range.
I use the low carb diet to treat all my overweight patients and have found the same frustration as you. I've come to the conclusion that there are two factors that need to be addressed to help with weight loss. Not only do you have to reduce insulin levels (by reducing carbohydrates and keeping protein intake at moderate levels), but you also have to modulate the fat intake. This is supported by Dr. Phinney/Volek in their "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living." They state that once your weight loss goals have been achieved, you maintain your weight by increasing fat intake.
Physiologically this makes sense. Since insulin and fat are the prime movers for fat accumulation, you have to pay attention to both if you want to lose fat. You cannot completely turn off insulin secretion (even in a fasting state, your pancreas secretes a basal rate of insulin). So if you are eating high amounts of fat, you'll likely tip the scales towards fat accumulation (or in most cases tip the scales towards fat maintenance).
I'm hoping that someone comes out with a formula that helps us calculate someone's ability to lose weight, while in a state of ketosis, based on fasting insulin levels and percent fat intake.
I don't think I'm alone with this issue. I've run across many other women in similar circumstances. Men seem to be able to "get skinny" on a low-carb diet, but us ladies continue to struggle.
In other words, what is normal, a plain vanilla reading?
Stacy, definitely you should be exercising - lifting weights will be highly useful for you, esp. HIT. That still may not be enough.
If so, and you are over 35, you should really see if you are estrogen dominant. This will not only keep you from losing the last 20, but also force a slow creep up on you over time. So get that checked out. Good luck.
.It stops when I eat or stay at rest for long periods and mostly in higher carb meals
The theory that weight gain in post menopausal women is caused by a drop in their hormone levels is a convenient one, but I don't think it hold much water. I've had plenty of patients go on HRT with synthetic and bio-identical hormones who still struggle with weight loss. I'm happy to review any studies that people might have on this topic. In fact, I welcome any quality, peer-reviewed papers, as I struggle to help these people lose weight.
As for my interpretation of the Phinney / Volek book, I quote directly from page 61, "The other important implication of this is that when a person makes the transition from weight loss to weight maintenance on a low carbohydrate diet, total energy intake must increase. Carbohydrate necessarily remains a small fraction of one's dietary energy supply in order to remain in a keto-adapted state and avoid the side effects of carbohydrate intolerance. Therefore, the proportion of fat to protein in the diet needs to be increased to avoid overeating protein."
I share with you my diet and activity level as an example of the above. I'm 5'6" and I weigh 140lbs. Every day I eat about about 10gm carbs, about 100gm of protein, and variable amounts of fat. I'm an endurance cyclist so I work out about 1-2 hours 3-4 days of the week, riding 20-40 miles each day. About once every 2 weeks I'll throw in a 70-100mile ride which takes 4-5 hours. My weight has not changed in over a year. I eat fat to fuel my rides. It's my belief that because I use fat to fuel my rides, my weight has not changed despite the fact that I remain in ketosis.
The theory that weight gain in post menopausal women is caused by a drop in their hormone levels is a convenient one, but I don't think it hold much water. I've had plenty of patients go on HRT with synthetic and bio-identical hormones who still struggle with weight loss. I'm happy to review any studies that people might have on this topic. In fact, I welcome any quality, peer-reviewed papers, as I struggle to help these people lose weight.
As for my interpretation of the Phinney / Volek book, I quote directly from page 61, "The other important implication of this is that when a person makes the transition from weight loss to weight maintenance on a low carbohydrate diet, total energy intake must increase. Carbohydrate necessarily remains a small fraction of one's dietary energy supply in order to remain in a keto-adapted state and avoid the side effects of carbohydrate intolerance. Therefore, the proportion of fat to protein in the diet needs to be increased to avoid overeating protein."
As an example of the above concept, I present to you my daily diet. I am 5'6" and I weigh 140lbs. My daily diet consists of 10gm carbs, 100gm protein and variable amounts of fat. I'm an endurance cyclist so I bike 20-40 miles 3-4 times during the week and every two weeks I'll get a 70-100 mile ride in that usually takes me 4-5 hours. My primary source of dietary energy is fat. I fuel my ride with fat. It's my belief that because I eat this way that my weight has not changed, even while maintaining my state of ketosis.
As for not losing weight even though in nutritional ketosis,that is proof that it is not just ketosis.Lower calories is where its at.......now hear me out and dont Carb Hate on the concept as that leads nowhere.There is also thyroid,leptin etc that come into play in weightloss and who knows what else.
Interesting video I found on Jimmy Moore blog that states some very VERY important stuff.The video talks about studies that show that carbs raise T3 conversion the best and the important thing to take away from this video was that happens even at reduced calories(the cause of less and less T3 production),When the low calories are changed to pure carbs the T3 conversion ramps right back up.The problem with meat and fat as shown in this reduced calorie diet(800cal)was that it did nothing to elevate T3 levels.So again....at 800cals the t3 production drops and eating LCHF does not raise it....mixed meals slowly raises it while 800cals of carbs raises T3 rapdily.
Now that said the video also shows that calories alone raise T3 levels so that eating LCHF becomes a very important exercise in getting the right amount of calories.Too much and you can gain weight even though your in perfect fat burning state and too little and you shut down T3 production.
One of this state's many affects are weight loss via changes in fat metabolism. That is just one of the benefits. Prevention of so many metabolic disorders is often not seen as a benefit as one cannot say "Ah hah! I prevented cancer or I prevented heart disease". It just doesn't come up.
Most individuals go on LC and/or go into Ketosis in an effort to lose weight. If you have been eating junk for 30,40,50 years and don't see results in a short period of time, does this mean it isn't working? Perhaps it takes 20 years or more in Ketosis to repair some bodies? I believe there isn't enough data to be clear on how your body adjusts - and how long it takes some people.
It takes many individuals 30+ years to ruin their body with glycogenesis...however this is beginning to happen to toddlers now.
Today,I had your brother beat...my ketones were at 5.8!
A week ago I was dowm in the 0.1-0.3 range while visiting relatives for the weekend (a little more carbs & protein brought me down from 0.6-1.5 range). Upon returning home I decided to get serious and cut my protein down to 1 gram/kg lean weight (about 56-62g, I'm 5'3", about 130lb). This has been working, gradually bringing the numbers up. The previous two days were 2.3&2.2. Yesterday, I did a sprint triathlon (my first, at age 45)but ate about the same carbs & protein. I am guessing that the exercise helped bring the ketones up. For fat I have been eating a lot of cream sauces, sauteing in lots of oil or butter and snacking on butter or coconut oil. I could use suggestions of other fat based snacks that don't have too much protein! I used to eat up to 150g of protein but don't miss it now, as long as I eat fat when hungry.
I think Gary Kim has the correct answer for you: Your calories (1,500) are too high and could come from either fat of protein if your carbs are +/- 5%. From the BMI table your "lean body weight" for 5'-5" would be about 120lbs (one step below mid-range for normal weight, arbitrarily). At 0.5g protein per pound of lean body weight, that would be 60g of protein a day, or 16% which is a good number. If 5% of calories are in carbs, that would be 75 calories or about 19g/day. Then protein and carbs total 315 (240+75), leaving 1,185 calories (132g) for fat. That's 79% fat.
Conclusion: You're not losing fat because your eating too much fat; you're burning dietary fat instead of body fat. That what Gary Kim said to you and Volek and Phinney would say, I think.
I weigh 255 lbs (and dropping 2 lbs a week). I eat 65g protein, 90g fat and 15g (net) carbs. My protein is based on a 'lean body weight' of 150 lbs for a 5'-11" height. I never expect to get even close to 150, but it is the mid-range weight for normal for my height. I will be happy when I reach 225. That will represent a 40% weight loss from the 375 starting point. Of couse, I might re-evaluate my goal then. My wife's goal for me it to be 'only half the man I was.'
For me, I remained in mild ketosis for over three months (typical readings 0.6-0.8) and lost a few pounds at first, but after a month, my weight started to rise again, and I wound up a few pounds more than when I started. I also found my knees began to hurt when descending stairs. Some other side effects of ketosis were higher anxiety or jitteriness in the morning along with blood glucose typically at 110 mg/dl. (I don't drink coffee or consume caffeine.) Adding a few more carbs from potatoes & rice made these symptoms go away, but of course, my blood ketones are now at 0.2 and a few pounds more water weight from the added glycogen storage.
If you are using any "artificial food" drop it,sweeteners- splenda etc and check for any "non-food" names in all sauces, seasoning etc.Artificial foods, like shakes, bars, seasoning with any lab names or anything for that matter will not help you drop weight, everyone is different but for some this things really slow down the process.
Reduce stress in anyway you can-sleep very very important once you get under control, the eating and the day will flow easily.Don't forget to be kind to your body, meditate for 5- 10min if possible, take care of yourself. Don't overstress your body, funnily enough i start losing as soon i started to forget about losing weight and get on with the day and plus appreciate that although i am not as thin as i would like i still am the same person with same values, qualities and therefore beautiful.
If you find a way of doing simple exercise your body will thank you for looking good not only when dressed but also naked..nothing major, more walking, gardening, before gyms were around people were still doing exercise, take sun when possible (no sunscreen or sunglasses but no frying included) and watch comedy movies as it reduces stress. Weird tips but these work helping the task of losing weight all around easier.
A simple lampshade on in bedroom before going to sleep and little time to unwind do miracles proving you with more peaceful sleep.I don't use harsh light as soon as i get to room only if i need to search for something.
Also last but not least you aren't in your 20's
although you still want to reach the same weight perhaps is too low - a person with medium frame best weight would be 127-141 so 120lb perhaps is already too low for you.
I saw pictures of myself in lowest weight through eating LC, starting at 145 -5'5 and believe i never ever monitor as some have with ketones stick etc i can say roughly i ate around 100gr of protein, low carb - a banana in morning everyday and salad vegetables inclusive of carrots everyday so 30/40gr and amounts ridiculous of fat as per olive oil& butter+coconut oil in everything starting with eating 2 tbsp in morning and reached very low weight, the true was i looked horrible, but i though i looked fine so i know my best weight is 125-126lb, less i start to look sick in anorectic sort of way. So i don't really believe in calories just if you monitor artificial food and sleep well, treat yourself well the body repays you but also believe that we all have a point "perfect weight" but sometimes we want more, perhaps those allusive 120lb aren't as best as you would look now in your 40's.
I would try to lose 10lb and then adjust the rest of journey, i actually focus on health, eating the best food i can afford and cooking all of it from scratch, even mayo -nothing artificial apart from butter, olive oil,coconut oil and peanut butter- yeah i can eat sometimes a jar of all natural and remain the same weight just cream/dairy doesn't work for me perhaps as i am intolerant doesn't help me lose weight - i didn't take anything as gospel as in the end of the day you will live with food everyday apart from only eating a one piece fruit a day i really didn't count carbs in vegetables.
Also found that a few blowouts after 3 months are really useful and invite you body to be surprised instead of ketosis all the time, as long as after that day you are back on the horse as they say...this was what happen to the ancestors as they would have pig out on honey if they found it...also i didn't ban any vegetable as i don't believe in non-foods so i use vegetables to complement my dishes, just avoid very sweet with exceptions carrots i have them everyday with infinite tomatoes(i have LC Mediterranean style diet) but if i want anything sweet i have corn,swede,pumpkin in oven with olive oil perfect-not in cans of course.
Only after 3 months as after this period you are adjusted to way of eating and isn't as difficult to get back on the horse. Also in those days you can join in family &friends without regrets Doing blowout try to be rational unless is xmas,as per example after night with alcohol next day do fry up with very little carbs involved- it will ease your rather healthy LC body and will help with you staying on track. Plenty coconut oil/butter to fry of eggs with bacon plus bits even tomatoes, mushrooms or even burgers, mince meat -check for sugar if not doing them yourself and you good to go, make plenty so as you will be lazy no need for more cooking -skip most vegetables and fruit, this can be applied after overindulgent days as because we ate other types of food our body will have need for that something- something extra this will calm the "dragon"-your belly down!
Sorry for the long long reply just though i could help someone out there!