January Nutritional Ketosis...Are you in the zone?

[Buffy45]

Lindsay, you are right, nobody chimed in on this and I had meant to. I have a tanita one that measures weight to the 2/10's of a lb and I like that, just b/c there are times when I really am needing to see a change and even that small of an amount is reassuring. Also, like you, I don't know how accurage the BF readings are, BUT, I can say that mine is working, I think, b/c it was consistently showing my BF as 50-51% , before starting NK. And, I am seeing it creeping ever so slowly downward, this morning I think it was 47.2%. That is with no exercise of any kind. So, I do think the BF part works, just not sure how close it is to my exact BF. At this rate, by the time I am 130, my BF should be 20%, right

[NKSL55]

Originally Posted by Buffy45

Lindsay, you are right, nobody chimed in on this and I had meant to. I have a tanita one that measures weight to the 2/10's of a lb and I like that, just b/c there are times when I really am needing to see a change and even that small of an amount is reassuring. Also, like you, I don't know how accurage the BF readings are, BUT, I can say that mine is working, I think, b/c it was consistently showing my BF as 50-51% :o:o:o, before starting NK. And, I am seeing it creeping ever so slowly downward, this morning I think it was 47.2%. That is with no exercise of any kind. So, I do think the BF part works, just not sure how close it is to my exact BF. At this rate, by the time I am 130, my BF should be 20%, right :hyst:

Yes, my experience with my "WiThings" scale was that while I was just losing weight, it seemed to show a reasonable reduction in % body fat over time. It was not until I started power lifting and my weight went up that it became clear it was just associating any increase in weight as 100% due to fat. I could see the muscle hypertrophy, but the WiThing scale saw only adipose tissue hypertrophy.

--
Phillip

[MerryKate]

Checking in. I finally got the strips for my new PrecisionXtra and tried it out this morning. I had a reading of 0.6 ketones and 86 on blood sugar, so I'm in the zone.

Comparing the two: The PrecisionXtra is a lot easier to use than the NovaMax. I found Nova's strips to be rather flimsy and had a number of error messages. I don't see that happening with Precision. I also really like the calibration strips that come with the Precision strips, since I was frustrated with having to waste a $2 strip to calibrate the NovaMax. My only complaint was figuring out the lancet - the first time I use it, it apparently didn't pierce the skin; the second time it went so deep it wouldn't stop bleeding for several minute. :/ That's probably more user error than anything else.

[Buffy45]

Originally Posted by MerryKate

Checking in. I finally got the strips for my new PrecisionXtra and tried it out this morning. I had a reading of 0.6 ketones and 86 on blood sugar, so I'm in the zone.

Comparing the two: The PrecisionXtra is a lot easier to use than the NovaMax. I found Nova's strips to be rather flimsy and had a number of error messages. I don't see that happening with Precision. I also really like the calibration strips that come with the Precision strips, since I was frustrated with having to waste a $2 strip to calibrate the NovaMax. My only complaint was figuring out the lancet - the first time I use it, it apparently didn't pierce the skin; the second time it went so deep it wouldn't stop bleeding for several minute. :/ That's probably more user error than anything else.

Well done MerryKate. You will get the hang of the lancet, after almost 5 years of being diabetic, I think I could do it all with my eyes closed

[mom2zeke]

Good morning everyone! I was up early to get my son to the airport and then directly to kettlebells to make up for missing class on Wednesday.

This is day 5 of ketones over .5.

Weight: 147.6 ->148.2 ->148 ->147 ->147.2 -> 147.2 -> 147 -> 146.8 -> 146 -> 145.4 -> 146.4
AM Ketones: 0.2 -> 0.2 -> 0.1 -> 0.2 -> 0.3 -> 0.3 -> 0.8 -> 1.0 -> 1.2 -> 1.1 -> 1.4

I'm feeling so much better than a few days ago, getting back into ketosis can be rough. We took my son out to dinner last night for his 21st birthday. Of course it involved a few cocktails and it seems that I made good choices at the restaurant (New American Cuisine type local restaurant) as reflected in my ketones this morning. My weight is up a pound, but it tends to jump around so I'm not too concerned.

It's great to see all the new people posting--the thread is getting really busy!!

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by MerryKate

Checking in. I finally got the strips for my new PrecisionXtra and tried it out this morning. I had a reading of 0.6 ketones and 86 on blood sugar, so I'm in the zone.

Congratulations on being in the zone!

Comparing the two: The PrecisionXtra is a lot easier to use than the NovaMax. I found Nova's strips to be rather flimsy and had a number of error messages. I don't see that happening with Precision. I also really like the calibration strips that come with the Precision strips, since I was frustrated with having to waste a $2 strip to calibrate the NovaMax. My only complaint was figuring out the lancet - the first time I use it, it apparently didn't pierce the skin; the second time it went so deep it wouldn't stop bleeding for several minute. :/ That's probably more user error than anything else.

Thanks for the comparison! This is really useful for people trying to decide which meter to get.

[Buffy45]

I find myself wanting to get the Precision Ultra just so I can compare the two. I am so OCD

[drjlocarb]

Originally Posted by MerryKate

Checking in. I finally got the strips for my new PrecisionXtra and tried it out this morning. I had a reading of 0.6 ketones and 86 on blood sugar, so I'm in the zone.

Comparing the two: The PrecisionXtra is a lot easier to use than the NovaMax. I found Nova's strips to be rather flimsy and had a number of error messages. I don't see that happening with Precision.

to the zone!

The strips ARE really flimsy and sometimes I put them in and it says it's a Glu strip. I take it out and put in back in. When that happens, I am not sure if it reads it right

[shelley]

BigRunner -- Congratulations for the weightloss getting you into onederland! Wonderful or should I say "onederful"!!!!!!

MerryKate...woo hoo on getting into ketosis and doing so well. Thanks for the comparison of the 2 meters.

I have never had an error message on my Nova Max and find the strips to be just dandy for what I'm doing. Not having felt the Precision strips, I don't find the NovaMax ones to be "flimsy", but I have no comparison.

I dropped my protein and calories yesterday and got a nice 98 glucose reading and a not so nice .2 on the Ketones. I've done 9 tests in a row of my box of 10 and they have been .1, .2, .3 many times, one .4 and now back to .2. I'm lost and have no clue how to do this anymore. It's been 4.5 months. Don't recommend lowering protein as I've been as low as 37 (yesterday) with carbs always under 20 and fat 75-82%. I"m just frustrated as you can well imagine after 4.5 months of this. Tomorrow is weigh/measure day and I already know that the weight and inches have not gone down since I started....and yesterday I had to go up a pants size in my jeans. Sorry for the whining. I just don't have any idea what to do next to get the ball rolling for weight and/or inch loss....getting into ketosis for me seems like it's never going to happen.
Whine, whine, whine!!!!!

[luigi_uk]

my reading this morning

blood ketones 0.8
blood sugar 4.7

need to look at some recipes as im eating the same foods, part of me doesnt want to rock the boat or is it lazyness?

[NKSL55]

I was a little low this morning. 1.3 mM, I think?

I cooked a frittata this afternoon. I diced 2 bell peppers (the ripe yellow, orange and red ones, not the green ones) and cooked them in an iron frying pan along with 5 oz. of diced red onions in about 3 TBSP of that Irish butter. Added 8 oz. of chorizo sausage and 4 Jimmy Dean sausage patties and cooked those. Then I poured in a dozen eggs and 1 pint of HWC. Then I added a package of thawed frozen spinach with the water squeezed out of it. (I usually just use 8 Jimmy Dean sausage patties -- 12 oz? and a bunch of cumin. But with the spices in the chorizo, I just added a little cumin). I also added about 4 oz. of shredded Parmesan cheeze and stirred a little.

It is supposed to set in 4 minutes on medium heat, but since I started adding a dozen large eggs instead of 8, it is not really set at that point so I let it go a few more minutes. But I don't think I should -- this leads to the center bottom of the frittata getting scorched a bit.

Anyway, after 4 + minutes after adding the eggs and HWC, I put the whole pan in an oven that has been pre-heated to 400 degrees F for 8 minutes.

Sorry I haven't calculated the macros. I guess it is 8 servings.

I had a serving of this late in the afternoon along with a TBSP of CO in broth. A couple of hours later my BK was 2.7 mM -- I check just before powerlifting. As usual, my lifting workout went way longer than it is supposed to take. About 2.5 hours. My heart rate monitor tells me I burned about 1400 Cal. No idea if that is accurate. After the workout my BK was 0.4 mM. I generally see about a 2 mM drop in my BK after such a workout.

--
Phillip

[luigi_uk]

Originally Posted by luigi_uk

my reading this morning

blood ketones 0.8
blood sugar 4.7

need to look at some recipes as im eating the same foods, part of me doesnt want to rock the boat or is it lazyness?

cant edit for some reason, my urine strip was so dark i did a blood test last night and it was 1.8 ..woo hoo the highest its been since i been recording

[tablis]

Originally Posted by luigi_uk

cant edit for some reason, my urine strip was so dark i did a blood test last night and it was 1.8 ..woo hoo the highest its been since i been recording

yay!

[UnstrungHarp]

Weight: 144.4 --> 143.2 --> 143.2 --> 144.4 --> 143.0 --> 143.0 --> 143.0

Ketones: 1.2 --> 1.9 --> 1.6 --> 1.2 --> 1.1 --> 1.2 --> 2.7

I have a confession: I am getting a variety of readings on my scale ever since it apparently got unstuck about 6 days ago. For example, today I think my first non-registered-user weight was 144.2 (?), then I got on again as not a registered user, and it dropped to 143.2. Then I got on as User 1, and it weighed 143.0. Then, I weighed again as an unregistered user and got 143.0. If I remember correctly, then I did User 2 once and back to unregistered user yet again and got 143.0 on those. Since I got 143.0 more often than not, that's what I logged in. I don't know if that's completely honest or accurate, but I really hate logging in a weight that's higher than the day before, if I have any excuse not to!!

What a ketone jump! I'm relieved to see that eating out for dinner last night did not sabotage the ketones as I had feared (caesar salad, salmon, creamed spinach, decaf coffee with cream). It was a perfectly "on plan" meal, but the online nutrition calculator for the restaurant told me that the salmon was pretty high in protein. Overall, my calories and macros for the day turned out to be within limits, although both the protein and fat were somewhat higher than what I've been aiming for lately.

Also, I adore the restaurants that have such specific nutrition calculators on their website. You get to choose what portions of the meal you actually want to calculate. Caesar salad with no croutons? Just deselect the croutons. Salmon with no "fish seasoning" (whatever that was)? Deselect it. It gives you the complete info for each portion of the meal as well as the total meal once you're done adding foods. If anyone is interested, we ate at The Chop House last night, and I know that Hardee's is at least one example of a fast food place that has a similar calculator on their website. Monster Thickburger with no bun or mayo (I hate mayo) = heavenly!!

[JMCM1]

Wow - well done Lindsay!
And thanks for the info about the restaurants.

That scale, though...

[mom2zeke]

Luigi--congratulations on getting your ketones moving upward!

Shelley--are you still following the diet that your trainer put you on?

Phillip--if 1.3 is low, what is your normal morning reading? Do you think that the length of your workouts causes the low ketones afterwards--or do the readings go down independent of the workout length? 2.5 hours seems like a lot of time. I guess that I've read that there are diminishing returns with workouts over 1 hour. And thanks for the frittata recipe, it sounds great!

Buffy--I guess am OCD too, as I have the Precision waiting to do the comparison testing. I haven't ordered any strips yet because I already have a stash of Nova strips and they keep going on sale.

Lindsay--I don't trust your scale! Have you thought about contacting the manufacturer about your odd readings? on holding a lower weight and your increasing ketones! That's great that some restaurants allow you to configure your meal to get the correct nutrition information--thanks for sharing that!

[mom2zeke]

Good morning everyone!

This is day 6 of ketones over .5.

Weight: 147.6 ->148.2 ->148 ->147 ->147.2 -> 147.2 -> 147 -> 146.8 -> 146 -> 145.4 -> 146.4 -> 146.2
AM Ketones: 0.2 -> 0.2 -> 0.1 -> 0.2 -> 0.3 -> 0.3 -> 0.8 -> 1.0 -> 1.2 -> 1.1 -> 1.4 -> 1.7

I've been looking back at my spreadsheet and I really think that keeping my protein right at the bottom (or even slightly lower) of my range as defined by the Performance book is the key to keeping myself in ketosis. I don't have any problem keeping my carbs low, but getting the right protein amount is hard! I don't want to go too low and lose LBM, but I really can't push it much higher without dropping out of ketosis.

How is everyone else doing?

[bjjcaveman]

Originally Posted by UnstrungHarp

I just wanted to say I checked out your blog, and I think it's fantastic. It is very inspiring and makes me want to start one, but I'm already over 2 months in to my NK "experiment!" I have logged daily food intake, weight, workouts and ketones since the beginning, so I have tons of data but none of the interesting commentary. Anyway, I hope you keep doing the blog as well as posting your updates here!

Sorry to hear that the Chinese restaurant derailed your progress, especially since it sounds like you stayed on plan as much as could be expected. I wish my local Chinese restaurant had spinach!! When we go there, I always go to the hibachi bar and only pick out "safe" stuff. The guy squirts some mystery sauce on it at the end, but I am hoping it's not enough to make a difference. It's an all-you-can-eat buffet, but I just go to the hibachi bar once and add the awesome green beans and maybe mushrooms from the other bars to the same plate.

Thanks for the kind words about my blog. I don't think it's too late for you to start one if you want. But even if you didn't, since it seems like you were diligent about keeping track of things, it would be fun to tabulate everything and even create some charts! That way it may help you recognize any patterns that arise. Maybe your ketones increase after a certain type of workout or meal? Maybe you start losing weigt more when you increase your rest time?

It seems like you have a wealth of information at your fingertips.

[bjjcaveman]

Originally Posted by NKSL55

Yes, interesting blog post.

One issue here is we have the "street light" problem. That is, you can only see the area illuminated by the street light. But all sorts of things can be going on outside that area. In this case, your street light is your BK meter -- and it is only "on" when you take a reading. So, right away, you have 2 major problems:

(1) Most obviously, your BK levels could be fluctuating wildly during the day, but you are assessing only a couple (at most) time points during a given day.

(2) More importantly, blood ketones and blood sugar are only a component of the nutrient content of your blood. Free fatty acids (FFA) are said to be the major fuel for skeletal muscles after a period of keto adaptation. So what is happening to your FFAs over this period? Hard to say. There is no FFA stick for our blood glucose/ blood ketone monitors.

Anyway, all experiments are limited in this way to one extent or another. As long as you remain aware of this limitation, you can still draw tentative conclusions. The whole point of science is that all conclusions are tentative.

Oh, the other big problem here is your n=1 sample size with no controls also limits how certain we can be that what you have seen could be generalized to a larger group of people. But I think you were well aware of that. That is okay as well, small "descriptive" experiments of this sort may be used to get a vague idea of the parameters in play for more controlled experiments later.

--
Phillip

Thank you so much for your thoughtful response! You are right in that there are so many potential confounding factors that drawing clear conclusions is nearly impossible. But the more I think about it the more I find that it is near impossible to standardize things appropriately while maintaining a normal way of life.

It seems like to adequately answer these questions, a population type experiment would need to be conducted in a laboratory type of environment... Hopefully something like this will be done!

[Buffy45]

Morning all.
I looked at the precision meters and the places I looked were selling the strips for up to $5 each, can that be right???? Or can someone tell me where to get it and the strips much cheaper. I saw one site that said your insurance would give you a meter for free but my insurance wasn't listed so I didn't have a member number to use on the other companies.

Lindsay, if I were you, I would pack that scale up and return it. There are so many out there, why deal with the frustration of that and I am sure Academy has a pretty good return policy. I have to say, my tanita might not be perfect on BF but as far as weight, it is right on with my doctors scales.

Wow Lindsay, I would love it if all restaurants had such great nutritional breakdowns on their websites.

My headache is still there I am afraid. Neurosurgeon put me on 800 mg of advil, 3 times a day for 3 days, then I have to move down to 400 twice a day, this is for the inflamation of the neuralgia but move down on dosage to protect tummy. Well, at the higher dose, it masked the headache fine but the lower dose doesn't so I am not feeling as good. BP too high still but not in danger range. I see my Dr. tomorrow and have lots of questions for him. Guess this is just going to take time to heal and just praying they are on the right track on what they are saying it is and treating.

Kristn, right on girl with how you have brought your ketones back up and your weight in line.

My ketones were .9 this AM which is right in line for me, BS 84. Seeing a little drop in BF here lately, that is the slowest one to move but as long as it goes downward, I am ok with that.

[bjjcaveman]

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

Good morning everyone! I was up early to get my son to the airport and then directly to kettlebells to make up for missing class on Wednesday.

This is day 5 of ketones over .5.

Weight: 147.6 ->148.2 ->148 ->147 ->147.2 -> 147.2 -> 147 -> 146.8 -> 146 -> 145.4 -> 146.4
AM Ketones: 0.2 -> 0.2 -> 0.1 -> 0.2 -> 0.3 -> 0.3 -> 0.8 -> 1.0 -> 1.2 -> 1.1 -> 1.4

I'm feeling so much better than a few days ago, getting back into ketosis can be rough. We took my son out to dinner last night for his 21st birthday. Of course it involved a few cocktails and it seems that I made good choices at the restaurant (New American Cuisine type local restaurant) as reflected in my ketones this morning. My weight is up a pound, but it tends to jump around so I'm not too concerned.

It's great to see all the new people posting--the thread is getting really busy!!

What kind of cocktails did you have? Top shelf stuff???

[bjjcaveman]

Originally Posted by UnstrungHarp

Weight: 144.4 --> 143.2 --> 143.2 --> 144.4 --> 143.0 --> 143.0 --> 143.0

Ketones: 1.2 --> 1.9 --> 1.6 --> 1.2 --> 1.1 --> 1.2 --> 2.7

I have a confession: I am getting a variety of readings on my scale ever since it apparently got unstuck about 6 days ago. For example, today I think my first non-registered-user weight was 144.2 (?), then I got on again as not a registered user, and it dropped to 143.2. Then I got on as User 1, and it weighed 143.0. Then, I weighed again as an unregistered user and got 143.0. If I remember correctly, then I did User 2 once and back to unregistered user yet again and got 143.0 on those. Since I got 143.0 more often than not, that's what I logged in. I don't know if that's completely honest or accurate, but I really hate logging in a weight that's higher than the day before, if I have any excuse not to!!

What a ketone jump! I'm relieved to see that eating out for dinner last night did not sabotage the ketones as I had feared (caesar salad, salmon, creamed spinach, decaf coffee with cream). It was a perfectly "on plan" meal, but the online nutrition calculator for the restaurant told me that the salmon was pretty high in protein. Overall, my calories and macros for the day turned out to be within limits, although both the protein and fat were somewhat higher than what I've been aiming for lately.

Also, I adore the restaurants that have such specific nutrition calculators on their website. You get to choose what portions of the meal you actually want to calculate. Caesar salad with no croutons? Just deselect the croutons. Salmon with no "fish seasoning" (whatever that was)? Deselect it. It gives you the complete info for each portion of the meal as well as the total meal once you're done adding foods. If anyone is interested, we ate at The Chop House last night, and I know that Hardee's is at least one example of a fast food place that has a similar calculator on their website. Monster Thickburger with no bun or mayo (I hate mayo) = heavenly!!

Maybe you need a new scale? Each of my digital scales report the same weight if I step on them in consecutive times.

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by bjjcaveman

What kind of cocktails did you have? Top shelf stuff???

LOL, I'm too old to drink cheap liquor. Grey Goose and club soda with lime.

[bjjcaveman]

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

Good morning everyone!

This is day 6 of ketones over .5.

Weight: 147.6 ->148.2 ->148 ->147 ->147.2 -> 147.2 -> 147 -> 146.8 -> 146 -> 145.4 -> 146.4 -> 146.2
AM Ketones: 0.2 -> 0.2 -> 0.1 -> 0.2 -> 0.3 -> 0.3 -> 0.8 -> 1.0 -> 1.2 -> 1.1 -> 1.4 -> 1.7

I've been looking back at my spreadsheet and I really think that keeping my protein right at the bottom (or even slightly lower) of my range as defined by the Performance book is the key to keeping myself in ketosis. I don't have any problem keeping my carbs low, but getting the right protein amount is hard! I don't want to go too low and lose LBM, but I really can't push it much higher without dropping out of ketosis.

How is everyone else doing?

It's so great to see continuing climb in your ketones!! It's like watching a ketone bull market!!

And it correlates with consistent weight loss. I really find your numbers very instructive... I wonder how high your ketones can go?

[Buffy45]

Hmmm, me thinks Kristn is not a "cheap date" Good girl!

[bjjcaveman]

Originally Posted by Buffy45

Morning all.
I looked at the precision meters and the places I looked were selling the strips for up to $5 each, can that be right???? Or can someone tell me where to get it and the strips much cheaper. I saw one site that said your insurance would give you a meter for free but my insurance wasn't listed so I didn't have a member number to use on the other companies.

Lindsay, if I were you, I would pack that scale up and return it. There are so many out there, why deal with the frustration of that and I am sure Academy has a pretty good return policy. I have to say, my tanita might not be perfect on BF but as far as weight, it is right on with my doctors scales.

Wow Lindsay, I would love it if all restaurants had such great nutritional breakdowns on their websites.

My headache is still there I am afraid. Neurosurgeon put me on 800 mg of advil, 3 times a day for 3 days, then I have to move down to 400 twice a day, this is for the inflamation of the neuralgia but move down on dosage to protect tummy. Well, at the higher dose, it masked the headache fine but the lower dose doesn't so I am not feeling as good. BP too high still but not in danger range. I see my Dr. tomorrow and have lots of questions for him. Guess this is just going to take time to heal and just praying they are on the right track on what they are saying it is and treating.

Kristn, right on girl with how you have brought your ketones back up and your weight in line.

My ketones were .9 this AM which is right in line for me, BS 84. Seeing a little drop in BF here lately, that is the slowest one to move but as long as it goes downward, I am ok with that.

I really hope things work out ok... And they will figure out what is going on with your bp.

It seems like people are very interested in the precision xtra system, which is also the one I use. I use a supplier that is much cheaper than 5$ per strip. Since I can't post the link here? Do you think it's be ok for me to post a link on my blog, so you guys can access it?

Don't want to break any rules or anything...

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by Buffy45

Morning all.
I looked at the precision meters and the places I looked were selling the strips for up to $5 each, can that be right???? Or can someone tell me where to get it and the strips much cheaper. I saw one site that said your insurance would give you a meter for free but my insurance wasn't listed so I didn't have a member number to use on the other companies.

Both Lindsay and I ordered the free meter without having our insurance company on the list. They don't ask for further information and we both picked a company at random.

Lindsay, if I were you, I would pack that scale up and return it. There are so many out there, why deal with the frustration of that and I am sure Academy has a pretty good return policy. I have to say, my tanita might not be perfect on BF but as far as weight, it is right on with my doctors scales.

I totally agree. My Omron is terrible for BF% but the weight is the same when I get on consecutively.

My headache is still there I am afraid. Neurosurgeon put me on 800 mg of advil, 3 times a day for 3 days, then I have to move down to 400 twice a day, this is for the inflamation of the neuralgia but move down on dosage to protect tummy. Well, at the higher dose, it masked the headache fine but the lower dose doesn't so I am not feeling as good. BP too high still but not in danger range. I see my Dr. tomorrow and have lots of questions for him. Guess this is just going to take time to heal and just praying they are on the right track on what they are saying it is and treating.

I am so sorry to hear that this is still going on! You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Kristn, right on girl with how you have brought your ketones back up and your weight in line.

Thanks! I am working so hard to keep my protein down. I know that this is the key for me, but I wish I could eat more and stay in ketosis.

My ketones were .9 this AM which is right in line for me, BS 84. Seeing a little drop in BF here lately, that is the slowest one to move but as long as it goes downward, I am ok with that.

you are the queen of consistent ketones.

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by bjjcaveman

It's so great to see continuing climb in your ketones!! It's like watching a ketone bull market!!

And it correlates with consistent weight loss. I really find your numbers very instructive... I wonder how high your ketones can go?

I just looked back at my ketone records and the highest morning ketones I've recorded is 4.1 on 7/27/12. At the time I was eating ~60g protein, 25g carbs (total, not net), 100g of fat and losing steadily.

Originally Posted by Buffy45

Hmmm, me thinks Kristn is not a "cheap date" Good girl!

I gave up being a cheap date a while ago and I'm much happier.

[mom2zeke]

Originally Posted by bjjcaveman

I really hope things work out ok... And they will figure out what is going on with your bp.

It seems like people are very interested in the precision xtra system, which is also the one I use. I use a supplier that is much cheaper than 5$ per strip. Since I can't post the link here? Do you think it's be ok for me to post a link on my blog, so you guys can access it?

Don't want to break any rules or anything...

I am not an expert of the TOS here which is why I always proceed with caution. I think a mention of the name of the supplier that you use on your blog is acceptable--I'm not sure about a link.

[NKSL55]

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

Phillip--if 1.3 is low, what is your normal morning reading?

Around 2mM is what I typically see.

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

Do you think that the length of your workouts causes the low ketones afterwards--or do the readings go down independent of the workout length? 2.5 hours seems like a lot of time. I guess that I've read that there are diminishing returns with workouts over 1 hour.

The workout should take less than 1 hour. I am just slow.
When I lift my heart rate spikes up above 150 for a brief period of time. Then I pretty much just sit around for a while plus maybe load some plates on the barbell. My average hr for the whole workout ends up being around 120 or so. So the HRM probably just does a calculation based on jogging/running/cycling for that amount of time at whatever heart rate. I have no reason to think it is even vaguely accurate.

Originally Posted by mom2zeke

And thanks for the frittata recipe, it sounds great!

Sure. Actually all the spinach, peppers and onions in it are probably contributing to my somewhat lower than normal BK. But 1.3 mM is fine. Actually I am planning to eat more salad as well. I was kind of tired of the the vinegar and olive oil dressing, so I asked one of the others for their yogurt-based ranch dressing recipe. Might make that up today.

--
Phillip