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

[Philly]

Hi everyone,
I know I'm new on this thread but hoping to share future success and health on my journey in finding stable NK...
I've been very frustrated in the past month not being able to get in the zone with my fasting blood ketone readings. Been stuck between 0.2 and 0.4....well after much frustration and various tweaking I may have found what all works for me finally?!?!
Today was first a.m level of 0.6!!!!!!! Yeah the best so far!!!!! Hoping this is the start of a trend in my journey!
Was just so happy I finally got somewhere I had to share and hope to continue to support and vent on future days!
I've been tracking my fasting glucose also and notice from day to day it can be a difference of 20+ (don't know measurement term) I vary between the lowest 53 to highest 78, any knowledge if this is signs of something or normal daily variation?
Thanks

[clackley]

Congratulations Philly! What did you do to change your blood ketones?

Fasting blood sugars are different for different people so it is hard to hazard anything without knowing a lot more about you.

[Philly]

The past three days I ate breakfast and lunch only and that seemed to help finally. I decreased calories and protein some too, but I think it's the IF that is doing it, because i kept the calories and protein the same just ate it in two meals instead of three,however it is only day one in zone!
I'll keep updating...

[lisamt]

I'm new to this thread but have been eating high fat, moderate protein, and low carb since the end of December. I read the Art and Science of Low Carb Living recently and found it very helpful in understanding this WOE. I haven't been testing blood ketones because I can't afford the equipment right now, but am fairly certain I'm in ketosis since I'm losing weight and haven't gone overboard on carbs or protein.

I used an online keto calculator to calculate my macros:

50/F/5'2" | SW 200 | CW 191
* 1400 kcal Goal
* 20g Carbohydrates
* 85g Protein
* 109g Fat

I love that I can eat to satisfaction on keto and not feel hungry all the time. My calorie intake actually varies from day to day, but when I average it out over the course of a week it comes to around 1400 without really trying.

[drjlocarb]

Welcome lisamt. Macros are great.

Looks like you are doing extremely well so far. Way to go.

[JMCM1]

drjlocarb - not to threadjack, but I wanted to say how much my DH and I loved the Cheez-its you made from the Better Than Flour mix.

That thread is so busy - just wanted you to know how really good we think those crackers are!

[Philly]

Day 2 of optimal zone, 0.7!!!!! However no lost pounds yet.

[Myles]

started tracking again on monday. Are these numbers good for a 6 foot 325ish lb guy? I want to lose fat ...faster preferably LOl - am i eating enough calories? enough protein?

Monday - 2537 Cal - 228g fat / 105g protein / 16g carbs - 81/17/2
Tuesday - 2190 Cal - 212g fat / 60g protein (WTH?) 23 carbs - 85/11/4
Wednesday - 1899 Cal - 154g fat / 113g protein / 11g carbs - 74/24/2

[drjlocarb]

Looks like you are in the ballpark on all macros. The keto-calculator, (you can google it and play with the numbers), shows 2300 cal and 95g protein. This calorie # is your BMR and you need 2800 cals to maintain.. I have to eat below my BMR to be in NK.

[Myles]

Originally Posted by drjlocarb

Looks like you are in the ballpark on all macros. The keto-calculator, (you can google it and play with the numbers), shows 2300 cal and 95g protein. This calorie # is your BMR and you need 2800 cals to maintain.. I have to eat below my BMR to be in NK.

alright i will try to keep my cals under 2300 and protein under 95 - what about on days where i lift weights?

[UnstrungHarp]

Long overdue update. Work has been so busy I haven't had time to post an update, plus I've been so discouraged I couldn't find the motivation. As of this morning, I am back up to 145 although I did hit a new low of 141.8 earlier this week. Fasting morning ketones have been high most days, although I did have one low day of 0.8 within this past week. No significant diet changes either in content, calories or macros at any time during the past two weeks to help explain any weight fluctuations, so I assume it's "water" or whatever. I was only able to work out twice last week and twice this week because of my workload, and all of those workouts were HIIT/Tabata rather than strength training. I'm hitting the weights again next week since I will finally have time to go back to that kind of workout.

About the blood test results I was so eager to receive...they told me nothing. I suppose I should be relieved that they were mostly "normal" but it only means I am no closer to figuring anything out. The most frustrating thing of all is that I assumed that a full thyroid panel would include all the tests I had been reading about (free T3, most importantly), and that's exactly what the test did NOT include. (I will list the results below along with the lab's reference ranges.)

Let's see...I don't understand why my FSH is still high when I've been on birth control since last August as a treatment for menopause symptoms. Since these results were mailed to me and I didn't get to talk to the doctor, I am confused about why the BCPs wouldn't bring my FSH down more significantly, out of the post-menopausal range. I do know that I haven't experienced hot flashes anymore, so at least my treatment has been successful with that. Maybe once you're post-menopausal, your FSH never goes down, no matter what? I have not been able to find anything about this on many google searches. One related thing is that my prolactin was again high, as it was last August, but both times it was indicated as not being significant. The handwritten note from the doctor on the page says that the number has to be over 100 before it is significant, and sometimes it is elevated when a patient is on anti-depressants. Just a quick google search told me that this is true with a particular kind of anti-depressant, but not the kind I take. I can only assume that the doctor wanted to find a quick and easy explanation to write on the paper to dismiss any potential concern about the elevated prolactin and jumped on anti-depressants without digging any deeper. But I am not a doctor, what do I know. /sarcasm

Here are the specific results.

Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH): 43.2 (post-menopausal range: 34-153)
Prolactin: 48.0 (range: 3-23)

Free T4: 1.17 (range: 0.71-1.85)
T4: 8.0 (range: 4.5-12.0)
TSH: 1.536 (range: 0.35-5.5)*
T-Uptake: 27.3 (range: 23-36%)

Vitamin D: 44 (range: 32-100)**

Cortisol: 12 (PM range: 3-17)***

* This is the obsolete range, isn't it? Haven't they determined that a better range is much more narrow? But even so, my number would fall within that narrower range.

** This was shocking to me, as I almost never get any sun exposure, working inside at home all day. Maybe my diet and multi vitamin actually provide sufficient vitamin D.

*** The blood draw would have been around 1:30 or 2:00 in the afternoon, so I just listed the PM range. Apparently, blood cortisol is nowhere near as useful or accurate as saliva testing, though. This option was not mentioned to me by the doctor.

If any of you knowledgable thyroid people could let me know what you think of those results and whether or not T3 is as important as I think it is, I'd really appreciate it. I was all ready to make an appointment with an endocrinologist immediately after receiving these results, but then my workload went crazy. Not to mention, I keep fighting off an overwhelming feeling of "why bother" and general helplessness/apathy/exhaustion. My schedule will have time for an appointment pretty much any time during the next two weeks, but the question is whether or not it's worth the effort.

[amandacj08]

Originally Posted by UnstrungHarp

Vitamin D: 44 (range: 32-100)**


** This was shocking to me, as I almost never get any sun exposure, working inside at home all day. Maybe my diet and multi vitamin actually provide sufficient vitamin D.

I would read up a little more on this, because from what I have read the "experts" really want you to be at least 65 for Vitamin D. Not having high enough levels of Vit D can cause all kinds of issues. My levels were very, very low at one point and I was having muscle spasms, weakness, fatigue, depression and weight gain. Low vit d is also linked with diabetes and auto-immune disease (both of which run in my family - so is it the chicken or the egg?).

Also, some people are just not that great at converting sunlight into vit d and need extra supplementation. I lived in San Antonio, TX at the time my levels were at 20.

Our bodies are so complicated, and figuring it all out can be so frustrating!