Thread: Ketone sticks/strips?

Originally Posted by Magggie

I wonder if you should do it on the 1st pee of the day?
I.e when it's concentrated

Most people on here will say first thing in the morning, but ketone concentrations are usually smaller in the morning and reach their highest level at midnight. People do vary though, with some showing a higher concentration in the morning and less at night. So...ummm.

Others have no excess as ketosis happens in the blood and will only show on the stix if you have an overflow into the urine. If you use your ketones efficiently, then you'll have no excess ketones on the stix at all.

Also, some people get a pink recording if they eat loads of fat as the ketostix don't know the difference between stored fat and dietary fat.

So there ya go, probably more there than you ever need to know about ketostix

My CDC said that it's best to do it first pee of the day, the ketones will be more concentrated too. But I think it's a bit dangerous relying on ketostix. If you are doing the diet 100% your body should go into ketosis and stay there. So using the stix to check once is great, after that so long as you haven't cheated there's no real need as you should still be in ketosis.

what an interesting thread.. I was just puzzling over coming out of ketosis last week for no apparent reason and it took me 4 days to get back in. So after reading this I might assume that my body was very efficient in using the ketones in those 4 days? Or shall I take it at face value and try and find the reason for a beige reading?

Originally Posted by slimmingagain

what an interesting thread.. I was just puzzling over coming out of ketosis last week for no apparent reason and it took me 4 days to get back in. So after reading this I might assume that my body was very efficient in using the ketones in those 4 days? Or shall I take it at face value and try and find the reason for a beige reading?

Were you going by the stix when you say you came out of ketosis? If so, you probably weren't out of it at all.

It may be that your body uses your ketones efficiently. It may be that you don't make a lot of ketones (no problem with that...doesn't make any difference to weight loss). It maybe that you move around more than some...exercise more. I may be that the TOTM changed the reading.

People that are on a keto diet for a while often get negative readings as the body gets better at using the ketones.

It could be a number of reasons for it.

You may have even come out of it ...but the stix wont necessarily tell you as they don't measure ketosis...only excess ketones.

Whether you need to know why you had a beige reading will depend on what diet you are doing, but since ketosis has little to do with weightloss, I think it's more accurate to gauge how you feel.

Thanks, KD

I'm on Avidlite VLCD and at the moment having 2 shakes, a soup and a bar a day. So in theory should be in ketosis on that.

The ketostix showed pink until sat last week and I checked every 3-6 days since they have to be used up anyway! Then sat it was beige all the way until today when it's pink again. My activity levels are the same, totm is imminent but not here yet.

I suppose as you say I might have got better at using the ketones by the end of week 4 and am now not so efficient again! TBH not reading too much into it as the weight is still being lost but it's nice to know what's going on and for what reasons iykwim!

Kat