Day 303 - Measuring Ketones & Finding Out If I'm In Ketosis!

 I decided that I wanted to measure my ketones to see if I am in Ketosis to get the full benefits of a ketogenic diet. I bought some urine test strips to start. Thinking that this would be the least expensive way to go about measuring ketones. These are the test strips I ordered. They cost me $5.95 for 150 strips.

I picked up the test in the mail yesterday morning and came home and did a test right away. It came out negative which was quite disappointing. But I also just drank over 32 ounces of diet coke, so my urine was quite diluted. 

After I took the test, I got into the chapter of my book about testing methods. I learned that urine strips are the least accurate. Once you become keto adaptive, meaning your body is now adjusted to burning fat for fuel, your body will have very little ketones in the urine, ultimately giving you a false negative at some point. Many people end up thinking they are out of ketosis when they actually are not. My test did come out negative, but I knew I hadn't been doing the diet long enough for me to be ketone adapted. I also learned that the evenings are a better time to test. So I tested about 2 hours after I had dinner with better results:

Clearly this test shows I am in ketosis! But even before doing this second test I decided to go online and order a blood keto testing monitor. It also measures glucose which is not a bad thing to check on now and then as well. Only downfall is, I have to prick my finger to take the test. But I'm sure I will get used to it after awhile. Here is the monitor I purchased which had the best ratings on Amazon. 

I also read that breath testers are coming a long way and is another good option. But all the breath monitors I found were 4 or below when rated by customers. So I decided to just stick to the best method and go with a blood monitor. It should arrive by Thursday.

I am going to continue to use the urine strips to determine when I become ketone adapted. Plus, this will be a cheaper way to measure my ketones in the first month since it takes about a month to be ketone adaptive. It's also a great way to use up my 150 strips! LOL!

Please note that per the Carb Confusion book, we don't have to measure ketones in the blood. I am choosing to do this because I love playing with numbers and the nerd in me wants to know if I'm in ketosis or not. But per Dr. Eric Westman, if you follow phase 1 of his diet, you should be in ketosis. As long as you are losing weight and you are happy with your results, there is really no need to check your ketone levels.