As I’ve said before, I’ve been living the Intermittent Fasting and Keto Friendly lifestyle for over 2 decades and fell into this lifestyle quite by accident. It’s only recently that I learned that it’s the latest diet craze (hopefully not a fad). As such, I have never measured my blood sugar or ketone levels (never knew ketones existed until several years ago). In the creation of this blog and my Instagram account I have run across people that are actively measuring their blood glucose and ketone levels to make sure they are in Ketosis. So, I became curious about my own levels.
I had a theory that I slip into ketosis rather easily after consuming loads of carbohydrates and that’s what has allowed me to maintain a stable weight without watching what I eat. Keep in mind that I do not have a sweet tooth so I don’t normally eat cookies, candies, chocolates, cakes, and other sweet desserts. It’s not that I don’t like them when I’m eating them it’s just that I never crave them. I think that is a major contributing factor as to why I go back into ketosis easily… or so I theorize.
I decided to put it to the test by buying a glucose and ketone meter and testing myself daily from July 15th through August 6th. That’s 3 weeks of daily testing. Before July 15th I consumed carbohydrates in the form of white bread and it set me up to start out of ketosis and I thought that would be a good baseline. At the end I also consumed a slightly elevated level of carbohydrates in just the food I ate. No bread or pasta or sweets but just an over abundance of carbs in regular food.
On August 6th I went to NYC to attend my granddaughter’s 1st birthday. I was gone for 2 weeks and decided to just eat anything and not monitor my glucose or ketone levels until I return. Upon my return I would resume my standard daily diet that is mostly low carb and begin testing again to see how quickly I could get back into ketosis. While in NYC I ate everything. I had rice, popcorn, potato chips, donuts, soft drinks, cake, tacos, etc. In other words I consumed food with little thought. I simply enjoyed myself and my granddaughter’s birthday.
The chart below shows my Glucose Ketone Index (GKI), which is better explained here on keto-mojo.com. It starts on July 15th where I’m out of ketosis right after the weekend where I consumed bread. Then it shows my GKI throughout the rest of July and how quickly I went back into ketosis and stayed there until I left for NYC.
When I returned on August 19th I tested myself that evening after arriving home. I drove from NYC to Chicago and did not eat anything on the drive and only consumed black coffee. Obviously I was out of ketosis, as the ketones were too low to measure, but my blood sugar level was below 84 mg/dl so I think that shows I was already starting to turn the corner towards ketosis just by not eating anything all day long. For good measure, in the evening on the 19th, I had a couple slices of Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza and a salad as my only meal that day. I figured that would ensure my test was valid and keep me out of ketosis for at least the next day.
Yesterday, on August 20th, I tested my blood as normal in the middle of the day and my GKI was 16.48. Still out of ketosis. But, ketones in my blood had returned. The test showed 0.3 mmol/L and my glucose was 89 mg/dl. I resumed my normal eating patterns. I had my one meal, which was a decent sized salad with one hard boiled egg and half the chicken breast from a Costco rotisserie chicken, and a snack later that night of some salami slices, provolone cheese cubes, roasted almonds, and roasted peanuts.
Today, August 21st at around 1pm, I tested my levels and bam! Just as I theorized. I’m back in a moderate level of ketosis with a GKI of 4.03. My ketone level returned to 1.2 mmol/L and glucose remains below 90 at 87 mg/dl.
This confirms, in my mind, that because I’ve been living this way for so long that I’m well adapted to burn fat. That has allowed me to do things like eat the occasional carb meal or snack and then return to fat burning to get rid of what I just ate. It’s kept my weight stable for a long long time. Who knows how this applies to other people. Everyone has a different body chemistry and different metabolism.
Hopefully this post and experiment on myself helps someone to stay on the low-carb path so they can get to the weight they desire. Let me know if you have any questions I can answer!
Here’s a link to my Excel spreadsheet on which the chart above is based.
Here’s one more link to the Keto-Mojo Glucose/Ketone meter I used in this test. This post is not sponsored in any way by Keto-Mojo. This is an Amazon Affiliate link.
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