Ketostix showing LOW on CKD? What's going on

[Nighthawkk]

Ok so I'm in Day 11 of my first CKD, and my Ketostick I just used is only indicating between 5-15 mg/dl (very low). How can this be right? The first 6 days I was cramping and constipated, then after the Day 7 carb-up it stopped. But somehow now 4 days later, I'm not fully in ketosis when my carbs are still 30g or less per day. My average low-carb day numbers right now are about 2,100kcal daily with 105g fat, 250g protein, and 28g carbs. Can someone help me shed some light on this? Thanks

 

[veneto82]

when first doing the ckd you should go carbless for the first two weeks. Then after that carb up every week.
Also i would suggest to up you fats so they are par with your protein or even greater. That will also get you in ketosis quicker.
Im currently doing ckd as well, i go back into ketosis about 2 days after carb up.
Dont forget even though its shows you are low, you are still in a keto state.

 

[Nighthawkk]

when first doing the ckd you should go carbless for the first two weeks. Then after that carb up every week.
Also i would suggest to up you fats so they are par with your protein or even greater. That will also get you in ketosis quicker.
Im currently doing ckd as well, i go back into ketosis about 2 days after carb up.
Dont forget even though its shows you are low, you are still in a keto state.

Thanks for the tips dude. Actually I've heard that fat is double caloric value compared to protein, so 100g fat= 200g protein as far as percentages are concerned. But seeing as my protein is much higher than the fat, should I throw in some natural peanut butter and flax oil into the protein shakes and get that fat up to like 150g? And it's good to know that even a low purple reading is still keto, glad it's working in only my second week.

 

[kagenical]

Honestly, the only way I've been able to get deep purple on my sticks is to get my carbs <10g for the first 10 days or so, carb up, then drop to a more sustainable <20g. Additionally, if your body is in "carb mode", and you're getting TONS of protein, your liver will be converting that to glycogen at 60% efficiency... This is MUCH easier, biologically speaking, than shifting into keto - so your protein intake may work against you. My favorite way to circumvent this is to buy a 1kg bag of cashews and eat them, exclusively, for 2-3 days between workouts (any keto bathroom issues will go away too ). Also, if you're moderately active while in keto (Like a waiter as your day job, nothing strenuous here) your body will be USING your ketones, so of course your levels will be lower.

And 1g of fat contains 9Kcal, wheras 1g protein contains 4, a bit more than double.

Oh, and ketosticks are bullshit anyways, the real way to know you're in keto is the 5lbs or so lost in water weight. Those sticks are unreliable, often don't work at all, and test for acetone or acetoacetate (two compounds you MAY not biologically produce much of, though you're still in keto). Try dabbing a bit of acetone on yours (nailpolish remover), provided you've got the ones that test for acetone, and see what color it turns.

 

[Nighthawkk]

Thanks bro, that was really helpful. You're probably right about the ketostix being crap, sometimes they have shown a deep purple like in the morning, and all other times it just shows like trace amounts. I started 14 days ago at 207 lbs, I am now 197. I know that's not fat so seeing as how it was a massive reduction in water weight, I'll assume its starting to work. And btw, it's really hard to get below 10g carbs for any week, I take protein powders in water that have like 3-5g carbs per scoop alone. I think the lowest I can possibly keep it each day is maybe between 20 and 25g. Also, don't the cashews you suggest have carbs, as do peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, etc?

 

[kagenical]

Morning urine is urine that's been "brewing" for (typically) 8+ hours. It's always stronger, in ALL compounds, than more dilute daily urine. You lose waste products through defecation, sweating and other processes that aren't active at night, so your urine typically contains more of everything after sleeping.

Personally, I went into keto again 15 days ago. I was eating a nut-only diet for the first three days to really shift my metabolism. I was also drinking 2 gallons of electrolyte rich water (added potassium, sodium and magnesium) to keep well hydrated. After those 3 days, and 4 days of a higher protein type keto diet (and regular training) I had gone from my usual weight of ~185lbs to 171lbs.

LOTS of the carbs in nuts come from processing. Raw peanuts, for example, have 1g of carbs per ounce after you account for their fiber content. Cashews do have more carbs, so maybe I jumped the gun there (though I HAVE used them for this temporary "induction" period without ill effect, and routinely consume them in keto).

I don't use protein powder while in keto. I don't see why I ever would. A carton of eggwhite, for example, has zero carbs - many more beneficial bioactive compounds, the same amount of protein and comes in at less than 1$, about the same as most designer whey's. Make your keto diet home cooked, REAL foods, and you can easily hit <15g. My record was 4g of carbs one day by consuming mainly ground beef, eggs, roast chicken and nuts. It fucking sucks to eat <10g carbs a day, but do it for three days and your body will REALLY understand it needs to make the shift.

Then you can lax up, start eating dry-rubbed ribs, for example, and all the protein powders you could ever want. Getting into keto fast is, IMHO, the best way to do a keto diet, as the shift can really rob you of performance at the gym, willpower outside of the gym, and enough muscle glycogen to make you look anorexic. None of these things are good, and they really fuck with you mentally, so the faster you start seeing the wonders of keto (and there are many) the better.

 

[veneto82]

ive been on ckd for 4 weeks now and have gone from 189lbs to 184 lbs so i havent dropped that much.
My lifts have only dropped about 10% at the most
But i can see in the mirror i look much leaner - think i have just dropped water weight.
my fats are really high, i think im consuming around 30g carbs a day
im constantly full, my mood is good, not lethargic.
Hope im doing it right
i eat 6 times a day
on average each meal is about 30g protein, 40g fat, 5g carbs (trace carbs)

 

[kagenical]

What are your calories like? If those macro's hold, each meal will be around 500Kcal. That's 3000Kcal per day, and you're under 200lbs. That is not a weight loss diet, IMHO, even in keto, and even if you're solid muscle. You'll sure as shit drop water and use more fats for energy, but at 3000Kcal you'll be restoring your fat stores fairly easily.

The best aspect of the keto diet, IMHO, is how low your calories can get before your body dips into it's amino acid reserves for energy (provided you're not doing any intense cardio)... If you're looking for true fat loss, drop down to 5 meals and you should lose weight more rapidly. I know some really muscular individuals who have gone well below their TDEE's (we're talking 1200-1500kcal/day under TDEE - not something I'd suggest) in keto for short times (2-3 weeks) and dropped 3-4lbs of fat per week without any noticeable muscle loss and a full return of strength after returning to a normal diet.

 

[veneto82]

What are your calories like? If those macro's hold, each meal will be around 500Kcal. That's 3000Kcal per day, and you're under 200lbs. That is not a weight loss diet, IMHO, even in keto, and even if you're solid muscle. You'll sure as shit drop water and use more fats for energy, but at 3000Kcal you'll be restoring your fat stores fairly easily.

The best aspect of the keto diet, IMHO, is how low your calories can get before your body dips into it's amino acid reserves for energy (provided you're not doing any intense cardio)... If you're looking for true fat loss, drop down to 5 meals and you should lose weight more rapidly. I know some really muscular individuals who have gone well below their TDEE's (we're talking 1200-1500kcal/day under TDEE - not something I'd suggest) in keto for short times (2-3 weeks) and dropped 3-4lbs of fat per week without any noticeable muscle loss and a full return of strength after returning to a normal diet.

I havent really sat there and counted my calories but i feel they might be a bit high, i mean im losing fat but slowly.. Will try and drop it to 5 meals a day or make my portions smaller just scared of losing muscle. Im not on AAS at the moment but on Sarms S4, i do morning cardio for 40 mins upon waking (walking about 120 heart rate)

 

[Nighthawkk]

The best aspect of the keto diet, IMHO, is how low your calories can get before your body dips into it's amino acid reserves for energy (provided you're not doing any intense cardio)... If you're looking for true fat loss, drop down to 5 meals and you should lose weight more rapidly. I know some really muscular individuals who have gone well below their TDEE's (we're talking 1200-1500kcal/day under TDEE - not something I'd suggest) in keto for short times (2-3 weeks) and dropped 3-4lbs of fat per week without any noticeable muscle loss and a full return of strength after returning to a normal diet.

Bro there's no way that dropping that low in calories is healthy, even on a strict CKD diet. I mean even when below 20g carbs a day, you're still supposed to watch calories and try to be about 500kcal below Total Metabolic Rate to lose the fat and not be entirely catabolic, right? If you're losing 3-4 lbs a week that is insane and half of it is probably muscle. So unless you're on a high dose of anabolics, I don't see why they would do that.

Veneto I think the 6 meals a day is fine- I do about 6, mostly with solid foods but with a few whey or casein shakes in the mix along with natty peanut butter and flax oil. More meals doesn't necessarily mean more cals, just keep them smaller and more frequent. Kagenical, I still don't know how you can eat all those nuts and still remain in keto, unless you're saying they're a carbohydrate that is the exception to the rule. And recently I noticed something odd, I did a 36 hour carb refeed the other day, and about 14 hours later my ketostix were still showing light purple (trace amounts). Isn't the refeed supposed to purposely knock you out of keto to replenish glycogen stores?