Welcome to my weekly Diet Diary. At the beginning of the new year, I started a Low Carb, High Protien (LCHP) diet. It's the Atkins version but there are many others to choose from. I'm chronicling my journey here. I both want to share my experience and hear from you as well as have an enduring record for future reference. This is not an advocacy journal: there are many other ways to manage weight and many different experiences out there.
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Tonight's topic is blood measurements. This was the first full week of using my dual purpose blood glucose and ketone
monitoring device. Let me say
I LOVE having this data. I feel like I'm getting a peek behind the scenes that I never had in all my years trying to manage my weight. But getting this data is not free. First I have to add about ten minutes to my morning routine (I'm a guy who gets to work on time but does struggle at it.) Next is a pin prick with a lancet device (doesn't hurt really.) Finally the cost of the test strips.
The blood glucose test strips are used commonly by diabetics or others who need to monitor their sugar. The large market for test strips has brought the price down to about 40 cents per strip. That works out to $12 per month assuming a once daily measurement. This is not a big cost and the data can be vitally important.
The blood ketone test strips are another matter. There is not a huge market for these. The typical use case is for a Type 1 diabetic to alert themselves to the possibility of going into ketoacidosis. This condition is when the unavailability of insulin in their system is causing the blood sugar to spike at the same time as the body is using lypolysis as a secondary source of energy. Very high blood sugar combined with very high blood ketones causes acidosis which can be fatal if it goes untreated. But a diabetic on the lookout for this would only need to use a ketone strip after they used a glucose strip and got a high reading in the danger zone. The net result? Blood ketone test strips are about $2 each.
So it's a little expensive to measure ketones everyday but oh well. For the cost of a cup of coffee at Peet's... For now it's worth it to me to get this data. I'm thinking that longer term I might only need to measure the glucose. Readings in the 65-85 range with the diet I'm on basically mean I'm in ketosis. The ketone strips could be reserved for weight loss plateaus or times after I've gone off-diet. I just bought a 30 strip cache which I will use daily. After that I might use them less frequently.
Blood Glucose Levels
During the day, blood glucose levels tend to be at their lowest just before meals. For most people without diabetes, blood sugar levels before meals hover around 70 to 80 mg/dL. In some, 60 is normal; in others, 90. Again, anything less than 100 mg/dL while fasting is considered normal by today's standards..
The last blood panel I had done at the doctor's office was in August. I had fasted for twelve hours and got a reading of 112. I didn't think much of it at the time but it wasn't the first time I had a reading like that. It was flagged as "Out of Range" and a potential concern. So I'm really psyched to be getting readings between 70 and 85 on a daily basis. In hindsight, maybe I should have reacted more swiftly to that test result in August, or the other ones I've had in the last five years!
Blood Ketone Levels
Blood ketones are best measured on a fasted stomach in the morning (before breakfast, that is). Here are a few pointers on how to interpret the result:
- Below 0.5 mmol/L is not considered “ketosis”. At this level, you’re far away from maximum fat-burning.
- Between 0.5-1.5 mmol/L is light nutritional ketosis. You’ll be getting a good effect on your weight, but not optimal.
- Around 1.5 – 3 mmol/L is what’s called optimal ketosis and is recommended for maximum weight loss.
- Values of over 3 mmol/L aren’t neccessary. That is, they will achieve neither better nor worse results than being at the 1.5-3 level. Higher values can also sometimes mean that you’re not getting enough food. For type 1 diabetics, it can be caused by a severe lack of insulin.
Last week's diary gave an
overview of ketosis in case you don't know what that is. I seem to have stayed mostly within the optimal range. The spikes that have occurred are somewhat explainable and have not persisted into the next day. Also, with a low carb diet the
high ketone reading occurs with a
low blood sugar reading meaning there is no risk of ketoacidosis. Ketones in the blood that go unused do not get converted back to fat. Instead they get converted to acetone and are excreted in the urine. There's a guideline to drink a lot of water on this diet probably to accommodate that function and I have been complying with it.
Data and analysis below the fluer de kos.
For reference, I'm 5'9", male and in my middle-late early 40s.
Week Summary
|
Total |
Week |
Start date |
12/31/2013 |
01/28/2014 |
Report date |
02/03/2014 |
02/03/2014 |
Days on Diet |
35 |
7 |
Start weight |
183 lbs. |
173 lbs. |
Current weight |
169 lbs. |
169 lbs |
Weight Lost |
14 lbs. |
4 lbs. |
Pounds per day Lost |
0.40 |
0.57 |
Daily Activity
Date |
Weight |
Exercise |
Blood Ketones (mmol/L) |
Blood Glucose (mg/dL) |
01/28/2014 |
172 |
30 min Eliptical |
2.4 |
75 |
01/29/2014 |
... |
... |
7.4 |
73 |
01/30/2014 |
171 |
30 min Swim |
1.7 |
83 |
01/31/2014 |
... |
... |
1.5 |
82 |
02/01/2014 |
169 |
45 min swim |
1.8 |
81 |
02/02/2014 |
... |
... |
6.8 |
75 |
02/03/2014 |
169 |
45 min swim |
1.0 |
94 |
Note: I don't have a scale at home so I only have data for days I go to the gym which has a scale.
Analysis
What a great week! I started at 173 and finished at 169 lbs. That's four pounds! This is such a relief since it's coming after a frustrating two week plateau. Some interesting spikes in ketone levels on the 29th and 2nd. I've read that exercise can serve to boost ketone levels. I usually exercise at night after work and measure my blood levels in the morning. Also, I've been trying to extend my workouts to 45 minutes instead of 30 but that is sometimes difficult to do with my busy schedule. Notice the last day the blood levels are quite different. The day after the Super Bowl -- yes I did indulge in some off-diet fare and more alcohol than usual for the game. It's kind of cool to see that impact the results like it did.