Keto diet for weight loss
How to measure ketones ?
There are a few different methods of measuring ketones.
Urine ketone strips
Urine testing strips are cheap but measuring ketones in the urine rather than the breath or blood tends to be less accurate as ketones. The results from urine testing strips also reflect ketone levels over the past few hours rather than at the time of testing.
Testing ketones in the urine is good if you just want a rough idea of the level of ketosis you’re hitting.
Blood ketone tests
Blood ketone tests can be performed using certain blood glucose meters that have been specifically designed to test for ketones.
Blood tests are the most accurate method of measuring ketone levels, but the cost of the test strips is relatively expensive if you intend to test your ketones on a regular basis.
Breathalyser
It is possible to measure ketones on the breath. The method is not as accurate as blood ketone tests but is better than urine test strips.
Another advantage of using a breathalyzer is that it involves a single up-front cost, which means that once you have the device, you can test your ketone levels as often as you wish.
This can be useful for people looking to seriously understand how well they’re achieving ketosis through the day.
When to measure ketones
When and how often to test ketones will depend on what you’re looking to find out.
If you’re looking to compare whether you’re keeping in ketosis from day to day or week to week, then it makes sense to test at the same time (or times) of day. This will ensure you get consistent results.
As ketones vary through the day and are affected by different types of meal and exercise, you may want to test at different times through the day to see how your level of ketosis varies.
The ketone breathalyzer is very useful for this as you don’t pay for each test as you do with say blood ketone testing strips.
Guideline targets
The sweet spot for weight loss is 1.5 to 3.0 mmol/l. This level of nutritional ketosis is recommended by researchers Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek.
Ketone levels of 0.5 to 1.5 mmol/l, light nutritional ketosis, is also beneficial although not to the degree of full nutritional ketosis.
The longer you stay within these levels, particularly within the sweet spot of nutritional ketosis, the more fat you will burn and the more effective your weight loss efforts will be.
Reference: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/keto/measuring-ketosis-on-a-keto-diet.html
