HOW DO I KNOW IF I'M IN KETOSIS?
I’m glad you’re reading this post because that’s the next logical question to ask. Okay, so I know what it means to be in a state of ketosis, I know how to get there but how the hell do I know if I’m ketosis?
There’s a lot of science behind all this testing shit and you can go read up more about them in detail but I’m just gonna simplfy everything here so it’s easier to understand.
There are 3 ways to find out if you are in a state of ketosis: -
Breath analysers
Urine test strips
Blood test strips
Breath Analysers
Breath monitors are available for ketone testing but I’ve never used one before so I wouldn’t know how it works exactly.
You basically blow into a device and your in ketosis if the reading is in between 40 and 80. However, it is known to be less accurate than urine or blood testing.
Urine Test Strips
Pros: - Cheap and affordable - Convenient and easy to use - Easily available online
Cons: - Only tests access ketones that you pass out from your body - Test result does not determine the exact amount of ketones in your body - Test strips may not register any ketones even though you’re in ketosis. This is because the body adapts to the high level of ketones over a period of time.
Blood Test Strips
You use a device to measure ketone levels from your blood. I’m currently using something called KETOMOJO to measure my blood ketone levels. What I’ll do is use a lancet to prick the side of my finger, squeeze out some blood and drip it onto the test strip and I’ll get a reading in 10secs. You want to get a reading of anything between 1 mmol/L to 3mmol/L.
Blood ketone testing is known to be the most effective way of testing for ketones. It costs around USD$150 for the test kit with consists of the ketone monitor, finger pricker with 10 lancets and10 plus additional 50 test strips. Each test strip costs around USD$0.99. Of course, you don’t have to test yourself daily. What I did was to test quite often at the start to make sure that I’m doing on a daily basis is correct to ensure that I’m in ketosis for most of the time.
Summary
It doesn’t matter whichever method you choose. In the end, all you want is to be able to know if you’re in ketosis. Just choose whichever method that is comfortable for you.