hmmmm, interesting on the observations folks are having with the sticks. I wonder if I need to up my fat consumption to get more than just a trace.

Kat, this week I'm eating fat at around 60-70% but where last week I showed more keytones, this week it is just small amount. I haven't seen moderate since last week. Go figure, right? We are all so different, and I appear different from week to week!

My (new) ratios keep coming out to 70/20/10 fat/protein/carbohydrate no matter how I adjust things around. I plan to keep tweaking the numbers until I can get an even more ideal balance. My goals are 80/15/5 but I am still eating relatively low calorie and I need to eat some veggies so keeping the carbs at 5% is pretty much impossible. I want to eat my broccoli or asparagus each day, and they have ("good") carbs in them. And I eat eggs every day so there is a bit of protein involved. Hmmm, I may be stuck at 70/20/10 for a while.

Anyway it seems to be working because I lost 2 more pounds in two days; down to 155. This morning my blood sugar was 85 (perfect) and my ketones were 1.2 (still a little too low. Grrr! :mad:) I think I'm gonna have to amp up the exercise a bit.

shr1nk1ngme - how did you find the ratio you should be eating? curious because I haven't been able to figure it out for myself and I have had a 2 week stall.

I use jenny Ruhl's calculator.

http://www.phlaunt.com/lowcarb/DietMakeupCalc.php

I should re-calculate, weight is a factor and I've lost over 35 pounds now.

Gender, age, activity level, carb intake all factor in. As does whether you're trying to maintain or lose, and lose at what pace...

She always advocates for moderate protein, which I do anyway.

It usually takes me several days to work out what I can eat to fit those targets - it's not automatic and requires tracking for a few days, but then I just get into the rhythm.

Using Jenny Ruhl's calculator, to shed 1 pound a week my calories need to be at 1,179. That's with 30 grams of carbs. It said Maintenance calories are 1679 but I gain weight at 1300 calories. So interesting!

Originally Posted by Kat117:
shr1nk1ngme - how did you find the ratio you should be eating? curious because I haven't been able to figure it out for myself and I have had a 2 week stall.

I used this Keto Calculator (it details your fat/protein/carb ratios for you):
http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/

It allows you to customize your protein and carbs. I set my protein at a normal recommended amount (60g) and my carbs at Induction levels <20, and it tells me how much fat I should be eating. It's a very handy tool for a low-carb dieter.

Also I can't recommend enough getting a blood ketone monitor. There are currently only two blood monitors available over the counter which measure ketones. I bought them both! They are only about $20 for the monitor. One is better/more accurate than the other but the strips are harder to get/more expensive. I did eventually find a cheap source for the strips but I can't post it here. I had to order them from a Canadian pharmacy. There was no issue with customs because control strips are not a controlled substance.

Anyway, having an extremely accurate number for my blood ketones has proven invaluable in helping me iron out the nutritional wrinkles in my diet. The monitor helped me determine that I was eating too much protein and not enough fat. Actually the monitor basically told me that the Keto Calculator is SPOT ON as far as getting into ketosis. As long as I adhere to the ratio recommended by the Keto Calculator, my blood ketones stay in the optimal range.