Hey all, I've had a persistent sweet taste on the back of my tongue for the last week or two. It tastes as though you've sucked on an orange or strawberry lollipop and then swished your mouth out with water. It's this really weird, almost artificial sweetener, taste.

I was told this could be a symptom of my body going into ketosis but I thought the 3FC low carbers would know as you guys have more experience in this area.

Buy ketone testing strips. They run $6-9 a container. Check with the pharmacist if you can't find them, as often they keep them behind the counter. They will give you the answer. I use them to monitor that my carbs are low enough without counting them.

I got some Ketostix and they came out negative. However, the morning I used them the sweet taste was gone and hasn't been back since. I think I was in ketosis and knocked myself out the day before I tested.

How many g net carbs are you eating per day? At a certain point your body MUST go into ketosis, there is no guess work about it. But if you're eating more than, say, 40 or 50 g net carbs a day, then it starts to get iffy.

People have different responses to being in ketosis. Some people find their breath and pee smells different. Some taste copper. Some taste sweet. I just get really, really, really thirsty.

Oh also, ketone testing strips are notoriously unreliable, unfortunately. If your goal is to go into ketosis, drop your net carb intake down to 20g and you'll be there in a few days.

I have to disagree on the "unreliability" of the test strips. I think perhaps the true carb count of dieters tends to be the culprit of negative readings. Been on LC forums since 1998, heard the same old song and dance for years, that some people never get a positive reading. Well they usually have too many carbs in their food intake or they have not used up their glycogen storage. The test strips have to be reliable for insulin dependent diabetics for monitoring potential ketoacidosis. They are accurate if handled properly (not touching the test pad) and using before the expiration date.

NOTE: I am not a medical professional! Please don't treat this post as advice from one.

Acetone breath is what I call it -- sickly sweet and faintly like nail polish
remover -- because it IS excess acetone escaping the body. But if you're smelling it and it's quite strong, you might be in ketoacidosis, not ketosis.

In ketoacidosis you're literally acidifying your blood (acetone is a weak acid, HC2H3O2, or acetic acid), experiencing what diabetics with low insulin experience on a regular basis -- the excess production of ketones. If glucose can't be absorbed properly, it'll test your kidneys, cause dehydration, and do other fun stuff.

tl;dr: please be careful!