How to tell you've entered ketosis

Today is day one of week two* for me and I have maintained in ketosis regularly for the entirety of the week. If you're at about the same point in the diet as I am, you're probably also in Ketosis if you've been maintaining 20 grams or less of carbs everyday. If this is your first time doing Ketosis, you may still be feeling the effects of induction (aka: keto flu) and are possibly still fatigued or foggy headed. For most people, this will have completely passed by the time you finish week two.

So, now that you've done everything to get into ketosis, how do you know that you're actually there? The easiest way to figure that out is to use ketosticks.

From what I hear, you can find them for around $6 at Walmart. I bought my first batch at Target, where I spent $12 on a box of 50, so do some shopping around before you purchase any as the price seems to vary drastically depending on where you buy them. 

The premise behind Ketosticks is pretty straight forward - you pee on them. The color read out will tell you whether or not you're secreting ketones. If you're secreting ketones, you're in ketosis! This is important: you're either in ketosis or not in ketosis, there is no gray area. The other day Boyfriend said to me, "The ketosticks say that I'm really in ketosis (ie: the sticks were reading that he had a "large" amount of ketones in his system), so I could probably eat some dessert and it wouldn't hurt anything." - WRONG! If the ketosticks say that you have a large amount of ketones in your system, you probably just need to drink some more water, you camel. As a matter of fact, you absolutely do need to drink more water, as its an important part of the diet and helps you break down fats easier. I try, try being the operative word here, to drink 3 liters of water a day. You should be drinking as much as possible and certainly no less than the recommended 64 ounces a day. 

You may also be able to tell that you've entered ketosis if your pee has an alcoholic sent to it. The smell of your breath may change as well, but its not usually very easy for us to notice that on our own. However, if you are remaining between 20 and 50 grams of carbs per day, you should be within ketosis within no more than a week. 

So what about getting kicked out of ketosis? This can be a little trickier. Everyone's body reacts differently to different foods and some of those foods may kick one person out of ketosis but not the other. I have read forums about people claiming that artificial sweeteners cause them to leave ketosis, but I've never been exactly sure how they were able to pinpoint for certain that this was the result of artificial sweeteners and nothing else. Again, Ketosticks are usually the easiest way to tell if you're in or out of ketosis. But remember, just if your ketosticks read that you had a "large" concentration of ketones in the morning and a "small" amount in the middle of the day, that doesn't mean you're exiting ketosis, you could simply be more hydrated. However, if the reading goes from "small" to "negative" then you may have a problem. Also, if you eat a cupcake and then immediately run to the bathroom and check your ketone levels, don't be surprised if you're still in ketosis. The foods you eat need time to process (sometimes even a few days) before they can kick you out of ketosis. 

I realize that this is a lot of information, so here are the main points, a TL;DR if you will:

*Buy ketosticks

*Pee on ketosticks

*Any reading on Ketosticks other than "negative" means you're in Ketosis

*Drink lots of water

*You're either in Ketosis or you're not in Ketosis, there is no gray area

*Use ketosticks regularly to make sure you're maintaining ketosis

*Stay between 20 and 50 grams of carbs to ensure that you're staying in Ketosis. 

If you have any further questions, leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer it. Or you can ask the wise people over at Reddit.com/r/keto. 

Happy Ketoing!