Saturday 4 January 2020

Strict Keto diet - day 2

I stuck to my meal plan yesterday, so I only had about 10g of carbs. I also went to the gym on the way home to do my normal Friday 'heavy' (low reps) weight training session, and then swam some laps and did a bit of Wii Fit for fun in the evening.

The exercise combined with the very low carbs probably explains why my Keto diastix reading showed 0 glucose but 1.5 mmol/L of ketones already by this morning. Normally it is supposed to take about 2-4 days of being on the typical 'keto' diet.

While reading up a bit more on ketone levels during ketogenic dieting I found that ketone levels vary considerably during the day, and increase after some types of exercise. So it is best to measure them at the same time each day - one recommendation is first thing in the morning. Once my breathalyser unit arrives from China I'll start doing breath measurements for acetone at regular intervals and see how it correlates with the morning ketostix measurement, and how my ketone levels vary during the day.

I also came across a mention that keto dieting can have side-effects for diabetics (not relevant to me) and to people on blood pressure medication (which I am). It mentioned that losing weight and getting fitter may lower blood pressure enough to require a reduction in medication levels (which I had already noticed - my BP went from 120/70 on medication before I started my diet and exercise regime, to being typically 105/65 recently), and that commencing a keto diet can cause a further drop in BP which may cause dizziness etc. I just checked my BP and it was 97/64, so I'll drop in to my GP some time next week to check if I should reduce my medication dosage a bit.

It's very hot weather today in Sydney, and quite smoky due to all the nearby bushfires, so I'll go to the local Westfield shopping centre to do my walking exercise indoors in air conditioned comfort today. Wandering around outside in 40 C heat and breathing in the air of what is currently the city with the world's worst air quality readings wouldn't be a great idea!

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