When you start the ketogenic diet you may worry that you aren’t in “ketosis” and would like to check for yourself if you are producing ketone bodies. There is a simple answer that is inexpensive for you to use at the start which are Keto urine strips.
What are the best urine test strips for ketosis? The best keto urine strips are from Perfect Keto as they provide a large amount of strips at a very good cost per strip. These strips also last a long time if you keep them sealed up and not exposed to air. Keto urine strips will work very good while you start your initial adaption into a ketogenic diet.
Now that you know the best option to purchase and that they can help you check your ketone levels I would like to help you understand the ins and outs to strips. They are less helpful the longer you are on a ketogenic diet which leads people to believe they aren’t in ketosis when they actually are.
What Do Keto Urine Strips Measure?
Ketone urine strips measure Acetone in your urine which is a by-product of ketone production. Over time your body becomes more adept at utilizing all of the ketone bodies, including acetone, which means the volume decreases in your urine.
Acetone is a ketone body that takes a longer time overall for your body to learn to use. This means that in the beginning of your diet you will be able to use these in your urine to check progress.
What you need to also realize though is the amount of water you drink will cause variations in your readings. If you guzzle water and pee you dilute the amount of acetone that will be in your urine which also leads to not knowing your level of success.
I would recommend ensuring you don’t measure after drinking large volumes of liquids as it can skew your readings.
This is why you can’t hinge your progress based on the number alone these provide the longer you are on a ketogenic diet. They will be less and less useful and should be avoided after a few months to avoid causing yourself unnecessary stress.
What is the Best Time to Use Keto Urine Strips ?
The best time would be after first waking as you haven’t consumed any water in 8 hours typically which will give you a look at how your body manages production over resting time. Your next time would be an hour or two after you have drank water, this helps to ensure it doesn’t dilute the sample.
What are the Worst Times To Use Keto Urine Strips?
There are a few times where you need to avoid using a keto strip if you want to have a legitimate, useful reading. If you measure at the times below you will have skewed results which won’t let you know your real value.
After Rigorous Workout
After a rigorous workout your body will have had to increase ketone production to cover the energy needs. This boost in ketone production will cause your readings to appear much higher than they regularly are.
This can lead people to think they are too high and that they feel they need to eat carbohydrates to bring this back down. What it is for people with a healthy metabolism is that the body starts to use the body fat to provide additional energy through ketone production.
What isn’t used in ketones is broken down into your urine and breathed out in your breath. Please make sure to speak to your physician before you start any large diet change.
After Drinking High Amounts Of Water
If you attempt to measure your urine after drinking a large volume of water you will get much lower readings. This is because your body ends up diluting the acetone in your urine as there is more than the standard amount.
If you want to measure after drinking a large volume of water I would skip the first urination afterwards and instead get the next. This will give you a better quality reading and a more appropriate acetone reading.
If you get a super low reading don’t fret or worry, take a break and look at taking a reading in an hour or two instead. Taking them back to back won’t change the reading if you are following the instructions.
Benefits To Using Keto Strips
In the first month or two this can help to keep you motivated that you are gaining ketone levels. This motivation is exactly what new dieters need and if this is what you need to carry on and continue to get results then awesome!
Many people love to have data and use the data to know how different foods change how their bodies react. If you love to have data then I would say these are helpful tools as they come at a fairly inexpensive overall cost per use.
Another benefit to tracking with keto urine strips is that once you go from a low reading when you start to a low to mid range reading you know that you have figured yourself and the diet out.
At this point you can start to limit your number of readings or start to lower their impact on your progress.
Drawbacks To Using Keto Strips
A large drawback if when you become dependent on the numbers on the strip influencing your happiness. It seems silly but over time many people will become sad or upset when they don’t see a number they view as “good” on a urine strip.
Another big drawback is that over time the ketone urine strips become less and less viable at telling you what your actual ketone levels are. The longer you are in ketosis the better your body becomes at managing the ketones produced within your body.
Acetone, which is what urine strips use to tell you the level of ketosis, is harder at first for you to use for energy. This means you will urinate out a lot at first, over time though your body adjusts and will use them better without wasting as much.
When this occurs you will see a markedly large loss in overall ketone levels on the urine strip.
Please note that this drop in urine ketones is an exceptionally good sign of your body being better adapted to using ketones for energy. This is definitely not the time to worry and start making changes, instead move to a blood meter or breathe meter. Or stop measuring overall!
Final Thoughts on the Best Urine Test Strips for Ketosis
For you, a new ketogenic dieter, keto urine strips can help provide you valuable feedback that your efforts are providing you results. In the first months this can be exceedingly valuable but a reliance on the strips over time can and has led people to quit believing they aren’t in ketosis anymore due to strip results.
Once you get through the first bottle of strips you purchase I would suggest if data matters to you and seeing a result then you move to a ketone blood monitor or to the keto breath analyzer. These will provide better results over time as unlike urine strips they aren’t based on your bodies inability to use the fuel source.
As you continue to eat and live this way you will learn that this number isn’t an end all be all. A higher ketone level as indicated on these strips or on a blood meter doesn’t mean more fat loss. This is an important key to results, chase results and not ketones.
