Hi. I thought vodka was supposed to have only one gram of carb...so I had a few shots of vodka last night at my birthday party , rather than drining something else. This morning, I checked my keto strips and I'm no longer in ketosis...... How many carbs does one have to consume to fall out of ketosis? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide

I'm not kidding here, Marie. Throw those damn strips away. They are only supposed to be used as a tool and I've seen too many people here push the panic button when it comes up negative or pink.

Use your scale as your guide, or see how your clothes fit, but don't base your progress on those totally unreliable sticks.

Bob

Alcohol can SEEM to knock you out of ketosis because your body has to burn off all the alcohol before it returns to burning ketones. Alcohol may stall your loss not because of carbs, but because it is used as fuel (instead of fat) while it is being processed. Once the alcohol is burned you should be back in ketosis.

BTW, I agree with Bob. Those sticks give me nothing but a headache.

I don't know, Bob. I mean, the sticks are an indicator of whether or not I'm in ketosis. I don't use the strips every day, but I was curious to see if the vodka would affect my ketosis, and it did. So the strips helped me, becasue if I hadn't checked I might have continued to think it was okay to drink vodka and I'd be throwing myself out of ketosis, all the while thinking I'm being a low carb angel...

Thanks for responding, Skamito. I know that our bodies burn the alcholhol as fuel, but I didn't realize that it would affect our ketosis. Okay, so it shouldn't take long for me to get back into ketosis... when I cheat on carbohydrate foods, it can take up to 3 days or more for me to get back into ketosis, which is a huge setback. That's all I was concerned about. Thanks for the input.

There are at least 3 different types of ketone bodies, and Ketostix don't test for all of them. In my experience...if I don't get a glycogen load (at least 3lb overnight weight gain on the scale, for me, YMMV) or if I don't get carbo cravings, then I assume everything's all right. The test is my reference clothes.

Emily

Ketostix only measure ketonuria (ketones in urine) rather than the true measure of ketones in the bloodstream (ketonemia). Ketonuria is only an indirect measurement of ketone concentrations in the bloodstream, and ketostix measurements can be inaccurate.

Don't worry too much about it. It's kind of overwhelming at the beginning but if you keep up with the general spirit of the thing (i.e. low carb, especially as low as induction levels) then you'll be almost certain to be in ketosis.

Everyone has explained it all to you so well but I just wanted to add a belated happy birthday to you.

...it also depends on what "a few shots" is. Hate to be a killjoy, (Happy Birthday, BTW!) but I find that if I overindulge, rather have the modest amounts Dr Atkins allows, it DOES knock me back for a few days...

Hi, thanks for the birthday wishes!

A few shots was quite a few shots... people kept buying me drinks, and how could I refuse a birthday shot? Hehehe. I didn't get totally wasted, but I probably had about 6 shots of vodka, which is quite a lot.
I also find it interesting how straight vodka doesn't hit me as hard as a couple glasses of beer or wine. Does anyone else find that? I mean, at the end of the night I was still pretty coherenat, but if I'd had 6 beers, I'd be very intoxicated. What's the difference if it's about the same amount of alchohol? Do the carbohydrates get you more drunk?

For me it's the opposite. Vodka and whisky are way harder on me than wine. (I barely remember what beer tastes like anymore...) And in general, booze has a quicker and more dramatic effect on me than it did before LC.

Emily