when is the best time of the day to test for ketones? thanks

The general rule for ketostix is to test first thing in the morning before you eat breakfast. I'm not sure why that is because my testing strips always turn their darkest color after my workouts. But, it's funny, when I know that I've cheated the day before, that strip definitely won't change color the next morning! I think they're a great aid to losing weight. They help keep me motivated and give me reassurance that I'm in lipolysis.

thanks ballerina, I will try them. w

Hi --

My advice is not to take the Ketostix very seriously. The ones I have show a range of colors from beige to purple, and the implication is that the greater the ketogenic stat, the darker the color. But I've tried stix in the morning and the evening and have gotten both ends of the range! My guess is that the morning piss was very diluted with water (I drink a lot of water in the evenings), but that I am more dehydrated when I get home. So the ketones are diluted in the morning, concentrated in the evening, but the stix look as though my status has changed dramatically in a 10-hour period!

My suggestion is that you not take ketostix very seriously, and to the extent you use them at all you consider them as binary measures. Binary, 2, black/white, on/off. If the stix changes color at all, any color, you are in ketosis, but even a negative result may not be bad news.

Hope this helps -- RA Harris

I always get a darker reading at night. Many mornings I don't get any at all, but will be well into ketosis (according to the sticks) at night. I think its tough to get a good idea of what's going on by the sticks, but an indication that anything is going on is very good for me. I find it much easier to stick to the diet with some sort of reading.

The weight hasn't exactly been melting off, but its working.