My GKI is down to .5 after only doing Keto for 1 week. Am I doing something wrong?

I started Keto + 20hr IF last Sunday. By Friday, I was coming in with a GKI at .5 (47mg/dL, 5.1mmol/L) just before breaking my 20hr fast. I'm about three hours away from downing 16 (garlic parm, chipotle bbq, and buffalo) chicken wings at Buffalo Wild Wings while watching the Chiefs DOMINATE the Broncos and I just measured my GKI and its 0.7 (69mg/dL, 5.1mmol/L). I already confirmed that the meter hasn't fallen out of calibration so I know I'm getting good readings. What I can't figure out is how in the world I could already be this fat adapted after just a week. I did to Keto +IF for about 4 months at the start of this year and lost about 40lbs. I was quite fat adapted then too but my GKI readings then were in the 6-3 range and not < 1GKI. There are times where I get those hypoglycemic shakes where I just feel weak and a tiny bit nauseous; usually in the last few hours of my fast. If these results are legit then I'll be happy but I can't shake the idea that I might be doing something a bit too drastic to get these results so soon. I mainly just eat one meal a day, sometimes two. These are basically all I've eaten this past week. * A burrito bowl from Chipotle (2x carnitas, 2x cheese, queso, guac, fajita veggies, sour cream, and an unsweet tea sweetened with monkfruit) * 4 fried eggs with some mushrooms, onions, and spinach. * BWW chicken wings (the only place that fries their chicken in beef tallow and not vegetable or peanut oil) I also supplement with zinc, magnesium, calcium, potassium, D3, and I salt my food heavily and drink 120oz of water a day. I have a nutritionist and she's concerned that my blood glucose levels are so consistently low but i'm not positive that's a bad thing so long as my ketone body levels stay consistently high right?

Answer

Being in ketosis and being fat-adapted are not the same thing.

Being in ketosis after a week makes sense; it doesn’t take that long to deplete your glycogen stores if you are restricting carbs and fasting.

Most people can achieve ketosis during sleep without eating a keto diet; it’s why you don’t die in your sleep every night. The body is fully capable at all times of creating ketones whenever glucose and glycogen arenot available. (It can also create glycogen/glucose if needed.)

Being fat-adapted is a function of time. It’s not just that your body can burn fat and make ketones, it’s that the fat is your primary fuel source and your body can use the ketones efficiently. And it takes time for the body to make the switch and stop looking for the carbs that aren’t coming, and efficiently use the ketones being generated.

If you are getting symptoms of hypoglycemia you are not fat-adapted; in your position I would break my fast at those points and work up to longer fasts instead of stressing the body that way.

Your four-month stint on keto? I can totally believe you were fat adapted by that point (adaptation is estimated between 8-12 weeks). This time around may not take you as long, but I wouldn’t call a week fat-adapted when you’re exhibiting hypoglycemic symptoms.

Answer

> I have a nutritionist and she’s concerned that my blood glucose levels are so consistently low but i’m not positive that’s a bad thing so long as my ketone body levels stay consistently high right?

Many nutritionists insist that the (American or Canadian) recommended diet is gospel and seem to be unable to accept that carbs (and sugar) are unneeded in the human diet. The human body is regulated to only have about 4 grams of sugar (glucose) in the body at a time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2g-OW-NZcY) so low glucose on a keto diet is perfectly normal.