Metabolic Flexibility

[Jan18]

Question: How do I know if I have achieved metabolic flexibility?

Scenario: With ketones ranging from .7-1.5 the last few weeks, I had two days in a row where I blew my carbs out of the water (150+ versus the under 39 I'd been doing) -- Easter and the day after. Here is what occurred, and for the record, I've been only measuring ketones with the Keto-Mojo at the end of my fast (usually 16 hours, often more and up to 19).


Easter - Day before my ketones 1.0, glucose 78...Easter biggest blow out day with more than tripling carbs (neglected to measure before eating, as I usually do)

Monday - Ketones .7, glucose 78. (Fasted 19 hours before measuring.) More than doubled carbs afterwards.

Tuesday - Ketones .7, glucose 76, (Fasted 19 hours before measuring.) Went back to 70/20/10 percentages afterwards.

Wednesday (today) - Ketones .5, glucose 74. (Fasted only 15 hours before measuring.) Measured 6 hours after 77/13/10 earlier meal and ketones are back up to .8 and hoping my ketones will be up more tomorrow or next day after two - three days back on percentages.


Note: I have never achieved more than 1.5 ketones, but there are a fair number of days when my carbs are more like 12-13% And I still lose weight in the .5-1.2 range (weight needed to lose).

Can someone comment on this? Is that not really metabolic flexibility since my ketones didn't drop out of range? Or is it? I've searched our site for details on metabolic flexibility, but see only general definitions of it (i.e. brain being able to utilize both ketones and glucose). Unless I just can't find it.

What measurements am I looking for to indicate metabolic flexibility?

Thanks,
Barbara

[mike]

What measurements am I looking for to indicate metabolic flexibility?

Barbara,

I'm sure others will comment on this as well, but here are a couple of thoughts.

Ketones vary throughout the day, so you might want to test at a few other times just to see. Your ketones suggest you are in ketosis. It doesn't tell you how well your brain is using it though. Often if you've been fasting for awhile, your ketones may actually go down if your brain/muscles are using it faster than they can be made from your fat reserves. It's a weird dance. And speaking of muscles, that is likely where much of your ketones are going, while your body conserves glucose for the brain.

Your glucose in the morning always come to a good level, even when you blow it the day before, so that says you aren't eating too many carbs for your metabolism. It would be good to see how quickly after a meal it gets back to your pre-meal level...

[floramaria]

Question: How do I know if I have achieved metabolic flexibility?

What measurements am I looking for to indicate metabolic flexibility?

Thanks,
Barbara

Hi Barbara, Disclaimer: I’m not one of this site’s experts on metabolic flexibility!
It is not surprising that you are in ketosis after your long fasting periods.
From what you wrote my guess would be that you are metabolically flexible because after you have loaded more carbs, you quickly go back to low glucose and ketones over 0.5. You are right about the goal being metabolic flexibility. Again, I’m just guessing based on what you provided here. To me it seems that a good possibility is that when you’ve eaten a lot of carbs you’ve used them, burning glucose, during your long fast, and then gone back into ketosis.
Rather than waiting until after your long fast to check ketones and glucose, you might check a few hours after eating a lot of carbs and see if your glucose is up and ketones down. If that is the case, and then you go back to low glucose and higher ketones after your fast, that would seem to me to indicate metabolic flexibility.

[Jan18]

I'm sure others will comment on this as well, but here are a couple of thoughts.

Ketones vary throughout the day, so you might want to test at a few other times just to see. Your ketones suggest you are in ketosis. It doesn't tell you how well your brain is using it though. Often if you've been fasting for awhile, your ketones may actually go down if your brain/muscles are using it faster than they can be made from your fat reserves. It's a weird dance. And speaking of muscles, that is likely where much of your ketones are going, while your body conserves glucose for the brain.

Your glucose in the morning always come to a good level, even when you blow it the day before, so that says you aren't eating too many carbs for your metabolism. It would be good to see how quickly after a meal it gets back to your pre-meal level...

Thank you, Mike! Good to know about my glucose. It's often 64-67 when I stick well to the program, exercise (still working out what I can do aerobically with a knee that needs a replacement) and fast!

I just signed up for ReCode (even though my initial test at Apollo Health said I only need PreCode) because I just want to go full steam! Just finished watching Julie G's guide to the site and am so happy about all of the information there! There's a section on Metabolic Flexibility that I will watch tomorrow. (Bedtime....)

Barbara

[Jan18]

Hi Barbara, Disclaimer: I’m not one of this site’s experts on metabolic flexibility!
It is not surprising that you are in ketosis after your long fasting periods.
From what you wrote my guess would be that you are metabolically flexible because after you have loaded more carbs, you quickly go back to low glucose and ketones over 0.5. You are right about the goal being metabolic flexibility. Again, I’m just guessing based on what you provided here. To me it seems that a good possibility is that when you’ve eaten a lot of carbs you’ve used them, burning glucose, during your long fast, and then gone back into ketosis.
Rather than waiting until after your long fast to check ketones and glucose, you might check a few hours after eating a lot of carbs and see if your glucose is up and ketones down. If that is the case, and then you go back to low glucose and higher ketones after your fast, that would seem to me to indicate metabolic flexibility.

Thank you, Floramaria! I will definitely track as you suggest and see what I get!

Barbara