How often should I measure my ketones?
TL;DR: 3-5 times per day
These days, there is no shortage of dietary and exercise advice. But the truth is that everyone is different. What may work for your friend or coworker may not work for you. This is due to many genetic and biological factors that are often not obvious and usually difficult to tease out.
Regular ketone monitoring is an excellent way to understand how your body responds to different eating patterns and exercise routines. It’s the only way to truly know how your decisions affect your metabolism. To this end, a reliable and noninvasive ketone monitor is a critical tool in your health journey.
But how often should you measure with your ketone meter?
Data from the BIOSENSE clinical trial demonstrated that, for the average person, ketone levels fluctuate by about 50% during the course of a single day. This means that to capture all that variability, it is critical to measure more than once each day.
When we crunched the numbers from our clinical trial, we found that measuring 2 times per day captures only 52% of the full picture. That means that almost half of your ketone journey remains hidden. Measuring 3 times per day, on the other hand, captures 82% of the picture. Once you get to 4-5 times per day, you’re getting an extremely accurate representation of your daily ketone levels, with well over 90% of the variability captured.
Bottom line: the sweet spot is between 3-5 times per Day.
Measuring more frequently allows you to truly understand the cause and effect relationships that drive your health. Did that burrito help you stay on your path? Does skipping breakfast and adding an extra meal in the afternoon increase or decrease your fat burn rate? The more data you have, the more sure you can be about your choices and their effects.