Jonathan and I received notice today that we have been accepted to ride in Lotoja, a 213 mile ride covering 4 states and lots of climbing – in one day!

We’re both a little nervous about doing this long of a ride (12+ hours on the bike) with nothing more to eat than some eggs and bacon, coffee with butter, beef sticks with a handful of nuts here and there.  But I’m committed to staying in a state of nutritional ketosis and for me it’s just a matter of building confidence that I can do a ride that long without running out of fuel.  We’ve done 6 hour rides several times already while in ketosis, so I should be fine.

I am, however, frustrated over my own ketone levels lately.  Unless I’m doing a “fat fast” where I only drink fluids with butter or coconut oil, my levels are staying very low, around .4.  I’m now keeping a food log to try and figure out what I’m eating that is negatively affecting my levels so much.  When I fast overnight and wait until early afternoon to take on any food, my levels rise to 1.4.  But when I eat something for breakfast, and a beef stick for lunch, I am reading low levels.

There are so many things that can affect ketone levels outside of just food – hormones, supplements, and your body’s natural tolerance of carbs.  Apparently I have a very low tolerance and may have to stay under 20 grams/day to see if that will keep me in ketosis.   I can’t prove this  yet, but “commercial” bars like the Atkins bars and Quest bars may be negatively affecting my levels.  This could mean an intolerance to sugar alcohols (a substitute for real sugar that has minimal effect on insulin levels).

I think the food log will help me figure out what the problem foods are, although I may just need to limit myself to 2 meals  per day, and drink liquids mixed with butter or coconut oil the rest of the time.  The good news is I now know when my ketone levels are low.  I really don’t like the feeling as I’m usually very sluggish.   The feeling of being in ketosis is FAR better and worth the extra effort!