Ketostix are absolutely worthless only blood ketone testing which I do on a daily basis will tell you what's going on.
ketostix measure excess ketones and only measure one of two major ketones and thus are unreliable for measuring whether you are in ketosis or not. You cannot use them to titrate your carbs.
Dilution - drink more water, the ketostix level changes and if you drink enough it will read negative...false negative result
Excess ketones - only measure excess, if you're using them all you won't have any excess excreted. When you first start keto, your body overproduces ketones but with time and adaptation you produce just enough for your brain and thus no longer spill them into the urine, ketostix will be negative...false negative result;
eat 400 g carbs, immediately inhibits ketosis and you return to glucose-based metabolism and thus your body has no use for ketones in circulation and you excrete them, many then check ketostix and get a false security that they are in ketosis because they get a false positive result
Only measure acetoacetate - there are two major ketone bodies acetoacetate and beta hydroxybutyrate, ketostix only measure the former; the longer you're in ketosis the more of the latter you have in circulation so if you are spilling excess ketostix can't detect it and you get a false negative
They are intended for diabetic ketoacidosis, not nutritional ketosis and are a waste of time and money and only seem to cause confusion, frustration and false security because people don't know how they work and yet continue to use them in a way that they hope they work. Follow your macros and you're in ketosis. Focus on how you feel rather than a ketostix
