Have you checked to see if you are actually in ketosis? I know I waited for a while before I finally got some keto sticks for measuring my pee to check if I was in ketosis. Mainly because there seems to be a shortage of these sticks in Australia. Certainly my local chemist seemed to think it was in short supply due to the number of people doing “this diet thing”.
So I went online. And the prices seemed reasonable enough.
But regardless I would need to wait. And I had already waited as I assumed I was in ketosis due to the other indicators such as not being hungry and getting leg cramps and having bad breath (urgh!) so what would a few more weeks be? The reason I say that is because I ended up getting super cheap keto (pee) sticks!
I bought them from Aliexpress and they arrived in a couple of weeks.
The ones I bought were about A$4 for 100 sticks. The price varies on the day due to the exchange rate as I had a look now and the price is just over $4. They had breath meters as well listed but the reviews were not promising so I stayed with the pee sticks.
The “Reagent Strips for Urinanalysis” were shipped for free which is where the savings can be had (anything shipped in Australia seems to be fairly expensive which is why Aliexpress is such good value!). Here’s the link to the one I bought (not an affiliate link).
Do they work?
In a word? Yes! The sticks work like you would expect them to. They measure excess ketones in the urine so if you are in ketosis (and don’t use them all up!) then they will measure up fine. I’m usually in the obviously “purple” range and haven’t not measured in ketosis each time I try.
How to use these Keto test sticks
This could be TMI (too much information) territory but I wanted to put it out there. I just pee on the stick. I’ve also dipped it in to the bowl after peeing… and both work. I didn’t want to get another thing to pee into just to measure and then somehow have to deal with the other container which would have had my pee in it. Urgh.
Is it worth it?
I think so. Rather than guessing it’s always helpful to know and it’s a bit of a mental boost to know you are in ketosis. It’s not something I measure regularly but if I’ve had a day where I’ve had a few fat bombs or after a few more carbs than usual (never actually a carb meal but rather too many foods which have 4 – 6 grams of carbs per serve) then I do like checking I’m still in ketosis.
