Fat-Burning with No Flames: My Keto Paradox
About 5 weeks ago I began a strict ketogenic protocol after being diagnosed with pre-diabetes and low-level hyperinsulinemia. I took it seriously. I’ve been eating a disciplined, clean diet ever since, tracking my glucose, ketones, and GKI every day, and pushing myself physically and mentally to turn things around.
It’s been working. According to my recent InBody scan, I’ve put on nearly 4 kg of muscle across my upper torso and lost about 3 kg of fat. My sleep has been improving. My Oura Ring shows better recovery metrics. My energy levels are great, I feel clear-headed most of the time, and my workouts are strong. I’m doing HBOT three times a week, glutathione IVs three times a week, 4 resistance workouts a week, and around 6 sessions of sauna and cold plunge. I’m also on weekly testosterone injections.
I track everything. Every morning and evening, I measure my blood sugar and ketones and record them in my Notes app under a section called “Gary’s Test Results.” This gives me a real-time view of my GKI and how my body is responding to the protocols.
And yet — I’ve hit a puzzle.
Despite all of that, I’m not in ketosis. This morning, my fasting blood sugar was 5.2 and my ketones were a frustrating 0.4, giving me a GKI of around 13. Not good. Especially considering how clean and consistent my diet has been.
I eat one meal a day across a 3–4 hour window. Yesterday, for example, I had a bulletproof coffee with 25g of butter and 2 tablespoons of Melrose Kickstart MCT oil, 20 macadamia nuts, 300ml of fresh coconut milk with around 90g of protein powder, half a large avocado, and 500g of Chicken Maryland. That was it. I also had two teaspoons of salt. This kind of day has been typical for the past five weeks.
So what’s going on?
Here’s what I suspect:
- Too much protein relative to fat. I may be eating 200g or more of protein in one sitting, which could be pushing gluconeogenesis and keeping insulin levels elevated. Cutting back slightly to ~120–140g/day and increasing dietary fat (especially saturated and MCT) may help.
- Bulletproof coffee timing. Drinking 400–500 calories of butter and MCT oil early in the day may be stimulating insulin/mTOR pathways and breaking my fast earlier than intended. I’m going to experiment with skipping or delaying this and using only black coffee in the morning.
- Supplements before bed. I’d started taking Deep Sleep powder again, which has about 1g of carbs per serve. For someone like me still recovering from insulin resistance, even 1g before bed could be enough to knock me out of therapeutic ketosis. About a week ago, I stopped taking night supplements entirely to remove this variable.
- Insulin just hasn’t dropped far enough — yet. My glucose is down, my body composition is better, but insulin is slower to respond. That means I might need to add in some longer fasts (24–36 hours) or stick with 2 meals a day for a while to allow insulin to truly reset.
- My body may be efficiently burning fat without producing many ketones. This is common among people who’ve been keto-adapted in the past and are now muscular, leaner, and better at using free fatty acids directly. If my energy is good, brain is clear, and I’m improving on every front, I might be in ketosis even without high numbers showing up.
The plan now is to run a 3-day reset:
- Drop protein slightly and boost fat
- Cut bulletproof coffee or delay it
- No evening carb-containing supplements
- Walk, lift, sauna, plunge
- Keep electrolytes high
- Stay hydrated and rested
If my ketones bounce back, I’ll know I’ve found the glitch. If not, I’ll dig deeper.
This journey isn’t just about numbers — it’s about learning how my body responds, where it’s still healing, and how to keep moving toward long-term health, strength, and freedom from metabolic dysfunction.
More soon.
