Can you be on a keto diet and not check ketones?

Absolutely.  However, it isn’t recommended.  For a ketogenic diet to be effective, you HAVE to be in full ketosis and it is almost impossible to tell if you are without testing.

In fact, you may be in sub-optimal ketosis and still shows signs of ketosis, like keto breath (sweet “fruity” smell), without being in fat burning mode.  Being in partial ketosis but eating a high-fat diet is a recipe for disaster. In all likelihood, you will actually gain weight under that scenario. 

Ketogenic diets are very good at helping you lose weight by burning fat, but they are also very difficult to maintain without monitoring, and worse yet, they can actually cause problems and weight gain if done incorrectly. 

This is especially important for people new to the diet as they don’t know how they respond to different foods and can never really know if they are following the diet correctly. 

The fact of the matter is, if you don’t follow the keto dietary rules, you are more likely to gain weight than lose it. See: “What are the rules for ketogenic diets?” for more on keto rules. 

Regularly checking your ketone levels reassures you that you are doing things correctly, but it can also help you identify there is a problem with what you are eating (or in the case of fats, not eating enough). 

This makes troubleshooting the diet easier.  Without testing, you are just hoping things are going OK.  It is a much better feeling to KNOW you are doing it correctly.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.