Upon starting a ketogenic diet, you are bound to see a dramatic decrease in your weight. It is usually due to water loss. The loss of water weight from the body is followed by fat loss and gradually you will begin losing some inches here and there. Weight loss plateaus are common when you are trying to lose weight on a keto diet. But this is no reason to give up or feel embarrassed.
Reasons for Weight Loss Plateaus or Stalling on the Keto Diet
1. Consuming Too Many Carbohydrates
Started gaining weight on a ketogenic diet? Then it could be due to the consumption of excessive carbohydrates. Nut butter, processed meat, avocados, starchy veggies, keto cookies, and bars have hidden carbs that can add up.
Even consuming just a few grams of carbs each meal could stack up. So, it’s better to use a carb counting or Keto app to keep track of your daily next carbs for a few weeks. This can seem daunting, but for most people that 2-3 weeks is an incredible learning opportunity to teach you where hidden carbs are found, which veggies have the lowest carbs, and which foods will pack high caloric count. Most people don’t need to use a food tracking app, like the KetoDiet App for long though. Usually, a few weeks (or a few months for some people) is enough to create habits to have success on the keto diet.
Most people aim to eat less than 20 net carbs per day on the keto diet, but that can vary depending on activity level, body size, and other health conditions. The keto or carb counting apps can help you identify your own personal macro and net carb breakdown for your fitness level, size, and activity. This can be a relief for very active people who can sometimes under fuel themselves.
2. Low Ketone Levels in the Body
To know if you are successful on keto, tracking ketone levels can be helpful. If you are losing centimeters or your clothes are fitting looser, then don’t feel like you need to jump in an investment in a ketone blood meter. We prefer blood ketone meters for accuracy, vs. urine strips which can give inconsistent or inaccurate results.
If you find the blood ketone levels okay after taking a reading after fasting overnight, then you can rule out this as a reason your weight loss has stalled.
If you want to increase your ketone levels into a therapeutic level in less than 60 minutes, then check out our favourite drinkable ketones that we drink every day to extend fasting, enhance fat loss, improve energy and mental clarity, skin, and digestion.
3. You Have Too Much Protein
It is also essential to closely look at your protein intake. When your protein intake is higher than the recommended level, it gets converted and used as glucose in your body during a process called glucogenesis.
This is commonly overlooked and must be avoided on a ketogenic diet. The guidelines for beginning with a ketogenic diet call for the consumption of macros in the following percentages: 25% protein, 65% calories, and 10% carbohydrates. If you were around in the 1990s, the Atkins high protein (low carb) diet was the rage and people experienced fantastic results with fat loss, lowering blood sugar, reducing inflammation, etc. but it wasn’t without its faults.
4. Intake of Too Many Calories
One major benefit for people who have done a lot of dieting in the past is that the Keto Diet rarely requires counting calories or weighing foods. This can relieve a lot of the anxiety or guilt around dieting.
The keto diet also gives you the feeling of fullness (satiety) and aids in preventing overeating. In some cases, it could also lead to gaining weight. You need to take care of calorie consumption to continue losing weight on the keto diet.
While making sure to avoid intake of an excessive number of calories you must avoid putting restrictions on the calorie intake. For example, if you consume less than 12,00 calories, it can significantly affect your metabolism, health, and weight loss. To reduce your calorie consumption, consume foods with low calories and monitor portion size properly.
5. Having Too Much Fat
Eating too much fat could also be the culprit behind the keto weight loss stall. A ketogenic diet can allow you to intake as many fatty snacks as you like. Fats are healthy and yummy. But they have more calories per pound in comparison to carbohydrates and proteins. So, if you want to lose weight, you need to wisely differentiate between the good and the bad kind of food for your health and gut.
6. Not Consuming Real Whole Foods
Just because the keto diet is low-carb or high-fat. This does not imply that it is free for everyone on keto. So, consume whole food keto diet foods as much as possible to lose your extra weight. When you consume snacky recipes and packaged food, they create additional calories and prevent ketosis.
7. Not Doing Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is beneficial for those on a keto diet. It involves cycling between fasting and eating time. It helps control the overall calorie consumption per day, gives your body a break from digesting all day long, and nurtures the metabolism.
When teamed up with the ketogenic diet, it makes the transition into ketosis speedily by switching the main energy source of your body to fat. Thus, it results in speeding up the weight loss. Plenty of studies have shown that intermittent fasting can reduce calorie intake and hunger.
Drinking KetoNat will help you go even longer by elevating ketones levels, while reducing appetite and cravings for sugar and carbohydrates.
8. Increased Stress Levels
When the level of stress is high, the human body responds by making the cortisol hormone. This is what makes it tough to lose weight. Did you know that few studies suggest that chronic stress is linked to enhanced weight gain with time?
Also, in a few people, high cortisol levels result in boosted food consumption and low energy expenditure, which contributes to weight gain. To reduce stress levels, practice meditation daily, take out time daily for fun activities and exercising, etc.
9. Not Getting Sufficient Electrolytes and Salt
Not getting enough salt and electrolytes could also be the reason behind slow weight loss on keto. When you prefer to have processed carbohydrates over the traditional diet, you end up consuming much less sodium.
Lack of sodium leads to fatigue, headache, and bloating. The best way to get adequate salt and electrolytes is by consuming a well-balanced diet and adding an 1/8 tsp of pink salt or sea salt each day. You can also add our favourite Keto Electrolyte that provides unparalleled energy and performance, sustained muscle mass, and brain function.
10. Not Sticking to Your Workout Routine
Although it’s possible to lose extra weight via the keto diet alone, exercising regularly helps you cope with the weight loss plateau. Workout boosts calorie burning and is also essential for other health aspects like shielding against chronic diseases, boosting muscle growth, and extending your life.
That is why it’s important to do moderate to heavy exercise for at least 150 minutes. It’s also worth experimenting with new activities such as strength training, swimming, cycling, etc.
11. Other Factors
Underlying medical conditions and poor sleep can make losing weight a challenge. Consult with the registered dietician or doctor near you if you feel that something is going wrong with your health.
They can help you create the best plan to promote weight loss safely. But do not feel shocked if these experts advise you to take a less restrictive diet over a ketogenic diet.
Conclusion:
A ketogenic diet is a popular way to consume food with high fat content, moderate amount of protein, and very less carbohydrate content. If your low-carb diet does not help you lose weight, it could be due to various factors. As you know, the keto diet is all about tracking. Therefore, we have mentioned the primary areas where you must look for while losing weight with the help of keto diet.
