Health ~ Fitness ~ Motherhood and More
7 reasons your weight loss is stalled on keto
So... you started the Keto Diet,
You watched the scale drop week after week. But now you’re at a standstill and feel stuck with your progress. Before you give up on Keto let me tell you a few reasons why your weight loss might be stalled.
The ketogenic diet has changed my life. I hesitate to call it a diet, in fact, it is more of a lifestyle. The benefits of eating keto are endless. In fact, I have another article discussing why the ketogenic diet is so superior. You can read that here.
With that said, it is important to know that not all bodies respond the same, and ultimately you have to experiment and determine what is best for you. While the keto diet isn’t for everyone, it can help most achieve their health and fitness goals. And just like any other way of eating, it’s going to require effort and intention to get your desired result. So before you throw away your hard work and think keto isn’t for you, let’s take a look at what might be affecting your weight loss.
1. Using the scale as your only measurement of progress.
The scale is a double edge sword when it comes to tracking progress. While it can help track weight loss, it should not be the only tool you’re using to track your overall progress. Weight can fluctuate for so many reasons. Hormones, stress, dehydration, alcohol, sleep issues can all affect what the scale says. For this reason, it is better to incorporate some other methods of tracking like body measurements and photos.
As you lose weight and get closer to your goal weight, the numbers will not change as fast as they did when you started. And if you’re working out and gaining muscle, you might see an exchange of fat and muscle with no change to the scale. But the body IS changing nonetheless.
Keep a log for yourself that includes weight but also body measurements and progress photos. You might be surprised at the “non-scale” victories you’ll see!
2. Not Tracking Calories and Carbs.
“You can’t really know where you are going until you know where you have been.” Maya Angelou
Initially, when you are starting keto, it’s not as critical to track your calories. The main focus is limiting carbs and keeping fats high. This changes once you are fat-adapted and in ketosis. Calories matter, period. Your body will be using fat as fuel, but if you overeat, fat loss stalls.
At some point, it’s a good idea to calculate your macros and start using a calorie tracker as well as a food scale. I love the Lose It app or the Carb Manager app to track daily calories. You might not have to use these forever, but it helps to give an idea of what “ideal portions” look like.
For example, it can be easy to overindulge with dairy and nuts. They are very calorie-dense and can hinder your progress if you’re not careful. Having weighed out portions will ensure you stay on track
Also when you’re using a calorie tracker, it will help find any hidden carbs that would have gone under the radar. If you know what you’re eating, you can then make adjustments. As you lose weight or gain muscle, you may need to modify things.
Tracking your macros and calories will allow you to see where you are and make necessary changes as you go.
3. Not Implementing Intermittent Fasting.
Intermittent Fasting and Keto Diet make the perfect combination. Before diving into why they are the perfect pair, let’s talk about what Intermittent Fasting is.
Intermittent Fasting (IF) is just a strict time frame of when you eat and when you don’t eat or fast. The benefits of IF are numerous. The two most notable benefits are fat loss and a process called Autophagy, which fasting helps to facilitate.
Autophagy is when your body actually is able to self renew. Old cells are repaired and recycled to make new and better functioning cells. This in turn can help prevent the onset of cancer, amongst many other diseases. Cancer is the loss of cell control.
Autophagy cleans and rids your body of those cells before they become a problem. The ability for your body to clean out the old, improve your cells, or generate new cells will only help your health improve. Cellular turnover is critical to staying vital. Disease preventing and anti-aging, sign me up!
There are several ways to practice Intermittent fasting and several schedules to try.
The easiest way to implement it in my opinion is to use the “lean gains” or 16/8 Fast. For 16 hours you will fast (not eat). Then eat all of your calories within an 8-hour window. For example, if you begin eating at 12 pm, you will stop at 8 pm and not eat again until 12 the next day. This gives ample time to allow your body to go into fat-burning and autophagy.
If that wasn’t enough reason, fasting can help regulate the microbiology within the gut by starving the bad bacteria and allowing the good bacteria to flourish. Gut health is so important. A healthy gut helps with mental clarity, overall immune health, anxiety, depression and can aid in fat loss!
When eating a ketogenic diet and using fat as fuel, naturally you can go long periods of time without eating. This is one of the first things that becomes noticeable once you are fat-adapted. You no longer experience a crash in energy like you might have when eating a diet with more carbohydrates.
Gone are the days of planning 3-6 meals. Fat in your diet will keep you satiated for long stretches of time, and your body begins using fat stores for your energy. This is the beauty of Keto. It naturally allows you to implement Intermittent Fasting.
Things you can have during your fasting period are zero-calorie beverages like water, black coffee or tea. Also adding MCT oil can help curb your hunger and help your body make ketones. There are differing opinions on whether or not MCT technically breaks a fast. This article explains why MCT is okay to use and how it is beneficial.
If you find it hard to practice IF daily, just shoot for 3-4 days a week. This will allow you to experience the benefits of fasting while still being able to join your family for breakfast on the weekends!
4. Eating too many processed foods
Keto has become very popular and now there are many “keto-treats” available. This is good and bad. Any processed food, not grown and consumed in its original form, has added chemicals, artificial fiber, and artificial sweeteners. Those types of artificial ingredients can potentially spike your insulin and/or trigger an inflammatory response. Insulin spikes are what keto is trying to prevent. And inflammation is the cause of most diseases and can affect weight.
One of the best things about keto is that it eliminates inflammation. Not to mention processed foods are void of micro-nutrients your body needs. It’s not to say these “keto-treats” or dirty keto foods should not be consumed. But keeping them to a minimum will only improve your overall health and weight loss. Clean keto 80% of the time with, “dirty” keto 20% percent of the time is a good rule of thumb!
5. Not exercising.
While the saying “abs are made in the kitchen” is true, exercise should not be overlooked when it comes to weight loss. Increasing your daily activity will burn more calories and help shed those pounds even faster.
In addition to that, if you weight train and build muscle, you have the potential to increase your metabolism. The more muscle you have, the more calories your body will burn.
One pound of fat burns 5 calories while one pound of muscle burns an extra 50 calories a day. Why not set your body up to be a furnace, and watch the fat melt away!
If you want to know more about the benefits about weight training you can check out my article here!
6. Drinking too much Alcohol.
Uh-Oh, fun police alert!
Before I get into this point, I want to preface by saying you can still have fun (drink alcohol) and lose weight. However, there is a right and wrong way to go about it.
Firstly it’s important to note those who are on a ketogenic diet should be looking for low and zero-calorie drinks. This can include hard alcohols (with sugar-free mixers), dry wines and some keto-friendly beers. Just like any diet, alcohol in moderation is key. The main reason to avoid overdoing the booze is that it will only stall your fat loss.
The liver is responsible for processing alcohol and fat. Your body is a smart machine, and it will prioritize what should be done first.
The liver is like an emergency room.
Alcohol is a patient who broke both legs, while fat is a patient that twisted an ankle.
You can imagine who is dealt with first!
So if you are drinking often, or binging, it only will cause your body to stop burning fat for that time period. My advice is to keep it limited, maybe 1-2 nights a week with 1-2 drinks. This way your body is able to focus on the task at hand, weight loss!
7. Eating too little!
This might be a surprise to some, but undereating can be just as detrimental as overeating when it comes to weight loss. If you drastically cut your calories your body will try to protect itself and hold onto energy reserves (fat) so it can support your vital organs.
We all have something called a resting metabolic rate (RMR). Simply put this is the number of calories it takes just for your body to function. That means, just to pump the heart, breath, blink, think etc. All of those systems require calories to function. Now add on activity, like a physical job or workouts, and that only increases the caloric need. If you eat below your RMR, your metabolism slows and your weight loss will come to a halt.
A great analogy that helped me understand this concept is comparing calories to money.
If you had a job where your pay was inconsistent and on the low side, how willing would you be to go out and spend? You wouldn’t.
Chances are you would save every penny.
Now on the other hand if you had a job where you consistently made $1000 a week, every week, without fail, do you think you would be afraid to spend? Nope! You know that even if you spend money, next week another $1000 is coming. This is how your body operates. It needs consistent healthy and accurate calories to thrive.
In addition to eating enough, keto dieters have to make sure they are eating enough fat. Fat is your fuel. Keeping your fat within the suggested range of 70-75% will only help your energy and fat loss.
And there you have it.
Seven reasons to explore and see if you can help move that weight loss goal along! Just remember weight loss is a marathon not a sprint. Consistency is key. And I could throw in another cheesy cliche saying in here but you can get where I am going.
Just stay the course! Make the effort, change things as needed, be honest with yourself and your goals and you will get there!
I would love to hear what has helped you with overcoming weight loss stalls! Please share below!
