No matter how careful and vigilant you are on the keto diet, eventually, your weight loss can taper off and eventually stop.
Ideally, this will align perfectly with your goal weight, but it often doesn’t work out that way. That's why we are not losing weight on keto after some time.
If you experience a weight-loss plateau when you’re not expecting it, it might be time to switch up your dietary approach just a bit.
The key to pushing past weight loss plateaus is to make minor adjustments to your current diet. Just by doing minor changes you can solve problem of Not losing weight on keto diet.
See, once we’re done losing water weight at the beginning of a keto diet, we then tend to lose both fat and muscle mass.
How much of each you lose depends on a number of factors: good exercise, diet, sleep, and stress habits prevent muscle mass loss.
Since most of us want to lose fat and keep, or even increase muscle mass, these factors are really important to your keto plan.
It is also essential that you set a reasonable calorie deficit and eat an appropriate amount of protein.
One of the culprits of weight loss plateaus is your body decreasing its total daily energy expenditure. (TDEE)
Sometimes, if we over-restrict calories, our bodies regulate and decrease our energy expenditure as a way to increase our stability and longevity.
Another reason is that, as you lose weight, your body will have a new maintenance calorie setpoint. And as your calorie deficit percentage decreases, your weight loss rate will slow down.
This cycle will continue until your previous calorie deficit becomes the number of calories you need to maintain weight.
To push past a weight loss plateau, it can be very helpful to track both calories and macros and that you recalculate your macros every month, or for every 10 pounds lost.
Each time you recalculate, reduce your calorie deficit a bit so the diet is easier to maintain and your metabolic rate doesn’t rapidly slow down.
If you restrict calories too much, you might cause your brain’s bodyweight defending processes, which we mentioned before, to kick in at full force, and this can slow your progress.
You also want to be sure that you’re eating the optimal amount of protein. Not enough protein means losing muscle mass and experiencing more hunger and cravings,
While too much can decrease ketone production and increase your dependence on sugar burning. The general recommendations of protein vary widely between 0.6 and 1.2 grams per pound of lean body mass, depending on your exercise habits.
Other strategies, like intermittent fasting and short term fat fasts, have helped people bust through weight loss plateaus, as well.
An intermittent fast is when you restrict yourself to a specific eating window, which allows your body to go into its fasting state and burn more fat and ketones for fuel.
A common strategy is to eat only two or three meals in an 8-hour window, for instance between 11 a.M. And 7 p.M.
Most people choose to skip breakfast and have a larger lunch and dinner.
For more information about if, read over the article “intermittent fasting on a keto diet”
A fat fast is when you eat mostly fat and restrict your calories significantly for between two and four days.
The lack of carbs and protein will deplete your glycogen stores quicker and increase ketone production.
For breakfast, consider a bulletproof coffee with a generous amount of cream. For lunch, some simple deviled eggs; and for dinner, canned sardines mixed with mayonnaise.
Another important factor to consider is if food sensitivities may be stalling your weight loss.
Common food allergies and sensitivities, like dairy and gluten, can stand in the way of your weight loss goals.
If you’re having trouble losing weight and suspect that dairy or gluten may be to blame, it might be worth trying a dairy-free ketogenic diet or cutting out all gluten, including those found in low-carb processed foods.
What am I doing wrong? If I'm not losing weight on keto.
This question can be answered in several different ways let's see other side why you not losing weight that major aspect is body composition.
Before we start with this I want to cover some background information on the ketogenic diet because this can often be the first hurdle when it comes to expectations.
Weight loss during the first weeks on keto you may have noticed that you lost some weight. Many people say that's what's called water weight and indeed it is but let me explain.
Carbohydrates are stored in the body as glycogen and glycogen is energy. That is stored in your body along with 3 times its weight in water. Most well-fed people carry anywhere up to 2,000 calories of glycogen in their body.
We know that one gram of carbohydrate equals four calories. Which means 2000 calories divided by four should give us 500. Which equals 500 grams of stored carbohydrates in your body.
This is housed in your muscles. There is also an additional 400 calories of glycogen stored in your liver which equals 100 grams of additionally stored carbohydrate as energy there as well.
The reason why this is important is this if you have 600 grams of carbohydrate that will be accompanied by two and a half kilos or 5.5 pounds of added water weight.
When you follow a ketogenic diet your glycogen levels become depleted. Since there are very limited carbohydrates being consumed.
Some people may lose up to 3 kilos of weight in the first week or more depending on your exercise levels in your glycogen storage capacity.
So when week 2 rolls around it might be easy to assume you'll lose another 2.5 kilos or 5.5 pounds of body weight. But since you're all out of glycogen that doesn't happen.
The first reaction is a disappointment, negative self-talk and ultimately huge disappointments when no weight is lost or even if weight gained a little.
I'm here to tell you that, that is totally normal and this is what you do when you reach that point.
So far you may have been weighing yourself every morning at the same time. If you are then these tips might help.
Your body weight will fluctuate due to the hydration, salt intake exercise intensity and different types of food that have been consumed.
So with all these factors playing such a large role in what the scale says. It's time to reduce the power of the scales and look for better alternatives.
Body measurements are often overlooked or done incorrectly but they are one of the best ways to track progress with or without a scale.
Here is how I measured myself and some suggestions on how you can measure yourself as well.
Starting with the chest or the bust for females. You need to measure around the widest part and note these down either on a piece of paper or in an excel spreadsheet or an app such as mynfitness pal.
Next measure your waist. This measurement is best done horizontally around the belly button. As it's the perfect marking point to consistently measure from every time
Next measure your hips. This is done from the widest section standing in front of a mirror can often be the best way to do this for yourself or get someone else to do this for you.
For best results, you can measure your thighs and arms as well. This can be done by measuring in the middle of the thighs and biceps.
I recommend only measuring once per week and I usually do this on a monday for two reasons. Firstly so I don't cheat on a diet over the weekend and secondly, it's just a consistent time of the week where I remember to do it.
I often notice that measurements around my waist will change more than any other section but that's going to be different for everyone and it's going to be different for you.
Being disappointed at the scales is wasted energy. Weight scales can show that not losing weight on keto but in reality you are losing weight. Use weight scale as one marker that you track but not the only measurement that you use.
You should also check Symptoms of keto flu, here.
Another fantastic measurement to track is what I call progress pictures standing in front of the mirror with your t-shirt pulled up or naked depending on how brave you are.
This is the best way to do this. Again only do this once per week maximum. You will start to see changes after three to four weeks so be patient.
Another common issue I see with measuring weight on a scale is the occasional off-plan meal.
Keep in mind what we spoke about at the start of this post if you ate a meal that contained 100 grams of carbohydrates you'll store 300 grams of additional water along with that. So on scale it shows you are not losing weight in reality you have just stored some water.
But don't freak out at the scale just keep in mind that will eventually go away with the reduction of carbohydrates when you return to the ketogenic diet.
So there you have it a ketogenic diet is a great tool but it's not magic. Building up a really healthy lifestyle one piece at a time is going to be the best way for you to sustainably reach your goal weight.
Even one cheat day can take a long time to recover from, and water weight may come back. Maybe because lot of cheat days you are not losing weight on keto. Stay on top of tracking your carbs and your macros, which will help prevent plateaus, too.
