Not Losing Weight on Keto? Here are 3 Possible Reasons Why!
We all hear the praises of the Keto diet being sung from the rooftops daily.
Everyone is doing Keto – even famous, natural health doctors are praising Keto left and right.
But what if you’re not losing weight on Keto?
It’s BEYOND frustrating to make such a huge dietary change like Keto – only to see very little -or even NO results.
So what’s happening if you’re not losing weight on a keto diet?
Well, I got this question a few times on this blog – so I decided to ask a nutritionist friend of mine (and someone who has done the Keto diet successfully).
And here’s what she said – here are 3 possible reasons you’re not losing weight on Keto and what you can do about it:
3 Possible Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight On Keto
#1 You’re Eating Too Much Fat
We all know some people who can do Keto and still eat tons of fat at every meal – and still drop pounds like crazy.
But not everyone can do this.
Here’s the thing – while Keto puts you into ketosis or a fat-burning state, if you’re still taking a lot of fat into your body in your meals, your body will burn THAT for fuel. It will never actually make it into your fat storage to burn off that stored fat.
So while you’re not gaining weight – you’re also not losing weight by burning your fat stores as well.
You’ll know this is the case by simply looking at how much fat you’re eating at meals. If you’re overdoing it, it’s pretty easy to tell.
If this is the case it’s an easy solution. Try having more lean veggies and lean meats with less fats for your meals – and pretty soon you’ll start to see results on the scale.
#2 You’re Stressing Out Your Adrenals
Your adrenal glands are in charge of helping your body handle the daily stresses of life. They manage a lot of your hormone production and basically help you function in a myriad of ways we can’t even begin to understand.
While Keto works for some people – for others it can be incredibly stressful on their adrenal glands. I’m not sure why this is but my friend starting going into the fact that different people have different biochemistries and gene mutations etc – and that’s where I lost her.
But the basic thing to understand is this: If your adrenals are stressed out you’re going to put on weight – regardless of what you’re eating.
Why?
Because your body is in survival mode – and when it’s in survival mode it wants to put on weight (it’s trying to protect you). So no amount of calorie counting or low carb keto dieting is going to work for you – in fact, a low-carb diet will probably make things worse.
How do you know if you’re stressing out your adrenals? Well, stubborn belly fat that won’t budge is one sign. But here are some other signs:
- You’re tired all the time – even in the morning after a good night’s sleep
- You need caffeine to even feel human in the mornings
- You get a second wind after 9 pm – or you can’t fall asleep at night because you feel too wired
- You crave sugar, sweets and carbohydrates
- Eating sweets or carbs immediately makes you feel better
- You’re losing interest in things you used to love to do – you just don’t have the energy
The subject of adrenal fatigue is a big one – and this post is NOT meant to give you medical advice in any way.
But if you think you may fall into this category and you still want to lose weight, you might want to try a diet that is more of a calorie-controlled plan – with a strong dose of carbs to feed your adrenals and take you out of survival mode.
Diets like this include Nutrisystem and Bistro MD – which offer you healthy carbs. These will help bolster your adrenal glands and help move you out of survival mode as you lose weight.
You might also want to look into adrenal-supportive supplements like a good B-complex, multivitamin, Vitamin C and adrenal cortex. And learn how to control your stress every day through meditation, deep breathing or mindfulness exercises.
Chances are if you get your adrenals back up and running well, your body will come out of survival mode and start to burn off that stubborn fat.
#3 Your Body is Craving Different Nutrients
Let’s face it, doing a low carb diet – especially if you’re trying to make the meals and snacks yourself – can be challenging. Or it can be boring if you stick with the safety of grilled chicken and veggies night after night after night.
A lot of people tend to break their Keto diet plan because the food just gets repetitive and boring after a while. And we need variety.
This need is apparently biological – our bodies crave variety since they need a vast array of different nutrients. If you eat the same things every day, you may eventually find yourself going crazy with food cravings. Your body is telling you that it needs a wider variety of nutrients.
One of the signs that this is your problem is that you’ll find yourself eating a lot more on the keto diet than you need in an effort to get those different nutrients. You’ll find yourself feeling bored with your food or eating between meals – even when you’re not hungry.
And then you’ll either gain weight or stay at the same weight.
What can you do about this? Well you can try to change it up by learning some new recipes – there are thousands of keto recipes online, forums etc.
You could start to incorporate a variety of different veggies into your plan – especially those you’ve never tried before. Aim for 5-10 different veggies every day. Or try a new kind of protein like venison or duck.
You could also try a low carb keto-based diet delivery service that is designed to give you all of your nutrients – and still help you lose weight.
The South Beach Diet delivery service now offers a lot of new, balanced Keto-friendly diet meal options. Or you could try the Low Carb Keto-30 plan on Diet To Go. Those are great options that make doing Keto a lot easier – and give you the variety of nutrients your body needs.
But regardless, if this is your problem – you should find that when you add in different dishes and increase the variety of nutrients you get, your cravings will diminish and your weight should start to come off naturally.
So those are 3 possible reasons you’re not losing weight on Keto. Take some time to really observe what you’re doing and what symptoms you are having. So you can then figure out what’s really going on – and you can make changes to fix the problem.
Good luck!
Have you had problems losing weight on the Keto diet? How did you solve them?
Leave your comments below!
