Low-carb diets have gained immense popularity as effective strategies for weight loss. Plenty of evidence suggests that low carb diets can be very effective for weight loss. However, as with any dietary approach, individuals may experience plateaus or a perceived lack of progress. This article explores common reasons why you might not be losing weight on a low-carb diet, or why you might feel like you’re not losing weight, and offers potential solutions to overcome these challenges.
Understanding Low-Carb Diets
A low-carb diet limits carbohydrates, often called carbs - such as those found in grains, starchy vegetables, and fruit. A low-carb diet focuses on foods high in protein and fat. Many types of low-carb diets exist. A low-carb diet is generally used for weight loss. In broad terms, a low-carb diet focuses on proteins and some nonstarchy vegetables. A low-carb diet generally limits grains, legumes, fruits, breads, sweets, pastas and starchy vegetables, and sometimes nuts and seeds. A daily limit of 0.7 to 2 ounces (20 to 57 grams) of carbohydrates is typical with a low-carb diet. In general, you digest complex carbs more slowly. Complex carbs also have less effect on blood sugar than refined carbs do. Refined carbs such as sugar or white flour are often added to processed foods. The body uses carbs as its main energy source. During digestion, complex carbs are broken down into simple sugars, also called glucose, and released into your blood. Insulin is released to help glucose enter the body's cells, where it can be used for energy. Extra glucose is stored in the liver and in muscles.
The Initial Phase: Water Weight and Expectations
Weight loss isn’t a linear process. There will be days when the scale goes up and others when it goes down. This doesn’t mean the diet isn’t working overall. Many people lose a lot of weight in the first week on a low carb diet, but this is mostly water weight. Weight loss will slow down significantly after this initial phase. It’s essential to understand that initial rapid weight loss is often due to water loss, and the rate of weight loss naturally slows down over time.
Measuring Progress Beyond the Scale
Also, losing weight is not the same as losing fat. It’s possible, especially if you have just started lifting weights or building muscle, that you’re gaining muscle weight at the same time as you’re losing fat. It can feel frustrating when you aren’t losing weight as fast as you had hoped. Relying solely on the scale might not provide a complete picture of your progress.
To check if you’re losing fat, you can try using measurements other than scales. For example, you could use a measuring tape to measure waist circumference. Additionally, you can ask a healthcare professional to measure your body fat percentage every month or so. You can also try taking pictures to chart your weight loss and noticing how your clothes fit. These can be indicators of weight change as well.
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Dietary Factors Affecting Weight Loss
Hidden Carbohydrates
One of the main reasons why many people find that they are not losing weight with keto is that they are eating too many carbs. However, carbs are tricky and can be hidden in vegetables, sauces, and dressings. Hidden carbs might be sabotaging your keto success without you even knowing it. To lose weight on the modified keto diet, your carbs must stay between 20-50 grams daily. That’s just 5-10% of your daily calories on a standard 2000-calorie diet. “Many of my clients are surprised to learn they’re consuming more carbs than they realize,” says Bakios, RD. “Common culprits include sugar-free products, keto-labeled cereals, and even some granola marketed as low-carb. Watch out for condiments too.”
Here are some common hidden carbs:
- Sugar substitutes like maltitol can affect blood sugar despite being marketed as keto-friendly
- “Keto-friendly” processed foods may contain fillers and starches
- Certain vegetables that seem low-carb but add up in larger portions
- Dairy products, especially flavored varieties
- Nuts and seeds, which can be easy to overeat
Consider tracking your meals for a few weeks to detect repeat offenders. A registered dietitian can help you identify potential issues and overcome a weight loss plateau.
Calorie Intake and Macronutrient Ratios
The ratio of calories consumed from food to calories burned during active and passive metabolic activities is called an energy balance. One of the main reasons low carb and ketogenic diets lead to weight loss is that they reduce appetite and make you eat fewer overall calories without trying. If you’re not losing weight despite following the diet, try reducing the number of calories you eat in a day. Online nutrition calculators can help you work out which foods are higher in calories than others. Some experts recommend reducing calories by around 500 calories per day for a weight loss of 1 pound (0.5 kg) of weight per week. This may not work for everybody.
While the keto diet is designed to help you burn fat, the fundamental principle of weight loss applies-you still need a calorie deficit. Depending on your fat intake, you may be consuming too many calories (yes, that includes healthy fats). Fat contains 9 calories per gram compared to 4 calories for carbohydrates and protein. This means you can consume a larger volume of food from carbohydrates than from fat, for fewer calories.”
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Common high-calorie pitfalls on a keto diet include:
- Large portions of fatty meats and animal protein
- Liberal use of cooking oils and butter
- Excessive snacking on nuts and seeds
- Multiple servings of packaged “keto-friendly” desserts
On the keto diet, several types of carbohydrates are acceptable, including nuts and dairy. These foods are typically high fat, nutrient-dense foods that make a great addition to a keto diet. However, they also contain carbohydrates. Eating too many of these foods will keep a person from achieving and maintaining ketosis.
When on a low-carb diet like keto, it can be easy to eat too much protein. Unlike other low-carb diets, the keto diet is moderate-protein and most of the calories come from fat. A person on the keto diet will get most of their calories from fat, which should represent about 55-60% of their calorie intake. This fat intake leaves little room for protein. If protein makes up more than 35% of a person’s diet, they may not go into ketosis.
Diet Quality and Food Choices
A low carb diet is about more than just eating less carbs. For healthy weight loss, people need to replace those carbs with whole, nutritious foods. Avoid all processed low carb products. Whole foods have far greater health benefits. Replacing some carbs with lean meats, fish, eggs, vegetables, and healthy fats can help you lose weight.
While hitting your macro ratios is important, your body needs a full spectrum of nutrients to thrive and achieve healthy weight loss. Nutrient deficiencies can slow your progress. A registered dietitian can help identify your personal food triggers and create a customized keto diet plan that works best for your body. Poor gut health can prevent you from losing weight, even in ketosis. The keto diet eliminates many vegetables, legumes, and fruits-foods that offer protective benefits to your gut through fiber, vitamins, and minerals,” says Bakios, RD. “These high-carbohydrate foods also provide more volume for fewer calories, which can help with feelings of fullness when trying to lose weight.”
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Treats and Snacking
Eating occasional treats is fine, but eating treats every day - even if they contain healthy ingredients, like paleo cookies - can slow down or prevent weight loss.
Continual snacking can increase a person’s calorie intake. This can mean a person consumes more calories than they are burning off, resulting in weight gain.
Hidden Sugars and Alternative Sweeteners
When following a low carb or ketogenic diet, eating sugars marketed as “healthier” alternatives - like coconut sugar or raw cane sugar - isn’t necessarily good for your health. All sugar is high in carbs and can prevent your body from adapting to the low carb diet. This also applies to honey, agave nectar, and other sugars.
Low calorie sweeteners are fine for most people, but you may want to consider limiting them if you have trouble losing weight. Some products contain digestible carbs as fillers.
Sugar alcohols are typically a good option for people following the keto diet. They provide sweetness without increasing net carbs in the body. However, not all sugar alcohols are alike. For example, although maltitol is technically a low glycemic index (GI) sugar, it can still affect a person’s blood sugar levels. Consuming too much maltitol may prevent a person from entering ketosis. Maltitol is a sugar alcohol that is not suitable for keto diet.
Alcohol Consumption
Many alcoholic drinks, such as wine or beer, are high in carbohydrates. Hard alcohols, such as gin and vodka, contain less sugars, meaning they are lower in carbohydrates. However, alcoholic drinks contain many calories. As such, even these options can prevent weight loss.
Lifestyle Factors Impacting Weight Loss
Stress and Mental Health
It isn’t always enough to just eat healthy and exercise. Taking care of your mental health is an important step in healthy weight loss. Stress keeps the body in a state of “fight or flight” and increases the amount of stress hormones, like cortisol, in the blood. Having chronically raised cortisol levels can increase feelings of hunger and cravings for unhealthy foods. A high-stress lifestyle can also stop a person from losing weight on the keto diet. As one 2022 article notes, psychological stress can cause changes in hormone levels, such as cortisol, which can lead to weight gain or difficulty losing weight.
Stress and poor sleep can quietly undermine your keto diet efforts, even when you’re diligently tracking macros. When stress levels remain elevated, your body produces excess cortisol, a hormone that not only triggers cravings but also promotes fat storage. This stress response can lead to weight gain and derail your progress, even if you’re maintaining strict ketosis.
Sleep Quality
Sleep is incredibly important for overall health. Studies show a lack of sleep is linked to weight gain and obesity. A lack of sleep can make you feel hungrier. It can also make you feel tired and less motivated to exercise or eat healthy food. Sleep disorders are fairly common and often treatable.
Your circadian rhythm, the 24-hour cycle of wakefulness and sleep, plays a vital role when it comes to controlling body weight. Insufficient sleep produces ghrelin, the hormone that makes you hungry, and it also inhibits insulin function and elevates stress hormones in the body.
Sleep quality plays an equally crucial role in weight loss through its effect on hunger hormones. Research shows that inadequate sleep disrupts the delicate balance between ghrelin (your hunger hormone) and leptin (your fullness hormone). This hormonal imbalance can intensify cravings and increase appetite, making it harder to maintain your keto eating plan.
Physical Activity
Exercise is critical for both physical and mental health, improving your metabolic health, increasing your muscle mass, and improving your mood. Lack of exercise is a major cause of chronic diseases. Increasing muscle mass to improve metabolism.
It’s important to do the right kind of exercise. A mixture of cardio and muscle building can be an effective combination:
- Weightlifting: Lifting weights can greatly improve hormone levels and increase muscle mass, which may help you lose fat and keep it off over the long term if you maintain your exercise regimen.
- Interval training: High intensity intervals is an excellent form of cardio that boosts your metabolism and raises your levels of human growth hormone (HGH).
- Low intensity: Being consistently active and doing some low intensity exercise each day, including walking, can make a big difference.
Exercise is an important part of staying healthy. Exercise also stimulates the body’s metabolism and burns calories. Exercise may be especially important on a keto diet, as the high fat foods a person eats contain many calories. Burning calories through exercise can help a person reach their desired weight.
Regular exercise can be your secret weapon on keto, even if it doesn’t burn hundreds of calories. Think of movement as your body’s tune-up; it helps your metabolism burn fat more effectively, maintains muscle mass, and makes your cells more sensitive to insulin. You don't need to train for a marathon. Even daily walks or simple strength training can help you break through weight loss plateaus.
Medical and Hormonal Factors
Many hormonal conditions can cause weight gain or prevent weight loss, particularly hypothyroidism. If you suspect an underlying medical condition, see a healthcare professional. Explain that you’re having problems losing weight and you want to rule out any medical issues. Certain medications can stimulate weight gain. Check the list of side effects to see if weight gain is on the list. You may be able to take an alternative drug that doesn’t have this side effect.
Several medical conditions can significantly impact your weight loss journey on keto: Hypothyroidism, which slows overall metabolism, insulin resistance, making fat loss more difficult, and chronic inflammation, which can lead to a weight loss plateau. Your hormones have a close relationship with weight loss. These powerful chemical messengers influence how your body burns fat, even when you're following your keto plan perfectly. Think of hormones as key players in your metabolism. They influence everything from how hungry you feel to how easily your body burns fat.
Some conditions that can contribute to weight gain include:
- Some endocrine conditions, such as: hypothyroidism, polycystic ovary syndrome, Cushing’s syndrome
- Mental health conditions, such as depression
- Chronic stress
A person should contact a doctor if they are unable to lose weight despite adhering to a strict diet and exercise plan. The doctor may carry out tests to determine what is preventing weight loss. Treating the underlying condition may resolve the issue.
Common Misconceptions and Eating Patterns
Many people in health and fitness circles believe that everyone should be eating many small meals throughout the day. Researchers have studied this thoroughly and haven’t confirmed the benefits of frequent, smaller meals. Many dietitians believe it’s natural for humans to eat fewer meals per day and sometimes go long periods without food.
Some people use intermittent fasting, an eating pattern where you only eat within a certain time window. This may be an 8-hour window each day or occasional 24-hour fasts. Intermittent fasting can help some people lose weight. However, this eating pattern isn’t for everyone, and restricting food can trigger negative emotions in many people, especially those with a history of disordered eating. To stay safe, talk with a healthcare professional before trying fasting. When you fast between meals, your body activates the metabolic process that produces ketones and burns fat.
For people who find it easier to follow a strict diet, having “cheat meals” or “cheat days” every now and then may be fine. For others, these meals can build up and prevent weight loss. Eating unhealthy foods too often can slow down weight loss. If someone feels out of control around unhealthy foods, they may have a food addiction. Speaking to a healthcare professional can help you manage your relationship with food.
Strategies to Break Through a Weight Loss Plateau
Precise Tracking of Food Intake
Once you have professional guidance, focus on precision, at least in the short term. Track your macros using reliable apps, measure portions carefully, and log everything from cooking oils to seasonings. Remember that successful weight loss on keto isn't just about cutting carbs; it's about creating a sustainable approach that works best for your body and lifestyle.
Consulting a Registered Dietitian
The most effective first step in optimizing your keto journey is consulting with a registered dietitian who specializes in keto diets. These experts can assess your unique needs, medical history, and lifestyle factors to create a personalized plan that works for you.
Lifestyle Modifications
Managing lifestyle factors can significantly boost your results. Incorporate regular exercise into your routine: even a 30-minute daily walk can make a difference. For stress management, consider calming practices like yoga or meditation, which can help regulate cortisol levels that affect weight loss. Creating a consistent sleep schedule, limiting screen time before bed, and maintaining a cool, dark bedroom environment can improve your sleep quality. These lifestyle adjustments, while simple, can enhance your body’s ability to maintain ketosis and support your weight loss goals.
Focus on Whole Foods and Mindful Eating
While the Keto diet can be effective in reducing excess sugar and encouraging more mindful eating, a more sustainable approach to consistent weight loss is having a balanced plate at each meal. A healthy, balanced plate might include 4-6 ounces of lean protein, like chicken or fish, paired with ½ cup of brown rice, and the other half of the plate filled with vegetables, such as a salad or green beans. By focusing on adding lower-calorie, volume-dense, nutrient-packed foods-especially plant-based options-you can fill your plate with more food and still feel full, thanks to the higher volume. Additionally, plant-based foods provide beneficial phytochemicals that offer protective benefits to your body.
Alternative Dietary Approaches
While the ketogenic diet can be effective (particularly in the short term), it's not the only path to sustainable weight loss. Diets that eliminate food groups that our bodies rely on can lead to an unhealthy obsession with food. Often, people fail to enjoy a balanced diet and feel a physical strain from fighting cravings or the urges to “cheat” on their diet.
So, if you have been trying the keto diet for a while, and it doesn’t seem to work anymore, it’s perfectly fine! There are other ways for you to reach and maintain a healthy weight.
Here are some reasons why you may consider a different path to weight loss:
- When not losing weight on keto is affecting your mental health
- If you’re concerned that the intense keto food rules may trigger an eating disorder, disordered eating, or constant thoughts of food (”food noise”).
- If cutting carbs triggers binge eating episodes or intense food cravings
You could consider experimenting with intermittent fasting, which involves consuming daily calories within a limited time frame while fasting for the rest. Note: Intermittent fasting is not for everyone. Please consult your healthcare provider before you start any diet involving fasting.
A more balanced weight loss approach may be the Mediterranean diet. It’s based on balanced meals and offers sustained weight loss in the long term.
Key Takeaways:
- It’s natural to hit a weight loss plateau on keto. It’s a hard diet to follow, especially in the long term.
- Weight loss plateaus on keto often stem from hidden carbs, excessive calorie intake, overlooked lifestyle factors like stress and sleep, and underlying health issues
- Successful weight loss on keto requires proper nutrition, regular exercise, stress management, and figuring out what works best for your unique body
- A registered dietitian can provide personalized guidance to support your health goals