Keto diet is a famous weight loss diet. Check out the reasons why you might not be losing weight with this diet.
The keto diet is a popular weight loss diet that can show major changes with its diet plan as it asks you to reduce your carbohydrate intake by a lot. What happens is, the body breaks down the carbohydrates into the sugar glucose, which then uses for energy. When there are not enough carbs in the body, it enters a phase known as ketosis. When you are on ketosis, the body comes into a habit of burning fat and using the same for energy throughout the day. This fat burning makes the ketogenic diet a wise choice for losing significant amount of weight. But, some people might not lose a good amount of weight on ketogenic diet. In several cases, this can happen when they are not into ketosis yet. Keto diet plan for weight loss includes food items such as cheese, avocado, eggs, seafood, low carb vegetables, etc.
When an individual is following keto diet, your body goes through several new biological changes, which also means changes in the insulin levels and quicker fat breakdown. Due to this change, your liver starts producing large amounts of ketones to transfer the energy to your brain. Keto diet is a high fat and protein diet that contains absolutely no or less amount of carbohydrates. Although it has gained popularity in recent times, ketogenic diet is not a healthy option for long term plans. This diet is not the best option to support your body for a long period of time. Read the article further to know about the reasons why you might not be losing weight on keto.
Reasons of not losing weight on keto
When you are on a keto diet, the number of carbs that should be consumed by a person per day should be 20 to 50 grams. Ketogenic diet has shown to lead to good weight loss and can also boost heart health and manage blood sugar levels as well. But, to enjoy all the health benefits of the keto diet, it should be followed correctly. So, here are 8 major reasons why you might not be losing weight on a ketogenic diet:
Keeping your body active and engaging in a physical activity is important for your body, especially if you are on keto diet. You cannot expect to lose weight without a workout schedule. Taking a proper diet along with some exercise is essential for your body. And not just in shedding a few pounds, physical activity protects you from chronic diseases as well. Health problems are easy to prevent if you keep your body’s mechanism working with proper exercise. One can even go for different types of physical activities such as running, swimming, dancing, cardio, yoga, etc. Exercise is a great tool for people who are on a diet and trying to burn calories as the high fat foods in keto contain calories.
2. Having too much protein
Many low carb diets make you have good amounts of protein rich foods. However, some people might mistakenly think that a low carb and high protein diet is a keto diet. But, this type of diet will not make you go under ketosis because your body has the tendency to break down too much proteins into amino acids and convert them into sugar. A person who is on the keto diet will get most of the calories from fat and not excess protein. This fat intake leaves very less space for protein foods. If protein takes up more than 35% of a person’s diet, it is unlikely that they will go into ketosis.
3. Consuming excess carbohydrates and calories
Whenever you are following a weight loss diet, the most important rule is to consume less calories in your meals. It is important to keep a proper check and count of the calories consumed. Your goal can only be achieved by either cutting down the calorie intake or by expending more calories through exercise than what you consume. If you are on a ketogenic diet and are not keeping a count of your calories, then it will not be effective for weight loss. As many keto foods, such as olive oil, dairy products, avocados and nuts, are high in calories, but it is important that you should not overconsume them. Another main reasons why people do not lose weight on the keto diet is that they might be consuming too many carbs.
5. Undiagnosed underlying medical condition
If you are not being able to lose weight on ketogenic diet even when everything is going correctly, then the reason behind it might be that you have an underlying medical problem. There are some medical conditions that can prevent weight loss, such as hypothyroidism, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), depression and high insulin levels. These health conditions can be diagnosed by your doctor with some basic tests. If you have any of the conditions listed above, you should not ignore it and leave it untreated. Through proper rules, dietary and lifestyle changes and medication, you can have a healthy weight loss with ketogenic diet.
6. Drinking alcohol
Restricting alcohol consumption is one of the main rules of keto diet. There are several alcoholic drinks such as wine and beer, that are extremely high in carbohydrates. Most forms of the keto diet do not allow these types of alcohol. Drinking alcohol can surely lead to an increased calorie intake without providing the body with nutrients. Even your dietician would tell you to restrict alcohol. Alcohol consumption is not good for weight loss and for your overall health.
7. Taking stress
A high stress lifestyle can also become a barrier for not losing weight when on keto diet. According to a study, stress can cause changes in hormone levels, which further results in weight gain or difficult weight loss. Chronic stress can also cause people to crave for comfort foods, which are the foods with a lot of calories. When your body is stressed, it produces excess amounts of a hormone called cortisol. Increased levels of cortisol, which is basically the stress hormone, can result in your body to store fat, specifically in the belly area. In addition, too much stress can make you sleep deprived, which can again lead to weight gain, defeating the whole purpose of keto diet.
8. Constant snacking
Some people go for snacking and munching while working the entire day. It is absolutely your choice if you want to prefer healthier alternatives at regular time intervals or unhealthy foods, that are more comforting and pleasurable. Keto diet gives good weight loss results, which means you won’t have to crave for snack. If hungry, you can have a few healthier options such as avocado, nuts and cheese. Constant snacking can even be a habit for some people, but it is important to control it. You can always distract yourself from unhealthy munching or replace it with healthy food items that are allowed in keto. This will help in following this weight loss diet vigrously.
Along with some good lifestyle changes such as exercise and less stress, the ketogenic diet can be an effective weight loss diet plan. But, there are several factors as to why some people might not be able to see themselves losing weight. Eating excessive calories, lack of physical workout, stress, underlying medical conditions and not following the advised number of nutrient consumption, all of these things can effect your weight loss regime. For a healthy weight loss with keto diet, you need to make these small changes, be more active and eat nutritious and low-carb foods as much as possible.