Keto Plateau: 5 Reasons Your Weight Loss May Have Stalled

While many people find quick, upfront success at losing weight on the Keto Diet, some practitioners find that, over time, their weight loss slows or stalls completely. Many people get discouraged once the weight stops coming off, which may lead them to abandon their diet altogether, but with more information about the Keto Diet, you may be able to restart your weight loss and get back on track.

Here are 5 reasons why your weight loss may have stalled on the Keto Diet.

1. You Ate Too Many Carbs And Fell Out Of Ketosis

Most practitioners of the Keto Diet know that in order to get into ketosis (where the body burns fat for energy instead of carbohydrates), you have to eat a very low-carb diet. For many people, this means eating between 20 to 30 grams of carbohydrates or less per day. However, it is very easy to go over your daily carb intake, especially if you aren’t aware of which foods are high in carbohydrates. As a good rule of thumb, the less processed the food is the better it will be for the Keto Diet.

You will want to choose from cuts of meat that still incorporate a good percentage of fat (such as bacon or regular ground beef), or fruits like avocado that are also high in fat. Fat is important on the Keto diet as not only can it help your body get into ketosis, but it also satiates better than simple carbs. If you’ve stalled on your weight loss journey, your daily carb intake is a good place to start looking for an answer.

2. You Aren’t Drinking Enough Water

For some practitioners of the Keto Diet, making sure they are drinking enough water can be a real challenge. Dehydration can be common on the Keto Diet, so it is important to up your daily intake. Initially, many people experience a surge in weight loss while practicing the Keto Diet because their body retains fluid less when they don’t eat as many carbs. However, when you have a cheat day or don’t eat according to the Keto Diet, your body will go back to retaining that fluid.

Water also acts as a natural appetite suppressant and, if you are a chronic snacker, try to replace your snacking with more water. Water is naturally calorie-free and important for your body and it also helps you to feel fuller between meals. Keep your calories down by making sure that you’re drinking plenty of water throughout the day and it just might help you restart your weight loss.

It is also important to be sure that you are ingesting enough salt and electrolytes on the Keto Diet, as with increased excretion from drinking more water, your body also loses salt and electrolytes. Supplementing with a water enhancer and also ensuring you get enough salt daily will help you to maintain proper hydration.

3. You Stopped Tracking Your Food Intake Or Never Have

While one of the main components of success on the Keto Diet is being sure to eat low-carb, if you eat too many calories, you may gain weight. For any weight loss plan, it is important to be aware of how many calories your body needs on a daily basis. For most people, eating 2,000 calories per day is too much, especially when combined with a sedentary lifestyle. Calculate what you need for your daily intake by judging the amount of exercise you get daily and then scale your caloric intake accordingly. There are many tools online that can help you determine how many calories you need to eat per day in order to encourage weight loss.

Once you know how many calories you need in a day, it is a good idea to get a calorie tracking application for your phone or keep a food diary so that you can be certain about how many calories you are eating per day. As the Keto Diet encourages practitioners to eat more fat, some people don’t realize that with increases in fat intake, you may also be ingesting more calories (as fat is often high in calories). When you start eating what you need, instead of overeating, you may find that your weight loss starts up again.

4. You Aren’t Getting Enough Sleep

Some people don’t realize how much sleep can impact their ability to lose weight. Whether you’re practicing the Keto Diet or not, getting enough sleep can be a good way to ensure that your body is able to maintain a healthy weight. When you don’t sleep enough, the sleep deprivation can increase the level of cortisol (often known as the stress hormone) in your body. When cortisol levels are high in the body, it can increase food cravings, which may lead you to overeat or make unwise food choices by eating foods that are too high in sugar or carbs. Cortisol can also impact the area of your brain that controls hunger which means, even when you’ve just eaten, you might still feel hungry because of this imbalance.

Help counteract this hormone imbalance by being sure to get enough rest at night. For some people, this means going to bed earlier. If you find that you are still having a hard time falling asleep, try to limit your access to technology (your phone or the TV) at least one hour before bed. This may help you relax by limiting overstimulation to your brain. Additionally, if you are having a hard time sleeping no matter what you do, you may wish to speak to your doctor about your sleep problems and see if they are able to offer you some sleep aids.

5. You Are Under A Lot Of Stress

Another reason your Keto Diet weight loss may have stalled is that perhaps you are under a lot of stress. Similar to not sleeping enough, when your body is stressed or anxious, it produces more cortisol, which can trigger cravings and even increase fat storage, which will make it more challenging for you to lose that weight.

It’s important for you to take control of your stress by committing to self-care, such as meditation, or by eliminating stress from your life in other ways. Learn to shut off and leave your work at work. Meditation can help you to focus on the present, instead of worrying about the past or the future. Additionally, you may wish to eliminate activities that upset you. For some, this can be accomplished by not over-committing to social events or ensuring that you have a reasonable workload and don’t take on more projects than you can handle. Once your stress levels are lower, you may find that your Keto Diet weight loss continues again.

Conclusion

While the Keto Diet can be successful for many practitioners, it is normal for some dieters to experience plateaus or stalls every once in a while. With these 5 reasons your weight loss may have stalled on the Keto Diet, you can help to determine why your weight loss has stopped and hopefully help to get your diet back on track. As with all diet plans, be sure to consult with your doctor or a health care practitioner to be certain that the Keto Diet is right for you and your individual health needs.

See Also

• How to Do Intermittent Fasting on a Keto Diet
• 13 Keto Hacks That Are Worth Trying

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