Not Losing Weight On Keto?
Isn’t that just the worst? You go through all the trouble, sacrifice, and effort of doing the ketogenic diet and then you don’t lose any weight? SCREAAAAAM!!!!! Maybe you want to say what my dramatic 18 year old daughter texts me when she’s stressed out, “F*ck my life!”. And then my mom-self says to her (and you), “failure just tells us what doesn’t work, then we need to learn how to redirect our efforts to create success!” So let’s talk about how to make sure you lose weight while doing keto in this article ⇩
Reasons you might not be losing weight
The ketogenic diet is an absolutely amazing weight loss method if you are someone who has weight to lose, is addicted to food, has “no willpower”, has inflammatory or autoimmune conditions, is diabetic/insulin resistant, and so many more reasons. As a dietitian, however, I’ve come across SO MANY WAYS that people do this diet wrong, and it’s easy to correct the mistakes in order to find success. There’s also the group of people who do keto “right” but still have trouble losing weight. Whatever group you fall in to, I bet some of the things I mention below will make a difference.
Here is why you are likely not losing weight on keto:
You’re not in ketosis 100% of the time
You’re not tracking everything you eat
Your macronutrient goals are wrong
You could be eating too many processed or restaurant foods
Your hormones are imbalanced (applies to men AND women!)
Meal timing is off
Now listen to me. You really need to explore each of these options to figure out what’s going on with you. You might feel like you’re in your comfort zone with how you’re doing keto, but it’s time to step up the difficulty and get weight loss going again. Don’t do all that work for nothing! I’m sure you feel better being keto, but if you still have stubborn weight to lose, keep going!
How to get weight loss jump-started on keto:
You can go through the following list in the order it’s written, one at a time, and learn which changes make the difference. Email me if you have questions on this!
You’re not in ketosis 100% of the time
To reap the benefits of keto, you need to be in ketosis all the time. There are no unscheduled cheat days! Of course you can plan ahead for special occasions or vacations, but you can’t just take weekends off or anything. I’ve met a lot of people who do that! If you’re at your goal weight that’s one thing, but if you have a job to do, you have to go balls to the wall.
There’s 2 ways to know you’re in ketosis; by your symptoms or by checking your ketones. If you download my free keto diet instructions, you can read about what the symptoms of ketosis are like and determine your status from that. If you really want to know for sure (which I recommend), get yourself a blood ketone monitor and check every day. I personally use Keto BM which you can check out here. Their website gives ALL the instructions you need, so I won’t explain here. What’s nice is you can track this in your Carb Manager app and take all the guessing out. You’re either doing the diet right or you’re not!
2. You’re not tracking everything you eat
If you’re not tracking everything you eat in an app, how can you be sure you’re eating to meet your macro/calorie goals? If you’re at your goal weight, then you can absolutely get away with this. But if you’re having a weight loss stall, then you absolutely have to get back to tracking your food. I meet so many people who say they’re eating the allowed foods from keto-approved lists, but that’s not how the diet works. The diet is based on total grams of carbs, fat and protein. If you eat too many carbs - and it’s easy to do if you don’t count them- you’ll pop out of ketosis. For example, cashews are keto-approved, but if you eat 3 ounces of them, that’s 21 grams of carbs and it’s your entire day’s worth! Tracking is the ONLY way to learn if what you’re eating is balanced so that you can get the results you want from keto. You just have to give in to the concept and commitment to tracking. There’s no sugar-coating this.
Check out the blog I wrote about my favorite tracking app.
3. Your macronutrient goals are wrong
Set your app to track the following. You really want to have fat quite high and protein limited to a moderate amount. If you go too high on protein, it can get converted to glucose in the blood stream via the biological process called gluconeogenesis. Some people can get away with higher protein, but if you’re having trouble with weight loss or getting in to ketosis, increase fat and lower protein a bit. Here are ranges to aim for, but you may need a specialized RD to help you. My referral is at the bottom of the post.
Net carbs goal: 20-25 grams
Protein goal: 70-100 grams (try not to have this be more than 25% of your total calories)
Fat goal: 90-130 grams (you want fat to be between 70-85% of total calories)
4. Meal timing is off
If you don’t do these already, try them. First is to stop eating after 7 pm - no snacks, no alcohol, just water. This alone could be a game changer. If not or you want next level or you want to balance hormones (including insulin), try intermittent fasting. I have a handout you can download with all the ways you can implement it and it explains the benefits.
5. You could be eating too many processed or restaurant foods
“Dirty keto” is when a person eats processed food or fast food but keeps the macros within limits. You can do this very occasionally or when you’re more in maintenance mode, if health isn’t a priority 😜. But if you’re trying to lose weight and want to balance hormones to achieve optimal health, you need to lay off unless it’s an absolute emergency. Eating food you cook from scratch is always going to be the healthiest option and what helps you get out of a weight loss plateau! Look at the food lists in my free diet handout (sign up above) and just eat those foods. Cook large quantities at once so you’re not in the kitchen every day. Keep easy food on hand like canned tuna, organic chicken, frozen soups you’ve made, frozen veggies, eggs, avocado, nuts and seeds….it’s really easy, actually!
6. Your hormones are imbalanced (applies to men AND women!)
I saved this one for last because it’s the most expensive and potentially difficult issue to deal with. Get #1-5 under control first, and then consider the need to work on your hormones. Doing the above steps first can be enough for some people to balance their hormones. Others with chronic hormonal imbalance need to see a specialist that I’ll recommend below. Whether you’re male or female, we all rely on hormones to determine hunger, satiety, metabolism, weight, glucose tolerance, mood, energy, menstrual cycles, fertility, and just about anything else related to being human 🤣.
Insulin. If you’re diabetic or pre-diabetic, you have insulin resistance to some degree and you will likely have trouble losing weight or reversing diabetes without working on this. Intermittent fasting and the ketogenic diet are excellent tools to reverse this, but sometimes you need supplements too.
Testosterone is another hormone that can be low in men AND women, which will negatively impact weight loss and muscle building. And sex drive. And fertility. And stress management. And, and, and….
Cortisol is the hormone released during stress and can cause weight gain, increase blood sugars, increase blood pressure, and make your house dirty. Just kidding, but it really screws everything up.
Female hormones like estrogen and progesterone, when imbalanced, can cause problems with acne, mood, weight, sleep, bone density, fertility….e’rything! They can become imbalanced when any other hormones are imbalanced, from taking birth control, stress, nutritional deficiency, and more.
Thyroid hormones run the show, and you should have these checked if you’re having symptoms like obesity, feeling cold, hair loss, depression, constipation and dry skin. Most doctors only run a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) lab which is absolutely inadequate in telling the whole story. You need to have the entire panel run and analyzed by someone who specializes in interpreting them correctly.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you work with a functional medicine practitioner (MD, ND, DO, DC, NP or whoever) that can order the correct labs, interpret them correctly and make recommendations that are unique to you. My personal practitioner is Mary Miller-Wilson who is a functional medicine Nurse Practitioner that specializes in hormone balance. You can contact her office manager, Mary Ann Marchand at hormonesandhealth56@gmail.com or #248-315-2286 for more information. They do virtual appointments!
If you feel like you need help with the diet side of things, there’s a functional dietitian I went to school with that I would refer you to, Erin Skinner MS, RD. Check her out here.