Why Am I Not Losing Weight on the Ketogenic Diet? 5 Reasons

Use keto’s excellent benefit of reducing appetite to eat fewer calories!

An excellent benefit of keto is that it can suppress your appetite from ketosis. So how does it do this? Nutritional ketosis reduces elevated insulin levels and inflammation, which allows the standard signals from excess body fat stores to tell the brain, “Eat less³!”

It seems so simple, but it is so true! If your body is telling you that it is no longer hungry, then listen to it. Now, if you want to get technical and track your calories, by all means, do. I like the Cronometer app because it is very keto-friendly. In this app, you can pick which type of keto diet you want to do, how much weight loss you would like to lose per week, and track your calories!

Mistake #2- Overeating fat

Yes, it is possible to overeat fat on a high-fat diet and it definitely can be one of the reasons why you’re not losing weight on keto. Keto is a high-fat diet; however, it does not mean that there aren’t any limitations as to how much fat you can consume. First, let me give you a low-down on how keto works. On a high-carb diet, the body’s primary fuel is glucose( mostly from carbohydrates). When you remove most carbs from your diet, your body needs to find some other fuel to use instead, and the fuel it burns to is fat ⁴.

So what does that mean? If you’re consuming a lot of fat, you are giving your body the added fat you are trying to eliminate. So if you’re eating a lot of fat, then your body will say, “I don’t need to eliminate fat from my stores.”

So, you may be wondering the following, “Isn’t keto a high-fat diet?” The answer to this question is, “yes, it is, but it is the fat that it is already occurring in keto type foods.” For example, it is the naturally occurring fats in foods such as salmon, avocados, or other meats. It is not eating keto bombs high in fat all day long or adding gobs of butter to your vegetables.

Now, I am not saying that you can’t use a little bit of butter or eat one keto bomb! What I am saying is to be sensible about it and use small amounts. If you can go without adding coconut oil, butter, MCT oil the do it! Or if you can skimp out on a slice of cheese, extra heavy whipping cream, or extra cream cheese, then do that too!

Mistake #3- Eating too many keto treats

Alright, so I’ve been there too and eating delicious keto treats may be one of the reasons why you’re not losing weight on keto! I too am guilty of picking up a box of treats and being like, “Oh, these are keto-friendly, which means I can have several of them!” It is such a common mistake on keto! The bottom line is this; a keto treat is what the name says: a “treat.” So, that means you have to treat it like a treat!

Use those keto treats for times that you have a severe craving for something sweet! If you are craving a brownie, then make keto brownies. My favorite dessert is cheesecake. I have a good recipe for a lower carb cheesecake in which you can find here. I only make this when I am seriously craving something sweet! I usually end up freezing the rest of it and will unthaw it for another time when I need another divulgence.

I love this low-carb cheesecake because it makes me feel as if I am “cheating” on my keto diet, when in fact, I am still staying compliant. As long as I have a treat now and then, it doesn’t affect my ketosis too much. However, let’s say I ate a few slices of my low-carb cheesecake, then that could be a significant problem. Not only will the carbs add up, but that’s a lot of fat! An important takeaway here is that these keto treats are designed to be used in place of that carb-laden doughnut or piece of cake.

Mistake #4-  Solar Plexus Chakra is not balanced!

Okay, so if you are reading this and do not know your Solar Plexus Chakra, then I got you covered.This could be one of the reasons why you’re not losing weight on keto! I have an excellent article called, How Balancing your Solar Plexus Chakra can help with Weight Loss. Let me summarize that article for you. Basically, your Solar Plexus Chakra is directly responsible for willpower or self-esteem. So what that means is that if this chakra is not in alignment, then you will want to eat everything in your pantry and not feel motivated to do a keto diet.

If you aren’t familiar with chakras or energetic balance, then don’t worry. You can start by listening to my podcasts on Keto and Chakra Balance. I would first start with my first podcast and then progress by listening to others. It would help if you learned about your chakras for weight loss and your health. I see a lot of people that overlook tending to these chakra centers. It’s easy to do!

Mistake #5- Under too much stress

So, it turns out that stress and weight loss go hand-in-hand. You can’t lose weight if you are stressed out. What is the reason for this? Well, it all comes down to our friend cortisol (in this case, he is our foe). When we are under a lot of stress, we are increasing our risk for weight gain. A recent study that I came across showed that circulating cortisol and psychosocial stress may contribute to the pathogenesis of obesity and metabolic syndrome⁵ .

Okay, so the big message of this study is that stress makes you fat. If you are doing the keto diet and having difficulty shedding those pounds, it is time to re-evaluate your stress situation. Maybe you have some work-related stress that is bogging you down? Or perhaps it’s a family member? Whatever it is, then take the initiative and do something about it. I am not saying to change your job or disown your cousin, but I am saying take measures for stress reduction. Like if you’ve wanted to take up Tai Chi, then do it!

There are a lot of ways to help reduce stress! I like to do yoga, hike, or meditate! You have to find what works for you and do it! When you do find something you want, then make it an unforgivable task. In other words, stick to it even when you don’t feel like it! There are times that I have not felt like doing yoga; however, I make it a point to pull out that mat and do it without fail! Nike had a point when they said, “Just do it.”

In Conclusion

Can you identify with some of these reasons as to why you’re not losing weight on keto? If so, then good for you! Overall, the ketogenic diet should be viewed as a health decision and not so much as a weight-loss diet. Sure, it is very effective for weight loss; however, I think people tend to look at it very wrong. Remember, you can still lose weight even if you do a cookie diet and eat three small cookies a day! However, we don’t want to lose weight that way because there is no nutritional value in a cookie!

It is helpful to look at the keto diet as more than a “diet”; it is a lifestyle and a health journey. Why else would it be used for epilepsy, cancer, or metabolic issues? Do you think these people are doing it for weight loss? No, they use it for its therapeutic purposes (maybe some enjoy it as a side effect).

If you view the keto diet as therapeutic for your health, then it will be that! Think of the keto diet as a prescription! However, like any prescription that you take, there are rules to go along with it! If you follow the guidelines and stay compliant, you will see that the keto diet can supercharge your health! 

In order to lose weight on a keto diet, it is important to be able to stick to a keto diet. If you are having difficulty with this, then click here.

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I am so glad that you are here on HKG! I want to provide you with more information on the Keto Diet and Chakra Balance. I encourage you to listen to my podcast, called Keto Diet and Chakra Balance for Your Health. In this episode, I go over how the Keto Diet and Chakra Balance is a great combination for improving your health. I think it may be helpful for you to not focus on weight loss when it comes to losing weight, but do measures for getting healthy instead! Please sign up for my email list to get more updates from me!

Namaste!

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