Weight Loss Stall when Keto

Fibre – Fibre in NZ is already subtracted from packet foods on the nutritional label so you can take the “Carbohydrate” section/line on the nutritional label as net carbs. If you remove the fibre from this, you will end up with a lower net carb value than it actually is (or negative, which is impossible!). Net carbs are the total carbohydrate minus fibre (which isn’t absorbed by the body for energy). Also, some people find that subtracting all the carbs from artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols doesn’t work for them as their body is more sensitive to them. Try adding all or half the carbs from these to see if it helps.

SOLUTION: Learn how to calculate the net carbs correctly to make sure you aren’t overeating carbs. Try adding half of grams of sugar alcohols as net carbs if you’ve tried everything else or suspect you are more sensitive to these.

Stress – Higher levels of cortisol which stress can cause can slow or halt weight loss. This is because, historically, when you were stressed it caused flight or fight response, and holding onto weight was useful for survival in these situations. This can also happen by having too much coffee.

SOLUTION: This is hard! Start by trying to remove stressors, one at a time. This could be anything from reducing commitments, getting off social media and engaging with family and friends, to seeing a counsellor and your doctor. Also, it’s worth removing or reducing stimulants which increase cortisol such as coffee.

Closer To Goal Weight Now Than Before – Weight loss is slower when you are closer to normal weight . At 100kg with 30kg to lose, it’s going to come off quicker than it will at 75kg with 5 to lose. And this is equally true for someone who was at 100kg, but is now at 75kg, it’s going to be slower than it was initially. If you don’t know what “normal” weight is, it can be useful to calculate your BMI to give an idea of if you are in the “healthy” range or not (IF you aren’t an athlete/high activity/very large or small build) – the “normal” range is 20-25 approx, and if you are over this, aim for around 25, then aim for the right size/health after that (https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmi-m.htm).

SOLUTION: Patience and time.

Medications – Some medications such as steroids or insulin can make it harder to lose weight. It’s still possible to lose weight whilst on these, but it is often slower.

SOLUTION: Chat to your doctor regarding the weight effects of the medications you are on, and recognise that whilst the weight loss may be slower, if the medication is needed then it’s something you just need to come to terms with.

Health – Recovery from an injury or surgery will slow weight loss as the body is working to heal itself first.

SOLUTION: Patience. Keto will be helping your body heal, but increasing the protein a little can be useful to give your body the building blocks to ensure it recovers as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

Thyroid Conditions – Those with thyroid conditions can still lose weight with keto. However, there are things to look out for which are generally the signs that the thyroid hormones are out of alignment.

SOLUTION: You just need to be aware that if you stop losing (for more than 3 weeks), it could be an indicator to see your doctor. And keep on getting those thyroid hormones checked regularly. This is an interesting article regarding the thyroid and keto: https://www.marksdailyapple.com/keto/thyroid/

Female Hormones – Monthly hormonal cycles can lead to gains and losses at various times of the month with no other reason than “hormones”. We most commonly see this in the last week of the monthly cycle. Menopause can also make it harder to lose weight, especially so during early menopause.

SOLUTION: Just run with it and watch your trends over a period of a month rather than day to day. You can do this by tracking your weight, then looking to see when it generally averages out at. If this is causing other issues or an extended period of not losing weight despite doing everything “right”, especially around menopause, see your doctor for advice.

Treats – Some of these baked goods or sweet or savory “treats” are high calorie and have inflammatory ingredients. If you’ve stopped losing, some find it is the culprit.

SOLUTION: Test what happens when you cut them out. Not everyone needs to, but it’s a place to start if you are not losing anymore.

Not Eating Enough – We recommend that you have a minimum of 1200 calories a day unless you are extremely short (under 5 foot or 150cm – and that is the time to get expert advice if you think you need to lower it). Generally, eating less than 1000 will result in muscle mass loss which makes weight maintenance long term much harder. This is relevant for the longer term and we still recommend checking out things such as Michael Mosley’s “The Fast 800 : How to combine rapid weight loss and intermittent fasting for long-term health” https://thefast800.com/ for short term periods, but long term, keep the calories high enough that you aren’t losing muscle mass (which results in your body needing less calories to function, and harder weight loss). If you are breastfeeding, you need to adjust for this and KetoGainsBaby https://www.facebook.com/groups/KETOGAINSBaby/  is a great place to start for more information on breastfeeding or pregnancy and keto.

SOLUTION: Eat MORE than 1200 calories a day for most people. Check your macros based on your activity and body using the calculator above.

Incorrect Tracking of Food – This can often be from weighing the food correctly (half a cup pressed down is a lot different from a loosely measured) so weigh don’t just measure. It’s also important to note that protein doesn’t mean “meat” but the protein in the meat. For example, 100g of meat may only contain 20g protein (track it to see how much the meat you are eating varies from this). This is the same for “carbs” and “fats”. This could also be not being honest with yourself about the amount you eat or not tracking the small snacks or bites you have.

SOLUTION: Track your food accurately if you track it, even if this is just for a few days to see where you are tripping up.

Intolerances and Allergies – When you are intolerant/allergic to something, and you aren’t removing that from your diet, your body may be  constantly in a state of inflammation and trying to heal the damage from it. Two of the common ones with keto are almonds (or just nuts!) and dairy and some people are intolerant and haven’t realised this. If you have tried everything else, try removing one and/or both to see if it makes a difference.

SOLUTION: Stop eating the things you are intolerant or allergic to. If you suspect you are intolerant, try without it to see if it makes a difference.

Inaccurate Scales – Whilst many say to stop weighing, that can be hard! If you choose to weigh, check your scales accuracy.

SOLUTION: You can do this by checking at home, then at a shop where you can try them (Briscoes for instance), but make sure you do it in the same clothes/shoes and without drinking/eating or going to the toilet in between. You can also climb on and off the scales a few times to make sure each time is within 100g of the last, and then pick them up and move to another hard surface (always use a hard surface!) to see if they change weight. If they do, it might be time to go without for a while or get a new set.

Sleep – The big thing here is that when you don’t get enough sleep, you tend to lose less weight.

SOLUTION: Aim to get 8 hours where you can, and try to get the best sleep (less disturbed, earlier to bed etc) you can. The Circadian Code by Satchin Panda is a great book to read about this.

Age – The older you get, the harder it can be to lose that weight in our anecdotal experience! However, research has shown that people who are older than 50 need to have increased protein as their bodies don’t process it as effectively, so it could be worth starting here.

SOLUTION: Keep on going. It didn’t go on in a day, and won’t come off in a day, but if you are 50+ try upping the protein as losing muscle mass will mean it’s even harder to lose weight. Research shows that protein isn’t metabolised as effectively as you age. 

Gender –  Men seem to lose weight easier and quicker than women.

SOLUTION: …. Just keep going. There’s little you can do to change this one (though try not to compare if you are doing it with a partner!).

Protein (Not Enough) – Not eating enough protein can mean you lose muscle mass. The more muscle mass, the more calories your body will need in a day.

SOLUTION: By keeping protein levels moderate (check to the see the ideal amount for you using this calculator: https://www.ruled.me/keto-calculator/), you will minimise muscle loss to help you continue to lose (and increasing muscle through strength training is worth it to increase the calories your body burns).

Protein (Too Much) – There are some people that find that if they have significantly too much protein, their body stops losing weight. Scientifically, the protein isn’t turned into glucose the way that some say, but for some, it does seem to have an impact. This article explains why this is doesn’t happen the way that some suggest: http://www.tuitnutrition.com/2017/07/gluconeogenesis.html

SOLUTION: Try keep protein to a moderate level (as in the calculator above) after you’ve tried other things.

Water – When you aren’t having enough, it can cause the weight loss to slow down. This is often because you eat instead of drinking when you mistake thirst for hunger.

SOLUTION: Check how much you are drinking, and make sure you drink a bit more if you don’t have much water. It’s possible to over consume water, so don’t drink more than 1 litre per hour at any stage, and generally, drink to thirst (Regarding water intoxication: https://draxe.com/fitness/news-and-tips/water-intoxication/).

Diabetes – It can take a number of weeks to lose after blood sugars start to be lower and get closer to “normal” and the losses tend to be slower long term. However, some do start losing again more quickly as time goes on – It seems that there is a healing process at the start (non-medical hypothetical idea here!) possibly which is why you will have a while of no loss initially before losing.

It is important to check in with your doctor to ensure you don’t need to reduce the medications you are taking when doing keto to reduce the chance of having hypoglycemia. However, don’t reduce medications without the supervision of your doctor. Whilst we understand that some people with diabetes have been given permission to do this by their doctors – We consider this to be with doctor supervision.

SOLUTION: Have patience, keto is healing the negative effects of diabetes as well where it can. It may reduce the symptomatic effects of type 2 for many and reduce insulin requirements for many with type two and type one, it doesn’t cure it and you need to stay under your doctors supervision. It’s said to reverse diabetes (symptoms and damage) rather than cure it. People with diabetes still lose weight, it just can take longer.

Alcohol Consumption – Alcohol has high calories and gets processed first and in addition to this low carb beers and wines still have some carbs.

SOLUTION: Make sure to track the alcohol you have if you track your food and see how it affects you by reducing or eliminating alcohol.

Frequent or Intensive Exercise – Whilst we don’t understand the exact reason for this, there has been a recognised trend of people that people who are exercising relatively heavily when they start keto are not losing as quickly (or sometimes at all) as those who aren’t exercising to the same extent. 

SOLUTION: Exercise has health benefits of its own, so don’t stop the exercise, but just be aware that you may lose slower due to this. If you specifically have to lose weight (not just size) rather than get fit, then you may want to look at reducing the exercise during this time. One of the big reasons we see for this need is those who have to be under a certain weight to undergo certain surgeries or for things like knee pain where the weight impacts the pain levels.

STRATEGIES TO LOOK AT AS WELL AFTER THE ABOVE IDEAS

Carb Cycling – Whilst this isn’t recommended other than a last ditch strategy or for those who are doing intensive weight training, cyclical keto diet (https://www.ruled.me/cyclical-ketogenic-diet-indepth-look/) or a Targeted Keto Diet (https://www.ruled.me/targeted-ketogenic-diet-indepth-look/) are worth looking into. Some suggest a cheat day to break an extended stall, though as a rule, we don’t suggest this other than a last-ditch option.

Fasting – Intermittent fasting can be a useful strategy to break a (3 week+) stall. You can see more info on this here: https://www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting. An interesting book recently released as well is “The Fast 800 : How to combine rapid weight loss and intermittent fasting for long-term health” https://thefast800.com/ by Michael Mosley. We frequently see people who are fasting and not losing weight, partly due to not getting enough calories. It’s definitely worth stopping fasting if you are fasting and struggling to lose. 

Finally, have patience. The majority of us didn’t get here quickly, so we can’t expect that it’s all going to disappear in a short few weeks. Celebrate the achievements along the way, and enjoy the food whilst getting closer to your “end” goals!