Reasons You Are Not Losing Weight on a Low Carb Diet

How can you not lose weight even if you have cut your daily carbohydrates intake? Is a low carb ketogenic diet and not achieving weight loss even possible? It most certainly is the case.

Some people grumble about not experiencing much body weight reduction when checking the scales, boom! Not a single pound lost following a low carb diet. How can this possibly happen?

You do not have to go through this phase before really being relieved by the expected weight loss. Take a breath and give yourselves a moment to read through these possible reasons why you are not losing weight even after starting low carb dieting.

Not Enough Low-Carb Foods

This one is probably the most explicit reason of why people do not lose weight on a low carb lifestyle. The low-carb diet you are practicing is simply not sufficiently low enough.

There is not a precise rule of how much carbs you must eat on a low-carb diet. While ketogenic dieting requires you to eat around 20 to 50 grams of net carbs per day, low carb or Atkins may mean many different figures depending on your lifestyle and stages.

In fact, most people today are still taking 100 to 150 grams of carbs on their low-carb diet. There are sugar and carbs in everything and all the grams slowly but surely add up over the day.

The impact of taking low amounts of carbohydrates results in an increased quantity of ketones. Ketones are chemicals that fuel our brain if we restrict sugar or glucose from our nutrition plan. It is the primary energy source for a keto diet and helps reduce our appetite and enhance our energy.

Fewer carbs consequently mean we can lose more fat by increasing fat burning in ketosis. Train your body each day by ditching the sugars and running on ketones.

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Unrealistic Expectations

Losing permanent bodyfat takes a long time. Between 1-2 pounds weight loss per week is a fair goal for most people. Anything over 2 pounds per week is too aggressive to keep up all year round.

Your metabolism will take a serious hit and will look to fight and keep hold of your body fat.

There are, however, plenty of stories of men and women losing a massive amount of weight over a short period.

If you are totally untrained, ate junk food all your life then suddenly switched to healthy clean eating coupled with HIIT exercise, you will see significant results.

Not everyone can lose all the weight we desire. We must have sensible and realistic expectations. Those overweight or obese for most of adult life would especially find it difficult and probably will not achieve a six-pack.

Do the best you can and learn to recognize your bodies potential for weight reduction.

Incorrect Macros Percentage

When you are following a low-carb diet, it is essential to adhere to the correct macronutrient percentages.

Low carb macro would roughly translate to 25% carbs, 30% fat, and 45% protein. For ketogenic or high-fat then you would require approximately 75% fats, 20% protein, 5% carbs.

It is important to get the amounts correct to make sure you use ketones as the main source of energy instead of glucose.

Too many proteins, starchy carbs, and sugars will keep you out of ketosis, and you will not see the coveted results you crave.

Undiagnosed Medical Conditions

It is no surprise that medications may cause weight gain or make it improbable to lose belly fat.

If you take any medication, then have a look at the side effects. The list is often huge. Even though it may not directly stall weight loss, it can indirectly cause problems in other areas of your body.

If you are eating a healthy wholesome diet, working out regularly and still not seeing returns, then you may have an underlying medical problem.

Many hormonal disorders can make harder to lose weight such as hypothyroidism or Hashimoto’s disease.

Book an appointment with your doctor and get a blood test to rule out any hidden medical problems.

Eating Too Many Fruits and Sugars

Do not get me wrong, fruits are an essential food for humans over the years with Paleo nutrition, but the primary macronutrient involved can put a standstill to weight loss.

Fruits have high levels of carbs and when eaten in high quantity can cause a blood sugar spike.

Too many carbs and fruit consumption can also lead to insulin resistance and prevent any pounds from moving.

Try and limit your portions when it comes to consuming fruits. Avocados, olives, and coconut are an excellent choice for Atkins, low carb or keto due to its low sugar content.

Berries are the next best option as they have a relatively low GI. It can control blood glucose levels better than high GI fruits such as bananas, pineapple, and watermelon.

Eating High-Calorie Food

Let us say that you have successfully reduced the amount of your net carb intake to 20-50 grams per day. To replace the calorie from the carbs, you eat other foods which are high in protein, for example, like nuts or seeds.

Unfortunately, many people miscalculate the number of calories you get from these healthy foods. Even those who do control portion sizes, nuts are easily overeaten coupled with it being pretty high in calories.

Please do not misinterpret me as eating whole and healthy foods are the main goal to become a stronger person.

The point is if you are committing to eating a low carb diet so that you can lose weight, do not neglect other sources of nutrition. Those foods can possibly ruin your low carb intake.

Too many Cheat Meals

Let’s face it, many of us are guilty of cheating while following a strict diet. We often lack the willpower and the craving for carbs are sometimes too strong to resist.

Sometimes people do not even realize they are overeating or even consuming the wrong foods.

It is totally fine to indulge in a cheat meal every so often. The problem can arise from too much snacking or high-carb meals every other day. Even too much high-protein meals with an Atkins nutrition plan may be an issue since excess protein simply converts to glucose.

A good way to stay strict with yourself is to record everything you eat throughout the day. That is everything, even the snacks.

Give it a check at the end of the week and see roughly how many excess calories you are eating.

Starving Yourself

Starving yourself is one of the worse ways to lose weight. Over the long-term, you could end up with more pounds than before you begin your weight loss journey.

Switch from starvation to intermittent fasting for better results.

Although starving and fasting is an avoidance of food they differ from the length of time without food and the austerity of symptoms experienced.

The longer you fast, the more inclined you are to a type of starvation.

If you are not seeing results from 1-2 meals a day, then switch to 5-6 small meals a day and drink water before each meal to reduce portion sizes.

Stressed Out

Last but not least, which is also imperative among these all reasons is your psychological conditions.

Being stressed or lacking sleep impacts massively on the effectiveness of your low-carb diet program, overall health, and well-being.

Stressful situations will halt the bodies attempt at burning stored fat. Similarly, sleep deprivation would only make your body feel exhausted and do fewer activities which can help you burn fat and use calorie more efficiently.

Make sure you exercise every single day for at least 30 minutes. For example, going for a short walk, gym work, or HIIT running if you do not have much time to spare.

You can also practice Yoga, deep breathing or meditation to help further reduce stress levels.

Overall getting active will help you to sleep better tonight.

Is it Really a Plateau?

Sure while using bathrooms scales is a valuable tool to see how much weight you are losing, the truth of the matter is, there is much more to it.

If you perform a reasonable amount of exercise per week, you could simply be losing the majority of the weight as fat. Think about it, as you train your muscles at home, studio, in the gym, or wherever, you are increasing muscle mass.

You can get an accurate measurement your body fat by using an Omron fat loss monitor. A simple measuring tape will also help you keep track of waist circumference, hips, thigh, and arms.

It is a good idea to take a selfie of yourself each week or so without clothing to precisely see your gains and progress you are making. Hold a newspaper up while taking a picture then you could show your friends the power of high-fat low carb dieting.

Some people don’t even use bathroom scales. They go by how they feel, how they look and how their clothes fit.

Conclusion

What it all boils down to is eating a healthy diet, increasing activity, and living a healthier lifestyle.

When you get closer to your desired body weight, losing the last few pounds becomes many, many times harder. Those last few stubborn pounds of belly fat may seem impossible to lose.

If you notice a plateau, or no longer losing weight on low carb or keto or have reached a plateau, then use these tips to recognize your dilemma and manage it to get back in shape.

If everything else is going well in your life, then do not stress. Live your life to the fullest and stop focusing too much on why the scales are not budging.

Hopefully, after implementing some of the above methods, the excess weight will go away with time.

If you have struggled in the past with losing weight on a low carb diet, let us know what you did to break the plateau.