Keto Diet Not Working? Ketosis Troubleshooting Tips

The ketogenic diet is a popular choice for people looking to lose weight. It involves drastically reducing carbohydrate intake, which puts the body into a state of ketosis, where it burns fat for energy instead of glucose. However, some people may find that they are not losing weight despite following the keto diet. This could be due to various reasons, such as not achieving ketosis, eating too many carbs, consuming too many calories, underlying medical conditions, or not getting enough exercise.

To ensure success on the keto diet, it is important to track macronutrients, limit carb intake, eat nutritious whole foods, and create a calorie deficit. Additionally, managing stress, getting adequate sleep, and incorporating physical activity can also help maximize weight loss on a ketogenic diet.

Not tracking carbohydrates

Not tracking your carbohydrate intake can be a significant pitfall when following a keto diet. Here are some reasons why tracking your carb intake is essential:

Hidden Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates can be sneaky and are often found in unexpected places. For example, dairy products and nuts are allowed on the keto diet but still contain carbohydrates. Even if you think you are avoiding carbs altogether, this is nearly impossible, as they are everywhere. Therefore, it is crucial to be aware of hidden carbs and track your intake to ensure you stay within the recommended range.

Individual Variation

The amount of carbohydrates each person can consume while still maintaining ketosis varies. Factors such as the types of carbs you eat, your overall lifestyle, and your metabolic history can influence how your body uses carbs. By tracking your carb intake, you can identify your personal threshold and make adjustments as needed.

Blood Sugar Control

Consuming too many carbs can spike your blood sugar, which will quickly kick you out of ketosis and slow down your fat loss. Tracking your carb intake helps you monitor your blood glucose levels and ensure they remain within a healthy range.

Weight Loss Plateau

If you are not tracking your carb intake, it is easy to underestimate or overlook hidden carbs, which can hinder your weight loss progress. Even if you are generally avoiding carb-rich foods, you may still be consuming enough carbs for the body to produce energy from glucose, reducing the rate of fat burned. Tracking your carb intake helps you stay accountable and ensures you are adhering to the keto guidelines.

Ketosis Maintenance

To achieve and maintain ketosis, you must drastically reduce your carbohydrate intake. For most people, this means limiting carbs to around 20-50 grams per day. Tracking your carb intake is essential to ensure you stay within this range and give your body the opportunity to enter and remain in ketosis.

In conclusion, tracking your carbohydrate intake is a critical component of the keto diet. It helps you identify hidden carbs, manage your blood sugar, break through weight loss plateaus, and maintain ketosis. By being mindful of your carb intake and utilizing tracking tools, you can maximize the benefits of the keto diet and work towards achieving your health and weight loss goals.

Not eating enough calories

If you're trying to lose weight, you might think that eating too few calories won't be an issue. However, when you cut out carbs and have to stick to moderate protein, it's easy to end up not eating enough calories from fat. Plus, many people grew up with the misconception that fat, especially saturated fat, is bad for your health. If you're still holding onto this belief, you might struggle to eat enough calories from fat each day. Remember, on the keto diet, fat is your main fuel source.

Not consuming enough calories can be detrimental over time. Chronically low calorie intake can put your body into starvation mode, causing it to hold onto stored body fat. It can also negatively affect your hormones and other bodily functions, especially in women.

To get a sense of how many calories you need and how much you're eating each day, it's a good idea to track your calories, just like you would with your carbs and protein. MyFitnessPal is a good option for this.

If you're not eating enough calories, you might find yourself continually having trouble eating enough. In this case, stick to more calorie-dense foods. Eat fattier cuts of meat and fish, along with higher-fat dairy. Nuts are also a good option if you find yourself regularly not meeting your macros.

Tips to Increase Calorie Intake

• Eat fattier cuts of meat and fish.
• Consume higher-fat dairy.
• Include more nuts in your diet.
• Track your calories to ensure you're getting enough.

Not testing blood ketone levels

Not testing your blood ketone levels can be detrimental to your keto journey. Testing your ketone levels is important because it helps you understand if you are genuinely entering and staying in ketosis after your meals.

There are three different ways to test ketone levels in your body: blood testing, breath testing, and urine testing. Out of these, blood testing is the best for the highest accuracy. You can get a specific reading at any time and see how ketone levels might change before or after meals or anything else you do during the day. Testing consistently will help you see exactly how what you eat (and even how you exercise) affects your levels of ketones.

If you are not testing your blood ketone levels, you will not know if you are in the optimal ketosis range, which is 0.5 mmol/L-3.0 mmol/L. This is the range where your body can use stored fat for energy most effectively, helping boost weight and fat loss.

It is important to note that you do not need to test your ketone levels at all to be successful on keto. However, testing can provide a source of encouragement or motivation to stick with the diet. It can also help you understand how your body responds to certain foods or a change in your carb intake.

Not considering nutrition

Not considering the nutritional value of the food you eat can be detrimental to your keto diet.

While it is important to restrict your carbohydrate intake, it is also crucial to focus on the types of foods you are eating. This means opting for high-quality fats and proteins, as well as plenty of vegetables, to ensure your meals are nutrient-dense.

Healthy, high-quality fats are essential for proper brain function, hormone creation, and other bodily functions. Good sources of these fats include fatty, grass-fed meats; cold-pressed unrefined oils, especially organic coconut oil, MCT oil, olive oil, and avocado oil; wild-caught fish (for those omega-3s); nuts (ideally organic); and whole, organic olives.

In addition to consuming high-quality fats, it is important to include fermented foods in your diet. Fermented foods such as full-fat dairy products like full-fat yogurt or kefir and raw pickles (no sugar added) can help support your health and digestion.

While it may be tempting to fill up on processed foods like bacon, packaged sausages, and cheese products, these are not the best choices for a keto diet. These types of foods are often high in calories and low in nutrients, which can derail your weight loss efforts.

To optimize your nutrient intake, stick to unprocessed, whole foods. Include plenty of non-starchy vegetables, such as leafy greens, broccoli, peppers, and mushrooms, in your meals to boost your nutrient and fiber intake.

By focusing on the nutritional quality of your food choices, you can ensure that your keto diet is not only effective but also supports your overall health and well-being.

Not achieving ketosis

If you're not achieving ketosis, it may be because you're not cutting back enough on carbs. Carbohydrates should represent only 5–10% of a person’s calorie intake on the ketogenic diet. This equates to between 20 and 50 grams of carbs each day on a 2000-calorie-per-day diet.

You may feel as though you have drastically reduced your carb intake, but you may still be eating enough carbs for your body to produce energy from glucose, which may slow down the rate at which your body burns fat.

Home testing

Home testing can be a helpful way to ensure that you are entering ketosis. You can purchase home testing kits that contain test strips to check for ketones in the urine. A positive result indicates that your body is in ketosis. Alternatively, you can use a small machine called a ketone breath analyser that detects ketones in the breath.

Tracking your carb intake

It's a good idea to use a tracker to monitor your carb intake so that you can see how you react to different foods. Apps such as MyFitnessPal are perfect because you can carry them with you everywhere.

Other reasons for not achieving ketosis

• You may be eating too much protein. If protein makes up more than 35% of your diet, you may not go into ketosis because the body can break down excess proteins into amino acids and convert them to types of sugar.
• You may be eating too many acceptable carbs. On the keto diet, several types of carbohydrates are acceptable, including nuts and dairy. However, these foods also contain carbohydrates, and eating too many of them will prevent you from achieving and maintaining ketosis.
• You may not be consuming enough calories. Chronically low calorie intake can put your body in starvation mode, which means it will hold onto stored body fat.
• You may not be testing your blood ketone levels. Blood testing is the best way to track your ketone levels and make sure you're genuinely entering and staying in ketosis after meals.
• You may not be considering nutrition. It's important to think about the types of foods you're eating. This means high-quality fats and proteins and lots of vegetables to give you a nutrient-dense plate of food at every meal.

Frequently asked questions