10 Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight on the Keto Diet

The ketogenic diet can be tough to master if you don’t know the right steps to take to get into ketosis. And once you’re in ketosis, it can be a challenge to stay there. How do you set yourself up for continuous weight loss on the keto diet?

Here are the top 10 reasons you might not be losing weight on the keto diet.

1. You’re Not Actually in Ketosis

Have you been following the ketogenic diet for a while but have no idea if you’re in ketosis? This is where testing your ketone levels comes in.

You’ll only truly know whether you’re in a ketogenic state when you test your ketone levels.

How do you test your ketones? There are three ways to get a good measurement:

1. Urine testing
2. Breath testing
3. Blood testing (the most accurate)

Urine Testing

A urine strip indicates the concentration of ketones in your urine by changing color. While this type of testing is the most affordable, it does not always yield the most accurate results.

Urine tests only measure the flushed out ketones that your body didn’t use for energy. When your body becomes more adapted to ketosis, it will be using more ketones for energy — meaning you may not have any signs of ketones in your urine at all once you are fat-adapted.

Breath Testing

Breath testing is considered a little more reliable than urine testing, but still not the most accurate.

The ketones that show up in your breath are acetone, not beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB). Breath testing can be done by blowing into a Ketonix breath analyzer, which gives you a reading based on the level of acetone it detects.

Blood Testing

Blood testing is the most accurate way to measure your levels of BHB. All it takes is pricking your finger with a blood meter. The Precision Xtra meter is a great option for blood testing.

This is considered the most accurate way to test your ketone levels because there’s nothing that can dilute the results, and you see the exact amount of blood ketones in mMol/L.

If you’re not losing weight on the ketogenic diet, the first checkpoint is whether you’re even in ketosis. If you have that covered, there are a few other reasons you may not be losing weight on keto.

2. You’re Not Eating Satiating Meals

One of the keys to weight loss is eating at a calorie deficit, but it’s also important to pay attention to the quality of the calories you do eat to make sure you’re satisfied.

Eating at a calorie deficit doesn’t mean you have to be hungry all the time. In fact, being hungry will only make you miserable, less likely to stick to your diet, and more likely to give in to cravings.

You can eat a calorie deficit and feel satisfied by eating the right kind of keto-friendly foods.

Satiating healthy fats — especially saturated and monounsaturated fats — are the cornerstones of the ketogenic diet. If you want a high-quality keto diet, you’ll need abundant sources of high-quality fats. MCT oil is particularly helpful because it’s more satiating than coconut oil and boosts ketone production, so you can enter fat-burning mode faster.

One study found that MCT oil can make you feel fuller than coconut oil over the three hours after breakfast.[*]

High-quality proteins are also important. Fatty cuts of meat (like a ribeye steak), as well as wild-caught salmon and other high-fat fish, are excellent at keeping you satisfied.

You don’t need to shy away from protein — it won’t kick you out of ketosis like you may have heard. The belief that too much protein triggers gluconeogenesis (glucose production from non-carb sources) and therefore lowers your ketone levels is just a myth.

The truth is, gluconeogenesis (GNG) is crucial for maintaining ketosis because it fuels those cells that can’t use ketones (like red blood cells) and keeps your blood sugar in a healthy range. Without it, ketosis would not be possible.

Eating more protein than you’re used to won’t increase the rate of GNG enough to put you out of keto because GNG is an extremely stable process.

Studies show that even when there’s an abundance of raw materials for GNG (including protein), the gluconeogenesis rate stays about the same[*].

Excess protein won’t increase gluconeogenesis the same way chocolate cake increases your glucose levels.

3. You’re Missing Hidden Carbs

Veggies, dairy, nuts, and nut butters are on the keto food list, but the grams of carbs can add up fast if you’re not tracking.

Both dairy and nuts should be eaten with caution on a low-carb diet. One common mistake people make on keto is overeating dairy and nuts to feel satisfied, but too much of these foods can increase both your carb intake and calorie count without you realizing it.

Other possible hidden carbs can be found in some cruciferous vegetables including cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, fennel, and turnips. You also want to limit your intake of fruit due to its high sugar content[*][*].

4. You’re Eating Too Much Fat

Another major mistake people make when starting a keto diet is thinking they can eat an endless amount of fat. Yes, it’s a high-fat diet plan, and there are tons of great fat bomb recipes out there, but that doesn’t mean that you can eat unlimited avocados and bacon drizzled in olive oil.

Overeating fat can create a surplus of total calories that prevents weight loss[*]. Here’s one way to look at it: one pound of body fat stores roughly 3,500 calories. This would lead you to conclude that cutting 500 calories a day for a week would result in roughly one pound of weight loss.

Going overboard with fats could get tricky.

Fats contain more than twice the amount of calories as carbs or proteins, so it’s crucial you count how many grams of fat you’re eating and remain mindful of your fat intake.

This is another way the Perfect Keto Macro Calculator comes in handy. It takes into account your age, height, weight, body fat, activity levels, and how much weight you want to lose (or maintain) to measure your exact keto macros.

Overall calorie intake depends on your individual needs. If you’re not eating the correct amount of calories, you won’t reach your weight loss goals no matter how low your carb count is.

5. You’re Not Eating Enough Calories

This is usually not the case if you’re struggling with losing weight on the ketogenic diet. But along with being unaware of eating too many calories, not getting enough calories can disrupt your weight loss.

When you don’t eat enough, your metabolism slows down to conserve energy in response to inadequate energy levels or excessive exercise[*].

Make sure you’ve created a calorie deficit that your fat stores can still cover. Otherwise, your body will begin to use lean mass to get the energy it needs.

If you create a deficit that’s too large, your metabolic rate will drop significantly in order to protect organs and normal bodily functions.

Again, you can use the keto calculator to figure out your individual calorie needs.

6. You’re Getting Too Much Exercise

You know the saying “you can have too much of a good thing.”

That applies to exercise too. Exercise is crucial for improving overall health. However, there is a healthy limit for everyone.

The main type of exercise abused by those trying to lose weight is chronic cardio. Repetitive aerobic training increases your appetite because your body feels deprived and wants those calories back.

And in a battle between your willpower and your biology, your biology will always win. You’ll end up overeating to compensate for the excess calories burned.

While all effective exercise creates some type of acute inflammation, chronic exercise can create systemic, internal inflammation as well as oxidative stress[*].

7. You’re Experiencing Stress

Stress is a significant factor when troubleshooting weight loss. When you’re emotionally or physically stressed out, your body produces a hormone called cortisol.

The Role of Cortisol

Cortisol is a signal hormone known as the stress hormone. It’s one of the top hormones your body releases when you’re under pressure or in a fight-or-flight situation. Cortisol has the ability to channel glucose to the muscles during your body’s response to stress[*].

It plays a major role in keeping you alert, awake, motivated, and it’s necessary for survival.

It’s also responsible for storing fat around your stomach area, making weight loss a challenge. It’s also directly connected to insulin production.

The real problem kicks in when cortisol production becomes chronic due to constant stress, so the fat around your stomach starts to increase. Too much cortisol pulsing through your bloodstream on a regular basis could eventually lead to insulin resistance, a metabolic condition that could trigger chronic medical conditions like type 2 diabetes[*].

8. You’re Not Sleeping Enough

Often an underestimated factor, not sleeping enough can stall or prevent weight loss.

Lack of sleep can throw off your circadian rhythm and increase the risk of metabolic problems[*]. All of your organs follow a certain timing (known as your internal body clock), and disrupting it can put you at a severe disadvantage. Maximum fat loss can only be achieved with adequate sleep[*].

Sleep is also essential for balancing hormones — especially hunger hormones. Sleep regulates both ghrelin (the hormone that makes you feel hungry) and leptin (the hormone that makes you feel full).

Your ghrelin goes up and your levels of leptin go down when you don’t get enough sleep, which is bad news for weight loss[*].

9. You Have Food Sensitivities

Even if you are following your macros and tracking your calories, food sensitivities can still contribute to not losing weight on keto.

Many people have food sensitivities they don’t even know about — the most common being dairy products. Dairy includes cheese, cream, butter, yogurt and ghee[*][*].

When your body is sensitive to a particular nutrient in certain foods such as lactose, casein, or gluten, those compounds can cause imbalances in the gut — which then leads to overall inflammation.

Inflammation prevents weight loss and increases weight gain. If you think you may be sensitive to a certain food, it’s important to experiment and pay close attention to what foods make you feel better or worse.

10. Leptin Resistance

Leptin is a fat-controlling hormone that tells your brain when your body is satiated, so it can know when to stop eating[*][*]. Leptin is produced by your fat cells. It’s mainly responsible for regulating how many calories you eat, how many you burn, and how much fat you carry on your body.

Leptin resistance happens when you have plenty of leptin, but the messages aren’t being received. The major causes of leptin resistance include[*][*][*]:

• Funky sleep patterns
• A diet full of processed foods
• Overeating
• Stress

It’s not that obese individuals don’t have enough leptin — it’s that the signals leptin is sending to their brains aren’t being received. The brain is resistant to the message of satiety, creating snacking habits and overeating that eventually leads to weight gain.

The Takeaway

So, how do you figure out the root cause for not losing weight on keto?

The most important thing to remember is that everyone’s body is different and will react differently to each of the variables.

Figuring out which foods and habits work best with your body will take some trial and error, but it’s worth it. Run through the reasons above and take note of anything you may be missing.