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Keto weight loss

Why YOU Are Not Losing Weight On Keto [11 REASONS]

Just looking at the top 3 articles that come up when I search ‘not losing weight on keto’ makes me cringe.

So, this is my attempt to clear up much of the misinformation that many individuals and websites are spewing.

If you’re not losing weight on keto, this one’s for you.

If I had to give you the top 3 reasons why most people are not losing weight on keto right off the bat from my 15+ years of experience, I’d say (in no particular order):

 Not losing weight on keto is most typically a result of… 
  1. Eating too much. Eating more than you think.
  2. Impatience/Comparing your progress to others.
  3. Metabolic adaptation. Not adjusting your diet or activity as you lose weight.

Ok, technically that was 4.

Don't have time to read all 6,000+ words? Download a PDF to read offline at a later time.

That said, let’s dive in.


not losing weight on keto pinterest cover

One of the most common questions I get emailed or DM’d about is people asking why they’re not losing weight on keto.

Actually, it’s the number one question I get asked.

As much as I wish there was ONE universal answer to why you’re in ketosis but not losing weight or even in ketosis but gaining weight, there isn’t a one size fits all answer. In fact, I almost inevitably reply with a question of my own such as:

  • What's your primary goal?
  • What are you currently eating?
  • Are you currently tracking your food intake?
  • How long have you been “stalled?”
  • Do you have any medical conditions I should be aware of?

I’m sure many of you reading this now can attest to this. 😉

There are simply too many reasons to why you may be experiencing no weight loss on keto and kudos on being proactive and trying to figure out why.

Here’s my attempt to list all the reasons I’ve come across with those I’ve helped, and chances are one or more of these reasons may apply to why YOU are not losing weight on keto. I’m sure I might be leaving something out, but rest assured I’ll keep this updated.

Reason # 1 – You’re IMPATIENT.

It’s not that you’re not losing weight on keto,  you’re not losing weight on keto FAST ENOUGH. 

Seriously, most of the time people start a conversation telling me that they’ve been on a ketogenic diet for a whopping 5 days, or MAYBE… it has been a whole month.

So, here’s the thing, when you first hop on a ketogenic diet you begin to see quick results, as a result, you become more motivated to continue. After all, it’s not unheard of for people to drop anywhere from 5 to 10 pounds within the first week.

But here’s the rub.

Even though these initial results motivate you to continue, it leaves many with a false sense of what the process will actually be like.

Progress inevitably slows down after that initial drop in weight and you enter into what I refer to as “the suck.”

Yes, you read that correctly.

Basically, “the suck” is this period of time where you may be doing everything correctly, but no progress is, seemingly, being made.

This is the part that people throw their hands up in frustration, break their keyboards, seek help, or give up altogether. This is why I typically recommend people dismiss scale readings during the first four weeks on any weight loss diet.

You’re here though because YOU are one of the few that didn’t give up and are wondering why you’re experiencing no weight loss on keto, so this doesn’t apply to you. 

For all the people that did give up and had given it time, this is likely what would have happened.

weight loss vs fat loss
The realities of fat loss vs. what the mind games the scale will play on you.

SOLUTION

So here is what you’re going to do now that you know about the suck.

YOU are going to calm down and be patient. Ask yourself, years from now after you’ve lost the weight, will you even care or remember if it took you a week or a year to lose the weight? Heck no.

You’ll just be glad you built the habits that allowed you to lose weight and maintain it for the rest of your life.

Usually, it’s the people who have the quick fat loss mentality that end up regaining all their lost weight plus more.

Not that aggressive dieting doesn’t work, because it most certainly does, but because a quick fat loss mentality usually leads people to extremely low-calorie levels and trying all sorts of crazy unsustainable gimmicks and protocols.

We’re after a lifestyle change, not a quick-fix.

So just how fast should you be expecting to lose fat?

How fast or slow you lose depends on where you are in your journey.

The more body fat you have to lose, the faster you can expect to lose; conversely, the leaner you are, a slower rate of loss is preferred as to minimize any muscle and/or strength loss.

That said: I like to set fat loss targets between 0.5 – 1% of your total body weight per week. If you're very overweight you can even get away with upwards of ~1.5% weight loss per week.

What’s great about using percentages is the rate of loss autoregulates itself as your bodyweight decreases.

For example.

Let’s look at Sara and Sam in the image below.

Sara weights 250 lbs so she can expect to lose about 1.25 – 2.5 pounds per week. On the other hand, Sam weights 150 lbs so she can expect to lose about .75 – 1.5 pounds per week.

not losing weight on keto rate of fat loss expectations
Remember, it's not about how fast you get there… it's that you get there AND stay there.

Reason # 2 – You're comparing yourself to others

Let’s be real, it’s just human nature for us to compare ourselves to others. I do it, you do it, Barbara Ann does it, and so does Bobby Lee.  It’s bad when comparing yourself turns to insecurity, envy, and discontent with yourself.

You can only control one person’s progress, and that’s your own.

The comparison trap is as old as humans have walked the earth. It’s even worse now with social media and having easy access to compare yourself with millions of others at the tip of your fingers.

I’ve literally come across studies that show a correlation with how much time is spent on social media with a rise in depression and envy.

Think about it, nobody posts their struggles, failures, spousal arguments, or kids acting out and being grounded.

People post made up photos of themselves, their kid receiving awards, and the best family vacation photos they could muster out of the whole vacation.

Heck, I even wonder if some of my friends work since the only thing they post on Facebook is pictures on vacation along some beach drinking a pina colada.   

Nobody knows what good is anymore because perfect became the new normal.

– Me

But I digress…

What I was trying to get at before getting sidetracked is  the more you look and compare yourself to others, the more you are likely to feel discontent with your own progress and jump from one diet to the next 

Truth is, you don’t know what Peggy Sue’s circumstances were. Maybe she’s just genetically superior, maybe she’s worked out consistently for the last 20 years, and who knows, maybe she simply has an easier time losing weight than you or I.


SOLUTION

Be aware of the situations that you find yourself playing the comparison game, social media is probably the biggest culprit of them all. Since I know you’ll do it anyway, use it as MOTIVATION instead of a way to nitpick at yourself.

And lastly, seek out advice and ask questions. The most successful people, dieting or not, are the ones who know how to ask the right questions and seek the correct answers.

There’s only one thing within your control, and that’s what you do.  So practice some patience, give the diet some time, and focus on you, not what everyone else is doing.


Reason #3 – You’re eating too damn much.

I don’t know who started it, but I get a comment nearly every day about it, can you guess what “it” is? The “it” I’m referring to is that calories don’t matter. They usually comment something along the lines of one of these:

  • It's a hormonal problem
  • It's due to insulin (which is a hormone btw)
  • It's about the correct macros

Inevitably followed up by:

  • Look up Dr. Fung
  • Look up Dr. Berg
  • Etc. etc. etc.

And yes, all of that may be true… up to a certain extent.

Can hormones make a difference in energy balance? Yes.

Will a hormonal response ever supersede an energy deficit? No.

Everything listed above does play a factor in weight loss AND those people they mention are indeed some smart individuals.

However, they take everything out of context and I’m almost certain if they asked their “gurus” if calories mattered they would tell them that they do, but of course, in addition to all of the other factors.

These zealots preaching it’s all about hormones or it’s all about controlling insulin totally miss the boat.

They’ve become so dogmatic in their approach that they mislead many people to believe they can eat however much they want as long as they eat some magical percentage of protein, carbs, and fats.  

In a perfect world, controlling insulin would control your hunger, and thus prevent you from overeating, possibly even undereating, thereby causing weight loss. This, along with making better food choices, is typically the case with all these said individuals along with fixing their previously poor diets.

What they’re failing to realize is that they’re in a calorie deficit, whether they believe it or not.

But this is far from a perfect world… and eating is as much a psychological thing as it is a physiological one. To tell someone they can eat all they want as long as they eat x or y percentage of fat or don’t eat any carbs and lose weight is ludicrous.

It’s much like the person who previously ate a relatively poor diet and decided to give veganism a try. They to, began to see some weight loss, maybe even lost all the weight they wanted.

Now they firmly believe a vegan diet is the only way to lose weight.  Correlation does not equal causation. 

Calories in vs. calories out is a myth. I've lost fat without being in a caloric deficit.

– Person who was unknowingly in a calorie deficit

Just because they don’t believe that calories matter nor counted them, AND also happened to lose weight does it make it any truer. I also believed in the tooth fairy and found a dollar under my pillow every time.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to count calories. Many individuals lose large amounts of weight switching to a ketogenic diet and not counting calories AT ALL.

However, chances are you landed here because you are not one of those lucky individuals.


SOLUTION

If you’ve never tracked calories before, I would highly encourage you to do so, If at least for a short while (3-4 weeks).

This means weighing and portioning out your food. Doing so will give you a better understanding of exactly how much you are eating and how it effects your progress.

NOTICE that I said for a short while… You don't have to track calories forever, but I think it's a VALUABLE skill that generates more awareness and makes you more conscious about food.

Granted, if you think this may make you neurotic about food then perhaps you shouldn't.

During this period, I encourage people to use an actual kitchen scale in addition to their measuring cups and spoons.  Using an actual scale may paint a clearer picture of what exactly a serving of a particular food looks like in actuality.

A classic example here is of a tablespoon of peanut butter which when weighed comes out to 16 grams (and about 100 calories).

If you were to “eyeball” and measure out a tablespoon of peanut butter then place it on the scale, it will invariably be more than 16 grams.

Combine the fact that the spoon is overfilled with licking the sides and underside of the spoon (cause hey… it’s on the tablespoon) it’s easy to get quite a bit more calories than you’re actually writing in your journal.

not losing weight PEANUT BUTTER difference
Over time this can easily add up to A LOT

Can you see how this would begin to add up with multiple spoonful’s a day and over the course of days, weeks, and months?

Sadly, even vegetables, which are often encouraged and considered ‘free foods’ on most diets, can be a problem. Due to hunger, some dieters eat enormous amounts of vegetables to fill themselves up, but that too can begin to add up.

There’s inevitably a few of you who will take this out of context and say I’m now advocating that vegetables are bad for you. Really guys?

As you can begin to see, it’s quite possible for smaller dieters, and especially females who may not have as much wiggle room in the calorie department to completely eliminate the deficit they assumed they were in.

Is weighing and measuring your food a pain in the ass? You bet.

Will this lead certain individuals to become obsessive and neurotic about food? Quite possiblly.

Just remember, what gets measured gets managed. If you’re not losing weight on keto as it is, what do you have to lose by weighing and measuring your food intake?

In some cases, it’s absolutely necessary to make sure how much you think you’re eating is in fact how much you are actually eating.

Now, assuming you are properly measuring and weighing your food and still not seeing any progress, try increasing your deficit by another 10%, whether through diet, exercise, or a combination of both.

Give this calorie level a go for a good 4 weeks or so before assuming it’s a bust. If there is still no progress to be had, try dropping another 10% and reassessing after 4 more weeks.

If there’s still no progress, then I would highly recommend you get some blood work done, not to be confused with donating blood, as there is likely some underlying issue or even take a break from dieting altogether if you've been at it for a LONG time.

That said, here are some resources to track and measure down below.

Websites for tracking

  • MyFitnessPal
  • Fitday
  • Cron-O-Meter

Apps for your mobile device

  • MyFitnessPal iPhone | Android *What I personally use
  • Carb Manager iPhone | Android
  • My Macros+ iPhone | Android

Recommended kitchen scales

  • OXO Stainless Steel Kitchen Scale * What I personally use due to the large weight capacity. The display also pulls out for when you have a big plate sitting on top that would normally hide the display on other scales.
  • Ozeri food scale – Bit more simple than the one above, but gets the job done.

Reason # 4 – You're not eating enough!

Now you’re thinking…

Wait a minute…

You just finished telling me I may be eating TOO much and now you’re telling me I may not be eating enough? What gives Steven?

Somehow, we’ve gotten it in our heads that if something works, then more is better. This is also the mentality when it comes to dieting. Well, if eating this much makes me lose weight then eating even less will make me lose weight faster.

And this is true, up till a certain point.

Studies support the idea that there is a threshold deficit allowing for maximum fat loss to occur with minimal side effects. Meaning, there is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to dieting.

At a certain point, for some individuals, you are actually causing more harm than good.

What is the point of diminishing returns?

It seems as deficits greater than ~25%, while leading to greater fat loss, is  unsustainable  for MOST individuals.

A few drawbacks to a large calorie deficit include:

  • Increased potential for muscle loss
  • Increased chance for binging
  • Doesn't teach long-term habits required to keep the weight off
  • May be hard to sustain due to hunger
  • Largest drop in energy expenditure *more on this later in the article.

Some pros of a large calorie deficit:

  • Faster rate of fat loss
  • Leaves plenty of room for error
  • Quick initial weight loss can provide positive reinforcement to keep going.

While resting metabolic rate doesn’t drop drastically as one might think when dieting, large deficits ( >25% ) usually lead to a decrease in a person’s daily activity, mainly due to fatigue and lethargy.

When people think their metabolism has somehow slowed down to that of a snail’s pace, it’s usually that they offset much of their supposed deficit with the fact that they simply aren’t moving as much.

This is a biggie, because what you do the other 23 hours of the day outside of the gym has a bigger impact in how many calories you expend versus the 30 – 60 minutes you spend in the gym.

Not losing weight on keto - exercise vs non exercise
See how this can play a more important role?

SOLUTION

A little caveat to this is that large calorie deficits DO work, I’m in no way saying that they don’t. In fact, there is evidence that suggests quite the opposite, BUT with the following inclusions:

  • Nutritional education
  • Behavior modification
  • Increased physical activity

While large deficits will work if you can sustain it, they likely won’t last unless there is some type of intervention implemented alongside as outlined above.

In the end, cutting calories too much often creates more problems than it solves, but that’s not to say there isn’t a downside to a small deficit either.

Deciding how much of a calorie deficit has a lot of considerations, all of which will depend on your goals, preferences, and tolerances. A deficit that’s appropriate for one person might end up being completely inappropriate for another.

A good rule of thumb is to stick to a deficit that allows you to lose ~ 0.5 – 1% of your bodyweight per week. Bigger individuals with more fat to lose can safely aim for the higher end (sometimes even higher) while leaner folks with less fat to lose should stick to the lower end.

You may give my keto macro calculator a shot for a great starting point with setting up your calorie deficit along with a custom macro breakdown based on your lifestyle and preferences.

If you want my personal take on it, diet aggressively as you can without losing muscle.

Because let’s face it, dieting sucks, and most people are impatient.

I’m of the mindset that one should eat MORE and move MORE versus the old adage of eat less move more.

What you should be aiming for is maximum FAT loss and not simply weight loss. This means you should be eating an adequate amount of protein and including some type of resistance training in addition to your diet.

AND, if you’ve never done any sort of weight / resistance training there’s a good chance you may be able to simultaneously build muscle and lose fat, a dieter’s dream. In which case, you may not even see a change on the scale since you are building muscle and losing fat at the same time.

Of course, if you’re dieting on too low of calories you’ll eliminate almost any chance of this occurring, so be smart.


Reason # 5 – Metabolic adaptation… and you're not moving enough.

I briefly explained this in the last section, but a major reason why people’s fat loss comes to a halt or they hit a plateau is due to metabolic adaptation. NOT DAMAGE.

You see, the body doesn’t like change. In fact, the body will do everything within its power to maintain a level of homeostasis.

What most people don’t realize is that the metabolism or TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is composed of four main components.

Resting metabolic rate (RMR)

Your resting metabolic rate is essentially the number of calories to keep your body functioning at rest. This applies to basic functions like breathing and circulating blood throughout your body.

RMR makes up the majority of calories MOST people burn… unless you’re an ultramarathoner or an ironman triathlete. RMR accounts for around 60 – 70% in your average adult.

Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)

Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis is all the activity that isn’t intentional. Meaning, everything outside of your gym or CrossFit session.

This includes everything from fidgeting and walking your dog to washing the dishes and walking to your car.

NEAT accounts for somewhere around 30% of your total daily energy expenditure.

Physical Activity (PA)

Physical activity is intentional exercise. This will vary individual to individual depending on the type of exercise you perform and the duration in which you perform it.

For most of us who may exercise 3 – 6x per week for 30 minutes to an hour this accounts for around 10 – 15% of our total daily energy expenditure.

As you can see, this doesn’t make up a huge chunk of your total activity and the reason why you may have heard the phrase “you can’t outrun a bad diet.”

Because you can’t… at least for most people. Again, if you are pounding the pavement as an ultra-marathoner or ironman triathlete, perhaps you can, but that’s not most people.

Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)

Thermic Effect of Food is the number of calories required to digest your food. It surprisingly takes up a good amount of energy to digest that meal, but it only accounts for 5 – 10% of your total daily energy expenditure.

Weight loss will impact each one of these components to a certain degree, but the biggest impacts tend to be on RMR and NEAT.


SOLUTION

RMR: As you lose weight and get smaller, you simply won’t require as many calories as you once did. Makes sense, right? A smaller person requires less calories than a bigger person, even if that bigger person used to be you 15 pounds ago.

This is why, on average, men have an easier time losing weight than women. Not only do they carry more muscle, but they are larger in general.

So what do we do here? Well, we adjust our diet as we lose weight and get leaner. If you’re not losing weight on keto and hit a plateau, you may just need to make an adjustment in how much you’re eating.

There are no hard or fast rules on when to adjust but reassess your caloric needs after every 10 – 15 pounds lost.

However, if you’re still within the first 4 weeks of starting your diet, don’t make any adjustments.

Your body takes some time to ‘catch up’ to the deficit and waiting this amount of time is usually a good time frame to have a clearer picture on what’s really happening.

Just how much should you adjust your diet?

A 5 – 10% reduction in calories is a good starting point. Assuming carbohydrate intake is already really low, and protein is moderately set, I would remove these calories from your fat intake.

If you are still eating a decent amount of net carbohydrates, you can reduce those further or do a combination of carbohydrates and fat.

Remember that carbohydrates are 4 calories per gram while fat is 9 calories per gram.

I wrote all about keto weight loss and how to set up your diet, track progress, and adjust.

NEAT: As you diet, your body senses the change and fights back by decreasing your energy and making you feel more tired. As a result of this tiredness, you begin to move less and less, even without you realizing.

Conversely, NEAT tends to increase as weight does.

Since NEAT makes up nearly 30% of our total calorie expenditure, the second biggest slice of the pie, this can greatly affect weight loss or even stop it dead in its tracks.

To remedy this, I would encourage setting a daily target for movement OUTSIDE of the gym. For this, fitness wearables like a Fitbit or a simple pedometer can be a great tool to track a minimum number of steps per day.

Alternatively, you can do something like choose a length of time.

In practice it may look like:

10,000 steps per day

or

45 minutes of light walking every morning

OR

Just be mindful if you're vegging out on the couch watching Netflix because you're too tired to do anything else.

This is a great time to do all the other stuff you've might been neglecting like mowing your lawn, cleaning the house, or walking your pup.

Physical Activity: As mentioned earlier in the article, I’m of the eat MORE move MORE mentality vs the old adage of eat less move more.

While we can’t outrun a bad diet, feeding your body the right amount and not starving yourself will allow you to train harder and thus preserve or build muscle and burn more calories.

It goes without saying, just like your RMR decreases due to the weight loss and the fact you are now a smaller human being, so does the calorie expenditure when performing the same type of exercise.

Example: Running a mile at 180 pounds burns more calories than running a mile at 160 pounds.

TEF: The thermic effect of food is the amount of energy required to digest the food you eat. It goes without saying that if you eat less food then less calories will be expended.

While this can be influenced only so much on a calorie deficit, the biggest impact on TEF will be your protein intake as it’s the costliest macronutrient to digest.

Studies also suggest that the TEF of highly processed foods is significantly less than their whole-food counterparts.

Another checkmark for adding in more whole foods, especially protein.

To summarize the metabolic adaptation section

Your body begins to downregulate its resting metabolic rate, but probably not as much as most people would think.

The majority of the adaptation comes in the form of reducing your Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) which makes up around ~30% of your daily caloric expenditure and even upwards of 45% in HIGHLY active individuals (think of a construction or farmer heaving heavy things around all day for 8 hours at a time).

Therefore, things you can do to counteract the adaption are as follows:

  • If fat loss has truly come to a halt after a certain caloric intake has been maintained for  ~4 weeks then reduce total calories by 5 – 10% taking them from fat and/or carbohydrate grams
  • Have a trackable minimum daily activity goal outside of the gym i.e. 10,000 steps
  • Don’t eat so little as to not have enough energy to train hard in the gym
  • Eat an adequate amount of protein ~1 gram per pound of lean body mass

Reason #6 – Water retention

THE YAY, OH CRAP MONTH.

This is, in part, the reason many people think they’ve stalled when in reality they are still losing weight, especially within the first month of starting their ketogenic diet.

 People often confuse the rapid weight loss during the first week of a ketogenic diet with actual fat loss.  While some of it may be fat, the majority of the initial weight loss is really just extra bloat and water being flushed from your body.

During the second, third, and fourth weeks the body inevitably puts back on some of that water weight and masks any real fat loss that you may see on the scale.

This is another reason why using only the scale to measure and track fat loss isn’t the best method and why I say to usually give your body ~4 weeks for the calorie deficit to catch up and your body to level out.

An example of what it may look like:

YAY!

JoAnn weighs 170 pounds when first starting her ketogenic diet. At the end of week 1, JoAnn weighs 163 pounds for a whopping 7 pounds of scale weight lost.

In reality, of the 7 pounds maybe 1 – 1.5 pounds of that was actual fat loss. Meaning, the other 5.5 – 6 pounds was mainly water weight.

OH CRAP…

During the second week JoAnn’s body begins to normalize and actually regains 2 pounds of water weight back but drops an additional 1 pound of fat.

Now, if we were simply looking at the scale JoAnn would freak out and assume no fat was lost. Not only that, but that some fat was gained. This usually leads someone to drastically cut their intake even more or give up altogether.

OH CRAP

NOT LOSING WEIGHT ON KETO, MAYBE IT’S WATER RETENTION

In addition, diet and exercise act as a form of stress on the body. The longer you diet, the more stress begins to accumulate. As a result, due to a myriad of factors including a rise in cortisol, people start retaining more water,

ESPECIALLY women.

NOT LOSING ON KETO WEIGHT VS FAT

WEIGHT LOSS VS FAT LOSS GRAPHIC

Also, there is this phenomenon known as the “Whoosh” effect. As you start to lose fat, your fat cells begin to fill up with water as a ‘placeholder’ waiting for the cell to fill up with fat again. Fat cells can hold onto this water for days… maybe even weeks. Then, boom, almost overnight, you drop 4 pounds and look leaner in the mirror.

not losing weight on keto whoosh
Not always the case, but definitely happens more often than you think

SOLUTION

  • Chill out
  • Be Patient
  • De-stress yourself

Meditate

I know what you’re thinking, but don’t knock it till you try it. There is proven research on the benefits of meditation for health, especially stress and stress related conditions like IBS, PTSD, and fibromyalgia.

Hang out with friends

When people diet they sometimes start to become a bit antisocial, especially since many social events tend to be centered around eating and drinking.

I get it, I’m right there with you… why put yourself amidst all that temptation as it’s not conducive towards your goals right?

Still, we are social beings at heart. Try to plan an activity that doesn’t revolve around food or use this as an excellent time to practice mindful eating choices when eating out.

Easier said than done, I know.

Go for a walk.

Depending how you go about it, this can be a Zen like meditation as well for people.

Use the walk as a time to reflect, think about life, and enjoy mother nature. This can also double up as part of your 10,000 steps you told yourself you would start doing 😉

Get more sleep

Remember the last time you didn’t get any sleep? Bet you felt like crap, weren’t productive, and felt more stressed.

Journaling

We have so many thoughts that run through our head on a daily basis. I don’t remember where I heard it, but we the average person has somewhere around 70,000 thoughts per day.

Getting your thoughts out of your head and onto paper can free up some of that mental baggage that weighs you down and possibly even affecting your sleep.

Another great journaling technique is to keep a gratitude journal. There is so much to be said for remembering and being grateful for even the little things in life we take for granted on a daily basis.

Also, every time you find yourself saying ‘I have to’ change it to ‘I get to…’. Basically, do whatever makes you happy and helps you de-stress.


Reason #7 – You're putting a stick of butter in your coffee

This goes back to the third reason, you’re simply eating too damn much. If you’re drinking keto coffee, bulletproof coffee, or whatever the cool kids are calling it these days, then this is an easy 200 – 300 calories you can eliminate from your diet.

Often, people use a keto coffee as a meal replacement for breakfast and to help with hunger. Here’s the point everyone who has a counter argument is missing, you’re not losing weight on keto as it is and that’s why you’re here reading this.

Eliminating fat from your morning coffee is a lot easier than reducing your food intake or increasing your activity level for most people.


SOLUTION

I’d like to challenge you, if this applies, to simply drink the coffee black or only with your MCT oil. Just like when you replaced your breakfast with keto coffee, now all you have to do is eliminate some or all of the add-ons you’re dumping into it.

However, if you TRULY believe this keeps you from overeating and is a net positive in your fat loss efforts, by all means you do you.

Of course, you can always keep it in and eat less food later.

Or move more to compensate.

not losing weight on keto burn one bpc
Hey, if you need it then you need it.

Reason #8 – Health conditions and medications

There are certain health conditions and medications that may affect fat loss. Conditions such as:

  • PCOS
  • Hypothyroidism
  • Menopause | Not really a disease or disorder, but it does trigger some profound changes within a woman’s body.

Medications including:

  • Diabetic drugs like insulin
  • Antipsychotic drugs
  • Antidepressant drugs
  • Drugs for epilepsy
  • Birth control

Sometimes there are factors beyond our control, at least until we know about them and can be proactive towards it. If you’ve been consistent with your diet, training hard, making the right adjustments, and still not losing fat, it may be time to consult your doctor and get some bloodwork done.


SOLLUTION

I am not a doctor and not qualified to give you any sound medical advice, but you may try the following.

  • Discuss with your doctor if there are any other options in terms of medications or treatments. There may be an alternative, but that’s not always the case.
  • You may have to just deal with the cards your dealt, so do your best to control what you can and leave the rest to the powers that be.

If you email or DM me I can give you my opinion, but it would be just that… my opinion.


Reason #9 – You don't need to lose fat

Is it possible that you really don’t have as much fat to lose as you think? We can be our own worst critics at times and I can definitely relate to this.

In fact, as I am writing this I get a message on Instagram from a female telling me she’s stuck and needs to lose more weight to hit her goal. Mind you, she’s 125 pounds currently, down from 160, and she wants to get to 115 pounds.

AND… SHE’S 5’9!

 Much of the time, people really need to just add more muscle to their frame rather than try and shed any more weight.  The more muscle you have on your frame,  the better you’re going to look when you do lose the fat.

You may even simply look better without losing any fat and putting on muscle.

Ladies, I’m talking to you especially!

And you don’t need to worry about getting “bulky” cause guess what… it’s pretty dang hard to put on muscle. Walk into any gym and look at all the guys who actually do want to put on muscle and look big but aren’t.

It’s not as simple as picking up some weights a few times a week.

Take a look at the below photo as an example. Clearly, Bale has a lower body fat percentage and weighs less in The Machinist compared to his role in American Psycho.

But which look do you prefer? Can you see how having some muscle despite having a bit more fat is more aesthetically pleasing? After all, that is the goal correct? To look and feel better?

I can almost guarantee you that he felt better on the right than he did on the left.


Reason #10 – You're gaining muscle

Ok, so if you’re certain you are in a calorie deficit and DEFINITELY not overeating because you’re measuring and weighing food like I asked you to, perhaps there’s a chance you may be gaining muscle.

If you’re not losing weight on keto and doing everything correctly, perhaps somebody is smiling down on you from above.

 Gaining muscle is actually a GOOD thing, even if that means your scale weight stays the same or the off chance going up. 

Granted, this is usually the case if you’ve just started working out or perhaps switched your diet from one with very little protein to something more moderate.

This is also one of the reasons why using only the scale to track progress will usually lead you astray.


SOLUTION

The scale is only one tool you should be using. Other tools to give you a better picture of your progress are:

  • Tracking body measurements
  • Progress photos
  • Strength in the gym
  • How clothes fit

All of the above will serve you better in tracking your progress.

Tracking body measurements

If your waist measurement has decreased or stayed the same, but your arms, legs, and/or chest measurements have increased, good job, you’ve gained muscle.

Progress photos

Look slimmer despite the scale having not budged or gone up? Seeing some extra definition or lines that were not there previously? Good job, you’ve gained muscle.

Probably best to compare photos on a bi-monthly or monthly basis to have a better comparison.

Strength in the gym

For beginners, you can do almost ANYthing when first starting and it’s enough stimulus to put on some muscle.

However, there is also a correlation with an increase in strength and an increase in muscle size (not always, but for most beginners and intermediate lifters)

How clothes fit

Not losing weight on keto but your pants are looser in the waist? Well, that’s a good thing.


Reason #11 – You're not a finisher

Are you the person that starts many diets, but you never stick with them? Are you what I like to refer to as a ‘chronic dieter?’

Maybe you’re always dieting for some occasion or perhaps you constantly end your diet only to start it again a week later. Maybe you slip up after a couple days or a couple weeks and figure F*** it I’ll start again on Monday.

After all, diets can only start on Mondays, right? Jk

This state of perpetual dieting is neither healthy or conducive to ever reaching your goals. Quite the opposite, it’s very unhealthy, and leads to a disordered way of eating.

The constant dieting approach is what causes many people to ride the high and low train of calorie restriction followed by binging after you realize that you can’t adhere to it any longer.

As a result, you spin your wheels making no progress over the long term.


SOLUTION

If this resonates with you, perhaps it’s time to stop dieting and give your body AND mind a break from the constant rollercoaster you’ve been on.

Raise your calories back up to maintenance, eat until satiated, and stop worry about dropping weight for once. The goal for you should be trying to find some normalcy with your eating.

Instead, focus on your training and performance. Heck, focus on other parts of your life that you may have been neglecting while trying to lose weight.

Yes, you may put back on some fat during this period, but it’s something that may be necessary to propel future progress over the long-term.


All good things must come to an end

There you have it folks. If you’ve made it this far, then kudos to you. I really hope you’ve been able to pinpoint one, if not a couple of reasons why you may not have had the success you had hoped for.

If you’re not losing weight on keto, I’m almost certain one of these is the culprit.

As I stated in the beginning, there’s just so much nonsense in this space when it comes to fat loss. I’ve literally read reasons on other sites why you’re not losing weight on keto that range from eating too much protein to not actually being in ketosis.

First off:

  • You don’t HAVE TO be in ketosis to lose weight
  • It’s not that you’re eating too much protein (or even carbs), you’re eating too much in general. In fact, there are a plethora of studies that show nothing but positives when protein is increased.

You’ll come across these kinds of “tips” on almost every keto site you come across and it’s just plain misleading people, but hopefully not you because you’re here now!

Just know that you don’t have to literally be in ketosis 24/7 or even at all to lose weight.

There are definitely plenty of pros to a ketogenic diet for both health and weight loss, which is why myself and many others choose to adopt the lifestyle.

BUT don’t let anyone tell you that the only way to lose weight is to be in ketosis, or that you’re not losing weight on keto because you’re not really in ketosis, because it’s untrue and very misleading.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and found some value in it.


Would love to hear your thoughts or maybe if a lightbulb went off. Simply let me know in the comments down below.

The Best Keto Weight Loss Guide On The Internet [Really]

This guide will teach you everything you need to know about keto weight loss.

Actually, all of weight loss in general.

Think of it as a keto diet for beginners manual

How to set up your keto diet.

When you should and shouldn't make adjustments.

Plus much much more.

Let’s get started…

but first click here => 1I am a footnote. Every time you see one of these gems you can click it to perhaps learn a bit more, read my thoughts, or to reference a study.

Don't have time to read all 12,000+ words? Download a PDF to read offline at a later time.

keto weight loss pinterest cover

Chapter 1: But first…

I'm not kidding you, the title says it all…

this is and will be the best damn keto weight loss guide on the internet.

BUT FIRST…

Before we get into it, I want to bring to light some of the misinformation I see being spread throughout the keto universe.

In fact, this one particular notion being spread by many of the “gurus” is leading many individuals astray. Can you guess what it is?  It's this notion that it's not your fault.

And here comes the other BUT.

It is your fault…

Chances are, you landed on this particular keto weight loss guide because you're unhappy with your weight, or your body, for whatever reason.

I hate to sound cliché like we're in AA or something, but the sooner you are able to accept that it is your fault, the sooner you're going to start making progress. 2Yes, certain individuals legitimately suffer from health conditions and rare conditions where it's not their fault(most times this is not the case), but adopting this mindset moves you from being passive to active so that you can start working toward making a change. It's taking action that will ultimately get you to where you want to go.

And time for the last BUT. 

But I'm not here to motivate you to lose the weight or scold you for all the decisions you made that led up to this point. I was where you are right now, and sometimes still find myself there every once in a while.

In fact, if all I've done by the end of this guide is motivate you… then I've failed. What I really want is for you to take the information presented to you and  begin taking ACTION  towards your weight loss goals.

The Truth is, motivation is only one percent of the equation. The other 99 percent of the equation is taking action.

It's the action you take that ends up motivating you and becoming an endless loop that makes taking more action towards your goals inevitable.


Take action

KETO DIET AND WEIGHT LOSS ACTION MOTIVATION

Most people commit to action only when they feel a certain level of motivation, and they only feel this motivation when they feel a strong emotional response, usually a negative one. 

And that's why people (not you because you're an action taker right?) are more likely to take action ONLY when they are afraid of the consequences, or they've already experienced them.

For many, this usually means they were diagnosed with something horrible, had a loved one diagnosed or pass away from an illness, or maybe they just finally got fed up with feeling like crap or how they looked in the mirror.

 So don't fall into the motivation trap, the trap where you must feel motivated before taking any action.  If you're waiting for motivation to hit, you may be waiting a long damn time.

As funny as it sounds, the more you look for motivation, the less motivated you become. C'mon. Really? Yes, because now you're too busy looking to get motivated and spending less time doing what you already know you need to do.


Chapter 2: Keto, the best diet for weight loss?

Another tidbit the keto gurus want to leave out is that EVERY diet works. 

Don't believe me? Let's dig into some of the research down below.

Follow me.


A study in 2009 by Sacks FM et al. looked to see if there was an advantage for weight loss by emphasizing different macronutrients (protein, fat, or carbohydrates).

The research concluded that reduced-calorie diets resulted in similar weight loss regardless of which macronutrients they emphasize. 3Comparison of Weight-Loss Diets with Different Compositions of Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrates Sacks et al. 2009

don't believe me? A more recent study, this year as I write this in 2018, by Gardner et al. sought to determine the effect of a “healthy” low-fat diet vs. a “healthy” low-carbohydrate diet over a 12 month period.4 Effect of Low-Fat vs Low-Carbohydrate Diet on 12-Month Weight Loss in Overweight Adults and the Association With Genotype Pattern or Insulin Secretion Gardner et al. 2018

In this randomized clinical trial consisting of over 600 adults, weight change over the 12 months was not significantly different for participants in either the low-fat or the low-carbohydrate group.

What's even more notable is that it was partially funded by NuSI, an organization co-founded by low-carb advocates.

Dietary modification and adherence is the key to successful weight loss.  In fact, satiety, hunger, satisfaction, and most of all… behavior modification are more strongly associated with weight loss then which diet you choose. 

The people most successful in keeping their weight off are those who changed their relationship with food.

 The healthy diet that will work for you is the one that you can stick to. There is no “best diet.” 

So yes, all diets can work in the short term, but some diets may be better suited for you than others. Is that keto? there's only one way to find out.


All diets work by, in one way or another (whether they admit it or not) having you control calorie intake.

KETO AND WEIGHT LOSS THOUGH ALL DIETS WORK

You get the picture.

 Consistency with calorie intake is more important than your sugar intake, meal timing, fat intake, eating “clean” foods, and any supplement you can find. 

Sometimes strict dietary rules CAN be helpful in the case of any the diets above, but we'll come back to this a bit later on in the guide.

To clarify: all diets work by, in one way or another, having you control your calorie intake.

When it comes to weight loss, neither a low-fat diet nor a low-carb diet is inherently superior, so choose an eating style that fits your food preferences, health goals, and lifestyle.

Most importantly, choose an eating style you can sustain. It's not that people fail with diets, people fail to maintain their diets over the long-haul

Think about it, anybody can stick to a diet for a short period of time.

 Losing the weight is not what's actually hard, it's keeping the weight off.  Willpower is not enough to lose weight and keep it off.

This is the reason why people find it easy to fall for the latest Netflix food documentary telling you that the key to weight loss is to consume nothing but juice or that meat is making us fat, not only fat, but it will kill you. *sigh*

So like the Superbowl champions every year, people will inevitably jump on this bandwagon, like almost every diet.

People will likely begin to see some initial weight loss, sometimes even lots of weight loss, but somewhere down the line, they realize they can't sustain it and revert back to their old ways.

… and BAM regain almost all the weight and sometimes even more.

Moral of the story, there are MANY ways to lose weight, and using a keto diet for weight loss is one of them. This doesn't mean that a low-carb diet is ideal for everyone, but for some people such as myself, it fits the criteria for MY food preferences, MY healthy goals, and MY lifestyle.

Plus, it makes me feel FANTASTIC.

If you come across an article that tells you that keto is the BEST diet for everyone then go ahead and close your browser window, they are trying to sell you something.

That said…


Chapter 3: Things to consider…

So now that I've explained to you that any and every diet can help you achieve your goal, here's 7 ways a ketogenic diet may benefit you in adhering to your diet and reaching your body recomposition goals.

This is the best friggin keto weight loss guide on the internet after all.


A KETO diet and weight loss… 7 Reasons it may be beneficial for YOU.

7 REASONS KETO AND WEIGHT LOSS

Rapid initial weight loss

Especially for obese or overweight individuals. Let's face it, seeing progress early on is very motivating.

Typically, during the first week of a ketogenic diet, people see a rapid drop in weight – anywhere from 3 to 10 pounds. This is unrivaled by any other diet, but it is also not all coming from fat, not a majority of it.

In fact, most of this weight loss is the result of the body shedding water weight as a consequence of decreasing or eliminating carbohydrates, and that's because every gram of carbohydrate carries with it about ~3g of water.

But like I said, this is not inherently a bad thing since it can be very motivating to see the scale drop at the very beginning of any diet, just don't be surprised if it doesn't drop that rapidly every week ok?

Fewer cravings

There's something about low carbohydrate diets, especially ketogenic diets, that causes people to have fewer cravings, especially that of many trigger foods that tend to be very calorie dense, but nutrient poor.

A study in 2012 by Martin et al. found that compared to a low-fat diet, low-carb dieters had more significant decreases in cravings for high carbohydrate and high sugar foods. 5Change in Food Cravings, Food Preferences, and Appetite During a Low‐Carbohydrate and Low‐Fat Diet Martin et al. 2012  

I don't know about you, but most of the foods I tend to overeat happen to be pretty high carbohydrate/high sugar combined with high amounts of fat. Ice cream and donuts anyone?

Increased satiety

When you go on a weight loss diet, it's no surprise, but you typically feel hungrier. Surprisingly, the ketogenic diet does not seem to follow suit.

In most studies, people felt less hungry on keto, though the primary mechanism in which it does so is speculative at best.

Ultimately, fat loss depends on expending more calories than are consumed. Many individuals have difficulty restricting calories on a high-carbohydrate diet.

If lowering carbohydrates increases satiety, and makes it easier to control calories, then a low carb or ketogenic approach to weight loss may be the better dietary choice.

Increased and steady energy levels

Opposite of a standard high carbohydrate diet, a ketogenic diet relies on fat stores and dietary fat instead of carbs for energy.

It is because your body can tap into these stores (your fat) at any time that you’ll enjoy a constant, steady stream of energy instead of dips throughout the day because you’re not spiking your blood sugar levels.

Gone are the days where you wake up hangry or experience those afternoon slumps after your lunch break.

At least for the most part.

Mental clarity and increased cognition

Elevated ammonia levels and depressed GABA levels contribute to a condition called “brain fog,” and ketosis increases this GABA signaling. This might explain the cause for why people experience clearer thoughts and even a sense of euphoria. 6Gamma-aminobutyric acid, also known as GABA, is a neurotransmitter that helps send messages between the brain and the nervous system. Its main function is to reduce the activity of nerve cells in the nervous system. A good amount of emerging research has found that it could play a role in many conditions, including depression, anxiety and stress.  

Ketone bodies are the most energy-efficient fuel, especially for the brain.

Compared to glucose, ketone bodies are an ideal energy source for the brain, as they supply more energy per oxygen consumed, provide energy at a faster rate, regulate energy levels, balance the glutamate/glutamine ratio, and reduce damaging free radicals associated with inflammation.

Muscle sparing

Let me make note, that within this entire guide when I refer to “weight loss” what I am really referring to is FAT LOSS.

Our goal here is not only to just lose weight but to lose weight in the form of fat. This is why combining a ketogenic diet with some form of resistance training is HIGHLY recommended.

Even with the absence of resistance training, the ketogenic diet can still elicit a muscle sparing effect. More specifically, the ketone body called beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) has been shown in one study to decrease leucine oxidation and promote protein synthesis. 7 Effect of beta-hydroxybutyrate on whole-body leucine kinetics and fractional mixed skeletal muscle protein synthesis in humans. Nair et al. 1988

This may be why many individuals, especially bodybuilders, are drawn to ketogenic diets in an attempt to lose body fat while sparing the loss of lean body mass. 8Leucine acts as more of a signal in the body that new muscle protein should be built.

Decreased inflamation

Eating a ketogenic diet that is very low in carbohydrates helps halt the surges of insulin that raise blood sugar and create inflammation in the body.

Behind most chronic diseases, such as nerve damage, arthritis, or diabetes, is a high amount of inflammation.

There are many factors involved in chronic inflammation, but our dietary choices make up a big chunk of that.

Also, recent research has shown that beta-hydroxybutyrate, one of the three ketone bodies, can block what’s called the NLRP3 inflammasome, an immune system receptor linked to inflammation.

Now that I've expressed why you may be interested in utilizing keto diet for weight loss, here are some things you may want to consider.


Considerations for picking a diet

Is keto the right weight loss diet for you? I don't know, you'll have to ask yourself and come to that conclusion on your own. That said, here are some things you may want to consider before picking a diet.

KETO DIET AND WEIGHT LOSS CONSIDERATIONS

Enjoyment

Taste preference: Does your diet support your personal taste preference? If using keto for weight loss, you may want to ask yourself if you enjoy fattier foods versus carby foods.

Can you rid your diet of basically every carbohydrate-based food? Because If you enjoy carb-filled foods significantly more, perhaps a ketogenic approach may not be what's optimal for you.

Remember, you have to actually enjoy the diet otherwise (at least as much as you can…) you are likely to give up eventually.

Health

When referring to health, I am referring to both psychological and physiological health as having one without the other is a recipe for disaster.

When referring to health, I am referring to both psychological and physiological health as having one without the other is a recipe for disaster.

abstainer vs moderator keto and weight loss
Psychological health

One of, if not the biggest, psychological factors is how restrictive a diet is, or better yet, how restrictive the diet SEEMS to the dieter.

Don't get me wrong, we are dieting with the intention of weight loss, so restriction is going to be necessary, especially that of calories.

It’s usually when we tell ourselves we can't have something, it makes us want it that much more. Simply being on a diet, you're going to feel restricted, and that's something you have to take into account.

Then, we have to take into account our own personalities when it comes to dieting. I don't know how many times I've heard “as long as it fits your macros bro” or you can eat anything as long as it's in moderation.

And this is great advice if you are a “moderator.”

Moderators are those who do better when they avoid absolute truths and strict rules.

These are the individuals who can have one oreo and put the bag away… the ones who can open a pint of ice cream and have three spoonfuls and pop it back in the freezer.

I, my friend, am not a moderator.

For years, I've tried this approach of “moderation” only to end up failing and failing hard. It wasn't until I realized that I wasn't a moderator, I was an “abstainer.”

It is far easier for me to give something up altogether than to indulge moderately.

If I try to moderate, I inevitably end up exhausting myself debating whether or not I should have some? How much? Should I have some now? How about tomorrow?

On the other hand, if I never do something, it requires no self-control; if I do something sometimes, it requires enormous self-control.

In the end, there's no right or wrong way, it's just a matter of knowing which strategy works better for you and suits your personality. 

If moderators try to abstain, they tend to feel trapped and rebellious. And, when abstainers try to moderate, they up spending a lot of energy trying to justify why they should indulge.

And believe me… I can probably justify why I should be able to eat that entire pizza and pint of ice cream if given enough time. This is why strict dietary rules can be helpful for one person and detrimental to the next.

Physiological health

The other end of the health equation is the physiological factors that come into play when choosing a diet. Most importantly is the quality of the foods we eat and the current level of body fat percentage you are at when starting the diet.

On the topic of food quality, we'll save that for another discussion altogether, but just know that food quality does matter and will play a role in both your health and longevity.

Now, on the topic of body fat percentage, there is plenty of research to suggest that your body fat levels will semi dictate what type of macronutrient composition may best suit you.

That is because one of the primary determinants of insulin resistance is one's body mass index (BMI), more specifically, fat mass. 

Basically, this means people with higher levels of fat mass don't respond as well to carbohydrates as those with lower levels of body fat. 9

This leads to those with a higher body fat percentage tending to fare better on a lower carb diet due to this insulin resistance.

And conversely, someone with a lower body fat % tends to fare better with more carbohydrates, there are, of course, exceptions, and more importantly our preferences. But this holds true for most.

insulin sensitivity with keto and weight loss
 As long as there is a calorie deficit in place, YOU WILL lose fat.  However, in my experience, people with higher levels of body fat tend to fare much better restricting carbohydrates.

This restriction can come in the form of a low carbohydrate diet or a very low/no carbohydrate diet such as that of a ketogenic approach.

All of this is important to understand because while the basics of changing your body composition come down to energy balance, each person is different when it comes to psychologically and physiologically meeting his or her needs.

Once you've understood your own personal psychological and physiological needs, you can then begin to put the pieces of your diet together.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Now onwards we go to setting up your diet.


Chapter 4: Setting up your ketogenic diet

But first, a brief interruption to dispel another common misconception.

Despite what Dr. Keto told you and how it's all about your hormones, insulin, and pesky little gremlins keeping you from losing weight, the real reason you're not losing fat is that you're eating too much.

Yes, even when you swear you're not.


I have a slow metabolism, maybe my body is in starvation mode?

Here comes the but's again.

But what about metabolic damage or a slow metabolism or how about my body is in starvation mode, that's why! I mean, the intrawebs told you so it must be true.

Just to get everyone up to speed, starvation mode or “metabolic damage” is this idea that if you eat too little for an extended period of time, your body will compensate by somehow halting fat burning in its tracks and possibly even doing the opposite causing you to gain weight… on like 900 calories.

Sound familiar?

When you reduce calories, there is, in fact, SOME slowing of your metabolic rate over time. What DOESN'T happen is your body mysteriously enters the twilight zone where the laws of thermodynamics cease to exist, thus resulting in no fat loss on an absurdly low amount of calories.

The leaner and lighter you become the fewer calories your body will require to keep itself alive and functioning, that's just common sense. This process is referred to as adaptive thermogenesis.

Basically, your body has adapted to the lower energy requirements of your lighter, and hopefully leaner self.

And even then, studies have shown that when people have lost vast amounts of weight, the actual change in their basal metabolic rate is only around ~10%-15%. 9 Long-term persistence of adaptive thermogenesis in subjects who have maintained a reduced body weight. Rosenbaum et al. 2008  

The majority of the reduction in metabolism comes from decreases in the physical components such as NEAT (but we’ll get to that later on in this guide). Naturally, you begin to move less, so it only makes sense that you are not burning as many calories. 

Don't believe me still?

In the 40's, thirty-six men took up residence in the corridors at the University of Minnesota for what is known as the Minnesota Starvation Experiment.

The study was mainly to gather data on the psychological effects of starvation. Basically, 36 men were put on a 24-week long starvation diet.

Calorie intake was first established for 12 weeks before the experiment on a diet of 3,200 calories per day, then followed by the 24-weeks of semi-starvation at 1,570 calories a day.

Their calorie intake was then reduced further throughout the study to keep weight loss happening.

On top of the food restriction, they were required to work 15 hours per week in the lab, walk 22 miles per week, and participate in a variety of educational activities for 25 hours a week.

This was roughly around a 50% deficit in calories, general guidelines for most aggressive fat loss protocols still range in the 20-30% deficit; only half the amount of that in the study.

All the men lost about 25% of their total body weight and ended up around 5% body fat. By the end of the study, the men's metabolic rates dropped by about 40%, but their actual BMR only dropped by around ~15%.

Metabolic rate takes into account everything including physical activity while Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is how many calories you would burn if you were to do nothing but sit on your butt all day, literally.

So to give you a better idea of what actual “starvation” looks like.

keto and weight loss starvation

Now go look in the mirror, don't look that emaciated? You're not starving.

Ok, finally let's get into it.


Setting up your ketogenic diet take two

When setting up your keto weight loss diet, there is a hierarchy of priority as illustrated below.

body recomp for keto and weight loss pyramid

Starting from the bottom and moving our way up.

First off, what this pyramid leaves out is that the number one successful way to lose weight and keep it off is through behavioral modification.

Meaning,  implementing LIFESTYLE CHANGES and good daily habits is the ultimate way to lasting fat loss. 

That said,

Calories

As you can see, calories come first. Despite all the nonsense you've heard about calories not mattering on a ketogenic diet, they do.

Again, if someone tells you calories don't matter as long as you control insulin and yada yada yada they're just trying to sell you something (or live in a bubble) go ahead and stop listening to them. 10It's also not just a simple calories in calories out equation, but to lose weight we must create an energy imbalance where more calories are expended versus what we consume.

If your goal is to lose body fat, which is why I assume you're here in the first place, then the most efficient way to do this is to take in less food.

You can also increase your activity to create the deficit needed or utilize a combination of both (less food and move more).

calories in. calories out keto fat loss

To work out your fat loss calories, you can use the keto macro calculator or simply take your bodyweight in pounds and multiply it by 9-14, which will be further explained below.

Either way, you'll end up at around the same number give or take ~5%.

 Ideally, you would have kept a food journal and figured out what your maintenance calories were based on a week or two of record keeping. 

Maintenance calories = the number of calories it takes to roughly maintain your weight. This would make it a lot easier and be more of an accurate starting point. 

keto weight loss calculating maintenance

But I digress.

This is only a starting point, and  adjustments should be made based on actual results;  therefore it's easier to get a number and run with it rather than being paralyzed by fancy equations.

The sooner you begin, the sooner you can start seeing results. Remember, action action action action action action action action. TAKE ACTION!

So back to 9-14, why the range? Well, there are a lot of factors that go into someone's calorie needs. Here is a very rough guideline on where you may fall on that spectrum.

– If you're a sedentary female (desk job) who might train 3x a week at a very low intensity (or not at all), then first… start training, but stick with the lower end of (9-10)

– If you're a female who works a fairly active job and/or you're training more frequently 3-5x a week at a moderate to high intensity, go with the mid-range of (10-12)

– If you're a sedentary male then same deal, except lucky you… you have more muscle than your female counterpart, so you get to start a bit higher. Go with the low-mid range (10-12)

– If you're a male who works a reasonably active job and/or you train pretty intensely 3+ more times per week then go with the higher range of (12-14)

ez calclulaor to lose weight on keto

Keto macros

Ok, so we've calculated calorie intake either by using the calculator or using the simple equation above and finding your body weight multiplier. Now, we are gonna set your macros.

Macro is short for macronutrient, and macronutrients make up the components of food in the form of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Technically alcohol is a macronutrient as well, but we're not diving into that in this guide.

Macronutrients contain calories and each macronutrient contains a certain number of calories per gram.

So basically, protein and carbohydrates both contain 4 calories per gram while fat contains a whopping 9 calories.

keto and weight loss macros and calories

Now, every other ketogenic site on this earth will have you calculate your macros based on percentages, but I ain't about that life. 11The problem with percentages is it relies on how many calories you are eating in the first place. It was also established to optimize the diet for epileptic children. Here, I'm about getting you results, and by results, I mean fat loss.

My recommendations will be more evidence-based and skewed toward body recomposition, not based on if you were an epileptic child who would need to stick to specific percentages for the treatment of a disorder unless you consider fat a disorder.


Protein

The first macro we'll set up is our protein. Now, contrary to popular belief, protein does not automatically get converted into chocolate cake aka gluconeogenewhat? 12Gluconeogenesis is a metabolic pathway that results in the generation of glucose from non-carbohydrate carbon substrates such as protein (amino acids)

Technically, gluconeogenesis is happening all the time, but there is a common misconception in the ketosphere that “a little extra” protein in the diet will magically turn into chocolate cake. Sorry, but if that were the case, I would probably just eat some chocolate cake.

All kidding aside, you would need to eat a significant amount of protein to knock yourself out of ketosis. Secondly, ketosis is technically not our goal… right?

Fat loss is. Lastly, I would rather have gluconeogenesis occur from the protein I eat rather than break down my hard earned muscle tissue for energy.

Even if we get knocked out of ketosis, which would only happen temporarily, ketosis is a welcomed side effect, not our primary goal. Myself, along with many others have successfully eaten high protein diets while maintaining a state of ketosis.

Myself, along with many others have successfully eaten high protein diets while maintaining a state of ketosis.

So back to protein shall we? Protein is quite essential when it comes to fat loss. In fact, I would venture to say that protein is probably the most critical macronutrient of the three.

protein essential for keto weight loss

Protein is responsible for:

Muscle retention. In conjunction with resistance training, eating sufficient protein helps to limit or even stop the body from burning its own protein (muscle).

Satiety. Of the three macronutrients, protein is more satiating than either fats or carbohydrates. Additionally, protein stimulates the release of the hormone cholecystokinin (CCK) which is thought to help regulate appetite.

Deliciousness. Protein is just delicious.

So how much protein do you need?

Again, we're not basing macros on percentages. Instead, we are going to calculate macros on body weight and more specifically lean body mass.

total weight – fat mass = lean body mass

Or at least that would be the ideal situation.

The problem with setting protein or any macro according to lean body mass is that most people simply don't know their body fat percentage and figuring it out can be both time-consuming… and possibly even inaccurate.

Just like we used per pound of bodyweight to calculate our total calories, I have a simple way to figure out how much protein you should eat. Set your protein intake at 1g per pound of DESIRED body weight.  13 If you do know your body fat or have a way to accurately measure then go ahead and do 1 – 1.2g/lbm

For example, if you are a 150lb female and want to weigh 120lbs, then you would eat 120 grams of protein per day.

This usually works well since it almost ensures an adequate amount of protein, and when it comes to protein too much is better than too little.

Easy Peasy. Now let's move on.

A SIDE NOTE
A little caveat I want to mention in regards to protein. During the first ~3 or so weeks of transitioning to a ketogenic diet, there may be an increased need for protein to provide enough glucose to supply the brain and prevent the body from breaking down muscle protein. This is because the brain hasn't yet become efficient at utilizing ketones. This may be why you often hear that it takes about 3 weeks to become “fat or keto-adapted.”

That said, I would advise people ingest a minimum of 150g of protein during the first 3 weeks of a ketogenic diet. After the 3 weeks, you may choose to reduce your protein intake if you wish or keep it at 150g and bring your fat intake down. This, of course, is dependent on if your calculated protein is below 150g to start with.


Carbs and fats

Lastly, we have our carbs and fats.

Why am I grouping the two? Well, being a ketogenic diet we're basically eliminating almost all carbohydrates except that of those coming from leafy greens.

So first, let's go over carbohydrates because then it will be a no-brainer when it comes to determining our fat intake.

When it comes to carbohydrates,  I generally recommend people utilizing a ketogenic diet for fat loss to limit their TOTAL carbohydrates to 30g or less.  Yepp, you heard it… TOTAL, not NET.

Why total?

Simply because I know people will take 30g of net carbs way too far. Sure, they might stick to 30g of “net carbs,” but they also have 40g of fiber, and another 40g of sugar alcohols from their “keto-friendly” treats… but hey, those aren't net carbs, so they don't count.

Funny enough, those tend to be the same people who wonder why they aren't seeing any results, but they conclude it's because their body is in “starvation mode,” and they are barely eating anything.

The majority, if not all, of carbohydrates consumed, will come from vegetable sources. So green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, chard, etc. are all fair game.

 In the end, it won't matter too much where the carb sources come from or how you spread it out with such a minuscule amount. Might as well make those carbs count and fill up with fibrous nutrient dense veggies. 

Which leads us to our last macronutrient. FAT.

We've basically covered protein and carbohydrates, the last remaining macronutrient is fat.

To reiterate everything up to this point, we've set our calories at roughly 9-14 x our body weight in pounds. We've also calculated our protein, or instead simply set it, at our desired body weight, and limited our carbohydrates to less than 30 total grams.

In practice, it would look a little something like this:

MEET SARA
Imagine my friend Sara is 160lbs and wants to get down to 120lbs at the end of her diet. Sara has a fairly active job where she's on her feet all day and does CrossFit 4x a week. To calculate Sara's calories, we'll start her off with a multiplier of 12.

160lbs x 12 = 1920 total calories per day

120lbs = 120g of protein x 4 calories per gram = 480 calories

30g of carbohydrates x 4 calories per gram = 120 calories

Protein + Carbohydrates = 600 calories

Now it will be easy for Sara to calculate how much fat she will need since she knows her total calories are at 1920 calories per day and she already filled up 600 of those calories with protein and carbohydrates.

This leaves Sara with 1320 calories left over to fill with fat grams.

Fat = 9 calories per gram so 1320 / 9 = 147g of Fat

Sara's totals are 1920 calories, 120g protein, 30g carbs, 147g fat


A common misconception

Now, there is often another misconception about ketogenic diets and that you must consume large amounts of fat to enter a state of ketosis.

Although a high fat intake is necessary for epileptic children since they must maintain a deep level of ketosis, dietary fat is not required to be in, or enter, a state of ketosis. 

 The only requirement for the body to enter a state of ketosis is a reduction or elimination of carbohydrates. 

Then why have any fat at all?

The primary reason for the inclusion of dietary fat in our ketogenic diet is to keep caloric intake high enough to prevent a slowdown of metabolic rate. Setting our calories too low increases the likelihood of muscle loss and metabolic slowdown. 14A total caloric deficit of more than 1000 cal/day seems to be the threshold for slowing the metabolism. Some slowing is expected when dieting, but it seems deficits greater than 1000 causes a more significant decrease.

Besides, fat promotes feelings of fullness and makes food taste better. Remember how diets must be enjoyable for adherence?

To summarize in one graphic

Just remember, carbs and protein are 4 calories per gram and fat is 9 calories per gram

Keto and micronutrients

he next level of our pyramid brings us to micronutrients.

Micronutrition may sound boring, but you can't afford to ignore it. Long-term deficiencies will ultimately impact your health and as a result, sabotage your fat loss efforts over the long term.

Some things to note:

  • Since you are dieting, you are at a higher risk of micronutrient deficiencies simply due to eating less.
    Six micronutrients (vitamin B7 (biotin), vitamin D, vitamin E, chromium, iodine, and molybdenum) were identified as consistently low or nonexistent in many diets.
  • A multivitamin isn't a substitute for a nutrient-poor diet but can act as insurance on a nutrient-rich one.  After all, a poor diet with a multivitamin is still a poor diet. 
  • If you have issues with energy, sleep, or just feel off, it could be that you're deficient in some vitamins and/or minerals such as electrolytes.
  • When it comes to water intake, a good rule of thumb is to aim for 5 clear urinations per day.

At the end of the day, if your diet consists of whole, unprocessed foods and you're fulfilling your 30g of total carbohydrates with green leafy vegetables you should basically have most, if not all, of your micronutrition covered.

The end.

Just kidding.

So you've calculated how many calories you should eat and have your macros all figured out, now what do you eat? This section usually leads us to the inevitable debate between the If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) crowd and the “Clean eating” crowd.

Clean eating

The truth is that  no food is inherently good or bad , but of course, there are foods which are probably more nutritious (fiber, vitamins, minerals, etc.).

The problem with this line of thinking is that it creates a black and white, good vs. bad, neurotic mentality toward food.

I know, because I used to be of this mentality.

If It Fits Your Macros

The exact opposite of the clean eaters, basically eat whatever you want as long as it “fits your macros.” 

The intent behind IIFYM was originally to prevent the neurotic mentality of clean eating and let people know that it was ok to have such “forbidden foods” once in a while so long as you accounted for it. 

Much like anything, people took it out of context and used it as an excuse to fill their diets with pop tarts and ding dongs.

The best approach likely falls somewhere in the middle of these two trains of thought. Food quality does matter, so let's exercise the 80/20 rule when it comes to food choices. 

80% of the time stick to whole nutrient-rich foods and 20% of the time feel free to have your keto treats and snacks.

For a list of foods, you can visit the keto foods list or click here to download a printable list of foods you can take with you to the grocery store.

Word of warning, almost everyone has some sort of trigger food or hyper-palatable food that can trigger overeating.  What triggers me may differ than what triggers you.

For example, give me a jar of peanut butter, and I can comfortably sit there and eat the entire jar with a spoon.

Foods such as nut butters, or better yet, nuts in general, are types of foods that are hyper-palatable, calorically dense, and easy to overeat if you don't pay attention.

You'd be surprised at just how little a single serving is of peanut butter is according to the nutrition label.

And no, a tablespoon doesn't mean how much you can fit onto one tablespoon. 

peanut butter tbsp comparson
Very deceiving, but can make a big difference

As you can see above, the difference between 100 and 200 calorie spoonfuls looks negligible.

So when it comes to choosing what foods to eat, be mindful of your personality type. If you're a restrictor, while no foods are technically off limit, some foods should be limited or avoided altogether since it can lead you down the wrong path.

This might mean that you should steer clear of these foods and even go as far as not having them in your home.

During a diet, hunger and cravings are almost inevitable, and like I always like to say… willpower is finite. Meaning, everyone caves in eventually.

I do, you do, your best friend does… it's human nature. That's why you have to create an environment that is conducive to your goals instead of relying on your willpower to get you through 100% of the time.

Besides, when dieting, you're better off choosing high-volume foods. High-volume foods are foods that are low in calories, but high in nutrients. High-volume foods are those with high water and fiber contents, such as vegetables.

These types of foods increase gastric stretching which can help one feel full and satisfied which is quite important on a diet.

At the end of the day, be mindful of your food choices.

Onto another hot topic in the keto community.


Meal timing

One of the significant benefits of a keto weight loss diet is that often, many people report never feeling hungry. On a weight loss diet, this is probably the most crucial part of the equation.

After all, the most successful diet is the one that you can adhere to, and most people end up quitting their diets, yes plural, because they are just plain hungry and miserable.

Just remember, it's still a weight loss diet, and there WILL be times you will feel hungry, and you WILL have to dig deep, even on a ketogenic one.

But first…

I know what you're thinking already, this is the part where you want me to tell you that intermittent fasting is the holy grail. If you are already doing IF and it's working great for you, awesome.

If not, don’t worry, you’re not missing out on much.

Intermittent fasting and just plain fasting, in general, has become rampant, but especially within the keto community. Just pop open Instagram, you'll see people going 16 hours without eating, then progressing to 20 hours, next thing you'll notice they are eating once a day.

Before you know it, they are seeing how many days they can go without eating.

But it's for the autophagy Steven. 15Autophagy is a natural process and it's the body's system of cleaning house

Stop kidding yourself.

First off, there are many health benefits to fasting, that's not what we are debating here. I know, and you know that you're fasting because you want to see the scale drop and you want to see it drop as fast as possible.

I get it ok?

 There is nothing wrong with implementing intermittent fasting, but at the end of the day, there is no additional fat loss benefit once calories and protein are equated for.  16Any additional “fat loss benefit” would really be insignificant in the grand scheme of things… therefor it really is nothing to worry about or mention.

Meaning, if you lose weight on 1800 calories and you eat that spread over 6 meals vs. 1 meal, it really won't matter all that much.

As recent as this year, 2018 depending on when you're reading this, after a 1-year study by Sundfør et al., they concluded that both intermittent and continuous energy restriction resulted in similar weight loss.

However, they noted in their study that the feelings of hunger were more pronounced in the group that was doing intermittent fasting.17Effect of intermittent versus continuous energy restriction on weight loss, maintenance and cardiometabolic risk: A randomized 1-year trial. Sundfør et al. 2018

I actually find that myself and many others experience the exact opposite concerning hunger. The sole reason I recommend intermittent fasting for most people is that they are better able to manage their hunger earlier for a bigger payoff (more substantial more satiating meal) later.

Mind you, while most people intermittent fast by skipping out on breakfast, you can do the opposite and eat earlier in the day and start your fast earlier as well.

There is some evidence to suggest that while intermittent fasting leads to no additional fat loss over regular calorie restriction, there may be some benefit to Early Time-Restricted Feeding (eTRF).

eTRF is a form of IF that involves eating early in the day to be in alignment with circadian rhythms in metabolism. In practice, instead of doing what most people do and skip breakfast you would eat breakfast and start your fast by about 3pm.

The jury is still out on this one, but the research shows that eTRF improved insulin sensitivity, β cell responsiveness, blood pressure, oxidative stress, and appetite.

So while not a direct correlation with increased fat loss, you can see how improving these factors may lead to greater adherence.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather have one or two substantial meals instead of 4-6 small bite-sized meals throughout the day. 18I just find it easier to skip breakfast. I also feel more energized and light on my feet in the daytime. I also like to go to bed on a full stomach, but that's just what works for me and my preferences.

So, if you want to give IF, or even eTRF, a go, and it works for you, more power to you.

Which finally leads meads to the question, how frequently should you eat to maximize fat loss?

You should eat 8 meals at two-hour intervals throughout…

Just kidding.

As stated previously, it really doesn't matter all that much once calories and protein are equated for. Meaning, in every trial that matched for calories and protein, 1 meal versus 6 meals, low carb vs. high carb, the end result is generally the same.

 Eat the number of meals and at the frequency that suits YOUR preferences and YOUR lifestyle the best.  Whether you enjoy eating three to four times or only once or twice, it really will not make much of a difference regarding fat loss.

Since we are talking about weight loss, you will probably benefit from eating bigger meals but less frequently, unless you enjoy eating smaller sized meals.

And off to the last little totem on the pole. Supplements.

intermittent fasting for weight loss

Keto supplements

Supplements, as the name implies, are meant to complete or enhance, not take the place of.

Unfortunately, when it comes to 95% of supplements, as sexy as their claims are,  very few supplements actually work  and even then, you'll only notice the benefits if your diet, training, and lifestyle taken care of first.

BUT

I know a lot of people reading this will disregard that statement and look below to see what magic pills, powders, and potions I'll recommend.

But that's not you, right? 

I know YOU definitely have your diet, training, and lifestyle optimized and are about to peek below to see what you can add to further your health and fat loss effort; therefore, these are for you guys and gals.

keto weight loss supplement list

Also, bear in mind that not all supplements are created equally. Many companies use fillers, have no quality control, and sometimes just blatantly lie.

The below supplements are what I recommend based on companies I trust and have also been third party tested to make sure what they say is in it is ACTUALLY in it.

Caffeine

Caffeine has been shown to aid in fat loss, gym performance, appetite suppression, and if you're drinking it,

aka black gold, aka coffee, aka nectar of the gods,

it's also filled with plenty of antioxidants.

The dose is often based on body weight, set at around 1.4–2.7 mg per lb of body weight or 3–6 mg per kg. This is about 200–400 mg for most people, although some studies use up to 600–900 mg. 19 International society of sports nutrition position stand: caffeine and performance. Goldstein ER et al. 2010

Start on the low end to assess your tolerance before working your way up.

It's hard to give a blanket recommendation since some can tolerate 50mg, while others may tolerate 500mg and go right to bed.

Regarding when to take it, caffeine should be taken 30-60 minutes before exercise for its performance boosting benefits since it reaches peak stimulatory effect somewhere between 30 and 70 minutes.

Just be mindful if you workout in the evenings

Not a fan of coffee? You can try other caffeinated beverages or use caffeine tabs. Tabs usually come in 200mg doses but there a link below to 100mg tablets for easier adjustment.

Recommended: Caffeine Tablets

Creatine

Creatine is probably one of the most thoroughly tested supplements that is proven to work for increasing performance. Not only that, but creatine's benefits seem to also expand outside of just performance. This is why creatine has become one of my most recommended supplements.

Creatine has been proven to be safe and dirt cheap, which makes it a no-brainer in my opinion.

When it comes to dosing creatine, there is no need to front-load or doing a “loading phase.” Just take 3-5g (teaspoon) daily whenever convenient to you in the form of creatine monohydrate.

You can literally buy a 6 month+ supply for ~$30

  • Recommended creatine: Bulk supplements creatine
  • Recommended creatine: Musclefeast creapure

Fish oil

By fish oil, I am referring to EPA and DHA, the most useful types of omega-3s, which are generally found in fatty fish and algae.

Regarding body recomposition, fish oil has been linked to increased fat oxidation and decreased fat storage, but omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to help with numerous health conditions: reduced inflammation, reduced risk of cancer and diabetes, and improved heart health.

While there are no “official” recommendations of just how much fish oil to consume, a minimum of 250-500 mg combined EPA and DHA seems to be the general consensus by most health organizations. 20 U.S. Department of Health Guidelines 2010

If you are eating fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines) at least 2-3x a week you should be ok, but for the rest, I would suggest taking in a quality fish oil supplement.

  • Recommended fish oil: Fish oil pills
  • Recommended fish oil: Fish oil liquid

Vitamin D

Getting in enough vitamin D is essential for optimal health, and it makes this guide because nearly 50% of the population has a vitamin D deficiency.

Unlike other vitamins, vitamin D functions similar to a hormone, and every cell in your body has a receptor for it. Your body makes it from cholesterol when your skin is exposed to the sun, hence why it's given the name the “sunshine vitamin.”

Consuming 400–800 IU of vitamin D should meet the needs of ~90% of healthy people. However, a variety of studies show that taking more than this is linked to more significant health benefits.

Based on current research, consuming 1,000–4,000 IU of vitamin D daily may be more ideal for most people to reach healthy vitamin D blood levels.

Your vitamin D needs depend on a variety of factors. These include your age, skin color, current blood vitamin D levels, location, sun exposure and more. 

If you're getting enough natural sunlight exposure regularly, go with the lower end and vice versa.

  • Recommended Vitamind D: Vitamin D3 Soft Gels

Magnesium

Like Vitamin D, magnesium plays a vital role in everyday bodily functions,  and it's estimated that 80 percent of adults are deficient in this vital mineral.

While magnesium can be obtained from our diet, soil depletion lowers the amount of magnesium present in our foods making it hard to get from diet alone (hard, but not impossible). Our bodies also lose stores of magnesium every day from normal functions.

When it comes to dosing magnesium, a good rule of thumb seems to be 200-400mg daily.

  • Recommended Magnesium: Pure magnesium glycinate
  • Recommended Magnesium: Zhou magnesium glycinate complex

Electrolytes (sodium in particular)

We've gone over magnesium already, so let's briefly go over sodium. A lot of the unwanted side effects that many experience on a keto weight loss diet is due in part to a deficiency in electrolytes, most notably, sodium.

Reason being, not only are you eliminating carbohydrates, you're probably not consuming many of the pre-packaged foods that you once were. You basically hit your body with a double whammy when you switched to a ketogenic diet.

For every gram of carbohydrate you consume, the body stores an additional ~3-4 grams of water. Eliminate carbohydrates, and you quickly see what happens as experienced by the frequent urination during the first week of a ketogenic diet.

Not only are you eliminating carbohydrates, but most people generally switch to whole foods (a good thing) instead of prepackaged foods.

However, the problem with this is that those pre-packaged foods are typically filled with tons of sodium already. You've now drastically cut your sodium intake without adding them back in.

It is suggested that you take anywhere from 4-6g of sodium per day whether from supplementation or just liberally salting your foods.

  • Recommended salt: Redmond real salt
  • Recommended salt: Celtic sea salt
  • Recommended salt: Pink himalayan salt

Multivitamin

A multivitamin CAN be useful especially while dieting and calories are low. A multivitamin can serve to help cover any nutritional deficiencies almost like an insurance policy. Again, NOT required, but may be beneficial.

The trouble with most multivitamins is they are filled with inferior ingredients and forms of vitamins and minerals that are not bioavailable and full of garbage. So like most other forms of supplements, quality does matter.

  • Recommended multivitamin: Pure multivitamin

Lastly, a list of all the effective keto weight loss pills.

. There

. Isn't

. Any

. 😛


Chapter 5: Making adjustments to your keto weight loss diet

One of the biggest differences between those who are successful and those who are unsuccessful with any diet is their ability to track fat loss and make adjustments.

There are certainly a number of tools that ketogenic dieters can use to maximize results. These include the weight scales, various body fat testing methods, blood ketone meters, a tape measure, etc.


The difference maker: How to track fat loss and make adjustments

And off to the first BUT of this section.

But first, let's differentiate between weight loss and fat loss. One of the reasons why I don't recommend using the scale as the only means to measure progress is that it is often unreliable.

There are just too many factors that can influence what the number on that pesky little thing will give you on a daily basis.

keto weight loss did you gain weight?

To give you an example:

Weight loss is easy, don't drink water for a day or two and you'll quickly drop three to five pounds on the scale. However, when you drink water again, you'll soon regain that lost couple of pounds, so apparently, it wasn't ‘real' weight loss.

 When most people refer to weight loss, what they really want and are referring to, is fat loss. 

Without knowing where the lost weight is coming from (fat vs. muscle vs. water), you won't know whether your diet and exercise is working optimally.

What's EVEN WORSE, if you are NOT exercising, you can almost be sure that over half of the total weight loss will be from muscle and water, not fat.

The leaner are when you start dieting the more susceptible you are to muscle loss.

This often leads people to what is commonly referred to as skinny fat or basically a skinnier version of your fat self.

keto weight loss vs fat loss

no Bueno.

To make it clear, your goal should be maximal FAT LOSS not WEIGHT LOSS. Retaining as much muscle as possible while burning fat should be your priority instead of just weight loss.

Muscle helps burn more calories at rest, promotes insulin sensitivity, helps preserve and maintain healthy bone density, and frankly, it just makes you look sexier…


On how to track progress

If you are putting in a serious amount of effort with your training and nutrition, you owe it to yourself to take a few extra minutes each week to track your progress.

Tracking progress will help ensure you are on the right track and achieve your goals is a systematic way. Here are my top 3 methods based on ease of use and accessibility for most people.

SCALE

Wait a second, didn't you just say the scale wasn't a good way to measure progress? Not quite. A scale is a valuable tool, one of many, and can be useful if you know how to use it to your advantage.

Here's how to use the scale.

Weigh yourself every morning upon waking, preferably after going to the toilet. Scale weight will fluctuate day to day, but we're after averages and trends over time.

At the end of every week, add up all your weigh-ins and divide it by 7 (assuming you weighed yourself all 7 days).

Frequency of measurement: DAILY

TAPE MEASURE

Much like scale weight, I suggest measuring in the morning when you wake up, after going to the toilet. If you have someone that can do this for you, i.e. your spouse or partner, great… if not, do it yourself.

Either way, make sure it's usually best done by the same person whether yourself or another for consistency.

tracking your keto weight loss progress

When used in combination with the scale, this will help you to gauge muscle growth and fat loss in different areas. Make sure you measure the largest point in each area.

Frequency of measurement: ONCE A WEEK

PICTURES

Our third method of measurement will be pictures. Your goal is to take two photos, front and side, every four weeks.

Why not every week or every other week? Simply, changes will be too small to be noticeable.

Every four weeks seems like a happy medium to show some decent progress.  Everyone loves progress pictures, side by side comparisons end up being great motivation when you're able to see where all your hard work is going.

Aim to use:

  • Same lighting conditions
  • Camera
  • Camera angle
  • Distance from the camera
  • Time of day
  • Pose

Frequency of measurement: ONCE A MONTH

Some additional methods of measuring progress can include subjective feelings. After all, everything affects everything else.

Rate all of these on a scale of 0 – 5.

  • Sleep quality (0 = Slept like a baby. 5 = GIVE ME COFFEE.)
  • Stress levels (0 = Life's great! 5 = The world's gonna end.)
  • Hunger Issues (0 = No prob Bob. 5 = I'm gonna chew my arm off.)
  • Energy levels (0 = Let's smash a workout 5 = Carry me!)

Lastly, another useful data point to track is your gym performance. Am I getting stronger? Faster? Maintaining my strength?

 Strength maintenance is usually a good indicator of muscle preservation. 

However, this is not always the case, and in some lifts the leaner you get, the less you will be able to lift due to a change in leverages vs. actual muscle loss.

And while we're on the subject of tracking progress, you might be wondering why I didn't recommend monitoring body fat percentage.  Getting a body fat test done is not as convenient and widely available to individuals as the methods listed above.

Besides, most people are aiming for a certain “look,” so what would it matter what the scale or a body fat test told you if you liked what you saw in the mirror?

Let me answer that for you.

It wouldn't.

More importantly, every method of measuring body fat has their own set of accuracy and consistency issues.

Over the long term, having your body fat tested is a great way to measure progress, but in the short term, where the decisions and adjustments happen accordingly, it doesn't fit the bill.

To summarize

Gauge progress by looking at data over a more extended period, about four weeks. Analyze the trend, not the day to day fluctuations or even the week to week ones.

This means you'll have to exercise some patience and hold off on making adjustments.

 Don't fix what ain't broke. 

If your weight is slowly increasing while your stomach measurements gradually decrease, this indicates simultaneous fat loss and muscle gain.

Muscle growth will hide fat loss which is another reason why we cannot just rely on the scale.

keto weight loss vs keto fat loss

Making adjustments to your diet

It's inevitable, every diet will need to be adjusted as you lose weight and get leaner. If you've come to the point where you are experiencing no weight loss on keto here's what you do.

Bear in mind, if you are just starting your fat loss efforts, it takes the body some time to catch up to the deficit. I suggest waiting at minimum 3 – 4 weeks before making any adjustments to allow enough time to gauge actual progress.

Assuming you've done the above, waited a good 3-4 weeks, been tracking progress and still see no weight loss on keto. How do you make the adjustment?

The impatient dieter would probably do something drastic like cut 1,000 calories from their diet, the patient dieter would make SMALL adjustments.

Just remember, it's not how fast you get to your goal, all that matters is that you get there.

Years from now, you won't even care or remember if it took you 3 months, 6 months, or over a year. You'll just be glad that you've built up some great habits and that you got where you so wanted to be today.

So how small of an adjustment? Reduce your calorie intake by 5-10%.

For example, if your starting calorie intake was 2000 calories, you would further reduce this by only 100-200 calories.

Where should the adjustment come from?

Since carbs are already low, the only two remaining macronutrients to pull from are protein and fat.

Since we calculated protein based on our lean body mass or our ‘desired body weight,' this number must remain the same. This leaves only fat as the lever to dial back on if we aren't seeing the progress we desire.

In the case of our 2,000 calorie dieter who will make a 100-200 calorie adjustment, let's call him Bob, he will reduce his fat gram intake by 100-200 calories.

This means Bob will reduce his fat grams by 11-22 grams and keep his protein and carbohydrate intake the same. That's it.

After making this adjustment, Bob will keep an eye on his weekly average weight, measurements, and progress photos.

If after another 2-4 weeks things look like they are stalling, Bob will make another 5-10% reduction. If progress is steady, he will stay the course and continue doing what he's doing.

Experiencing a keto weight loss stall? Perhaps it's time for a diet break.

Yes, you read that right… a diet BREAK.

You've read earlier, or at the least heard of intermittent fasting, now let's talk about intermittent dieting. Basically, I'm talking about breaking up your dieting with periods of 10-14 days where you bring your calories back up to maintenance.

Reasons for taking a diet break.

Physiological reasons

When we diet, specific metabolic adaptations take place to counteract the caloric deficit. This is part of the reason why we must make small adjustments on a continual basis. 

A short period of regular eating has the potential to reverse some of these adaptations and allow our hormones to recover to normal, or at least semi-normal levels.

Psychological reasons

Dieting sucks, so sometimes taking a diet break is what we need to re-light the fire we had when we first started. Taking a break also allows us to recover emotionally and mentally… and possibly relieve some stress that has accrued.

How to implement the diet break.

In a perfect world, you would take a break from counting food entirely and eat to your hunger. If you know that free reign to eat according to hunger is a bad idea, then you may want to keep to semi-regular meals and times.

Just like we used a simple calorie calculation to determine our weight loss calories, you may do the same to get a baseline maintenance. A good rule of thumb is to calculate your weight in pounds by 14-16 calories.

The increase in calories can come in the form of increased protein or from fat, your choice. It really won't matter too much whether you choose protein vs. fat, all that matters is that you increase your calories for the 10-14 days.

Current literature does suggest that the increase in calories should come in the form of carbohydrates as carbohydrates has the biggest impact on hormone levels.

That said, I will leave that at your discretion as to whether or not you wish to consider using a ketogenic approach during your periods of bringing calories up to maintenance.

For many individuals who adopt keto as a lifestyle this may not be a feasible option. In this case, make up the increase in calories by bringing up your fat intake.

Remember, we are trying to give our bodies a break, so don't panic and overcompensate by trying to do more cardio or anything of the sort. In fact, this is a great time to actually take it a tad easier if you've been going balls to the wall.

How often to implement a diet break.

The leaner you are, the harder it generally is to keep dropping fat. Also, the leaner you are, the harsher the metabolic adaptations become as you diet down.

Since leanness plays a part in how fast our body decides to hate us, this will determine how frequently diet breaks should be taken.

DIET BREAK KETO WEIGHT LOSS

You can expect a rise in the scale weight due to the increase in food, but that is to be expected.

Don't panic, we actually want this, and if you've followed the (14-16 calories per pound of body weight), and didn't go on a binge fest, then you likely didn't put on much if any fat.

This increase in scale weight will soon subside once you return to a caloric deficit.


Chapter 6: How fast can you lose fat?

First off, what's the rush?

Like I mentioned earlier,  whether it takes you 3 months, 6 months, or 12+ months, years from now you won't even care or remember. You'll only care that you lost the weight and built up the habits that kept it off. 

Besides, you didn't gain all that weight in a month, so why are you expecting it to come off in one?


Average weight loss in ketosis? Is there a keto weight loss rate you should be aiming for?

You'd be quite surprised, or maybe not, to see how often I get questions like ‘What's the average weight loss in ketosis?' or is there a ‘ketosis weight loss rate I should be aiming for?'

It's the ones who have this fast fat loss mentality who are also the ones who tend to regain the weight back after they end their diets, or quit entirely before accomplishing their goal.

Not to say that there is no such thing as aggressive fat loss diets or that they don't work, because they do.

It is because this mentality encourages the use of fad diets that won't be sustainable in the long-term nor will it help you build proper habits that allow you to maintain the fat loss in the long-term.

So be patient young grasshopper.

keto weight loss patience.jpg

Now that's out the way, just how fast should you be expecting to lose fat? To circle back, there is no average weight loss that everyone can expect while in ketosis or any other diet.

However, there is a sensible weight loss rate you could aim for, but this is dependent on how much fat you have to lose to begin with.

The higher your starting levels of body fat, the faster you can expect to lose. Conversely, the leaner you are, the slower rate of loss will be or at least should be, to best minimize muscle and strength loss.

With that said: I like to set fat loss targets between .5 – 1% of your total body weight per week. 

The benefit of using percentages is that the rate of loss will automatically scale as your weight decreases.

So, if you have a lot of weight to lose you will have a higher target, but this will be autoregulated downward as you drop weight and have less to lose overall.

For example:

 When in doubt, take the slower route. 

If you're unsure where to start, err on the side of slower fat loss rather than faster. If you were to ask me, I would probably tell you to eat as much as possible while still losing fat.

It may take a bit longer to reach your goal weight, but you will probably lose less muscle, feel better, and you get to eat more food vs. if you take a sledgehammer approach and be more aggressive with your calories.


Chapter 7: Training for fat loss

Remember back when we discussed the difference between Bodyfat vs. Bodyweight and how what most people want, yes… including you, is FAT loss and not just weight loss?

Well, if you are not including any type of resistance training in your keto weight loss program then the likelihood a good chunk of the weight you'll lose will be muscle.21Again, this will also come down to how lean or fat you are when starting the diet.


Where many folks go wrong

This is where most people go wrong. Many people I see on ketogenic diets either do no exercise whatsoever, or the only form of exercise they perform is some form of cardio, like running. 22I'm not saying cardio is bad, just that it is not technically necessary. You can create your caloric deficit with diet alone or a combination of the two.

What, so cardio is bad?

There is a common misconception that you need to do cardio to lose weight, but the truth is you can lose weight without it. Cardio, in the context of weight loss, is another form of calorie reduction.

Everyone should do some type of cardio for health purposes, and even more so if it's something you enjoy, but when it comes to fat loss… it's not required nor high on the priority list.

So what should I do?

Since our primary goal is ‘fat' loss, then our efforts should be to not only get rid of fat but maintain or even possibly gain as much muscle as possible. To do so, we must include some form of resistance/strength training in our regimen.

This is the part where a lot of females tell me, ‘but I don't want to get bulky.'

Believe me, the fact that you don't want to get bulky is already a sign that you won't, combine that with the fact that females don't carry as much testosterone as men and you're all set.

Besides, do you see all the guys in the gym who actually do want to get big and aren't? It's not that simple.

If you are wanting to lose fat and ultimately change the look of your physique, you need to incorporate resistance training.

Note:  I said you need to, not, if you want to. 

That lean, toned or ripped look that you so desire comes down to having at least some muscle in combination with a low enough body fat percentage.

In fact, the more muscle you have, the more you can get away with concerning body fat percentage, hence why I said ‘low enough.'

Simply put, the more muscle you have, the less fat you have to lose actually to achieve the look you desire.

To top it off, since there is no such thing as spot reducing fat (sorry everyone, but it's true), one way around that is to spot increase muscle. By increasing muscle on certain parts of your body, you can help “tighten up” that area.

At the end of the day, resistance training is essential for maintaining lean body mass, strength, and function. Being a functionally fit human being is vital for daily living no matter whether you want to lose fat or not.

I'm not saying you have to be a bodybuilder, there are plenty of workouts you can do with dumbbells at home or even with just your body weight.

What matters is that you progress over time in whatever you choose to do by increasing the resistance (weight), doing more reps, doing more sets, or a combination of the three.

If you're looking for a little more guidance on bodybuilding or putting on some muscle, you can check out the guide on the keto diet and bodybuilding.

Ok, so lifting weights will make me lose weight?

Not exactly, it's just one of the tools we are incorporating to get you that sexy body you so desire. When it comes to losing body fat, there is an order of importance as illustrated below.

keto weight loss order of importance

Wait a minute… what the heck is NEAT?

I'm glad you asked,  NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.  NEAT encompasses all of the activity that you accumulate throughout the day that isn't intentional exercise.

This may mean washing the dishes, fidgeting, folding clothes, etc.

Uhm, so what does this have to do with my weight loss goals?

Let me explain. There are 24 hours in a day, and if you're lucky, maybe you spend around an hour of that each day working out.

This means that the other 23 hours of your day will have a more significant influence on how many calories you burn vs. what you can accomplish in a one-hour training session.

So, giving you the benefit of the doubt here… but say you train an hour a day seven times per week, that's seven hours of physical exercise versus 161 hours of no training.

 That's ~95% of your week. 

OK… 96% if you want to get all technical on me.

keto weight loss exercise vs non exercise

What's your point?

My point is, the more active you are throughout the day, the more things begin to add up – taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking a little further, getting up from your desk for a light stretch or short walk on your break, etc.

This is why fitness wearables can be useful tools since it gives us a simple way to measure activity (i.e. steps).

Moral of this story

When it comes to training for fat loss, a combination of both cardio and strength training should be incorporated, if not for fat loss, at least for your health, but the majority of the calories burned will come via non-exercise activity.


Chapter 8: Keto weight loss F.A.Q.

Just a little keto weight loss F.A.Q.

This portion will be updated as questions come pouring in.

Have a question of your own? Leave it down below in the comments section.



So there you have it!

What'd you think about the best damn keto weight loss guide on the planet?

I'd love to hear what you think or if you have any questions down below.

Enjoy the guide? Share it using one of the methods above, I would greatly appreciate it.

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