7 Keto Mistakes To Avoid – the biggest common errors that beginners make that may be stopping you from losing weight on a low-carb diet.
7 Keto Mistakes To Avoid
When going on your own personal keto diet, you may have your victories and apparent losses. Not to worry, ups and downs are part of any journey into the keto lifestyle.
Whether you are suffering from keto flu or unsure how much protein or what are the best healthy fats to add, this short keto-friendly guide will help you eliminate common mistakes people make while on the keto diet.
1. Stress
While on the keto diet its important for all keto dieters to be vigilant of your own individual macronutrient needs.
This is needed to keep you in a state of ketosis and help you achieve your weight loss goals and provide the health benefits you want by making the lifestyle change to a very low-carb diet such as the keto diet.
However, overstressing or being overwhelmed by the requirements of the keto diet, even if you do everything else right, may actually be the one thing you’re doing that prevents you from achieving the desired weight loss you want or hinder your progress while on the ketogenic diet.
Elevated stress hormones such as high cortisol levels have shown in studies to be linked with weight gain and even one research paper so convinced of stress’s weight gain effects, coined the term stress related obesity.
Its not just cortisol though. In one study individuals with elevated stress showed increased levels of insulin in the blood.
Higher levels of insulin drive fat into the cells, causing a gain in body fat and elevated blood glucose levels – side effects we obviously want to avoid.
There appears to be a strong correlation to higher levels of stress and weight gain, while conversely another study showed that stress management can lead to weight loss.
The good news is that there is a growing body of evidence that diets high in healthy fats like the ketogenic diet may have a positive impact on mood which may further improve the weight loss effects of diets like the keto diet.
Activities such as taking a gentle stroll in your local park or meditation can also help to calm the mind and reduce stress too. Even listening to music that improves your mood can help.
Another issue is obsessing over what the scale says.
If you wish to weigh yourself, a simple solution is weighing yourself once a week instead of everyday or just go by how your clothes fit.
Remember, weight doesn’t take into account possible muscle gain or possible water retention or any other physiological factors that may misrepresent your fat loss progress while on the keto diet.
Too much data monitoring may lead to stress in our lives which may even cause you to gain weight anyway.
If you still decide you want to track your weight regularly, consider doing so in conjunction with a tape measure or as mentioned earlier trying on clothes.
As it will take into account regular fluctuations in weight that are normal for everyone,. Remembering daily measurements can vary in any weight loss or fat loss programme.
2. Keto Diet Mistakes – Too Much Snacking
One of the benefits of a low carb diet is that in studies like this it’s shown to lower insulin levels which in turn leads to fat loss.
However, remember that snacking in-between meals may not allow your insulin levels to go low enough to allow as much fat loss as you would like.
So, it is recommended to avoid snacking throughout the day if possible (especially try and avoid late-night snacking).
This gives your body a break from higher insulin levels and therefore promoting the chance for increased fat loss.
A great way to help fill you up between meals is have plenty of water. Having some herbal tea or enjoying some bone broth is a warming option if you feel like something hot.
Another way to keep you satiated in between meals is to ensure you have plenty of whole foods and make sure you enough protein on your high-fat diet as it helps you feel full faster and keep your calorie intake manageable which we get into next.
3. Not Enough Fat or Protein
Having sufficient protein and fat on the keto diet is essential. Especially fats like dietary fat, help fill us up, provide essential fatty acids and are some of the least insulin protein containing stimulating foods around.
High levels of protein within the diet have shown to reduce appetite and so keep satiety levels higher for longer.
This means when we eat protein we don’t feel so hungry and we think less about food for longer too.
So, if your fat and protein intake are too low you may not be in the optimum state to lose fat on the keto diet, or you may be hungry which can lead you to more food which would increase the number of carbs eaten which may keep you out of optimum levels of ketosis.
4. Common Keto Mistakes – Too much Fat, Protein or Carbs
Another very common keto mistake some people make on keto is intake too many hidden carbs and not enough grams of protein in the diet.
Dairy products can be one such culprit. On the keto diet we can have cheese, cream, sour cream, why not cow’s milk? Unfortunately, cow’s milk is too high in carbs with around 13g of carbs per cup (240ml).
This can very quickly get you to consume a lot of your daily carb intake and therefore keeping your blood sugar levels higher than desired, and unfortunately kicking you out of a ketogenic state. Not to worry, if you enjoy milk you can check the post on delicious cow’s milk alternatives.
Another common culprit for hidden carbs in the diet is fruit. An apple a day may keep your doctor away, but, it will kick you of ketosis too. So just be sure to have keto approved fruits.
Having fat or protein amounts that aren’t needed by your body on a regular basis may lead to too many daily calories for your own individual caloric intake needs. So just be mindful of what you consume day-to-day.
5. Electrolyte imbalance
Electrolyte imbalance is another one of the common keto mistakes that dieters can make.
As mentioned earlier in the post, the ketogenic diet works by lowering insulin levels and one of the things you may have notice when starting on the keto diet is a big drop in body weight from fluid loss, often called water weight.
This water or fluid loss is due to the decreased levels of insulin in the body as lower insulin levels allow water to release from the body’s cell.
So ensure you consume enough water, especially early on, and this can avoid some of the symptoms of keto flu.
Along with the water loss comes the loss of electrolytes – salt, potassium and magnesium.
Some of the side-effects may cause the ‘keto flu’. Symptoms may include: Fatigue, Headaches, Muscle cramps, brain fog, lack of focus and in some cases even palpitations.
By increasing your salt intake and increasing your magnesium and potassium content from low-carb veggies such as leafy greens and some stock, this should clear any symptoms up.
If your symptoms continue, you may want to visit your health professional for clarification.
6. Not enough sleep
If you are not getting enough sleep, there is a higher chance of weight gain.
A study conducted in 2017 suggests there is a correlation between poor sleep and weight gain.
For some, short term sleep disturbances may initially be more frequent on the keto diet, however there is also some evidence that a keto diet may help with sleep after the initial adaptation phase.
Regardless, long term there should be no harmful changes of sleeping patterns due to keto.
Another reason for poor sleep can be consuming stimulants like coffee and chocolate too close to sleep. Personally I think its a good idea to avoid any type of stimulant before heading off to bed.
7. Exercise
You may have heard the saying that you can’t out exercise a bad diet. That’s true.
You can exercise till you’re blue in the face but, you won’t lose weight if you have a bad diet.
However, the the good news is keto diet isn’t a bad diet. So how can exercise help?
One benefit of exercise is increased muscle mass which, elevates your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) or in other words it increases the amount of calories you burn while you rest.
So as long as your diet has plenty of amino acids in the form of protein in your diet and the right type of activity, this can only help you in your weight loss goals. Who doesn’t want that?
However, from a nutrition point of view one of the most interesting findings on exercise has been improving the gut health by boosting our immune system by increasing the number of good bacteria within our gut which helps us fight disease.
On a side note while sugar alcohols are not fully understood in their interaction with the gut, the aforementioned study does suggest the possibility of adverse effects to the good bacteria of the gut.
In the same investigation it was also suggested that exercise may help in food digestion. In addition it suggested exercise may have antiaging effects and decrease inflammation and lower stress.
MORE KETOGENIC DIET PLAN INFORMATION
Disclaimer – this post is meant for informational post only and should not be construed as medical advice. Please consult with your health professional before making any dietary changes.
Disclosure – this post contains affiliate links.
