There are a few common issues everyone on the keto diet faces as they progress, luckily a keto food fueled lifestyle can give you a lot of wiggle room and free time, but a few “harmless” mistakes, made completely with good intentions, can instead leave you feeling stuck or actually gaining weight on the keto diet.
Here are a few common mistakes which everyone falls into and how you can avoid them as you read this.
1: Know that you don’t need to be obsessed with measurements on the scale or on the waist line.
When the word: “diet” is seen and heard, the common picture that most people have in their heads is an obsession with calorie counting, or making meals and mixing ingredients with precision measurements.
However, the objective of the keto diet includes achieving freedom from the food and sugar obsessed culture around us, you shouldn’t leave one obsession and be bogged down by another. Tracking your results and making measurements on a timely basis is good, but don’t let it become the focal point of the journey.
When you lose weight on the keto diet, everyone loses it in a different way. Many people have a good amount of weight loss in the first few months and then stop losing weight. What they don’t know is that a carb fueled diet makes the body hold onto a lot of water weight l, especially if the person is obese, when these people switch over to the keto diet, they lose water weight first. Later, they find that their weight loss has plateaued and in desperation to continue to lose weight fast they end up doing desperate things like under eating when hungry.
The same thing can be said for people who don’t see a drastic visual change in their waist, arms or legs, yet the weighing scale shows a dramatic decrease. If that’s you then you need to know that your body is getting rid of fat inside your torso first. All the fat collected over the years which encompass your vital organs. It’s only later that the effects of the keto diet become prominent on the torso, legs and arms for some people.
2. Feel free to eat the right amount of fat and the right kind of fat.
Firstly, let’s tackle the types and QUALITY of fats and oils:
If you are thinking: “but what about cholesterol, and heart blockages”. Please get rid of these worries by checking our sources: 1 , 2, 3, 4,
Avoid vegetable oils, vegetable shortening, sunflower oil, corn oil canola oil, rice bran, etc. (I’m perfectly aware their marketing material says they are good for the heart) The reality is that they lead the body to produce the more harmful type of cholesterol, which can actually hurt in the long term.
The only type of fat which actually produces the good type of cholesterol which your heart likes, is actually saturated fats like butter, coconut oil, and animal fats.
If you’re a reader, please consider the following books:
Cholesterol Clarity ($20)
Keto Clarity ($17.87)
Secondly, let’s talk about QUANTITY of Fats and oils:
In the keto diet, 70% of your energy is supposed to come from fat. Most people get intimidated looking at that much fat on their food and slowly skimp out on the fat added to food over time, they have the perfectly understandable reason as they try to “err on the side of caution”
The following are pictures of a filling and balanced keto meal.
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3. You’re eating products branded as “keto” without checking the carbs.
Many products sold as “keto friendly” are actually simple low carb products which don’t give you the optimum nutrition for your meals and many times they exceed the carb allowance allowed in a keto diet.
Are there exceptions? – yes, sometimes you need a quick fix when you’re outside, on the road, or when you just don’t have the time and patience to eat a fresh meal. I understand, but at those times you’ll be much better off with a low carb protein bar or consuming a balanced keto meal replacement.
They are much better than buying fake “feel good” keto products that could actually stunt your progress.
4. Blaming cravings for messing up your progress, and failing to stick to the plan (70%,20%,10%)
A big dangerous mistake people tend to make is not sticking to the ratio of fat:protein:carbs.
The diet requires you to cut down on carbs and maximize fats, many people mistakenly maximize their fat consumption without cutting out the protein, while usually complaining about cravings and urges. If you were doing it right, you wouldn’t have had craving that were strong enough.
5. Get your nutrients and minerals balanced right away.
While trying the keto diet, did you stumble due to nausea, weakness, flu symptoms, headaches, irritability etc?
You’re probably low on vital minerals like potassium, sodium and magnesium which you lose as you transition into nutritional ketosis. Check out this article on how to get them balanced.
6. DO NOT GIVE INTO SOCIAL PRESSURE.
The moment you tell anyone about the keto diet you risk them all pouncing on you as they keep trying to dissuade you from continuing the diet on you. In such scenarios, stand your ground and try to explain your stance to them, if it doesn’t work, please direct them to this article on the best reason to do the keto diet.
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