So you’ve been following the low carb diet for quite a while now yet you are not seeing any favorable results from your weight loss efforts. It’s highly possible that you may be doing something wrong. A low-carb diet is a truly effective way of dropping those excess pounds but many followers of the diet tend to develop habits that could prevent them from achieving their desired weight loss goals.
5 Weight Loss Habits That Can Sabotage Your Efforts
1. Not Eating Enough Healthy Fats
Healthy fats are an important component of a low carb diet, especially the ketogenic diet. It’s probably because eating fats have been widely discredited by mainstream media. Hardly a day goes by that you will not read or hear negative news reports about consuming fats in a diet. This, along with the desire to shed pounds off fast, could cause some people to avoid healthy fats, and would instead opt for the low-fat version of the diet.
Related reading: Best Fats To Eat On A Low Carb Diet
At the start, you could be seeing good results if you’re using up your own fats, instead of eating it. But the fat loss will inevitably slow down and you’ll find yourself feeling hungry if you don’t include enough fats in your diet. Remember that nothing could sabotage a diet faster than hunger.
Aside from helping you to lose weight, eating healthy fats like the monounsaturated fats come with health benefits too. These are fats obtained from avocados, olive oil, and some nuts. According to an article written by Dr. Ruairi Robertson for the Healthline:
Evidence shows that monounsaturated fats have a number of health benefits. They can help with weight loss, reduce the risk of heart disease and decrease inflammation.
There are many ways you can incorporate healthy fats into your diet. You can have avocado with eggs cooked in coconut oil and generously drizzle your salads with olive oil.
2. Eating Too Much Fruit
Some people are more sensitive to carbs than others. If you’ve been on a low carb diet for a while and your weight is going on a plateau, you may need to keep track of your low carb consumption, especially fruits. Although fruits are healthy, most of them are loaded with carbs, which will not work well if you’re on the ketogenic diet. If you need to go less than 50 grams of carbs in a day, you may need to eliminate most fruits from your low carb diet, although you can also indulge in some berries if you want to, but in small amounts only. Here’s a list of healthy fruits you can eat on a low carb diet.
3. Not Eating Enough Protein
Protein is an important macronutrient in a low carb diet like keto, but it’s unfortunate to know that most keto dieters tend to shy away from protein. When following the keto diet, you need to consume an adequate amount of good quality protein. Unfortunately, this macro is one of the hardest to follow because of the conflicting information regarding it. Dr. Stephen D. Phinney, professor of Medicine at UC-Davis, has this to say about consuming protein in a keto diet:
“Too little or too much protein can be problematic in the keto-adapted state. Rather than consume large portions of meats or other protein foods, focus on small to moderate protein portions and combine them with generous portions of good sources of fat (e.g., sauces, butter, olive oil)”
If you’ve hit a plateau on your weight, increasing your protein consumption may help.
4. Not Drinking Enough Water
Drinking enough liquid, especially good quality, filtered water, is one of the best ways to speed up your body’s fat burning abilities. Unfortunately, dehydration is one of the most common side effects of the keto diet so it’s not surprising you become dehydrated when you start the diet. In keto, you’ll end up excreting more salt and the more salt you lose, the less water your body can retain. This is why people in the keto diet need to drink as much water as possible in order to stay hydrated. If you don’t like the taste of plain water, you can opt for sparkling water.
Related reading: Boost Your Fat Loss Efforts By Drinking Water
5. Not Getting Enough Sleep
Lack of sleep could be one of the reasons why you are not losing enough weight despite all your efforts of going low carb. However, most keto dieters actually suffer from insomnia, although there’s no clear reason why. If you want to reap the benefits from your low carb diet, you should try your best to get enough sleep. For instance, dim the lights in your room before bedtime and make sure you put away all devices that could distract you from sleeping. and interfere with your melatonin level. Also, minimize your consumption of caffeine. You may also practice yoga or meditation before bedtime to help your body relax and ease into restful sleep.
