Today we discuss keto diet mistakes and why they happen.
Keto has several different diet types, such as clean keto (clean, whole foods) and dirty keto (any food that fits your macros, regardless of ingredients).
So it is no wonder that people new to keto diet make these mistakes.
Hello and welcome to Fearlessly Holistic.
My name is Irma and I want to share my journey to improved health by eating whole foods, moving my body and eliminating stress as much as possible.
It is my hope to inspire you to make daily changes. Why? Because eating fresh, seasonal food, getting some sunshine, and purging unhelpful thinking is the best way to increase longevity. But you do not want just a long life.
You want a quality long life, and you want to look and feel your best while you live it.
Ready to start keto? Grab my KETO FOOD GUIDE and start eating better today. Keto diet, and especially clean keto which I advocate for, it healthy and delicious and nourishes your body which encourages healing and weight loss.
My blog posts are my opinion and the results of things that I have tried that either worked for me or didn’t. My opinions are for informational purposes only and are not intended as medical advice. Medical advice should always be obtained from a qualified medical professional for any health conditions or symptoms associated with them. As well, there may be affiliate links in this post. Read more here.
Keto Diet Basics
A proper ketogenic diet is high fat, moderate protein, and low carbohydrates.
Protein, fat and carbohydrates are commonly referred to as macronutrient’s, or macro’s for short.
You may see many articles about diet referencing macros, and macros is how many diet differ from each other.
The goal of a keto diet is to get your body to burn its excess fat for fuel.
This process is known as ketosis, and it is very efficient.
In a low-fat diet, you eat the majority of your calories as carbohydrates.
Because carbs burn off as energy faster than either fat or protein, you need to eat multiple times a day to maintain energy.
For this reason, learning how to eat a keto diet can seem confusing and contradictory.
There is a learning curve, but once you start to experience the benefits of keto, you will see why it is so popular.
Common Mistakes of Keto dieters
The keto diet is one of the simplest weight loss plans to follow.
Although the principles are clearly set out in books and blog posts worldwide, there are some common misconceptions that occur for dieters.
These mistakes can make a big difference in the amount of weight you lose and effectiveness of the diet overall.
If keto isn’t working for you, or you find yourself suddenly gaining weight after weeks of effective dieting, watch out for these common mistakes.
1. Be patient with your weight loss.
If you lose 8 lbs in your first week on then slow down, this is perfectly normal.
Many people are excited by the early weight loss and think it will be like that forever. It probably won’t.
The initial large loss is usually due to water weight, and happens to most people who switch diets regardless of which one they are on.
As well, men lose weight faster and in larger amounts.
Women lose body fat slower because so much of our physiology requires extra body fat.
We need it for pregnancy, nursing and for hormonal balance.
So, while I hate the expression, “trust the process”…
The first couple of weeks on keto is meant to break you of carbohydrate cravings and detoxify your body from sugar.
That needs to be the priority. Once you get carb cravings under control and you are eating to fit your macros daily, then work on tweaking for more results.
2. People are different and react differently to the diet.
Some people lose weight in spurts, and other lose weight more steadily.
A plateau can last for a few weeks and then voila, you’ve lost five pounds in a matter of a few days.
This effect is called the “whoosh” in the keto and low carb communities.
What happens is that as you lose weight, you body freaks out.
It does not know why this is happening and so uses water as a placeholder for the fat you are losing.
When you stick with keto, your body will get used to the change and allow the water to be released, thus creating a whoosh, or seemingly large loss out of nowhere. Enjoy!
3. Avoid artificial sweeteners.
These can cause cravings for sugar and take your body out of ketosis after just one serving.
As well, if you know that sugar is a big part of your health issues, it is a good idea to break from them.
Eating artificial sweeteners can put you on a different path to poor health.
4. Watch your daily intake of dairy.
Although dairy is more than acceptable on keto, it does have small amount of carbohydrates. Even heavy cream, which is mostly fat, has carbs.
Your best bet is to limit dairy, and try to eat more non-dairy fat like avocado’s or shellfish, if tolerated.
Many people new to keto go dairy-crazy, eating it at every meal.
Then they stall.
And then they quit.
Be aware that many keto recipes contain tons of dairy, so until you know how much you can eat and maintain weight loss, hold back.
Meat and eggs are much better choices and don’t contain carbohydrate grams.
5. Eat your vegetables
Your carbohydrate grams should be primarily derived from leafy, green vegetables and other acceptable vegetable choices.
Vegetables fill you up without spiking your blood sugar.
They provide essential fiber and nutrients that help your weight loss efforts and overall health.
On keto, try for 2 cups of salad and 1 cup of cooked vegetables each day.
Eliminating vegetables is important in the early stages, as it helps you to be sure that you are not constipated.
If you do not enjoy veggies, consider a Ketovore diet. Ketovore lets you eat veggies if and when you want them.
6. Maintain regular eating times
Never go more than five waking hours without eating a combined snack of protein and fats, especially in the beginning.
After you have been in ketosis for a while, you will naturally eat less, and that is fine.
But in the early stages you need to feed your body enough healthy food to keep you from:
- Getting hungry
- Causing sugar cravings.
Stock up on some good keto snacks and/or cook extra food so that you do not feel compelled to hit the drive-thru for something that will derail your efforts.
Good snacks are:
- Nuts (almonds, pecans, macadamias, Brazil’s and other higher fat nuts or nut butters)
- Pepperoni sticks
- Jerky – check out this new product I found for a nice clean snack. Get 10% off with my link and coupon code.
- Pork rinds
- Cheese
I have found some gas station food stores have keto trail mix options that include jerky pieces and dark chocolate chips.
Watch your carbs, but it is still better than fast food.
As well, if you are interested in new keto products, check out Keto Delivered. Use my link. Thank you for supporting my website!
7. Make sure you are drinking enough water each day.
Water has a myriad of benefits for every human being, not just those on the keto diet.
- Thirst can sometimes be masked as hunger, so staying well hydrated will keep you from craving foods you shouldn’t be eating.
- Water also helps you avoid constipation, which is an occasional side effect of the keto diet.
- Drinking 8 eight ounce glasses of water per day will also help you flush out the toxins from your system that are produced when you burn fat.
These are some of the common mistakes can make people frustrated with the keto diet.
Changing the way you eat has a learning curve, but I urge you to stick with it because the benefits and health improvements more than make up for a couple of weeks of frustration.
Conclusion
I made every mistake on keto diet that could be made, but I have persevered and I am still on keto. I have made the Keto diet to fit my life and the concepts that I am aligned with, which are clean, seasonal eating.
If you want to know they kind of food I eat or how I maintain keto diet in my life, get your copy of my keto food list…absolutely free!
Holism targets overall wellness, and when we are well, we only get better with age.
Eat the best food that you can afford to give your body the building blocks it needs for optimal health, longevity, and looking good for as long as possible 😉
Please share this post with anyone who can benefit from it. Sharing is caring! And follow me on Pinterest!
Until next time, here’s to our health!
-Irma
