Why am I gaining weight on Keto (8 Reasons) 2023
The keto diet has gained popularity over the past several years worldwide. Most individuals following the keto diet simply want it to accomplish one thing: help them lose weight, even though it has a wide range of benefits. Many people, however, have encountered the ketogenic diet’s reverse. So, what to do if you find yourself gaining weight on keto?
Even on a low-carb diet, you may gain weight instead of losing it. Numerous factors might contribute to this, including calorie intake, lack of exercise, stress, heredity, and others.
If you experience weight gain while following the keto, take a deep breath and know that there are measures you can take to tackle the problem. A number of factors might lead to weight gain when on a keto, but sometimes it’s as simple as ensuring you’re following it correctly, exercising about enough, and ensuring that your body is capable of handling it. Keep reading to learn how to avoid gaining weight when following a ketogenic diet!
What exactly is Keto?
It’s essential to fully comprehend the keto diet’s principles and functioning to fully understand how to correctly follow (and modify when required) it.
With a typical carbohydrate consumption of 5% to 10% of total daily calories, the keto diet predominantly consists of fats and proteins. Since one entire macronutrient is essentially eliminated when following the keto diet, a person will need to eat extra protein and fat as per their body type and lifestyle to make up for the calories they are missing.
Now coming to why you might be gaining weight on Keto?
Sometimes people start the keto diet hoping to see the fantastic results they have heard about but instead wind up putting on weight. That is regrettably a possible side effect of practically any new diet plan, not just keto. Your body may initially respond negatively to what you had in mind depending on your genes, tolerance levels, lifestyle, and overall sensitivity to specific meals.
Below listed are some possible reasons why you may be gaining weight on keto –
- Excessive fat intake
- Excessive calorie intake
- High emotional stress level
- Too much or too little exercise
- It might be hereditary
- The body is not in a state of ketosis
- Possible food sensitivity
- Alcohol consumption
1. Excessive fat intake –
The ketogenic diet calls for a drastic reduction in carbohydrates, but it also permits you to substitute meals filled with fat and protein for the reduced amount of carbohydrates. It is possible to consume too many fatty meals.
A person may only gain weight while following the ketogenic diet if they overindulge in high-calorie items for an extended period, such as full-fat dairy, nuts, coconut oil, fatty meat, and avocados.
Consume whole, natural meals rather than highly processed as much as possible to prevent undoing whatever weight-loss success you’ve achieved.
2. Excessive calorie intake –
Although it might seem odd, it is relatively simple for someone on a diet to eat too many calories. People should be cautious about the type and amount of food they eat while experimenting with a new diet since it is much simple to do on the keto.
We must increase our understanding of how much is excessive to stop this from happening. Calculating your macros using the keto calculator is the first step in determining what too much means for you.
You may modify the amount that goes into keto meals and monitor your consumption while keeping your macronutrient objectives in mind until you have a deeper understanding of what your body requires.
3. High emotional stress level –
It is no secret that stress may lead to a wide range of physical problems, both internally and externally. The same holds for physical ability and fitness in general, muscular growth, and weight loss. While beginning a new diet might be difficult, what other stresses could be present in your day-to-day life? Are you capable of handling some of these stresses?
You will inevitably feel apprehensive while starting a new diet, especially if it’s something you’ve never done before. Add to it any pressures in your personal or professional life, unforeseen events during the day, and the list keeps on.
To experience and perceive the physical changes you desire, it is essential to handle stress as well as possible. Another significant piece is sleep; therefore, most other factors will also be imbalanced if sleep isn’t adequate. You will be more prepared to deal with other everyday stresses, which can result in overall reduced stress and the improvements you would like to see on keto if you get a good 7 to 8 hours of sleep.
4. Too much or too little exercise –
Although we know the benefits of exercise for overall health, more is not necessarily better. Extreme demanding or lengthy exercise might alter hormones and stress the body, making it challenging to lose weight.
You’re not likely to gain weight because you don’t exercise enough. However, if you’re inactive and don’t stick to your macros, you have a formula for weight gain.
5. It might be in the genes –
Regardless of whether we wish to admit it, everyone’s road to health and fitness is greatly influenced by heredity. While others must work twice as hard, some people may gain muscle simply by looking at a weightlifting set. Others may smell cake and gain extra pounds, while some people can eat anything they want and yet keep a terrific figure.
You may need to reduce this to fifty or sixty per cent based on your genetic structure if you don’t fare well, with nearly seventy-five per cent of your daily calorie intake coming from fat. While for some people, a small amount of protein can go a long way; others require half of their daily calorie intake to come from protein.
6. The body is not in a state of ketosis –
Lack of ketosis is a typical mistake people make when following the ketogenic diet. An individual should be in ketosis by then, often by day 3 or 4, if they haven’t been eating more than 20 to 50 grams of carbohydrates per day for a consistent week. Being in ketosis for an extended period is essential for the keto diet to work.
7. Possible food sensitivity –
Allergy is different from food sensitivity. Signs of an allergy, such as dermatitis, itch, or even anaphylaxis, like breathing difficulties or unconsciousness, usually appear within minutes of exposure to the triggering food.
More subtle symptoms, such as brain fog, joint discomfort, or exhaustion that we typically associate with growing older, might also be caused by food sensitivities. Asthma, dermatitis, anxiety, or sadness are examples of other symptoms. After eating the meal, the body frequently takes hours or even days to react.
8. Alcohol Consumption –
Even though the ketogenic diet permits moderate alcohol intake, many alcoholic drinks include hidden carbs.
On the keto, alcohol’s carbs are not in your favour, mainly because you are simply permitted a tiny amount of them.
You should altogether avoid cocktails and beer when following the diet because they often contain astronomically large amounts of sugar and carbohydrates.
How to Lose Weight on Keto?
Most individuals who start the keto diet do so to lose weight, as they have heard so much about it. You should feel great and function effectively in daily life when eating keto, despite the possibility that it will be a side effect. There won’t be many people who will say no to learning how to get healthy and safely lose weight.
It appears to be quite simple to lose weight on the keto. The process of losing weight is not very difficult, but it requires some preparation and planning to ensure it will be both successful and safe.
Three things to pay extra attention to when on keto to lose weight successfully are listed below –
- Track Your Calories and Exercise
- Ensure Adequate Nutrition
- Increase Movement of your Body
It might be challenging to find your way through the meal planning part. In particular, individuals who work in the nutrition sector of health and fitness are continuously acquiring new knowledge and studying research on the effects of various diets or physical reactions. Keeping up with everything might be challenging because the information is continually expanding and transforming, especially if you try to lose a small amount of body weight and experiment with a diet plan.
The optimal diet for you will ultimately be the one that appeals to you, that you can follow consistently, and that makes you feel good.
But if you are gaining weight on keto, consider some of the above solutions to get the best out of keto.
