Low- carb diets can be very effective. However, as with any diet, people sometimes stop losing before they reach their desired weight.
Here are the top 8 reasons why you’re not losing weight on a low- carb diet.
1. Your not cutting back on carbohydrates enough– some people are just more carb sensitive than others. If your weight starts to plateau, then you must cut back on carbs even further. I would recommend to go under 50 grams of carbs per day, as when you go under 50 grams per day then you’re going to have to eliminate most fruits from your diet, although you can have berries in small amounts.
2. You are losing weight you just don’t realise it- Weight loss isn’t a one formula process and there’s a lot more to weight than just body fat. Be patient and use other ways of measuring than just the scale, like a tape measure for your waist and have your fat percentage measured every month.
3. You’re not eating real food- You need to replace all that processed food, with real nutritious foods. To lose weight, stick to meats, fish, eggs, healthy fats and vegetables.
4. All you do is stress- Sorry to say but it isn’t always enough to just eat healthy and exercise, we need to make sure that our bodies are functioning properly and that we are not stressed out. If you want to cut back on stress, take deep breaths relax, cut back on distractions such as facebook and the news, and go out and do something that will take your mind off it, or read.
5. Lack of sleep is effecting you- Sleep is incredibly important whether you are on a low-carb diet or not, not getting enough sleep makes you hungry and even tired and less likely to eat healthy. Sleep is one of the pillars of health, if you are doing everything right but still not getting the sleep you need then you will not see any where near the results you are expecting.
6. You are eating too much dairy- The amino acid composition in dairy proteins make them spike insulin fairly effectively, try eliminating all dairy except butter.
7. Your not exercising right (if at all)- You should NOT exercise with mindset of burning calories. As the calories burned during exercise are usually insignificant, and can easily be gained back by eating only a few extra bites of food at your next meal. However, exercise is critical for both physical and mental health. Exercise in the long run, will help you lose weight by improving your health increasing your muscle mass and making your feel fantastic.
Keynote: It is important to do the right kind of exercise. Nothing but running on a treadmill is not going to give you good results and doing way too much exercise is just as bad.
Below is a list of some ways to work out.
Weight lifting – this will greatly improve your hormonal environment and increase your muscle mass, which will help you lose weight over the long term.
Interval training – doing high intensity intervals is an excellent form of cardio that improves your metabolism and raises your levels of human growth hormone.
Low intensity – being active and doing some low-intensity work like walking is a great idea. The human body was designed to move around, not sit in a chair all day.
8. You don’t have realistic expectations- It is important to have realistic expectations. Weight loss takes a long time and not everyone can look like a fitness model. But saying that, if that is your dream to look like one, then go for it, just know it takes time and wont happen overnight.
A realistic target would be to lose 1-2 pounds per week and a very good goal that can be done straight off the bat. Some may lose weight faster than that, others slower the key point is though you are losing, which is better than getting even bigger then you once were.