Y’all know how much I love a low carb, keto approach to eating.
The way food becomes so easy and effortless, cravings diminish, appetite is balanced. It really is the BEST way of eating that I’ve experienced in my life – and I’ve pretty much done it all!
Yet…we can get stuck – progress stalls and we don’t feel as great as we did in the beginning
I’ve been there myself on many occasions.
Upon analysis, I realized it boils down to basically just a handful of reasons. They happen to all start with the letter ‘C’ too which is handy and kinda catchy, so here are my 5 ‘Cs’ that stall progress on the Keto journey:
- CALORIES
- CORTISOL
- CARB CREEP
- COCKTAILS
- CONSISTENCY
1. Calories – If your goal is fat loss and improving body composition, you MUST create a slight caloric deficit in order for the body to dip into stored body fat for energy. I’ve seen this with myself and with others doing keto plans or programs that encourage eating ‘as much fat as you want’. That’s great when you’re transitioning to keto to ensure you’re satisfied and happy, but fat loss probably won’t happen that way. Now, it’s tricky – because if you slash calories too drastically or in any way that signals stress in the body, you will potentially lower metabolic rate and raise cortisol which happens to be the next ‘C’….The goal is finding that right caloric balance that gives the metabolism some incentive to burn its own body fat.
2. Cortisol – Our critical stress hormone – without it we’d be dead, yet when we call on the stress response too often, blood sugar will become dysregulated. The stress response can be triggered by inflammatory foods, mental/emotional stress, toxins, injury, poor sleep, over or under-exercising, etc…When stress is present, cortisol is released, blood sugar rises, insulin is released, ketones aren’t produced and fat burning stops. Stress has to be minimized to get beyond this – and if it can’t – it needs to be expressed and released quickly so that the nervous system gets back into the parasympathetic (relaxed) state as quickly as possible. The body has to feel “safe” to release stored fat.
3. Carb Creep – This happened to me, and still does sometimes, so just be aware. When we first start out on the Keto/Low carb path, we’re pretty dialed in. We keep those carbs under 20ish total grams and maybe we even track and measure diligently just to be sure. But over time, we may get a little lax. Too frequent “carb-ups” – a few bites of this or that, a more generous handful of nuts or nut butter. Once in a while, this can be helpful metabolically and even mentally, but done too often – fat burning gets stalled (or you regain). If you’re feeling stuck, track and measure portions for a few days and dial those carbs back in under 20 total grams. I think this is why the latest “carnivore” craze is so popular. It’s not that Keto alone doesn’t work as well (if not better – especially long term), it’s more about getting that potential for carb creep out of the picture that makes Carnivore and Protein fasts so effective.
4. Cocktails – I hate this one, because ya’ know I love my wine, but it’s such a slippery slope metabolically. Our physiology requires that the liver burn off alcohol first – this is called “Oxidative Priority”, which means that drinking alcohol stops fat burning – period. If you’re stalled, cut out the booze or at least cut back and see if that helps.
5. Consistency – This is more overarching for all 4 of the ‘Cs’ – because if you’re not consistent in all of these areas, imbalances in one area will just compromise another. In other words, if you’re eating within your macros with that optimal caloric range, moving appropriately, getting great sleep, minimizing alcohol, but super stressed out at work or at home, your body will have to deal with the stress first and that will prevent fat burning. Or if you’ve got stressed dialed in but you’re drinking 3 bottles of wine a week – fat loss will NOT be HAPPENING. If you’re eating perfectly but not sleeping – THAT’S A NO TOO – because poor sleep effects cortisol.
It’s about finding that steady, level, consistent harmony and flow in all aspects of eating, moving, resting and living that we’re looking for to get out of that rut and to get things moving again.
