At this point I’ve been living a Keto lifestyle for about a year and a half and I’ve lost 82 pounds by walking and eating keto at Disney World. And in writing that one short sentence I immediately find myself guilty of the first keto mistake I want to share with you: Comparing yourself to others.
ACTUALLY, the BIGGEST mistake I’ve made was mistaking a jar of jalapeño juice for pickle juice one morning when I needed to do something about my legs cramping up, and I took a big swig of the jalapeño juice by mistake!
…but we’re not talking THAT kind of keto mistake here. lol.
I’ll be the first to tell you I’ve been open to making mistakes along the way so I could make this weight loss journey a success. Yes, making mistakes are a part of achieving success with keto just like it is in every other area of life. What has surprised me are the mistakes that I’ve made which people warned me about. I’d love for my mistakes to help you avoid them as you go on your keto journey.
Let’s jump right in to these 10 keto mistakes to avoid!
Keto Mistakes To Avoid
Keto Mistake #1 – Comparing Yourself To Others
The truth is, you already know this, just like I did (and do). Yet, for some reason we seem to torture ourselves with comparing the weight others have lost to our number. While I am proud of the 82 pounds I’ve lost on keto, I also know others who have done this in less than a year.
Everyone’s body is different. Everyone approaches keto in their own unique way. It never does any good for you to compare yourself to others. The best way to combat this is by comparing yourself to who you were before.
All it takes is a quick thought remembering how awesome I feel now compared to how I used to feel to snap me out of the comparison game! Don’t allow this keto mistake to keep you down.
Keto Mistake #2 – Freaking Out Over The Scale
In the early months, I thought I should be losing more weight than I was. My food consumption was on point, my activity level was on point, but the scale was not moving fast at all and I began to wonder if I was going to be able to lose the weight.
However, I was losing inches, my clothes were fitting better, my face was getting thinner and I was feeling a ton better. When you’re incredibly overweight like I was, it takes a while and the body basically starts healing from the inside out. …and my body had a lot of healing to do!
If you take care of your nutrition and you are active, the scale will catch up with the changes going on in your body. Don’t freak out over what the scale is doing and the rate that it’s going down.
Keto Mistake #3 – Too Many Nuts & Too Much Cheese
Yes, on Keto you can have nuts and cheese. But I found myself eating these by the pound and by the jar. I was simply substituting prior bad eating habits with a food that was “keto friendly” making them “bad” from the amount I was consuming.
Keto Mistake #4 – Late Night Eating & Too Much Snacking
You begin to see patterns and tendencies when you’re trying to get your nutrition under control. I quickly discovered I have a tendency to eat late at night, that’s where Keto Mistake #3 came in for me. Most of the overeating of nuts and cheeses came late at night. Matter of fact, it’s also where my macro count would get totally off track and where frustration with myself would come into play.
I also noticed that the tendency to eat late at night and snack occurred while watching TV. Late night eating and too much snacking were simply a habit and watching TV was the trigger.
Late night eating and too much snacking can totally throw you off of your keto plan. So be mindful of these two keto mistakes.
Keto Mistake #5 – Not Drinking Enough Water
Most people, whether doing keto or not, do not drink enough of water. We’re walking around just short of being dehydrated.
While there is no universally agreed upon amount of water we need to consume, “half your body weight in ounces” seems to be a good rule of thumb. …and when you’re my size, that’s a LOT of water!
When I first started living the keto lifestyle, I definitely was not getting enough of water. The good news is, this mistake is very easy to correct with a little intentionality and discipline.
Keto Mistake #6 – Thinking It’s All About The Food
For me, this entire journey has been about getting healthy, living healthy and feeling healthy. I made the mistake of thinking it was just about the food I consumed.
My tendencies, my abuse of food, the way I self medicated with food, the way I would stress eat or binge eat when frustrated were equally as unhealthy as the “bad foods” I consumed.
Getting exercise, staying active, not making excuses, enjoying the process, my mindset, my confidence, my Joy, my spiritual life, my social life…. these all play a role into the overall health picture.
It took me a while, but I learned that living healthy was about much more than just the foods I consumed.
Keto Mistake #7 – Waiting Too Long To Start Intermittent Fasting
About a week into starting keto my doctor told me about Intermittent Fasting and shared how much it had helped him. The idea of skipping meals and going 16 hours without eating seemed absurd to me! I was making so many changes and all I heard was “stop eating for LONG periods of time.”
While I know I was not ready for Intermittent Fasting that first week, I now wish I would have started much earlier than I did. These times of fasting are when I see my lowest weights on the scale and I feel so much more focused and energized.
Four consecutive days out of each week I Intermittent Fast. For me, this is basically not eating after 5pm and then not eating again until around noonish the next day when I get back from my morning walk.
Keto Mistake #8 – Not Getting Enough Calories
Whether it was the Intermittent Fasting or simply not being hungry…or maybe even trying to over compensate for the years of food abuse, I found myself not eating enough, not getting enough of calories and not reaching my daily macros.
When you don’t give yourself enough of nutrition, the body kind of freaks out and begins processing this situation by storing up and making more fat. What??? I’m trying to get rid of fat not trying to store up more! Doesn’t the body know I’m trying to shed all of this fat??
So imagine my surprise when I was told I need to make sure I’m eating enough of food after YEARS of eating too much all of the time. Make sure that you give your body the nutrition and fuel that it needs. Starving your body (even when you’re not hungry) is just as harmful as overfeeding your body.
Keto Mistake #9 – Too Much Protein
Another way to say this is I did not keep up with my macros and just went crazy on eating protein / meats. So much of my focus was on keeping the carb count low, but I was missing the protein and fats component.
A keto diet is made up of roughly 5% carbs, 20% protein and 75% healthy fats. I made the mistake of too much protein and not enough fat.
Keto Mistake #10 – Not Getting Enough Sleep
With all the changes going on in your body, your body needs sleep. Think about it, your body is doing all of this work to heal itself and to get healthy, and that’s pretty draining on your resources. On top of that, I was getting active for the first time since college – my body needed rest and I was not giving it the sleep it needed!
I found that I have to be equally as intentional with my sleep habit as I do my nutrition, my water consumption and my activity.
Give your body the best fighting chance possible with
Another Keto Mistake To Avoid
Keto Mistake #11 – No Accountability
If you have a desire and a goal to lose weight, you need to find a person, partner or community to help you stay accountable. So many people fail simply because they do not stay accountable to themselves and quickly fall off track when a little nudge and encouragement (or brutal honesty) would do the trick!
For me, the Walking Into Greatness Facebook Group has helped me with accountability, inspiration, motivation and basically keeping me on track. We’d love to have you join our group!
If you find yourself making these keto mistakes or even struggling to stay on track, a group like ours can help tremendously!
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Great News About These Keto Mistakes
The great news about all of these keto mistakes is that I have made them, yet still have managed to lose 82 pounds, feel like a million bucks and have made adjustments to change them. Mistakes will happen. The way you adjust, keep pushing forward and stay consistent will determine the results you get.
Don’t allow your keto mistakes to define you. lol . But seriously, live and learn, but don’t give up!
source : walkingintogreatness
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