Low carb 102: five reasons you might have stalled your weight loss

October 14, 5:11 PMLow Carb ExaminerT.J. Freeman Jr.

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Has your weight loss reached a stall? (credit)

It is very common for those following a low carb lifestyle to reach a plateau during their weight loss.  It is important to determine if this is indeed a plateau and if so, what caused it and how to correct it.  First of all, to be categorized as a true plateau, you have to have not lost any weight in 4 weeks and not made any changes in your exercise or diet and are not taking any new medications that might interfere.  If you meet all these criteria, check out this list of possible reasons for your stall:

• Too much cheese.  Cheese is very low in carbs, but it is also a very easy snack to carry with you or keep at work and can easily be overeaten throughout the day and the carbs will add up.
• Too much other dairy.  Creamer in your coffee is ok in moderation, but if you have multiple cups of coffee each day, all with creamer then the carbs will definitely add up.  Combine this count with the count from cheese and these carbs could easily inch pass 10 per day.
• Too many artificial sweeteners.  Same thing here, the more you have, the quicker the numbers will add up.  If you have 2 of these with a creamer in your coffee... you get the point.  They add up in tiny amounts through the day.
• Too much protein, not enough carbs from vegetables.  Veggies are supposed to be your primary source of carbohydrates which in turn means you need to be eating plenty of them.  Just eating meat and cheese is not the goal for a balanced low carb lifestyle.
• Too much salt.  Sodium will cause your body to retain water weight and if you are relying on salty foods like bacon, hot dogs, and pepperoni then you could very well be carrying 1-5 pounds of stored water thanks to salt.

So what can you do to try and break a stall?  Well the main two things are to stay the course and NOT to have a carb binge.  Analyze your daily intake by using a journal to track everything that you put in your mouth.  Track drinks (water, tea, coffee, diet sodas, everything), medications, artificial sweeteners, cheese, salad dressings, condiments, track it all.  You should be able to notice which items are recurring on your list throughout the day and could be causing your problem.  You might not be getting enough calories from your diet and need to add some additional fat to up your daily caloric intake.  It could be that you aren't drinking enough water.  This is one of the most overlooked reasons for a stall in weight loss and perhaps one of the easiest to correct.