Losing weight is a piece of cake (so to speak) compared to keeping those
pounds from coming back. If you are following a mostly clean ketogenic weight
loss diet for an extended period, figuring out how to maintain your successes
after you reach your target weight can be even more challenging.
This time last year, after celebrating the one-year anniversary of the start
of
my successful keto diet weight loss journey, I shared my best advice for
preparing to succeed on a keto diet.
Last week marked my second keto-versary, In honor of this important milestone
in my transformational journey toward better health and wellbeing, I am
sharing what I’ve learned during the past year about how to maintain the
significant weight loss I achieved on a ketogenic diet.
The Best Tips to Maintain Your Keto Diet Weight Loss Success
In part one of my post about preparing to succeed on a keto diet, I shared my
belief that there is no “one-size-fits-all” ketogenic weight loss diet that is
optimal for everyone, that dirty, lazy and strict keto are not your only
options, and that designing a personalized approach to this way of eating that
best fits your unique needs, lifestyle, and priorities can improve your
chances of success. Based on my own experience so far, I think it’s just as
important to design a personalized plan to maintain your keto diet journey
wins after you reach your target weight.
For the past 12 months or so, I have been working on and refining my long-term
strategy to maintain not only my new, healthy weight but also the other
profoundly positive changes that resulted from my switch to a mostly clean
ketogenic diet. Although I will likely continue to experiment, evaluate and
make further tweaks over time, I have gradually figured out a viable “new
normal” that is meeting my needs, for now.
The best advice I can share is to learn as much as you can from people who
have transitioned from a keto weight loss diet to a healthy, sustainable
maintenance diet and kept those pounds from coming back. Use whatever aspects
resonate with you to help you design your own personalized plan, tailored to
your needs, priorities, and preferences.
To help you get started, here are the seven strategies that have helped me
maintain my nearly 60-pound weight loss so far.
Make Small, Incremental Changes to Your Diet at a Time
Increase your carbs and calories very slowly, then wait at least a week or two
to see how your body responds before deciding whether, what, and how much to
change next. You also may want to try gradually decreasing your fat intake
somewhat and evaluating the effects. I increased my carbs by 5 grams and added
50 calories every three weeks, very small changes to my calories and
macros roughly every 3 weeks so my metabolism would adapt to each minor change
without overreacting to a perceived food surplus or famine.
Use Most of Those Extra Carbs and Calories to Add Nutrients and Fiber
It’s okay to reserve some of your extra maintenance carbs and calories for a
keto-friendly cheddar cheese and chive biscuit or a square or two from a
healthy, sugar-free The Good Chocolate bar, but try to invest most of your carb and calorie “raise” into a broader
range or slightly larger portions of nutrient-dense, fiber-rich foods, such as
berries and root vegetables, especially if you plan to continue with a
modified keto or low carb diet as part of a healthy lifestyle. You can also
try introducing small amounts of high-fiber beans and legumes and see how they
affect your blood sugar, insulin, energy level, mood, and mental
clarity.
Pay Attention to How Your Body Responds
If you have (or had) a lot of weight to lose, start experimenting with very
small, gradual increases to your calories and carbs when you are within three
pounds of your target weight, even though it means waiting a bit longer to
reach your “magic number” on the scale. Finding your personal nutritional
“sweet spot” to maintain your new, healthier weight will require navigating
uncharted territory. Switching your focus from losing those last few pounds to
figuring out how to keep them off for good will give you a good head-start on
testing the effects of those dietary changes and fine-tuning them by the time
you reach your weight loss goal.
Don’t Revert to Your Former Bad Habits
To paraphrase Henry Ford, if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll
keep getting what you’ve always gotten. So, if you go back to eating the
things that caused you to put on weight and made it hard to lose—especially
sugars, refined starches and highly processed foods—you will soon put back any
pounds you dropped on keto, and probably a few more, too boot.
Build On Your New, Healthy Lifestyle Habits
If you have been following a "dirty keto" approach, consider eating fewer
highly processed foods and buying healthier, fresh, whole, or minimally
processed foods, such as organic fresh berries and vegetables and grass-fed
(and, ideally, grass-finished) beef and dairy products.
If you your meals have relied heavily on fast food restaurant chains or
packaged foods, try cooking more of your meals and eating out less to help you
control the quality and quantity and enhance the flavor and nutrition of the
foods you consume. (You will probably also save some money in the process.) To
expand your repertoire of quick and easy, delicious and nutritious breakfasts,
lunches, dinners, and snacks, I highly recommend Carolyn Ketchum's
cookbook The Everyday Ketogenic Kitchen: With More than 150 Inspirational
Low-Carb, High-Fat Recipes to Maximize Your Health, Maya Krampf's The Wholesome Yum Easy Keto Cookbook: 100 Simple Low Carb Recipes. 10
Ingredients or Less, Kyndra Holley's Craveable Keto: Your Low-Carb, High-Fat Roadmap to Weight Loss and
Wellness, Natasha Newton's
Southern Keto: 100+ Traditional Food Favorites for a Low-Carb
Lifestyle, and Maria Emmerich's
Keto Restaurant Favorites: More Than 175 Tasty Classic Recipes Made Fast,
Fresh, and Healthy.
If you miss traditional baked goods and have been disappointed by the keto
recipes or packaged versions you've tried, invest in a couple of cookbooks
with reliable recipes from a keto baking expert, such as Ketchum's
The Ultimate Guide to Keto Baking: Master All the Best Tricks for Low-Carb
Baking Success or Hilda Solares' Essential Keto Bread: Sweet and Savory Baked Goods to Satisfy Any
Craving.
If you haven't been getting much exercise, look for ways to build a more
active lifestyle.
Get Rid of Clothes That No Longer Fit You
Don’t sabotage yourself by holding onto this safety net in case you gain back
the weight you worked so hard to lose. Try on every piece of clothing you own
and sort it into the appropriate pile: throw away, give away, donate, sell, or
bring to a tailor to be altered to fit your new size, depending on the style
and how much would need to be taken in. If you’re having trouble letting go of
some favorite pieces that would require too much alteration, think about how
much good you will do by donating them to someone in need.
Keep Paying Attention (for the Rest of Your Life)
Body weight can fluctuate frequently for many different reasons, so stepping
on the scale too often when you’re on a reducing diet can be frustrating,
demotivating and even misleading. However, once you are close to your goal,
more frequent weigh-ins can provide important feedback as you experiment with
and fine-tune changes to your diet to develop a successful eating plan to
maintain your target weight.
Even after you have developed a maintenance diet framework that appears to
work for you, it’s important to weigh yourself consistently, at the same time
of day, at least twice a month. This is even more important if you stop
tracking your calories and macros with nutrition tracker app such as Carb
Manager after you reach your desired weight.
The longer it has been since you reached your weight loss goal, the more
likely it is that you will start taking your ability to maintain that weight
for granted. I learned this the hard way after Carb Manager’s initial poorly
implemented redesign of this popular keto and low carb diet tracking app early
this year forced me to stop using it for several months. Recording and
tracking everything I ate or drank against my daily calorie limit and macros
in the Carb Manager app had been one of the keys to achieving my target weight
and maintaining it for the next eight or nine months. So, when the initial
launch of the redesigned app made it too time consuming and frustrating to
keep using, I was nervous about losing the main tool I had come to rely on to
help me keep my weight and my healthy eating on track. But it didn’t take long
to become confident in my ability to maintain my weight without tracking every
bit and sip. Then, a few weeks ago, I noticed that my tummy wasn’t as flat as
it had been a year ago, and the scale informed me that I had gained back four
pounds. I realized it was time to start learning to use the new version of
Carb Manager and get back to tracking my calories and macros. I have already
shed two of those four pounds and returned to weighing myself every two weeks,
so that if my weight creeps up a pound or two, I can nip that trend in the bud
and return to my ideal weight quickly and easily, simply by cutting back on
the carbs for a week or two.
The Best Advice to Maintain Your Keto Diet Weight Loss by Margaret Schindel
Posts About My Keto Diet Journey
My First Year on The Keto Diet
Preparing to Succeed on the Keto Diet, Part One
Preparing to Succeed on the Keto Diet, Part Two
Low Carb Muffins & Cupcakes: Treats to Enjoy on a Keto Diet
Low Carb Keto Chocolate Yogurt Granola Chip Pudding Recipe
Good Dee’s Keto Cookie Low Carb Baking Mix Review
Hamama Microgreens Growing Kit Review & Success Tips
My Favorite Hamama Microgreens Seed Quilt Accessories
Keto Cheddar Cheese Biscuits With Chives Recipe
The Ultimate Keto Hot Chocolate Recipe
The Best Low Carb Keto Gift Ideas: Keto Gift Guide
The Best Low Carb Keto Cinnamon Muffins
Wholesome Yum Keto Bread Mix and Yeast Bread Recipe
The Good Chocolate 100% Organic No Sugar Dark Chocolate Review
The Best Advice to Maintain Your Keto Diet Weight Loss
My New Irresistibly Delicious Keto Cheese Crackers Recipe
Luscious Low Carb Keto Triple Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies Recipe
Quick & Easy Livlo Blueberry Scones Keto Baking Mix Review
Snack Better With The Best Healthy Keto Cookie Dough Bites
The Best Quick and Easy Low Carb Keto Pizza Recipe
The Best Quick and Easy Low Carb Keto Shortcake Cupcakes Recipe
Comparing the Best Keto-Friendly Chocolate Hazelnut Spreads - No Added
Sugars
The Best Low Carb Keto Sandwich and Burger Buns Mix
Blueberry Biscuit Scones — New, Easy, Low Carb Keto Recipe
The Best Keto Pizza Crust Mix With 0 Net Carbs
An Unusual, Delicious Strawberry Chocolate Tea With 0 Calories
Delicious Sugar-Free Keto Cookies That OREO Fans Will Love
Healthy Pistachio Cherry Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cereal Treats
Recipe
Easy, Decadent, High Protein, Sugar-Free Rocky Road Cottage Cheese Ice
Cream
The Best Quick & Easy Low Carb Sausage and Ricotta Calzones
How to Make Refreshing Vanilla Italian Soda (With or Without Cream)
Reviews of the Keto Diet by Barbara C. (aka Brite-Ideas)
My Personal Keto Testimonial
How I Stayed Committed to the Ketogenic Way of Eating
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