So you’ve been following a keto diet for some time now, and got some incredible results to show for it! But somewhere along the way you went off plan, and have been struggling to get back on track ever since. Maybe you just intended to have a few higher carb or sugary foods… but then you slowly started drifting back into your old eating habits and behaviours. Maybe you felt stressed, worried, bored, or apathetic. Maybe you quite simply didn’t care to work towards your keto weight loss goals for a little while. You may be questioning “WHY can’t I do keto like I did the first time?!”
Just know that it’s ok, and totally normal to go on a “diet break” every once in a while. But taking a break from your keto diet doesn’t have to be a permanent setback. You have done it before so you know for a fact it’s absolutely possible to do it again. The tips below will help you get started on your keto diet again, and get you moving back towards your weight loss goals and overall health!
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12 TIPS TO START A KETO DIET, AGAIN:
MAKE THE COMMITMENT & HONOUR IT
If you want to continue on your keto weight loss journey you need to fully re-commit to the process. You’ve lost weight on keto before and you know what’s possible when you fully commit and that’s super exciting! But in a way, that almost backfires. Since you KNOW keto works so well, we can almost use that as an excuse or a “green light” to go off-plan even more. Because if you DO gain weight, you can just be more strict and lose it again. NBD! But that is not a great cycle to be in, and it’s certainly not good for your health & wellbeing.
The truth is, losing weight on keto and being able to maintain it long term is SO much more than just “following the keto diet rules”. We have to be willing to put in the work, and eliminate or reduce certain foods to go after the goals you really want to achieve. It’s more about being healthier and the best versions of ourselves. And that can only occur if we’re willing to challenge ourselves, follow through on our intentions, and continue to grow and evolve.
RE-EVALUATE YOUR WHY
What was your original WHY that motivated you to start keto initially in the first place? Something inspired you to start living a keto lifestyle in the first place and it may be time to do some self reflection or journaling to remind yourself why it’s important to you.
Maybe your original ‘why’ has changed now - and that’s ok! This is your opportunity to create a new why now that you’re armed with more keto information and knowledge that may better reflect your true health goals. How cool is that!?
RECALIBRATE YOUR HUNGER CUES
If you’ve been eating off plan from keto for a while your body has now become re-accustomed to having carbs and sugar. This can make it very difficult to distinguish between physical hunger and emotional hunger. Our cravings and urges can take over, and we often give in because we’ve allowed ourselves to do it so often at this point, “what’s one more time”?
We eat for a lot of reasons other than hunger. And getting back on track with keto involves ensuring that you’re listening to your body and using food for fuel, not just for “fun” or a way to cope with emotions. It’s important for the first few weeks to be diligent in eliminating sugar and high carb foods because they are highly concentrated and throw our cravings way overboard which makes it more difficult to follow through with our goals.
Also, take note of where your hunger began. If it started in your stomach and traveled up to your mind, you’re probably hungry. If it started in your mind and you’re just thinking about all the foods you want to eat, it’s likely that you’re eating for a reason other than hunger. The good news is - keto food is highly satiating so you can really hone in on your hunger cues. If you feel full and satisfied, stop eating and wait until you feel hunger again before consuming more food.
GRAB YOUR FREE 30 DAY JOURNAL PROMPTS FOR EMOTIONAL EATING ON KETO BELOW!
GO BACK TO TRACKING MACROS & MEAL PLANNING
It’s much more difficult to derail if you have a solid plan for eating as you get back on track. If you’ve tracked macros in the past, go back to doing so even just for the first 2 weeks. This will help you recalibrate your hunger, as well as ensure you’re eating the appropriate portions of food. It may seem tedious, but if you truly want to get back on track you need to put in the effort and use that tool in your toolbox to help you!
The best way to set yourself up for success during this transition period is to plan in advance as much as possible. Whether that means tracking your macros the night before, or having a meal plan for the entire week it’s crucial to give yourself that structure. You don’t want to rely solely on willpower with nothing planned out during this time when cravings and urges are still high. If you want help with creating your own keto meal plan try my step-by-step guide + printable templates!
LET GO OF THE ALL-OR-NOTHING MINDSET
Having a perfectionist or all-or-nothing mindset is the main reason why people yo-yo diet and end up gaining and losing the same weight over and over again. Those who are most successful at losing weight on keto and maintain that loss adopt it as a true lifestyle change, not just a diet.
It’s OK to not do keto perfectly 100% of the time! The issue here is that we convince ourselves that if we can’t do it “right” or “perfectly” then we’ll never see results, so what’s the point in re-starting at all. That’s just simply not the case, and it can seriously hold us back from what we’re really capable of. The choice shouldn’t be 100% perfectly on track with keto + workouts OR binge eating carbs and sugar and being a total couch sloth, with nothing in between.
And sometimes when we’re in the “all the carbs” stage, we go even MORE overboard - like we need to have every possibly carby food to ‘get it out of our system’. After that, THEN we’ll be able to fully commit, and do keto “right”. Which also makes no sense, really. If you incorporate an off-plan meal once in a while, you will eat these foods again! So there’s no need to make the situation worse by stuffing in as many carbs as possible, right before going back to keto. It’s about deciding what is best for your body, health, weight loss goals, and finding a balance that works for you.
If you’re struggling with the all-or-nothing carbs to keto cycle, try to transition back to keto more slowly by doing low carb instead. This may allow you to incorporate a few more carbs on a daily basis which can ease your way back to it, without feeling as restricted. Start with doing low carb (50g-100g carbs per day) for a few weeks, then decrease your carb intake from there if you want to get back into ketosis.
GO BACK TO BASICS
If you do want to jump right back into rebuilding your keto lifestyle, keep it super simple! Stick to meals that you’ve had (or even tracked!) countless times before to make the switch back to keto as easy as possible. No need for elaborate keto recipes, or experimenting in the kitchen right now. For the first few weeks just get back to eating your usual go-to keto meals and recipes to make it easy.
Focus on eating whole foods like meat, cheese, eggs, vegetables, nuts, seeds, olives, pickles, etc. as much as possible. Your body will start feeling better consuming more nutrient dense foods as you get back on track with keto, which will help motivate you to keep going!
FOCUS ON WATER (+ ELECTROLYTES)
Just like at the start of keto (or any time you are alive as human, really) drinking lots of water is important! The number one side effect of eating keto is dehydration. Keto has a diuretic effect on the body and we have to replenish our water + electrolytes to ensure we’re feeling our best. Keto Flu can occur at any stage during the keto journey, but especially when we’re withdrawing from carbs & sugar again.
Make drinking 1 gallon or 3-4 liters of water a day one of your main focuses when you’re getting back on track. This will help with recalibrating your hunger cues, and help you flush out any extra water weight you may be storing from consuming carbohydrates.
EAT MORE PROTEIN
Protein is essential for countless processes for our metabolism and body. It will help you feel full and satisfied, and make the transition back to keto easier. Try to plan your meals around your protein first, then add any fats to help with satiety. Including a healthy protein source at every meal is an easy way to boost your metabolism and decrease cravings.
PLUS, eating more protein takes advantage of the thermic effect of food. This refers to the amount of energy it takes to digest certain foods. It takes 20-30% of the calories from the protein you’re eating JUST to digest it! That’s a huge difference compared to just 5-10% used to digest carbohydrates (meaning the rest of THOSE calories are being stored in your body).
GRAB YOUR FREE 30 DAY JOURNAL PROMPTS FOR EMOTIONAL EATING ON KETO BELOW!
INTERMITTENT FASTING
If you’ve done intermittent fasting in the past, it may help you re-start your keto lifestyle. It can help recalibrate your hunger scale, and remind us that hunger isn’t something that needs to be immediately fixed. Often we irrationally believe that if we feel even the slightest bit of hunger, we must rush to eat or else we’ll just get hungrier and hungrier and eventually faint or die of starvation. But for most of us, that’s not the case. Hunger comes and goes in waves. We can easily drink some water or distract ourselves and poof...the hunger vanishes!
This is by no means saying you should starve yourself to lose weight AT ALL. But the truth is after coming off an extended period of eating carbs and sugar we may feel a tad hungrier than we remember doing keto before. Remember that you are trying to decrease insulin and blood sugar spikes, and the best way to do that is by fasting between meals. So eliminate all of the mindless, unnecessary snacking by ensuring your meals are filling and satisfying. This will also help you limit calories and help you start making progress again on your keto journey.
ALLOW LOW CARB ALTERNATIVES
When you’re getting back on track with keto make it as easy as possible on yourself. Stock your pantry, fridge and freezer with low carb options to high carb or sugary foods. This could be low carb breads, wraps, noodles, buns, pizza crusts, keto bars, fat bombs, etc. If you have the option on hand, it’s a simple swap that will help you continue to move forward. The main objective is to get back into the keto groove, and if using the odd keto products helps you to achieve that - use it!
Eating a keto diet focused mainly on whole foods is ideal for your overall health and weight loss. But it’s more important at this stage to start making better food choices in general. You can always decrease the amount of products you use after a week or two. But to get over the initial hurdle of moving away from carbs, choosing a lower carb option can help.
BE PATIENT
The reality is, it can feel like our bodies are able to gain weight more easily than lose it. This dates back to our ancestral days where if given the option to over consume calories, our bodies would store it for survival purposes. It’s not fair - but that’s just how it goes! So for example if you’ve put on 10lbs while eating all the carbs over the span of a month, it may take you twice as long (if not more) to lose it again. Sure, some will initially come off as water weight but the actual body fat may take a little longer to come off again.
Get yourself in the mindset of thinking more about the medium or long-term game, not drastic immediate results. PLUS - remember that if this isn’t your first time doing keto, your body is likely smaller than it was the first time around. That means you have less weight to lose overall, and the pace of your weight loss may be slower. Always refer back to your WHY, and remember that this is about your overall health and feeling your absolute best. If you focus on that, the weight loss will naturally follow.
SELF REFLECT AND DECIDE IF YOU’RE REALLY READY
One of the biggest issues when it comes to getting back on track with keto is that we think it will be as easy as it was the first time we did it. But here’s the problem with that - you’re ALREADY not in the same body you were before (ie - you have less weight to lose). Your life circumstances probably aren’t the same as they were before. And as a result, we can put a lot of unnecessary pressure on ourselves to do keto exactly as we did in the beginning.
The truth is - YOU’RE not the same person you were in the beginning. In fact, you have an advantage because you’re armed with more knowledge and wisdom from doing keto before. So the question REALLY becomes - are you really ready to re-start your keto lifestyle? Do you even want to lose weight right now? How important is it to you at this moment?
This is something you need to really reflect on, and something you can only answer for yourself. Once you get back into the swing of things on keto you KNOW how amazing you will feel, and how easy it can really be. So why are you holding yourself back, and selling yourself short? You’ve already proven that you’re capable, you’ve done it before. You CAN do it again. But you have to be ready and willing to stay focused, be disciplined, and be consistent on keto to truly get the results you desire.
Taking a timeout from your diet isn’t a failure. But if you’re feeling ready to get back on track and are struggling to do it there is no shame in getting additional support. Click here to learn how 1:1 Keto Success Coaching can provide next-level accountability and get you unstuck from the carb-to-keto cycle! It’s ok to ask for help and invest in yourself if this is something you truly want. It’s the ultimate form of self care to prioritize your health, because nothing is more important than that. Not only will you get back to your healthy keto lifestyle, you’ll receive tools and strategies that will allow you to do it even BETTER than you did the first time! And get you results that you will feel confident you can truly maintain long term.
