Have you shifted to a low carb diet, but still not losing weight? A low carb diet is a diet that requires a person to restrict carbohydrates and increase quality protein, healthy fats, and healthy non-starchy vegetables. Although you might think you are doing it right, there could be a few things that are keeping you from losing that weight.

Let’s take a look at the possible reasons why that’s happening :

1. You are eating or drinking too many carbohydrates. The low carb diet is all about restricting carbohydrates. However, there may be times when you lose track and allow those sneaky carbs to slip back into your diet. Remember carbs can soon add up! To help you stay on track and find your “sweet spot” for weight loss, start logging everything that you eat and drink. You need to be completely honest and even log those little nibbles you steal from your children’s unfinished meals.

2. You are eating too much fruit. Although fruit can be healthier than processed sugary treats, having too much will be stalling your weight loss. The sugar and fructose in fruit may be too much for your weight range so only have it as an occasional treat. If you are overweight, fruit is not your friend.

3. You are taking too much dairy. If you love your milky lattes, then start looking at how many you are having as this may be preventing you from losing weight. While milk is great for its protein and calcium, but it also has around 5% carbohydrates. Not losing weight? Start to cut back on cheese, cream, milk, yoghurt and other dairy products until you kick start weight loss again, then slowly reintroduce them back when you are at goal weight.

4. You are eating too many nuts. Do you like snacking on nuts? Nuts are great for fibre, omega 3, trace elements and selenium. However, they also contain carbohydrates which can soon add up; cashews being the worst with almost 20%. Stop snacking n nuts until weight loss starts again. To control your nut cravings, buy them in their shells so it takes longer to eat and it will last longer.

5. You have too many artificial sweeteners in your diet. Having diet drinks to help you lose weight if you are having sugar cravings, but you have to eventually let these go if you want progress. In the same way, while using sweeteners instead of regular sugar when baking or making desserts, you must learn not to allow these low-carb treats be a huge part of your menu. If you can skip them, skip them!

6. You are drinking too much caffeine. While caffeine is great in a way that it wakes you up by increasing your adrenaline, it also stimulates the liver to release glucose from its glycogen stores. When you have high levels of glucose in your body, insulin is released again, fat gets stored, and fat burning stops. If you really need that cup of coffee to start your day, opt for a decaffeinated drink.

7. You lack sleep. Lack of sleep and increased stress levels affect your diet. Try practicing relaxation methods to calm yourself down and cut down on the coffee!

8. You do not have enough fat in your diet. Contrary to what most people say, you actually need to eat more healthy fat if you want to lose weight. Consuming fat helps you lose your appetite, so do not fear the fat!

9. You are eating too often or too little. One popular advice for weight loss is to have small, frequent meals throughout the day. But you should only eat when you are actually hungry - not because your schedule tells you to. It would be good to learn what real hunger feels like and to feed yourself something nutritious. The other side of the spectrum is eating too little; to the point of feeling like you are starving. This only leads to an unhealthy type of craving and hunger that will lead you to eat a sweet treat. Remember that cravings are a sign of insulin resistance so learn to listen to your body.

10. Just be patient! Sometimes, even if you are doing everything right and super strict with your diet, you still do not lose weight. A difficult lesson to learn, is to be patient and just keep going! Tell yourself that your new lifestyle if so much more nutritious and that the weight will go eventually, that you will be able to control your appetite, and that you will succeed. You may have insulin resistance which will take some time to correct itself. For some this takes weeks, others it may take months but you will get there.

BONUS TIP: Avoid fake food! Throw those low carb bars, sugar free chocolate snacks, low carb breads and so on in the trash. These are not real food and are not good for you.

There are a lot of benefits when following a low carb diet - weight loss is just one part of it! Read this article on why you need to ditch the carbs, why sugar is bad for us and this article explaining insulin resistance.