o you have trouble losing weight? Or would you like to lose faster? Here are the 17

best tips for you.

For some people losing all of their excess weight is easier said than done. But there

are many common errors people make. Correcting them can restart or speed up

your weight loss.

Based on a decade of experience treating obese patients, reading studies, going to

obesity conferences and discussing this topic with the world’s biggest experts,

here’s my best advice for maximizing your weight loss.

Start at the top of the list (most important) and go down as far as you need.

Perhaps you only need the first piece of advice?

How to Lose Weight

1. Choose a low carb diet

2. Eat when hungry

3. Eat real food

4. Measure your progress wisely

5. Be patient

6. Women: Avoid fruit

7. Men: Avoid beer

8. Avoid artificial sweeteners

9. Review any medications

10.Stress less, sleep more

11.Eat less dairy products and nuts

12.Supplement vitamins and minerals

13.Exercise smart

14.Achieve optimal ketosis

15.Get your hormones checked

16.coming soon

17.coming soon

 

1. Choose a Low Carb Diet

If you want to lose weight you should start by avoiding sugar and starch (like

bread). This is an old idea: For 150 years or more there have been an infinite

number of weight loss diets based on eating less carbs. What’s new is that at least

17 modern scientific studies have proven that, yes,low carb   is the most effective

way to lose weight.

Obviously it’s still possible to lose weight on any diet – just eat less calories than

you burn, right? The problem with this simplistic advice is that it ignores the

elephant in the room: Hunger. Most people don’t like to “just eat less”, i.e. being

hungry forever. That’s dieting for masochists. Sooner or later a normal person will

give up and eat, hence the prevalence of “yo-yo dieting”.

The main advantage of low carb diets is that they cause you to want to eat less.

Even without counting calories most overweight people eat far fewer calories on low

carb. Sugar and starch may increase your hunger, avoiding it may decrease your

appetite to an adequate level. If your body wants to eat an appropriate number of

calories you don’t need to bother counting them. Thus: Calories count, but you

don’t need to count them.

A 2012 study also showed that people on a low carb diet burned 300 more calories

a day – while resting! According to one of the Harvard professors behind the study

this advantage “would equal the number of calories typically burned in an hour of

moderate-intensity physical activity”. Imagine that: an entire bonus hour of exercise

every day, without actually doing it.

Bottom line: A low carb diet reduces your hunger and makes it easier to eat less.

And it might even increase your fat burning at rest. Study after study show that low

carb is the smart way to lose weight and that it improves important health markers.

How to do it: LCHF for beginners

Inspiration: Weight loss stories on low carb

 

2. Eat When Hungry

Don’t be hungry. The most common mistake when starting a low carb diet:

Reducing carb intake while still being afraid of fat. The problem is that carbs and fat

are the body’s two main energy sources. It needs at least one.

Low carb AND low fat = starvation

Avoiding both carbs and fat results in hunger, cravings and fatigue. Sooner or later

people can’t stand it and give up. The solution is to eat more natural fat until

you feel satisfied. For example:

Butter

Full-fat cream

Olive oil

Meat (including the fat)

Fatty fish

Bacon

Eggs

Coconut oil, etc.

Always eat enough, so that you feel satisfied, especially in the beginning of the

weight-loss process. Doing this on a low carb diet means that the fat you eat will be

burned as fuel by your body, as your levels of the fat storing hormone insulin will be

lowered. You’ll become a fat burning machine. You’ll lose excess weight without

hunger.

Do you still fear saturated fat? Don’t. The fear of saturated fat is based on obsolete

theories that have been proven incorrect by modern science. Butter is a fine food.

However, feel free to eat mostly unsaturated fat (e.g. olive oil, avocado, fatty fish) if

you prefer. This could be called a Mediterranean low carb diet and works great too.

Eating when hungry also implies something else: If you’re not hungry you

probably don’t need to eat yet. When on a LCHF diet you can trust your feelings

of hunger and satiety again. Feel free to eat the as many times per day that works

best for you.

Some people eat three times a day and occasionally snack in between (note that

frequent snacking could mean that you’d benefit from adding fat to your meals, to

increase satiety). Some people only eat once or twice a day and never snack.

Whatever works for you. Just eat when you’re hungry.

 

3. Eat Real Food

Another common mistake when eating a low carb diet is getting fooled by the

creative marketing of special “low carb” products. Remember:  An effective low

carb diet for weight loss should be based on real food, like this:

Real food is what humans have been eating for thousands or (even better) millions

of years, e.g. meat, fish, vegetables, eggs, butter, olive oil, nuts etc.

If you want to lose weight you’d better avoid special “low carb” products

that are full of carbs. This should be obvious but creative marketers are doing all

they can to fool you (and get your money). They will tell you that you can eat

cookies, pasta, ice cream, bread and plenty of chocolate on a low carb diet, as long

as you buy their brand. They’re full of carbohydrates. Don’t be fooled.

Here are three examples of what to avoid:

1. Atkins’ Fairy Tale Cookies

2. Julian Bakery’s High Carb Low Carb Bread

3. The Dreamfields Pasta Fraud

These three companies are not unique. There are thousands of similar companies

trying to trick you into buying their “low carb” junk food, full of starch, sugar

alcohols, flour, sweeteners and strange additives. Two simple rules to avoid this

junk:

Don’t eat “low carb” versions of high carb stuff, like cookies, bars, chocolate, bread,

pasta or ice cream – unless you are SURE of the ingredients (perhaps from making it

yourself).

Avoid products with the words “net carbs” on them. That’s usually just a way to fool

you.

Focus on eating good quality, minimally processed real food. Ideally the food you

buy shouldn’t even have a list of ingredients (or it should be very short).

 

4. Measure Your Progress Wisely

Tracking successful weight loss is sometimes trickier than you’d think. Focusing

only on weight and stepping on the scale every day might be misleading, cause

unnecessary anxiety and undermine your motivation for no good reason.

The scale is not necessarily your friend. You may want to lose fat – but the scale

measures muscles, bone and internal organs as well. Gaining muscle is a good

thing. Thus weight or BMI are imperfect ways to measure your progress. This is

especially true if you’re just coming off a long period of semi-starvation

(calorie counting), as your body may want to restore lost muscles etc. Starting

weight training and gaining muscle can also hide your fat loss.

Losing fat and gaining muscles is great progress, but you may miss this if you only

measure your weight. Thus it’s smart to also track the disappearance of your belly

fat, by measuring your waist circumference.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Put the measuring tape around your middle, like in the picture above, slightly above

your belly button (to be exact: at the midpoint between your lowest rib and the top

of your hipbone, at your side).

2. Exhale and relax (don’t suck in your stomach).

3. Make sure the measuring tape is snug, without compressing your skin.

4. Measure

Compare your result to these recommendations:

I recommend aiming for “excellent” but it’s not always realistic. Young people can

usually achieve this, but for some middle-aged or older women it may be a major

victory to get all the way to “decent”.

Measuring progress

I suggest measuring your waist circumference and weight before starting and then

perhaps once a week or once a month. Write the results down so that you can track

your progress. If you want you can measure more areas: around the buttocks, the

chest, the arms, legs, etc.

Note that your weight can fluctuate up and down several pounds from day to day,

depending on fluid balance and stomach contents: Don’t worry about short term

changes, instead follow the long-term trend.

If you can, try to check other important health markers when starting out, like

these:

Blood pressure

Blood sugar (fasting blood glucose and/or HbA1c)

Cholesterol profile (including HDL, triglycerides)

These markers are almost universally improved on a low carb diet, even before

major weight loss. Re-checking these health markers after a few months can be

great for your motivation as they’ll usually show that you’re not just losing weight,

you’re gaining health too.

PS: Don’t have a measuring tape at home? Try these options:

Use any piece of string. Wrap the string around your waist and cut the string to fit

your waist on day one. This string could magically appear to become longer and

longer every week you wrap it around your waist. 

Comparing how an old pair of jeans fits is also a good option.

 

5. Be Patient

It usually takes years or decades to gain a lot of weight. Trying to lose it all as

quickly as possible by starving yourself rarely works well long-term, that’s just the

recipe for “yo-yo dieting”. To succeed you need something that works long term.

What to aim for

It’s common to lose 2-6 pounds (1-3 kg) within the first week on a strict low

carb diet, and then on average about one pound (0.5 kg) per week as long as

you have a lot of weight remaining to lose. This translates into about 50 pounds (25

kilos) per year.

Every 5 pounds of fat loss roughly equals 1 inch lost around the waist (1 kilo = 1

cm).

Young males sometimes lose weight quicker than this, perhaps twice as fast. Post-

menopausal women may lose at a slightly slower pace. People on a very strict low

carb diet may lose weight quicker, as well as those who exercise a lot (a bonus).

And if you have an enormous amount of excess weight to lose you could start out

much faster.

As you get closer to your ideal weight the loss slows, until you stabilize at a weight

that your body feels is right. Hardly anyone gets underweight on a low carb diet – as

long as they eat when hungry.

Examples: Weight loss stories.

Initial stalls

Are you coming off a period of semi-starvation (calorie counting)? Focus on your

waist circumference and health markers (see advice #4) at first as it sometimes

takes several weeks before weight loss is apparent.

Weight loss plateaus

Expect weight loss plateaus: Days or weeks where nothing seems to happen on the

scale. Everybody hits them. Stay calm. Keep doing what you’re doing and

eventually things will start happening again (if not, check the other 16 tips).

How to lose weight forever

Losing a lot of weight long-term and keeping it off forever won’t happen unless

you change your habits forever. If you lose weight and then return to living

exactly the way did when you gained weight, don’t be surprised when the excess

weight returns. It will.

Maintaining weight loss requires long-term change and patience. If this doesn’t

seem possible for you, then you’re perhaps more interested in one of these magical

diet scams.

Forget quick fixes: If you lose some weight every month, eventually you’ll get rid of

all your excess weight. That’s inevitable progress. That’s what you want.

PS: Long-term change is only hard in the beginning, especially during the first

couple of weeks. It’s like quitting smoking. Once you develop new habits it becomes

easier and easier every week. Eventually it comes naturally.

How to lose weight faster

Keep reading!

 

6. Women: Avoid Eating Fruit

This is a tip that goes for men as well, of course, but eating fruit is a more common

obstacle for women trying to lose weight.

This advice is controversial as fruit has an almost magical health aura today. People

may believe that fruit is nutritious but unfortunately fruit contains a lot of

sugar – around 10% by weight (the rest is mostly water). Just taste an orange or a

grape. Sweet, right?

Five servings of fruit per day is equivalent to the amount of sugar in 16 ounces of

soda (500 ml). Contrary to what many people believe the sugar is more or less

identical (about 50% glucose, 50% fructose).

Sugar from fruit can shut down fat burning. This can increase your hunger and

slow your weight loss. For best results avoid fruit – or enjoy it occasionally as a

treat.

Bottom line: Fruit is candy from nature.

 

7. Men: Avoid Drinking Beer

This applies to women too, but men drink more beer on average. Beer contains

rapidly digested carbs that shut down fat burning. That’s why beer is

sometimes referred to as “liquid bread”. There’s a good reason for the term “beer

belly.”

Here are smarter alcoholic options for losing weight:

Wine (red or dry white)

Dry champagne

Pure spirits like whiskey, cognac, vodka (avoid sweetened cocktails – try vodka,

soda, lime instead)

These drinks hardly contain any sugar/carbohydrates so they’re better than beer.

However, large amounts of alcohol might slow weight loss somewhat, so

moderation is still a good idea.

 

8. Avoid Artificial Sweeteners

Many people replace sugar with artificial sweeteners in the belief that this will

reduce their calorie intake and cause weight loss. It sounds plausible. Several

studies, however, have failed to show any positive effect on weight loss by

consuming artificial sweeteners instead of plain sugar.

Instead, according to scientific studies, artificial sweeteners can increase appetite

and maintain cravings for sweet food.

This could be because the body increases insulin secretion in anticipation that the

sugar will appear in the blood. When this doesn’t happen, blood sugar drops and

hunger increases. Whether this chain of events regularly take place is somewhat

unclear. Something odd happenedwhen I tested Pepsi Max though, and there are

well-designed studies showing increased insulin when using artificial sweeteners.

Furthermore, artificial sweeteners can maintain an addiction to sweets and lead to

snack cravings. And the long term effects of consuming artificial sweeteners are

unknown.

By the way, Stevia is marketed as a natural alternative to artificial sweeteners.

That’s marketing talk. There is nothing natural about a processed super-sweet white

powder like Stevia.

If you’re having trouble losing weight I suggest that you completely avoid

sweeteners. As a bonus you’ll soon start to enjoy the natural sweetness of real food,

once you’re no longer adapted to the overpowering artificial sweetness of junk food

and “diet” sodas.

 

9. Review Any Medications

Many prescription drugs can stall your weight loss. Discuss any change in treatment

with your doctor. Here are the worst three:

Insulin injections, especially at higher doses,are probably the worst obstacle for

weight loss. There are three ways to reduce your need for insulin:

A. Eat less carbs, which makes it a easier to lose weight. The less carbs you eat the

less insulin you need. Remember to lower your doses if you can.

B. If this isn’t enough, treatment with Metformin tablets (at a dose of 2 grams – 3

grams/day) can decrease the need for insulin (at least for type 2 diabetics).

C. If this is not enough to get off insulin (again, for type 2 diabetics) you could try

newer promising drugs like Victoza or Byetta. These reduce the need for insulin and

cause weight loss.

Other diabetes medications. Insulin-releasing tablets (e.g. sulphonylureas) often

lead to weight gain. These include: Minodiab, Euglucon, Daonil, and Glibenclamide.

Tablets like Avandia, Actos, Starlix and NovoNorm also encourage weight gain. But

not Metformin. The newer drugs Victoza and Byetta (injectable) often lead to weight

loss, but possible long-term side effects are still unknown. More on diabetes

Cortisone as an oral drug is another common culprit (e.g. Prednisolone). Cortisone

often causes weight gain in the long run, especially at higher doses (e.g. more than

5 mg Prednisolone per day). Unfortunately cortisone is often an essential medicine

for those who are prescribed it, but the dose should be adjusted frequently so you

don’t take more than you need.Asthma inhalers and other local cortisone

treatments, like creams or nose sprays, hardly affect weight.

These other medications can also cause problems:

Neuroleptics/antipsychotic drugs, can often encourage weight gain. Especially

newer drugs like Zyprexa (Olanzapine).

Some antidepressant medications can cause weight gain, especially the older

tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) such as Tryptizol, Saroten, and Clomipramine; as

well as newer drugs such as Remeron (Mirtazapine). Lithium (for manic-depressive

disorder) often leads to weight gain. The most common antidepressants known as

SSRI’s (for example Citalopram and Sertraline) usually don’t impact weight

significantly. More on depression

Some contraceptives often contribute to slight weight gain, especially those that

contain only progesterone and no estrogen, for example the mini-pill, the

contraceptive injection, or a contraceptive implant. More on fertility

Blood pressure medicine, in the form of beta blockers can cause weight gain.

These drugs include: Seloken, Metoprolol and Atenolol. More on high blood pressure

Epilepsy drugs may cause weight gain (e.g. Carbamazepine and Valproate).

Allergy medicines called antihistamines can cause weight gain, especially at high

doses. Cortisone is even worse (see above). More on allergies

Antibiotics can possibly lead to a temporary weight gain by disturbing the gut

microbiota and increasing the amount of energy we absorb from food. This is still

speculative for humans but it’s another reason not to use antibiotics unless you

truly need it.

 

10. Stress less, sleep more

Have you ever wished for more hours of sleep, and a less stressful life in general?

Most people have – and that can be bad news for their weight.

Chronic stress may increase levels of stress hormones such as cortisol in your body.

This can cause increased hunger and result in weight gain. If you’re looking to lose

weight, you shouldreview possible ways to decrease or better handle

excessive stress in your life. Although this often demands substantial changes,

even altering small things – such as posture – may immediately affect your stress

hormone levels, and perhaps your weight.

You should also make an effort to get enough good sleep, preferably every

night. Strive to wake up refreshed of your own accord, independently of the alarm

clock. If you’re the kind of person who always gets brutally woken up by the alarm

ringing, you might never be giving your body adequate rest.

One way to combat this is to go to bed early enough for your body to wake up

autonomously before the alarm clock goes off. Letting yourself get a good night’s

sleep is another way of reducing stress hormone levels.

Sleep deprivation, on the other hand, comes hand in hand with sugar cravings. It

also has an adverse effect on self-discipline and makes it painfully easy to give in to

temptation (it’s no coincidence that induced sleep deprivation is a common

interrogation technique). Similarly, sleep deprivation weakens your resolve to work

out.

Sleep issues?

Do you have trouble sleeping even if there’s ample time for it? Here are five tips

from an expert:

1. Stick to a certain bedtime every evening. In the long term, this will help the

body prepare for sleep at that time.

2. No coffee after 2 pm. Just don’t – and remember that it takes time for caffeine to

leave the body.

3. Limit your alcohol intake three hours before bedtime. While booze might

make you woozy, it worsens the quality of sleep.

4. Limit exercise in the four hours before bedtime. Physical activity can perk you

up and make it difficult to get to sleep for several hours afterwards.

5. Get 15 minutes of sunlight every day. This is good for your circadian rhythm

(your “body clock”).

Finally, make sure that your bedroom is dark enough, and stays at a pleasant

temperature. Sleep well!

Difficult, but worthwhile

Many may find the above guidelines difficult to follow, perhaps because of a lack of

time (or the equivalent – small children!). But stressing less and sleeping more

doesn’t just feel good. It can also play a part in helping you get thinner.

 

11. Eat less of dairy products and nuts

Can you eat as much as you like, and still lose weight? Yes, it tends to work just fine

with a low-carbohydrate diet, as appetite regulation happens effortlessly.

However, despite the fact that a low-carbohydrate diet generally makes it easy to

eat just enough, there are foods classified as low carb which become a problem in

larger quantities. If you find yourself having a hard time losing weight on a low carb

diet, you could try to be more careful with:

Dairy products (yoghurt, cream, cheese)

Nuts

Dairy products contain varying amounts of lactose (the milk sugar), which slows

down weight loss. What’s more, part of the protein in milk generates a

significant insulin response, which can have the same effect. Consequently, cutting

back on dairy products may accelerate weight loss. This applies especially to dairy

products typically lacking in fat, such as regular milk and various yoghurts, but be

careful with full-fat dairy such as cream and cheese all the same. And don’t forget

whey protein powder, which is pure milk protein.

Exempt from all these dairy-product warnings is butter, which is almost pure fat.

Butter may be consumed liberally as desired.

Nuts, the second food to watch, contain a fair amount of carbohydrate, and it’s very

easy to unwittingly scarf down large quantities. Cashew nuts are among the worst

carb-wise – you’ll find that they contain around 20% carbohydrate by weight. For

someone following a strict LCHF diet with a 20 grams of carbs per day allowance,

this means that consuming 100 grams (which happens in a flash!) will have filled

their daily quota. Peanuts tend to be around 10-15% carbohydrate – not putting

them in the clear either.

So, for those of you having trouble losing weight: use nuts sparingly. When in a

situation where nuts are an absolute must, know that the most harmless ones carb-

wise are macadamia nuts(usually around 5% carbs), or Brazil nuts (around 3%).

 

12. Supplement vitamins and minerals

Your body needs a certain amount of essential vitamins and minerals to function

properly. What happens when you don’t get enough of them? What happens when

you eat too little food, or when the food you eat isn’t sufficiently nutritious? Perhaps

our bodies catch on and reply by increasing hunger levels. After all – if we eat more,

we increase the chances of consuming enough of whatever nutrient we are lacking.

On the other hand, reliable access to vitamins and minerals could perhaps mean

decreased hunger levels and decreased cravings, thereby promoting weight loss.

The above is, of course, speculation. But now there are well-performed studies

which suggest it might not be far from the truth.

Vitamin D

A lack of vitamin D is probably the most common deficiency in northern countries

such as Canada, or most of the US. Three recent studies indicate that, when

compared to a placebo, a vitamin D supplement can decrease your fat weight or

waist measurement [1 2 3].

In one of the studies, 77 overweight or obese women received either a supplement

of 1000 units of vitamin D, or a placebo, every day for 3 months. Those who

took the vitamin D supplement decreased their body fat by 2,7 kg (6 pounds) –

significantly more than the placebo group, who hardly decreased their fat weight at

all.

Multivitamins

A study from 2010 involved around a hundred women with weight issues,

separating them into three groups. One group received a daily multivitamin

supplement, the other a daily calcium supplement, and the last group only a

placebo. The study carried on for half a year.

Unsurprisingly, the results showed that nothing had happened to the weight of the

women receiving calcium or the placebo. However, the group which took the

multivitamin lost more weight – about 3 kg more – and improved their health

markers. Among other things, their basal metabolic rate (the rate at which the body

burns calories when at rest) increased.

Furthermore, another earlier study found that subjects decreased hunger levels by

taking multivitamin supplements during starvation diets, compared to a placebo.

Conclusion

Nutrient-dense, good food is certainly the foundation of weight loss. But an

adequate amount of vitamin D can be difficult to ingest via food. In the case of a

lack of sun (such as during the darker months of autumn and winter), it’s wise to

supplement for multiple health reasons – and perhaps even for your weight.

If you’re overweight and not entirely sure that your diet provides enough nutrients,

it may be worthwhile to take a multivitamin pill. Unfortunately, they still contain

only minimal doses of vitamin D, so you need both for the full effect.

 

13. Exercise smart

Do you wonder why this weight-loss tip doesn’t show up until number 13 on the list?

It’s because few things are so overrated for weight loss as exercise is.

Have you ever watched “The Biggest Loser”? The participants take leave from their

jobs (and family) for months. They are allowed only small portions of food, and work

out as though it was their full-time job – 40 hours a week, sometimes more. This

method is clearly unsustainable for your average person in the long run.

Just taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or getting off the bus one stop earlier,

isn’t going to change the numbers on your bathroom scales. It’s a myth. Sorry about

that. Studies show that if you just start exercising, you’re going to need at least one

hour of tough workouts every single day to noticeably lose weight.

Basically, the effect of exercise on our weight is vastly overrated. That’s why it’s

only number 13 on this list. There are other things you need to take care of first. It’s

not a good idea to eat bad food, drink sugar water (so-called “sports drinks”) or be

on medications which force you to train for hours daily just to compensate.

Metaphorically that’s like digging a hole, into which you put your ladder, on which

you stand and paint the ground level windows of your house.

Exercise cannot compensate for other issues in your life. Those must be addressed

first.

The good news

If, on the other hand, you’ve already taken care of steps 1-12, you should have a

rested and recharged body which is already happily burning fat. In this case,

increased activity will accelerate your weight loss, and act as an nice bonus. You’ll

be burning even more fat from the very first step.

For example, you could take long walks (golf), cycle, dance, or play any sport you’re

happy and comfortable with.

Exercise also burns the body’s glycogen stores, which are essentially carbohydrate.

This means that after a workout, you can eat a little more carbs than you otherwise

can permit yourself, without negative effects on insulin or fat storage. Also, don’t

forget that the non-weight-related health effects of exercise are quite impressive.

Hormonal effects

For even more impressive effects on body composition: aim for exercise forms

which elicit a positive hormonal response. This means lifting really heavy things

(strength training), or interval training. Such exercise increases body levels of the

sex hormone testosterone (primarily in men) as well as growth hormone. Not only

do greater levels of these hormones increase your muscle mass, but they also

decrease your visceral fat (belly fat) in the long term.

As a final bonus, exercise can both make you feel and look better.

What kind of activity suits you?

 

14. Achieve optimal ketosis

Warning: Not recommended for type 1 diabetics, see below.

We’ve now arrived at tip number 14. If you’re still having trouble losing weight,

despite following the 13 pieces of advice listed above, it might be a good idea to

bring out the heavy artillery: optimal ketosis. Many people stalling at weight

plateaus while on a low carb diet have found optimal ketosis helpful. It’s what can

melt the fat off once again.

So how does this work? A quick run-through: The first tip was to eat low carb. This is

because a low-carb diet lowers your levels of the fat-storing hormone insulin,

allowing your fat deposits to shrink and release their stored energy. This tends to

cause you to want to consume less calories than you expend – without hunger – and

lose weight. Several of the tips mentioned above are about fine-tuning your diet to

better this effect.

How do you know you’re getting the maximum hormonal impact from your low-carb

diet? You do that by achieving what’s known as “optimal ketosis”. 

Ketosis

Ketosis is a state at which the body has an extremely high fat-burning rate. Even

the brain runs on fat, via ketone bodies. These are energy molecules in the blood

(like blood sugar) which become fuel for our brains after being converted from fat

by the liver.

To encourage ketone production, the amount of insulin in your bloodstream must be

low. The lower your insulin, the higher your ketone production. And when you have

a well-controlled, sufficiently large amount of ketones in your blood, it’s basically

proof that your insulin is very low – and therefore, that you’re enjoying the

maximum effect of your low-carbohydrate diet. That’s what’s called optimal ketosis.

Measuring ketones

Today, there are reasonably-priced gadgets available for measuring ketone levels at

home. One needle prick of the finger, and in just a few seconds you’ll know your

blood ketone level.

Blood ketones are best measured on a fasted stomach in the morning (before

breakfast, that is). Here are a few pointers on how to interpret the result:

Below 0.5 mmol/L is not considered “ketosis”. At this level, you’re far away from

maximum fat-burning.

Between 0.5-1.5 mmol/L is light nutritional ketosis. You’ll be getting a good effect

on your weight, but not optimal.

Around 1.5 – 3 mmol/L is what’s called optimal ketosis and is recommended for

maximum weight loss.

Values of over 3 mmol/L aren’t neccessary. That is, they will achieve neither better

nor worse results than being at the 1.5-3 level. Higher values can also sometimes

mean that you’re not getting enough food. For type 1 diabetics, it can be caused by

a severe lack of insulin, see below.

Ketones in urine

Ketone levels can also be measured in a more old-fashioned way, with urine test

sticks (sold prescription-free in pharmacies or on Amazon). Ketone sticks give less

reliable results for several reasons, and the above recommendations can’t be

straightforwardly applied to them. They are, however, much cheaper.

My personal experience

Feel free to read my accounts of a two-month personal trial:

1. Experiment: Optimal ketosis for weight loss and increased performance

2. Four weeks of strict LCHF and ketone monitoring

3. Final report: Two months of strict LCHF and ketone monitoring

Although I was quite happy with my weight before these trials, they resulted in a

further loss of 4.5kgs (10 pounds) and 7cm (3 inches) around my waist – without

additional exercise or even the slightest resemblance of hunger.

How to achieve optimal ketosis

Many who firmly believe they are eating a strict low-carb diet are surprised when

they measure their blood ketones. They may be at around only 0.2 or 0.5 – quite far

off from the sweet spot! Why?

The trick here is not only to avoid all obvious sourced of carbohydrate (sweets,

bread, spaghetti, rice, potatoes), but also to be careful with your protein intake. If

you eat large amounts of meat, eggs and the like, the excess protein will converted

into glucose in the body. Large amounts of protein can also raise your insulin levels

somewhat. This compromises optimal ketosis.

The secret to getting around this is usually to eat your fill with more fat. For

example, if you have a bigger helping of herb butter to your steak, you might not

feel like having a second steak, and instead feel satisfied after the first one.

A popular trick people use to ingest more fat is “fat coffee” (sometimes called

“Magic Bullet Coffee” or MBC). It involves adding one tablespoon of butter and one

tablespoon of coconut oil to your (morning) coffee, and requires a food blender for

the right texture.

More fat in your food will fill you up more. This will ensure you eat less protein, and

even less carbohydrate. Your insulin will drop and, hopefully, you’ll be able to reach

optimal ketosis. And that’s when many a stubborn weight plateau is overcome.

If it doesn’t work

Being in optimal ketosis for a prolonged period of time (say, a month) will ensure

that you experience the maximal hormonal effect from eating a low-carb diet. If this

doesn’t result in noticeable weight loss, you can be certain that too many carbs are

NOT part of your weight issue and not the obstacle to your weight loss. There are, in

fact, other causes of obesity and being overweight. The next three tips in this series

might help you.

Try it

Order a ketone meter online and start measuring. There are a few different models,

take a look at this one and this one.

More

Watch my video interview with the American doctor Peter Attia, on a strictly

ketogenic low-carb diet: Very Low Carb Performance

A word of warning

If you have type 1 diabetes, you should not follow the above advice on optimal

ketosis – it may be risky. If you have ketones in your blood at all, you must be sure

that your blood sugar levels are normal. If they are, you’re in normal ketosis – just

like the ketosis of healthy people who stick to a strict low carb diet.

High blood sugar levels coupled with high blood ketones, on the other hand, will

mean that you have a pathologically low level of insulin – something non-diabetics

do not suffer from. This can lead to ketoacidosis – a potentially life-threatening

condition. If this happens, you’ll need to inject more insulin; if you’re at all unsure of

what to do, contact a medical professional. Coveting really high blood ketones for

weight control is not worth the risk for type 1 diabetics.

 

15. Get Your Hormones Checked

So you’ve followed the previous tips, implemented major lifestyle changes and

established that neither medication nor vitamin deficiency is an issue. You’ve even

tried being in optimal ketosis for a while (ensuring low insulin levels). And you still

can’t hit the normal weight mark?

If this applies to you, it’s high time to consider the possibility that hormonal

imbalances are the cause of your troubles. There are three common problem areas:

1. Thyroid hormone

2. Sex hormones

3. Stress hormones

Thyroid hormone

Some people, especially women, suffer decreased metabolism as a result of thyroid

hormone deficiency – hypothyroidism. Common symptoms are:

Fatigue

Cold intolerance

Constipation

Dry skin

Weight gain

In these cases, weight gain resulting from decreased metabolism usually do not

exceed fifteen pounds.

Your doctor can easily arrange for you to take a blood test to measure the

concentration of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). If the test comes back and

everything looks good, your thyroid gland is probably fine. For a more exact

diagnosis, you can ask them to measure the actual levels of thyroid hormone in the

blood (T3 and T4).

Two ways to avoid becoming deficient in thyroid hormone:

1. Make sure you consume enough iodine, which is a building block of thyroid

hormone. Good sources are fish, shellfish and iodised salt (or sea salt).

2. Very low levels of thyroid hormone usually indicate an autoimmune reaction to the

thyroid gland itself. This means you’ll have to take thyroid hormone supplements

orally, usually the stable form T4 (Levaxin), which your doctor can prescribe for you.

Your body will transform this into the active T3 hormone when necessary. The

supplement dose should be adjusted so that you reach normal hormone levels (TSH,

T3, T4) and sufficiently alleviate symptoms – though a few people feel best when

keeping TSH slightly below normal.

Some people feel better supplementing the already active T3 (sometimes prepared

from pig thyroid glands), as it can give a stronger effect than the T4 hormone, but

its effect is often harder to control. Swedish healthcare rarely prescribes or offers

such T3 treatment, as it often lacks advantages and may pose a risk when doses

are high for an extended period of time.

“Hypothyroidism Type 2″

Some alternative health coaches will diagnose you with the condition

“hypothyroidism type 2″ if you’re experiencing symptoms of fatigue etc., despite

normal blood levels of thyroid hormones, and will recommend supplementation

anyway. Be skeptical of this. You’ll likely end up trying to mask other health issues

(i.e. the real causes of your symptoms) by slathering your system with overdoses of

thyroid hormone.

Of course, some people will certainly feel more lively and alert (at least in the short

term) running on an overdose of thyroid hormone. On the other hand, many people

feel more lively and energetic when using amphetamine, too. That doesn’t mean

their fatigue was caused by a lack of amphetamine!

Sex hormones

Sex hormones also affect your weight:

Women: Women can suffer from the endocrine disorder PCOS – polycystic ovarian

syndrome – which elevates testosterone and insulin levels. This can mean weight

gain and menstrual disorders (very common), infertility, acne and male pattern hair

growth (such as facial hair). Alow-carbohydrate diet is a good treatment for

this. More on PCOS.

During menopause, a woman’s level of the female sex hormone estrogen drops.

This often causes some weight gain, especially around the gut (so-called central

obesity). Any excess weight gained after menopause will tend to be less femininely

proportioned, less curvy.

Men: From middle age and onwards, men experience gradually declining levels of

the male sex hormone testosterone. This leads to slight weight gain, also typically

around the gut, and decreased muscle mass.

What can you do about sex hormones?

Testosterone deficiency can be at least partially treated naturally by engaging

in smart exercise routines, conscious body language and supplementing vitamin D.

Of course, you can also affect testosterone levels by getting your doctor to

prescribe a testosterone supplement (a blood test will confirm any deficiency).

Women can use estrogen supplementation for climacteric problems.

It’s important you take into account, however, that supplementation of testosterone

or estrogen for years on end, in doses that are abnormally large for your age, will

increase the risk of prostate cancer (in men) and breast cancer (in women).

It may be wise to accept that you don’t (and shouldn’t!) have the body of a 20-year-

old when you’re several times that age. A better option might be to try and focus on

a healthy lifestyle instead, and to be as happy and grateful as you can for the body

you have.

Stress hormone

The final possible culprit behind stubborn weight issues may be the stress hormone,

cortisol. Too much cortisol will increase hunger levels, bringing along subsequent

weight gain. The most common cause of elevated cortisol is chronic stress and lack

of sleep (see tip #10), or cortisone medication (tip #9). It’s a good idea to try your

utmost to do something about this.

In rare and extreme cases, you could be dealing with a specific kind of tumour that

drives cortisol production. The condition is called Cushing’s syndrome. If you

suspect you’re suffering from this, consult your doctor and they will run the

appropriate tests.

 

16 – 17. Coming Soon

These tips will be posted soon.