Returning to Keto? Here's 12 Weight-Loss Strategies for Second Timers

Does this sound like you? 

“I did a low-carb diet about 5 years ago and it worked really, really well for me. I dropped a ton of weight, super fast, and I enjoyed the food. I'm really embarrassed to say that I didn't stick with it and eventually gained back the 50 pounds I lost, plus more.

"Recently, I decided to give keto another try.

Since it worked so well the first time, I thought it would work just as well again. But it's been 4 weeks now and all I've lost is 2 pounds.

I don't understand what's going on. Last time, I dropped 10 pounds on Atkins Induction. This time? Nothing!

Do you have any weight-loss advice that you can give me? I don't know how much longer I can keep this up.”

This letter is typical of the emails I get from people who have done a ketogenic diet before and decided to try again, since they got such good results the last time. Almost everyone who tries this thinks that they are going to earn the exact same reward as before.

That rarely happens.

Each time you go off and back onto a low-carb diet, the process gets more difficult. Weight loss is slower and the foods you can eat get more restrictive.

But don't despair.

There is still hope.

You can still reach your weight loss goals.

Want to know how?

Here are 12 low-carb weight-loss strategies you can use to improve your chances for success.

Strategy #1: Don't Expect the Same Results

Expectations set you up for disappointment. And once you're disappointed, it's really hard to stay motivated and focused on why you want to lose the weight.

To make a low-carb diet work the second time, you must stay firmly focused on your goal. The body's survival mechanisms will remember that you've traveled the diet path before and will begin to adapt sooner and stronger than last time.

You're older now.

You might have a little more insulin resistance than you had back then.

Food sensitivities might have multiplied.

Plus, speed of weight loss won't be the same. It's always slower once you go off a low-carb diet and then return. That's the cold, hard, truth.

The good news is that what the body is usually doing is storing water inside your fat cells, so it doesn't have to shrink them if more carbs are coming in soon.

That makes it simply a waiting game because eventually, the body won't have a choice other than to dump the water.

The body always takes the path of least resistance.

It doesn't want to shrink your fat cells if it doesn't have to, so it sits back and waits.

Eventually, it figures out that you're not going to feed it all of those sugars and starches it's used to getting.

Keep it up and you will win the battle.

Just don't give in too quickly. Give carbohydrate restriction a good 8 to 12 weeks before you throw in the towel and go looking for a different solution.

Strategy #2: Don't Depend on Memory! Read the Book!

Another mistake I see quite often is assuming that you remember what you can or can't eat on Atkins Induction. The Induction Diet is very restrictive for a reason. It's designed to help almost everyone get into Nutritional Ketosis quickly and easily.

The faster you get into ketosis, the quicker the fat will start coming off.

But here's the catch:

If you start out by eating the fun foods that you were eating last time, such as low-carb tortillas, Dreamsfield pasta, mixed nuts, and sugar-free ice cream, you could be eating far more carbs and sugar alcohols than you think.

Beginning with low-carb products is setting yourself up to fail.

Plus, memory often plays tricks on you. For example, I've had people tell me they are eating:

• apples
• oranges
• popcorn
• glass of wine every night

But can't figure out why they are not losing weight!

Except for an occasional small glass of wine, once you are fat adapted and you meticulously count those carbs, these foods are not allowed on a ketogenic diet until almost maintenance – if then.

You really do need to read the book and refresh your memory on what a ketogenic diet is. Otherwise your insulin level might not come down low enough. There will be plenty of time to tweak your diet later on.

The second time around usually requires a much stricter diet than you had before. You won't be able to pinpoint problematic foods unless you add them back singly, one at a time, just as Dr. Atkins recommended.

(The older Atkins books are getting harder to find, so at the very least, read our article on how to do Atkins Induction correctly.)

Strategy #3: Be Realistic About Your Food Preferences

If you hate salad, it doesn't make sense to do Atkins 72, where you're required to eat salad every single day.

That's just not practical!

No matter which low-carb diet plan you choose to follow, it needs to fit your food likes, as well as your lifestyle.

If you're always around the high-carb foods that you love – either because you work around those foods or your family insists on eating carbs in front of you – it can trigger cravings or a binge if you aren't mentally strong enough to resist the temptation.

It's a good idea to sincerely examine your motives for doing Keto, but don't be too hard on yourself. Being too strict with the carbs can be just as defeating as being too lax. Flexible dieting on holidays or at social gatherings is often a better choice for those who have problems sticking to Keto long-term.

You didn't get fat because you ate a piece of chocolate cake on your birthday. But you do need to find some new comfort foods and recipes to replace your old favorites.

Once you're fat adapted, indulging in a few keto-alternatives can work to keep you solidly on plan.

One of the most favorite recipes out there that can help with sandwiches and burgers on Induction is Dr. Atkins Revolution Rolls. Originally created for Atkins 72, creative dieters have found lots of uses for these very low-carb buns. Made with eggs, they are similar to an angel-food cake.

Want to give them a whirl? Here's our recipe for Atkins 72 Revolution Rolls.

Strategy #4: Take Food Triggers Seriously

Since you've already gone off a low-carb diet before, you might want to start a food journal this time. Record how you felt before you ate, what you ate, your emotional state while eating, and how the food affected you for the next few hours.

Record how hungry you were before you ate, while you ate, and if the meal was satisfying, or just okay.

Were you hungry again in a couple of hours?

Did you polish off a full plate of food, but the sight of the kids reaching for a chocolate chip cookie a couple of hours later kicked your emotional hunger and cravings into gear?

You can learn a lot about yourself when you practice mindful eating and write things down.

Once you know what your food triggers are, what your eating patterns are like, you can develop practical and useful strategies to deal with those problems.

For example:

You might discover that you need to bring your own food with you when you go to parties. Or maybe decide to have Thanksgiving dinner or that fantastic Christmas party at your house.

Strategy #5: Consider Your Eating Style

Weight loss advice is only useful if it fits your personality, so don't listen to how others are doing Keto.

Look at yourself instead!

Do you enjoy lots of variety in meals? Or would you be happier eating the same simple menu almost every day?

A lot of ketogenic dieters eat only a small group of foods for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Then, give themselves a larger variety of choices for dinner.

But that doesn't work for everyone.

If taste is important to you, it's better to imitate the style you're used to eating, rather than try to make too many changes all at once. There is no reason why you have to give up low-carb snacks or stop munching while you watch your favorite TV show.

Just make those snacks and nibbles from the list of allowable foods and try to stay mindful about the volume of food you're eating.

Likewise, there's no reason why you have to eat the same foods everyday if you find that boring.

Take the time to create a menu that contains all of the low-carb foods that you love. When it comes to low carb, boredom is the kiss of death, so take the time to adapt your menu to your advantage.

Strategy #6: Stop Looking for Blame When you Cheat

The idea is to turn your diet into a lifestyle and start taking personal responsibility for your food choices, so you don't have to look for blame when you cheat. Everyone does what they feel is right, proper, or justified at the moment they do it, so you must have felt that eating that slice of pizza your hubby brought home on Friday night was the right thing to do.

Just accept that.

The bloating, nausea, and water retention after cheating are signs of a food sensitivity; most likely to:

• wheat
• gluten (wheat, barley, rye)
• or dairy products

Not the carbs!

You don't have to demonize carbohydrates. That only sets you up for an unhealthy, unrealistic relationship with food.

Carbohydrates are not the enemy.

There are lots of healthy, nutritious foods that contain carbs:

• brown rice
• sweet potatoes
• peas and carrots
• fruits and vegetables

These foods are not evil. Many people can eat them just fine without having physical symptoms that are uncomfortable.

If you can't, that's okay.

Pick yourself up. Step up to the plate. Take personal responsibility for backsliding. You did what you thought was right. You did what was important to you right then. Let it go and get right back on plan with your very next bite.

Strategy #7: Keep Treats for Special Occasions

One way to cut back on temptation is to keep your low-carb sweets and treats for special occasions. If you're still on Atkins Induction or your first month on Keto and thinking about low-carb desserts, cakes, cookies, pies, and sugar-free chocolate, then you aren't seriously looking at Keto as a lifestyle.

For second and third timers, adding low-carb treats too early in your recovery plan can be risky. You need to do a clean Induction by following all of the rules of your ketogenic diet plan, adding back in higher-carb foods when it's time to do that.

While it's not always a good idea to remain at 20-net carbs for too long, unless you're very sensitive to carbohydrate, low-carb products and baked goods are the quickest way to stall.

Most low-carb dieters cannot eat low-carb goodies all the time and continue to lose weight. In fact, some dieters cannot eat them at all.

So, it's best to keep the sweets for special occasions and concentrate on eating whole foods instead.

Strategy #8: Decide to Make This Your Final Restart

Going on and off of a low-carb diet doesn't work.

Each time you leave a low-carb diet, switch to higher carbs, and then come back, weight loss will be slower and more difficult to achieve. Metabolism slows and insulin resistance gets worse.

And eventually, the body rebels.

You have the knowledge and strength to accomplish your weight-loss goals, but you can't do that if you haven't empowered yourself to take control of your health and your life.

Dr. Atkins warned his readers not to move in and out of Induction because of the body's ability to adapt to what your eating. In 2002, he warned those who didn't value the principles and ideas he'd given them that the diet could actually backfire if misused:

“It's likely that your metabolism will adapt at a certain point – in a sense, developing a tolerance,” he wrote.

And the same holds true for yo-yo dieting.

You're setting up a pattern that the body is going to remember the next time you try to follow a low-carb diet.

Once the body adapts to a low-carb diet, there is no where left to go.

“People who repeatedly regain weight and go back to Induction sometimes find that they do not experience the dramatic and easy weight loss they originally enjoyed.”

So decide to make this your final restart.

Take control of your health and mind.

People do what they value, so do the mental work to make this decision permanent.

According to Dr. Atkins, the body pays a price when you consistently move back and forth between the two metabolic pathways.

“You may be in for a nasty surprise,” he wrote, as the diet won't always work the same way twice.

Deciding to make this your last restart will eliminate all worries about whether the diet is going to stop working for you at some point.

Strategy #9: Avoid the Scale

One of the most frustrating experiences for those returning to Keto is the scale.

The scale represents an ideal, which usually results from an expectation of how much you want to lose that day or week. The mind travels back to how things used to be, how easy the weight fell off the first time you did this, and when the scale tells a different story, you start looking for blame or beat yourself up.

Don't do that!

The number on the scale is just a number. The scale doesn't reveal how much body fat you've lost. It can only reveal your total weight at that second. Your total weight includes:

• skin
• bones
• water
• bodily fluids
• muscle
• undigested food

And other body cells and tissues. It's not just fat. And since we lose or gain water, hair, muscle, body cells, and other stuff, sometimes daily, scale weight is not an accurate measure of how well you're doing.

A better way of measuring your weight loss progress is to look at your clothes. Are they getting loser? Are they fitting you better than they did before?

Inches is what you're looking for.

Inches is what other people see when they look at you. People don't see pounds. People see you getting smaller in some way.

Additional questions to ask yourself:

• How do you feel? Better than before?
• Do you have an upsurge in energy?
• Are you still craving sweets?
• Is your appetite under control?
• How is your health doing?
• Are your cholesterol numbers good?
• Is your blood glucose level more steady?
• Has your indigestion or heart burn gone away?

There are a lot of different ways to judge your progress on Keto without the scale. Especially, since that number can control your mood and behavior for the whole day.

Strategy #10: Don't Ignore Hidden Carbs

Some people are able to look at a list of low-carb foods, pick foods from that list, and shed the amount of fat they want to lose each and every week without actually counting how many carbs they're eating.

But everyone isn't that lucky.

A lot of people have to be very picky when it comes to how many carbs per day they can eat and still ditch the body fat.

Plus, manufacturers don't make that chore very easy.

Serving sizes on the can, package, or carton can be deceptive and make it look like something doesn't have any carbs, when it does.

Heavy cream is a good example of that.

There are 6.6 grams of carbohydrates in a cup of heavy whipping cream. But the label says less than 1 gram per tablespoon. Some brands even claim zero carbs, since the carbs in a tablespoon of cream are less than 0.5 grams (0.4125 to be exact).

In addition to the hidden carbs in coffee, there are lots of carbs that dieters often forget to count.

One example is pouring that heavy cream from the carton straight into your cup of coffee without measuring it out.

The same goes for using those little packages of sugar substitute. Atkins recommends that you count each package of sugar substitute as 1 carb, due to the maltodextrin filler, and limit yourself to 3 servings per day, but Keto doesn't.

In fact, many low-carb dieters don't count sugar substitutes at all.

And while we're on the topic of coffee and sugar, there is a little more than 1 carb in an 8-ounce cup of coffee.

Who drinks only 1 cup?

My medium-sized travel mug holds double that. Because of the hidden carbs, many dieters have discovered that they are drinking their whole day's worth of carbs before they even get to their breakfast plate.

(For a deeper look at the carbs in coffee, check out our blog post on heavy cream.)

In addition, sugar-free beverages, such as Crystal Light, have 1.25 carbs per 8-ounce serving. That's 10 carbs in a 2-quart pitcher or 5 carbs if you reach for the 32-ounce sugar-free self-serve options at the gas station.

Granted a cup of flavored water isn't much by itself, but if you drink large quantities of soft drinks each and every day, even sugar free ones, the carbs can add up quickly.

Eggs are 0.6 grams each. Are you counting them?

What about all of those herbs and spices you're using to make Keto more appetizing?

Seasonings are not carb free. It's the small serving size that makes them appear to be benign. However, some seasonings, such as garlic power and onion powder, weigh in at 2 carbs per teaspoon.

In 1999, everyone was counting those herbs and spices, but today, I don't see that done very much.

What about sausages?

Are you reading the labels?

I see a lot of people recommending sausage and cheese for an on-the-go option. However, do you understand how many carbs are in a link of smoked sausage?

Quite a few because the serving size is a mere 2 ounces. You're going to eat double or triple that, for a meal, so make sure that you account for all of those carbs.

Many dieters ignore all of these carbohydrates, but the body does not. The body knows exactly how many carbs you've eaten or drank today. Pretending that these carbs don't exist won't help you.

Make a vow to pay attention to these hidden carbs, know what your daily limit is for weight loss, and stick to it.

Strategy #11: Don't Trust the Maximum Carbohydrate Level You Used Last Time

Don't depend on the carbohydrate number you used before.

Go through the steps that Atkins recommends for finding your upper critical carbohydrate level for losing. It might not be the same number that you used last time.

As the years go by, your sensitivity to carbohydrates might get worse. This is why it's vital to find those hidden carbs I talked about above and taking the steps to know exactly how much carbohydrate your body functions best on.

Don't just assume that because you were able to eat 40 carbs per day 5 years ago, that you'll be able to eat that much today. Check it out.

Strategy #12: Beware of Sugar Alcohols and Other Sugar Substitutes

This one cannot be stressed enough.

Sugar alcohols and most sugar substitutes are not calorie free. If you don't get sick from sugar alcohols, if you don't have embarrassing bathroom issues, you are metabolizing them to some extent.

The only exception to this is Erythritol. While Erythritol is absorbed into the body through the upper small intestines, the body can't use it, so it's dumped into the urine. Unlike other substitutes, symptoms from Erythritol are due to faulty absorption.

Also, pay attention to the bulking agents used in powdery or granulated substitutes. They are loaded with carbohydrates.

For example:

Bulk Splenda, the kind that measures cup for cup with sugar, comes with a massive 24 carbohydrates per cup. For that reason, many dieters have switched to using liquid forms of sugar substitute where it only takes a few drops to sweeten.

The downside to liquid sweeteners is that they don't provide the bulk that many baked goods need.

The One Golden Shot Theory

This topic doesn't come up very often anymore because low-carb experts have done their best to shoot down the theory. The theory says that you get one good shot to make a low-carb diet work for you, and that if you leave and come back, the diet won't work as well as it did before.

Each succeeding try gets more and more difficult until, eventually, Keto won't work at all.

I've been doing low carb off and on since 1975, and I can honestly say, that the One Golden Shot holds true for me. Plus, in the Atkins quotes above, Dr. Atkins believed that low carb could stop working if abused enough.

The first time I went low carb, I lost tons of weight with little effort. But each time I left Atkins and came back, it got harder. So if that's you, too, it's time to decide what you really want to do.

There's no shame in admitting that low carb isn't for you.