Perhaps you’ve been tempted at points during your keto journey to step on a scale and quantify the success of your efforts. If so, remember this:
Your body has numerous factors that promote homeostasis1, which makes losing weight far more complicated than maintaining weight. Eating and exercising while in ketosis will generate positive long-term lifestyle benefits of improved health and energy levels, reduced disease risk, and easier weight management. However, it's unlikely that your Keto efforts will produce orderly, linear results. More than likely, you may experience seasons, when certain weeks or months produce very noticeable results, and other seasons pass with nothing to show for it.
Due to hydration and water retention variation related to your circadian rhythm and exercise regimen, your daily weight can fluctuate by as much as five pounds. Also, positive changes in body composition from Keto eating and exercise are often reflected by increased lean mass and reduced body fat. So, getting leaner and fitter can result in no change on the scale, but very noticeable changes in your body. It is wise to focus on the LGN (Looking Good Naked) or WSP (Wearing Smaller Pants) parameters more than the scale when it comes to measuring your fitness and body composition progress. I encourage taking pictures in the same outfit quarterly.
As you continue your keto lifestyle in the months ahead, you may experience some fitness and weight loss plateaus that are perfectly natural, predictable, and healthy. It’s critical to adopt a long-term view of living this way. Go ahead and step on the scale but make it once a year on your birthday instead of three times a day!
1Homeostasis: The ability and tendency of certain systems to maintain a relatively constant internal state in spite of changes in external conditions.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition