Why keto doesn’t work for some people over 50 (and how to fix it)

If you are over 50 and found that keto didn’t work for you, that might be because you tried an approach that wasn’t tailored to your age and personality.

Keto could be one of the most effective diet plans for people over 50, however, only if you do it right; so before you decide that keto doesn’t work, read on to learn five things that can cause people over 50 fail at keto, and how to fix them.

1.  You might be following a keto diet designed for younger people

Our eating habits tend to change over our lifetimes and other factors come into play as we get older too; such as where we carry excess fat, and how efficiently we metabolize food.

One of the main reasons people over 50 may fail at keto is that they’re trying to follow a keto diet designed for younger people, instead of one designed for their own age group.

While the basic principles of keto hold true for everyone, how they work in practice can be quite different. A regular keto diet “for everyone” tends to be based on the metabolism of younger people, and the ways in which the younger body metabolizes fat.

Therefore, all-purpose keto plans may not be the best option here. A personalized food plan is something drawn up just for you, while most generic keto diets and food plans are developed for “everyone,” with the hidden caveat that “everyone” is under 30.

It’s a little like finding something “one size fits all” when clothes shopping; for some of us, it might as well say “one size fits all, except some people.”

If you’re over 50 and failed at keto, you most likely tried a plan that not only wasn’t designed for you but was actually designed for someone very different from you; and that’s about as effective as trying to correct your eyesight by wearing someone else’s prescription glasses.

But with a personalized keto meal plan developed not just for people like you but for you personally, you can begin to see results and enjoy the foods you eat while you do.

2. Some of us are programmed to think that eating fatty food and losing weight are mutually exclusive

People our age have a lot of life experience and tend to have fairly fixed ideas about things as a result. And haven’t we all spent our whole lives being programmed to know that that eating fatty food is bad?

This type of mental barrier can be hard for over-50’s to get past, even for those who are really committed to making keto work. 

The idea of eating dietary fat to lose body fat does seem like a strange concept. Back when keto really began to gain traction, the whole idea of this was viewed with great suspicion.

However, a personalized keto diet plan can be not only effective, but also supported by hard science explaining why it is effective.

The ketogenic diet (to give it its formal name) was originally developed by doctors to help to control serious health conditions (like epilepsy).

Promising research is underway right now investigating the benefits of a ketogenic diet for a whole bunch of other health issues too, including Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease,¹ both of which are devastating health conditions most commonly diagnosed in the over-50s.

You might have prepped a keto meal with great precision, but if you’re used to the idea that eating fat and losing weight don’t mix, you might find it difficult to resist cutting out some of that same fat that your keto diet relies on.

If it sounds like eating fat feels like doing something wrong, consider giving it a couple of weeks to “get comfortable with being uncomfortable” where fat is concerned, and when the results begin to speak for themselves, you’ll find things get a whole lot easier.

3. You may not be ready to see it through

One of the main reasons that a keto diet appeals to a wide variety of people is because following a personalized keto diet plan produces the first noticeable results rather fast.

Most diets may result in a degree of weight loss over time, but they sometimes tend to take months before the results are visibly noticeable to you and other people.

However, following the right keto diet plan achieves noticeable results within just a month for most people; but it still doesn’t happen overnight.

Winning at keto takes time. You need to understand how the body responds to a keto diet and trust the process. It takes a while to get into a ketogenic state in the first place, and waiting for this to happen is usually the hardest part. This is why many over-50s drop out of keto before they’ve even given it a chance to work.

Most people don’t see a big change in their figure in the first couple of weeks following a keto diet plan. But when you achieve ketosis and then maintain an active keto state, that’s the point at which your weight loss becomes evident.

Keto can offer a direct route to maintainable, rapid weight loss, but you’re not going to wake up thin after a week!

4. You could be eating carbs without realizing it 

Most people could list a whole bunch of high-carb foods, like bread, pasta, and rice. As most people know, keto diet means you need to limit your intake of carbs, but carbs are present in a whole range of other less obvious foods too. Hidden carbs can completely sabotage your keto diet and slow your body’s journey into ketosis.

Foods like milk and innocent-seeming condiments like ketchup often have far more carbs than you’d think. Even prepared meats like salami and bacon, which seem like they should be a safe choice for keto, sometimes pack in more carbs than you’d expect depending on how they’re processed.

Following a personalized keto diet plan that’s designed to match your lifestyle and incorporate the foods you enjoy helps to avoid hidden carbs, and stay on track.

5. …Or maybe you’re just not ready to lose weight

This is a difficult subject for many over-50s to face; and nobody would ever deliberately start a diet with the intention of failing.

However, a lot of people may say that they want to lose weight, but what they really want is to be slim and look good, rather than actually put the work in to get there.

Many of us face pressure to slim down as we get older; from our adult kids, our physician, our partner; and anyone who is carrying just a few extra pounds may think that they “should” lose weight. This isn’t the same thing as wanting to lose weight though, and in turn, “wanting” isn’t the same as “doing.”

Not having the right motivations – could this be the main reason why over-50s fail at keto?

When this approach fails, the instinctive response from most people is “guess I’m at that age now where the weight just won’t come off,” or “It’s just how I am;” and all variants of “I tried keto and it doesn’t work.”

That’s when it’s time to ask yourself – am I serious about my diet? Am I willing to put in the work?

Keto works for over-50s just as effectively as it does for any other age group, and if you’re really serious about using it for weight loss, you should focus on balanced nutrition and get a personalized keto diet plan designed for you and follow it through.

Losing weight depends less on what’s in your fridge and more on what’s in your heart. If you’re ready to shed your excess pounds, keto may be the way to go.