Comparing Your Keto Weight Loss on Social Media Can Be Worse Than the Scale
Everybody says don't obsess over the scale, and I agree. In this two-minute video I said something I thought was even more damaging: scrolling a keto group full of other people's best days.
In this video
- [0:00] People warn against weighing yourself all the time. I agree, and I think social media, especially keto groups, can be worse.
- [0:30] Not everything posted is true. Some people stretch their starting weight, how long they've been on the diet, or how many dress sizes they've lost.
- [1:00] Feeds are cherry-picked. When most of what you see is everyone's most dramatic improvement, your average day almost always looks like failure by comparison.
- [1:00] Some posted rates of loss aren't reasonable or healthy. Nobody questions them because it isn't polite, and some may come from crash dieting or an eating disorder.
- [1:30] Starting points differ. Someone coming off a high junk-food, high fast-food, high-salt diet will see more dramatic early results.
- [2:00] Watch how much you look at social media the same way you watch how much you look at the scale.
Watching this in 2026: I kept saying it
This wasn't a one-off. Nine months later, in the 2018 basics video, I said it again more bluntly: don't compare yourself to social media, those people are cherry-picking, and some are lying (video UygKGoP_BtA). In my first long Q&A I asked people to stop posting weight-loss numbers from under 30 days at all, because most of it is water (video cTGYIFOTPl8).
Two days before this video I'd posted one myself going the other way: a day I gained five pounds overnight, because nobody posts on the day they gain (video f9P8BPWHc4U). That was the point of both videos. The feed shows the downhill days and hides the flat and uphill ones.
The point worth unpacking: different starting lines
The part of this video I'd underline now is the baseline. If you'd already cut out sugary foods and weren't overeating before keto, you've already banked some of the early change. Someone who goes straight from fast food to keto has more water and salt to drop in week one, so their first photo comparison looks spectacular.
That's not them doing keto better. It's them starting further back. In the basics video I put the first-week drop down to glycogen and the water stored with it, about 4.4 lb by my arithmetic, and said weeks two to four are often nearly flat (video UygKGoP_BtA).
What the trials show about normal results
The evidence pages are a useful antidote to the feed, because trials report averages, including everyone who struggled.
In the DIETFITS trial, 609 adults followed either a healthy low-fat or a healthy low-carb diet for 12 months. Average loss was 5.3 kg on low-fat and 6.0 kg on low-carb, and the difference wasn't significant (Gardner 2018). In an earlier trial of 63 adults, the low-carb group lost more at three and six months, but the difference wasn't significant at 12 months, and many people dropped out of both arms (Foster 2003).
Those are averages over a year, not the best result in the group. If your year looks more like the trial than the feed, you're normal. In the basics video I said to expect something like half a pound a week from month two, with some people losing one to two pounds a week (video UygKGoP_BtA). That's the scale I'd still compare yourself to.
When a posted result is a warning sign
I said in this video that some of the rates people post may come from crash dieting or disordered eating, and that you shouldn't idolise them without knowing their situation (video dNUvzMl-OEU). That's the line I'd keep front and centre.
If you have a history of an eating disorder, or you notice the feed pulling you toward skipping meals, purging, or feeling panic about the scale, that's a reason to talk to your doctor or a therapist before going further with any restrictive diet, keto included.
What to watch instead
- Photos from day one. In the basics video I asked people to take them at the start, because appearance often changes more than the scale suggests (video UygKGoP_BtA).
- A tape measure or string. Inches can move when the scale doesn't.
- Weekly or monthly weigh-ins, not daily.
- Your own trend line against your own start.
Key points
- A keto group feed is a highlight reel: best days, biggest drops, sometimes stretched numbers.
- Starting points differ; a big first week often means more water and salt to lose, not a better diet.
- Year-long trials show modest average losses; that's the realistic comparison.
- Some posted rates may come from crash dieting or disordered eating; don't use them as a target.
- Limit scrolling the way you'd limit weighing yourself.
Related
- Guide: Non-scale progress · Water weight · Timeline · Eating disorders
- Blog: Comparing weight loss on social media · Realistic weight-loss goals · How often to weigh yourself · Keto forums and confirmation bias · Clean eating and orthorexia · Losing inches, not weight
- Videos: I gained 5 pounds · Keto basics for beginners · Beginner questions from a random guy