Does this sound familiar to you? In hopes of shedding a few pounds, you’ve tried a number of weight-loss plans.
In spite of some success, your diligent efforts just aren’t providing the long-lasting results you’ve hoped for. If this does sound like you, the Lazy Keto Diet may be just what the nutritionist ordered.
Do You Even Keto?
You may have heard of the Atkins Diet or the Ketogenic Diet in the past, but you aren’t sure if it’s worth the effort. And the idea of a high-fat diet goes against everything you’ve learned about weight loss.
Like many nutrition-conscious people, I was also skeptical that a low-carb keto diet could really work. Aren’t cutting calories and tracking how many pounds you’re shedding important? And wouldn’t I be cutting important nutrients out of my diet?
Yet, the proof is in the pudding. After your body adjusts to this new way of eating, you’ll feel more energetic—and a healthy dose of low-carbohydrate fruit (yep, that’s totally allowed on Lazy Keto) and veggies pack a nutritional punch. Watching the pounds melt away made me a keto aficionado.
How Is a Keto Diet Different?
The principal behind the Ketogenic Diet is simple.
When people eat a carbohydrate-rich diet, the carbs are changed into glucose. Insulin then transfers this fuel into your bloodstream. On a keto diet, in contrast, carb consumption is kept to a minimum.
In its search for an alternate energy source, the body looks to fat. This diet gets its name from ketosis, the process by which the liver converts fatty acids to ketone bodies, or ketones, as a source of energy.
There are two main camps in the keto diet world: standard (or strict) keto and lazy keto.
Both types revolve around macronutrient intake. 75% of calories should come from fat, 20% from protein, and 5% from carbohydrates.
The latter of these components, carbs, are (according to us keto adherents) the “bad guys” of weight loss. Rather than focusing on calories, limiting fat, and pounds lost, this diet looks to slashing carbohydrate content as the key to successful weight management.
What Is A Lazy Keto Diet?
Despite its lethargic sounding name, Lazy Keto is not the couch potato of weight-loss plans. You don’t lay around eating junk food expecting to lose weight. Well, not quite.
Rather than keeping a physical record of everything you consume, you make a mental note of your macro intake.
Lazy Keto allows for flexibility with regard to specific food and drinks, as well as sugar-free sweeteners, processed foods, and various ingredients—provided you keep to your macro limits. This is no “one size fits all” diet; people do what works for them.
Those who cringe at the thought of keeping track of every bite of food they put in their mouth, as many strict keto followers do, can list the foods they regularly consume. Then, with the help of a quick Google search, it’s a simple matter to learn their macro content.
Many people find this approach way less stressful than the demanding rigidity often required by strict keto enthusiasts.
Hints for Lazy Keto Success
- When you begin, rice, pasta, and bread are okay (as long as you’re keeping the carb limit below 100 grams). Eat them only at breakfast or for lunch.
- Ditch the scale. That way, if the numbers don’t go the way you like, your day (or week) won’t be ruined. Instead, look in the mirror and see how your clothes fit and how much thinner you look.
- Keep the foods and ingredients you use often in stock and accessible.
- Avoid fruit, except for blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries. These are all low-carb and won't cause you to go over.
- Eat avocados. When participants in a study ate an avocado-rich diet, their LDL ("bad") cholesterol and triglyceride levels dropped by 22%. And their HDL ("good") cholesterol levels role by 11%.
- Low-carb veggies, especially spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, cucumbers, and lettuce, are a healthy part of a keto diet. Be sure to add olive (particularly extra virgin), avocado, or coconut oil for a fat boost.
- At the beginning of the diet, the “keto flu” is a common reaction. Replenishing electrolytes, keeping hydrated, reducing carbs gradually, getting enough sleep, and passing up on strenuous exercise can keep its flu-mimicking symptoms at bay.
- Especially in the beginning, plan meals and snacks. That way, you won’t be tempted to indulge in something you shouldn’t
- What works for you might not benefit someone else. You may be able to eat red meat and shed pounds, but your neighbor can’t
- Sugar-free gum and candies can ease a dry mouth, and the former helps with the bad breath that sometimes occurs.
- Spending too much time and energy making gourmet dishes will lead to burnout. Simplicity is key.
- Enjoy this new way of eating. Check out new keto recipes. Stay curious and open-minded.
Simple Lazy Keto Recipe Ideas
Easy Keto Tuna Wrap
Keto Skippy P.B. Bites
Keto Chicken Nuggets
A lazy keto diet may just be your ticket to a thinner, more energetic, healthier you. Taking things slowly, adding low-carb fruit and veggies to snacks and meals, and learning what works—and what doesn’t—for you, and experimenting with easy-to-prepare recipes are ingredients for success.
If you have any questions or would like to know more, please leave a comment. Also, if you have a favorite Lazy Keto recipe, we’d love to add it to the list.
Here’s to your health!
4 thoughts on “What Is Lazy Keto? A Super Simple Approach To Low Carb”
What do you think about Maria Emmerich advice on Keto
I have read several of Maria’s books and she is very knowledgable on the ketogenic diet. If your goal is simply to lose weight (that’s about 90% of people who embark on a keto diet), I feel her methodology is a little too strict for most to have long term success. Remember, the best diet is the one you stick to!
Hi. My name is jhon muriel. I started on keto diet since june 1 but i have been on lazy keto since the last monday 06/14/19, i still learning a lot and i want the best for me.
My macro say dont go over 1800 calories a day but i always eat around 2500 to 3000, so my question is do the calories count on lazy keto?
Macro:
Fat 137g
Protein 110g
Net carbs 20g
Net calories 1748
Today was: 249g fat, 115g protein, 10g net carbs and 2839 calories.
I appreciate any help
Hi Jhon, it sounds like you are over your calorie and fat intake by quite a bit. If you are not losing weight, I would begin by reducing daily calories and fat. Lazy keto works for many because the fat is so satiating but going over on calories as you have will definitely stall weight loss.