You have probably heard of the work that goes into following a ketogenic diet. You have to track all your macros: carbs, fat, and protein. Every day, every meal.
For some, this task is manageable, but for others, not so much. If you are among the latter, there is an option that may work for you. It is a fairly new style of eating known as lazy keto.
A traditional ketogenic diet requires you to know how much fat, carbs, and protein you are eating. The lazy ketogenic diet gets this work and reduces it to a third by only asking you to know how many carbs you are eating.
If you are curious about this style of eating, keep reading to find out how a lazy keto meal plan works. In this article, we discuss the benefits, drawbacks, tips, and foods to consider while starting out. Plus, you will also get a free 1-day sample menu plan.
Lazy keto is a low-carb high-fat diet that focuses on the number of carbs consumed instead of all three macronutrients.
On this diet, you can eat any amount of protein and fat as long as you keep your daily net carbs below 20-50 g. The goal of this way of eating is to reduce the stress that comes with having to track all your macros.
By not requiring you to monitor your intake of protein or fat, this ketogenic diet is much easier to follow.
However, the diet still advocates for eating mostly whole foods and minimizing processed foods and listen closely to your hunger and satiety cues to stop you from overeating.
For this reason, lazy keto should not be mistaken for dirty keto. The term "dirty" means that one can eat anything as long as it is low-carb. Hot dogs, bacon, and processed low-carb snacks can all be staples on dirty keto, but not on this diet.
The main advantage of this style over a regular ketogenic eating plan is its less restrictive nature. On it, you have more freedom with high-protein foods or meals.
In addition to more flexibility, the diet also reduces the work needed to count all your macros. It requires a third of the effort required for the regular ketogenic diet.
Muscle growth and maintenance. The diet supports easier muscle growth by allowing you to eat as much protein as you wish.
If followed correctly, this style of low-carb living can also give you all the health benefits a regular ketogenic diet can give you. Some of these include:
In addition to these downsides, the diet also comes with the drawbacks of a regular ketogenic diet like:
How you start this diet depends on what type of eating plan you are currently on. If you have been on a high-fat low-carb eating plan and just want more freedom with your meals, you have less work to do.
However, if you have been eating a regular high-carb diet, you have got some work to do despite it being a “lazy” diet. If this is your first time trying out this lifestyle, here are some tips:
The foods to eat and eliminate on a lazy ketogenic diet do not differ from those on a regular ketogenic diet.
Just like a normal ketogenic diet, you should avoid high-carb and highly processed foods like bread, pasta, cookies, rice, and sugar-sweetened beverages like soda, tea, and coffee.
Instead of these foods, you must focus on low-carb high-fat foods like:
While shopping, some of the items you can pick up include:
If you are sold on the idea of a more flexible low-carb way of life, try out this sample lazy keto meal plan for one day.
Calories: 2,217 | Net carbs: 39.4 g
These meals also include 183.4 g of fat and 82.1 g of protein.
If you still have questions about how to approach lazy keto, don't worry. Keep reading as we answer the most common ones.
Yes, you can lose weight on a lazy low-carb diet.
As long as you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight.
The weight one loses on any diet depends on many factors, for example starting weight, calories consumed, level of physical activity, and quality of foods consumed.
You can lose up to 10 lb in your first month on a lazy low-carb meal plan. On average, one loses about 2 to 4 lb a month on keto.
However, keep in mind that weight loss is only one aspect of improving your health. As long as your health is improving, do not worry so much about how fast you are losing weight.
No.
The lazy style of keto is about giving you freedom around fat and protein and only counting carbs, while dirty keto gives you the freedom to eat whatever you want as long as it fits all three of your macros.
The lazy style still encourages eating healthy, whole, and minimally processed foods while the dirty style doesn’t.
Yes. If you follow the diet correctly, it can give you as many health benefits as a regular ketogenic diet.
On a lazy ketogenic diet, you still have to limit your net carbs to 20 to 50 g per day.
With regard to carbs, the diet maintains the same rules as a regular ketogenic diet.
Yes, you can.
You, however, have to be aware of the added restriction intermittent fasting will add to your diet. Doing a lazy ketogenic diet together with intermittent fasting can especially be beneficial to those looking to lose weight.
