What is Lazy Keto? – My Lazy Journey – Week 1

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I’ve said on here many times that WW is my go-to diet. I’ve lost 40 lbs on WW and have managed to keep it off…mostly, but I am not done losing and I’m in a rut! I moved to a different state last summer and a life change like that really messes with your diet routine. It was making me crazy that I haven’t lost anything in months. I lose a pound, I gain it back. If you’re a dieter you know how discouraging that is. So I decided I needed to mix it up a little and try a low-carb diet. Follow along as I share my Lazy Keto Journey – Week 1 with you.

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I was on TikTok just looking around a couple of weeks ago and I kept coming across these Lazy Keto recipes. I know what keto is, but what is Lazy Keto?? Any time I can take a lazy approach to something, I’m in! 🙂 Who knew there was a version of the keto diet for lazy people! I did a little research and decided to see if this is something that might kick start my weight loss again. I am still a big believer in WW, and will probably go back to it after this journey, but for now I’m going to try this.

A keto diet has always been odd to me because it allows high fat food choices like cheese, sour cream, and cream cheese. That is so not Weight Watchers! I just need to change my mindset a bit.

What is Lazy Keto?

To back up a bit, in case you’re not familiar with Lazy Keto, it is a simplified version of the traditional keto diet, also known as the strict keto diet or clean diet. From what I gather, Lazy Keto promotes healthy choices but allows the convenience of just focusing on net carbs instead of also tracking protein, fat and calories. Most but not all websites agree that the goal is to limit your net carb intake to 20-50 grams per day. And because Lazy Keto promotes healthy carbs, healthy fats, and discourages things like starchy vegetables it aligns with your overall health. By the way, this definition of Lazy Keto is probably one of a gazillion on the internet. I did a lot of reading and this is my interpretation of it.

And there’s a Dirty Keto too?

In my research I found that there is also a Dirty Keto version of the keto diet. The distinction is dependent on where you do your research. Lazy and Dirty are very similar. It just sounds like the Dirty Keto diet has one goal…less than 50 carbs a day. Eat whatever you want, as long as it stays within that 20-50 grams of carbs, regardless of the potential lack of health benefits. That seems to be the main difference. If you want to eat a fast food hamburger without the bun every day, no problem on the Dirty Keto plan.

I see on some websites that there are people that combine these into a Dirty Lazy Keto diet, but that sounds counterintuitive to me! Nope. That’s more than my little brain wants to worry about…

There’s an app for that!

I wanted to see if there was an app similar to the WW app that tracks the carbs for you. The WW app is so convenient. You can scan foods in the grocery store, build recipes, or type in a food and it breaks it all out for you. I was hoping but doubtful that I would find something like that for Lazy Keto and I’m so glad I was wrong! I found an app called Carb Manager that was exactly what I was looking for. It reminded me so much of the WW app, having the same features and conveniences.

My approach

So the ultimate goal is to limit my carb intake and adopt this low carb lifestyle. I’m not really focused on getting into a state of ketosis, I just want to lose weight!

I wasn’t sure the best way to approach it but downloading that Carb Manager app made it really easy. I opted for the free version for now. But the free version is really robust! I went in and set up my account. The goal on Lazy Keto is 20-50 net carbs a day, but there’s a big difference between 20 and 50 so I wanted to see if there was a guideline based on my goals…and there was. You can select your macronutrients (carbs, protein, fat ratio) and because I didn’t have a clue, I chose the top one, Keto.

That told me how many net carbs to eat in a day…plus so much more! Regardless if you want to track all of these, it gives you the net carbs, protein and fat goals for the day. By the way, if you don’t know what a net carb is, it’s carbs minus fiber and sugar alcohols.

Once I started playing around in the app I found that you can scan food at the grocery store. I knew this was exactly the tool I need because I am a crunchy, salty, sweet girl all the way and I’m going to have to find these items at the store. I know they’re pre-packaged and not as healthy, but if I want to sustain this for any length of time, I want my crunchy, salty, sweet snacks. Huh, but in Lazy Keto you look for healthier carbs. So am I Lazy…am I Dirty…am I Lazy Dirty? I think I’m having an identity crisis.

I fully intend to start creating keto friendly, easy recipes and Lazy Keto meal ideas, and posting them on this blog just like I do for WW, but as I’m starting out I’m going for convenience…which makes me Lazy Keto again. Sigh…

My first shopping trip…

Just like every other new project in my life, whether it be a craft project, DIY, or diet…my first shopping trip, I went all in. Last weekend I went to Costco and Walmart and spent an obscene amount of money on keto friendly foods, low carb foods, snacks, meals, sweets…everything I could find. I want to taste-test it all! I was obsessively using my new app to scan every item that had the word keto in it! As you can see, I went a little overboard. And here’s a little something I discovered. Keto friendly snacks are EXPENSIVE!

Sadly, these pictures don’t show everything I bought! I spent a total of $245.77 at Costco and $233.69 at Walmart. Ridiculous! Overkill is one of my many flaws… It’s going to take me weeks to try all of these things! I will give you my honest review once I pick through them.

Not everyone has access to Costco, so here are some Amazon links to some of the things I bought:

And a couple of things that I also found on Amazon and ordered…

Some early reviews…

A couple of things I bought at Costco that aren’t pictured are the La Terra Fina artichoke & jalapeno dip, and the chicken breast bites. They were both amazing! I am not a spicy girl, but I took a chance on the jalapeno and it wasn’t spicy at all. Just gave it a really good flavor. It’s a pretty big container and was $8.99.

The chicken comes in 10 individual packs. I froze some and kept some out. It was so good. Juicy, tender and has that slight taste of grill. The 10-pack was pretty expensive…$17.99!

On my very first day, which was last Sunday May 1, I had a little plate of chicken and artichoke dip for lunch. It was delicious! I just put a little of the dip on my fork and then added the piece of chicken to it. The perfect bite!

Then I went onto the app and logged those foods.

That night I tried the Keto ice cream bars, not looking for a miracle but hoping they taste good. They were SO good. They aren’t terribly creamy, but the flavor is very good. Again, expensive. $11.99 for 12.

And I again tracked it in the app…

Once you log your food, there’s a goals section on the dashboard that shows you how many net carbs you have left for the day…plus protein, fat and calorie if you want to track them. I’ve decided to track them all and stay within the daily range as best I can. I know, I know…Lazy and Dirty people don’t do that. But I like the idea of conveniently seeing what my calorie intake is and how much protein and how much fat I’m eating.

What on earth is the Keto Flu?

As I mentioned, I started this diet last Sunday. By Tuesday I noticed my stomach churning a little bit. No other symptoms, just a churning stomach and some gas. Tuesday night I had a bit of diarrhea. Nothing terrible, just noticeable because I’m almost always constipated! Sorry, TMI.

Thursday morning I woke up and felt a little draggy. Not sick, just not a lot of energy. I went online to self diagnose like I always do, and I might have been experiencing Keto Flu!! I wasn’t that surprised. Any time you try a new diet, it can mess with your system. There are lots of symptoms of Keto Flu and you can have many, a few or none. Things like fatigue, constipation, diarrhea, dizziness, muscle cramps, even nausea and vomiting are some of the symptoms.

Apparently, one of the reasons for the flu symptoms is your body is used to getting it’s energy through carbs. When you take that away, it has to find other ways to get it. That’s when the liver kicks in! That’s as far as I’m going on what I learned. I’m by no means an expert. Just sharing some online tidbits.

So after learning all this I just assumed my symptoms are normal and went on with my week. Oh, I should probably mention one more thing. I also learned that reducing your carbs can have an effect on your electrolytes and that can be part of the dragginess or light headedness. I have low blood pressure so I sometimes take an electrolyte supplement, like this one. Actually that’s the one I take. So when I woke up with low energy I took a packet and felt fine after that. They’re definitely not cheap, but they work.

Results of my Lazy Keto Journey – Week 1

This is the part I’m sure most people are interested in. Did it work!? It did! I weighed in this morning (Saturday) and was down 5.4 lbs. Technically that was a 6 day loss since I started on Sunday but from now on I’ll weigh in on Saturdays. My calorie intake was under the goal every day this week which was surprising.

So is the keto lifestyle for me? Well, I’m not sure which keto version I’m on, but for now it is. I’ll just have to see if I can sustain a low carb diet long term. Time will tell.

On to the next week…which will be a challenge because I’m spending the whole week out of town for work.

I’ll share more info about what specifically I eat in the coming weeks. Let me know if there are other things about my experience that would be helpful to share.

Happy tinkering,

Susan