I don’t know about you, but I hate to exercise. The weights, the damn treadmill, all of it. But I do it. Five to six times a week, starting at 5:15am. Why? I have made it a habit.  If you had asked me ten years ago, when I was in my early fifties, if I would consider hitting the gym this way I would have laughed at you. But over the years I saw the difference that it made in my body, and that made me push myself more and more. Now I don’t even think twice about going to the gym – it’s automatic, it’s what I do, it’s a habit.

Recently I seemed to have hit a plateau where I wasn’t completely happy with how I looked given my diligent exercise regime and healthy diet. What the heck do I need to do, hit the gym twice a day?? Maybe if I was a lady of leisure, but that sure isn’t the case…Hmmm, what’s this KETO diet I keep hearing about? Could that help me drop a few pounds to look and feel better?

Time to do research and find out what this is all about. After doing my homework, I thought this Keto diet was insane – 75-80% of your diet from fats??? No way! And that can’t be good for you! Oh well, so I wasted $25 on these magazines…

But as the weeks went on I heard people talking about their Keto success stories and thought that perhaps that I didn’t give it a fair chance. Long story short: I am not doing true Keto, but I am doing what they call ‘Lazy Keto’. What’s that you say? See below, excerpted from health.com…

Ok, so I don’t have to put butter in my coffee, I don’t have to snack on pork rinds! Just drastically cut carbs?? Sounds like something I could do….September 2nd was day one for me, and I am writing this on October 2nd. Eliminating most carbs took some getting used to, but I have made adjustments: full fat plain yogurt instead of flavored, walnuts/almonds for a snack instead of popcorn, etc… It has been easy enough to follow and I am never ‘starving’. Another pleasant surprise: while I have cut back on alcohol, I still am enjoying wine or low carb cocktails 3-4 nights/week, so I didn’t have to give up booze. 😉

You want to know how much weight I have lost?

NONE. :-0 BUT – I definitely see a significant difference in my appearance (stomach, hips) and my clothes are noticeably looser. I don’t quite understand this, but I really don’t care what the scale says if I am happy with how I look. Maybe tomorrow the scale will drop 5 lbs??? Doesn’t matter either way.

The Bottom Line: This is not a temporary diet I am on, this will be my new HABIT. Not that I won’t ever eat carbs again – of course I will – but my daily routine will be protein, veggies, healthy fats, and minimal carbs. ‘Lazy Keto’ seems to work for me.

There are so many different healthy habits and not any one in particular is the answer for everybody. There are different diet plans, and different ways to exercise. Once you make up your mind on what works for you, the most important next step is to make them HABITS. With consistent healthy habits and the passing of time, you will see results.

Are YOU ready to initiate some new healthy habits??? What’s YOUR plan?

PS: I try not to make these blog posts too long, so I did not go into detail on what my meals currently consist of. (At home and in restaurants) If you want to know, please ask in the comment section. If a few of you are interested I will do another post with more specifics.

Have a great weekend!