Kitchen Hacks to Increase Your Weight Loss Success

Lisa Franchi September 02, 2015

It’s been two weeks since you last visited your favourite restaurant. You also quit eating junk food and cut back on alcohol. What’s more, you’ve signed up for a gym membership. You are feeling better. You know your chances of losing weight is getting higher each day. But one Friday afternoon you came home – hungry and tired. You went straight ahead to the kitchen. Unfortunately, what you had is leftover prepacked food and some sausages. You know they could sabotage your weight loss efforts. But you have no choice. You are very hungry. And before you realise it, you’ve already chowed down the very last piece.

Yes, your very own kitchen may be sabotaging your weight loss efforts. So here are some simple tricks to make your kitchen work for you and double your chances of weight loss success.

Make it a happy place.

You won’t be motivated to prepare your own meals when your kitchen looks dirty and disorganised. So the very first, and most important tip is to make it neat, convenient and happy place. Make your kitchen a place where you want to spend time in, not a place to be stressed about. Not only does preparing a healthy meal help you shed some excess pounds, it can also be great therapy at the end of a stressful day.

Make the greens visible.

Once you’re done reorganising your pantry, the next thing you want to do is to ensure that the healthy stuff is seen first. If you normally store the veggies and fruits inside your bottom drawers, consider placing it in plain sight. So the next time hunger strikes, you can easily reach out for a fruit or some vegetables to use for making a salad, than some leftover pizza.

Keep small and large serving plates.

You probably read somewhere that using smaller plates can help you reduce your calorie intake. And that’s true. But another research reveals that people who used large plates for vegetables and salads tend to increase their intake of the healthy stuff. So here’s a good tip: keep small and large plates in your cupboard. But use them wisely. Opt for smaller plates when eating dinner or some not-so-healthy food, then large plates for the healthier ones.

Hide the unhealthy stuff.

You probably have some reserved cookies, crisps, and other sugary, fatty goodies in your pantry. You don’t have to throw them into the trash bin. Research shows that occasional indulgence can actually help us lose weight more effectively than totally suppressing ourselves with our favourite unhealthy treats. But a good strategy is to keep them somewhere that’s hard to reach, like in the top shelf of your kitchen cabinet, and place them in opaque containers. Take note that when you are hungry, your craving for unhealthy, sugary food is higher than usual, and your willpower dips. So chances are, if you see cookies first than the fruit or vegetable, you end up snacking on it.

Measure up.

Keeping measuring cups and spoons to ensure portion control is really a great idea and won’t take much of your time. Most of us tend to overestimate our portion sizes. You may really need measuring stuff at first but as soon as you become accustomed to the right portion size for your meals, you won’t need them anymore.

So that’s it! Hope these simple kitchen hacks are a big help to your weight loss success. Losing weight may not be easy, but with the right mind set and preparation, you can achieve it.