3 Massive Kitchen Mistakes Busy People Make That Make Weight Loss Nearly Impossible.

Let's face it, we all lead busy lives these days, and it can be tricky to eat healthily, especially when you come home tired after a long day and the thought of having to prepare and cook a meal makes you want to call for take out, or grab a frozen pizza on the way home. And if your work keeps you on the road a lot, your nutrition during the day probably wasn't the best either, as you're rushing to try and beat traffic and deadlines.

I get it, believe me i get: during the summer (when i focus more on doing performances than on training) I frequently drive around 1,000kms over a weekend, and one day this summer i covered more than 700kms in a single day! To be honest, even though I was fairly well prepared, I still ended up having more petrol station coffee and pastries than I should that day. Nobody's perfect; we just do the best we can with what we know, and learn from our mistakes so when we know better, we do better!

In general though, when you plan ahead, you have a better chance of making food choices that will support your weight loss, instead of causing you to gain more weight. With that in mind, here are 3 massive kitchen mistakes you could be making right now that will totally sabotage your chances of successful weight loss.

3. Fast Food Focus
When you're tired, you just want something quick. Store bought ready-to-eat meals in the freezer, and the toaster in a prominent place on the counter are 2 sure fire signs the focus of this kitchen is on quick satisfaction of hunger, rather than fueling the body it needs to meet the strains and demands you're putting it under. If you've got boxes of breakfast cereals on the counter as well, that's a hat-trick of habits that will hinder you in reducing your waistline.


2. Poor Pantry.
If you don't have quick access to good quality nutrients, then you're going to eat crap. Once you're hungry enough, you just want food, and the quality becomes less important. A well stocked pantry should have lots of basic ingredients, and very few jars or packets of sauces. A wide variety of herbs and seasonings is great, but every pantry should have at least the basics: a black pepper mill, sea salt or mineral salt, mixed herbs, turmeric, paprika and chilli powder or cayenne pepper. All of these will have effects (from flavour enhancers to fat burners) that will be helpful to you in your mission to get rid of unwanted fat. Some spices that are also useful to have are cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and whole cloves (effects ranging from stabilising blood sugar to anti-inflammatory).


1. No Meal Prep Plan.
You may not realise it, but you probably already kind of have a meal plan if you do a 'main' grocery shop. Thats where you get most of your supplies for the week in one or 2 shopping trips during the week (or month) and just 'top up' with things like dairy or bread as and when you need them. What you buy in the shop will be the basis for your meals during the week, so it you don't buy any green veggies, you're damned unlikely to be having a salad with dinner. We tend to be creatures of habit, and have the same things fairly regularly. That's great when you eat healthily, but not so good if you don't, or if the balance of healthy food is being tipped over the edge by too much junk.

Once you think a bit about your week ahead, meal planning gets a lot easier; you can plan the meals with the least preparation for the evenings you're most likely to be exhausted. Better yet, make enough extra in advance of that day so you only have to reheat it when you get in from work. Some meals will keep well in the freezer, especially soups, stews and curries, so it's always worth doing  a couple of extra portions of these to have in the freezer. Even simple steps like chopping a spare portion of veggies for the fridge make cooking the next healthy meal easier.

Meal planning isn't only about cooking though. The bigger the plate, the bigger the portion you'll put on it. Also plan where you're going to eat, and for the love of god, plan to eat with the telly turned off; the same goes for all your devices.. laptop, tablet, phone... they can all manage without you for 30 minutes.