An Effective Weight Loss Trick: Making Your Own Meals

by Christina Ranon — July 11, 2008

The other day I was looking at my magazine rack, and it occurred to me that the only two magazines I subscribe to are Women's Health and Cook's Illustrated. When I mentioned to my husband that these seemed diametrically opposed to each other, he pointed out that they weren't really so antithetical, since people who cook their own meals from scratch probably end up eating fewer calories.

One of the biggest challenges to sustained weight maintenance or weight loss is the diet part of the "diet and exercise" equation. It's easy to get sick of low-calorie, healthy sorts of foods. One advantage to making your own meals from scratch is that you always know exactly what goes into them and you can easily find out how many calories they have. In recent national restaurant tests, some dishes actually contain up to 1000 more calories than the menu claims, so it can be difficult to rely on calorie counts when you go out to eat.

You can partly avoid the time-consuming aspect of making your own meals by looking for quick recipes that you can make in large batches and store easily, and by making small changes - one extra cooked meal a week can make a difference, especially if you can bring leftovers to work instead of go out for lunch.

A good start to incorporating more homemade dishes into your diet is to try cooking your favorite meals. One of my favorite foods is cheeseburgers, but I have them most often at home. I can grill 93% fat free ground beef with Tabasco sauce, hamburger seasonings, and a slice of Swiss cheese or shredded cheddar, toss it on a small low-calorie bun, and have a non-guilt-inducing meal that took about 15 minutes to make.