So, the spring is moving along a lot more quickly than it usually does, so I’m ready to share this year’s fast meals for weight loss.  I’m hoping to make this something I do maybe every season or at least every year. It’s a great way to freshen up what we’re eating without taking any more time. After all, who has extra time? If I had extra time, I’d be doing something a lot more fun than chopping vegetables. It’s baking I love!

Why I Focus on Fast Meals for Weight Loss

Here’s how I’m thinking about the way I’m eating right now. I want to clean it up from what it was during last year. I want it to have more nutrition – veggies, fiber, the whole thing – but at the same time, I need this food to come with the same convenience as a frozen dinner or drive-thru.

A 2017 study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity showed that adults who have at least 5 home cooked meals per week were over 28 percent less likely to be overweight than people who cooked at home less than three times per week.  So, you can see why I’m seeing the motivation to get some home cooking done!  Home cooks also had a 24 percent lower chance of having excess body fat. I definitely have some excess body fat – not yet to the point that I’m looking for an Adipex alternative, but definitely overweight – so it’s time for me to focus on being a home cook.

My 5 Hacks to Make Fast Meals for Weight Loss Easy

1. Cook at least twice as much as I need – If I cook double or triple batches, then I have enough food to serve more than once. I’ve cooked once but get to eat two or three times. My favorite strategy for fast meals for weight loss is to cook a triple batch. I’ll eat the first one that night, freeze one batch for another day, skip a night, and eat the remaining batch after a day has passed.  Alternately, I can split that last batch in half and have two lunches out of it.
2. Chop veggies in advance when possible – It’s not the actual cooking that I don’t like doing. I don’t mind throwing veggies in a pan to give them a quick sauté. That never takes too long and doesn’t feel like effort. Chopping them, on the other hand…you might as well ask me for the moon at the end of a day. However, if I’m already doing the chopping, I can always do up some extra veggies for the next day or – in some cases – two days later. That way, it’s all done and convenient.
3. Cook the grains – Just like chopping veggies makes me more likely to cook them, the same can be said for cooking grains. I’ll cook up brown rice or quinoa, so it’s just got to be stirred in or microwaved at dinnertime. That said, couscous is so fast and easy I don’t bother doing it early. That’s a lazy cook’s dream!
4. Use a pressure cooker – Yes, I got an Instant Pot and yes, I’m one of those annoying people who is in love with it and talks about it all the time. It’s not just that it cooks everything fast. It’s that I can sautée, then cook in it and have only one pot. That’s the easiest cleanup in the world. Plus, unlike my slow cooker, I can lift the insert out of it without grunting.
5. Cook with eggs – At least once per week, my protein is eggs. It’s like they were made for fast meals for weight loss. They’re superfoods, have only 100-ish calories each, taste amazing with everything and they’re cooked in seconds!