When we talk about weight loss, we often talk in terms of calories consumed, calories burned and ways to burn said calories. Yet we often forget about the first step in the process of eating healthy; grocery shopping for weight loss!

{If you’re not careful at the market you’ll have tons of high calorie items you don’t need or want!}

Buying the right foods and planning healthy recipes is how you consume fewer calories, so keep reading for 6 tips that will help you avoid tried & true grocery store gimmicks.

Plan Meals

Planning meals ahead of time may seem like a headache, but by choosing what you want before you’re “dying of starvation” will force you to eat healthier meals. Planning meals while you’re thinking about weight loss is much easier than planning meals while staring into an aisle packed with chips, cookies and soda.

Grab a sheet of paper and plan what you’d like to eat for the next 7-10 days. Be as specific or as generic (fish & veg) as you choose…for now.

{Let the pros help you create healthy meals for weight loss!}

If you aren’t much of a cook, consult cookbooks, cooking shows or online recipes for healthy meals.

Always Be Prepared

Once you have your preliminary menu for the week, shopping for weight loss becomes much easier. Take your menu and make a shopping list that includes all the items you’ll need to make each meal for the week. A comprehensive list will help avoid unnecessary trips back to the store, which can lead to unintended purchases.

By having a list and vowing to stick to that list you will only purchase items that you need, rather than sugary, high calorie foods you can do without.

If you take the mindset that you knew exactly what you wanted and needed when you made the list, there’s no reason to deviate from it once bombarded with special sales and colorful displays.

See What’s On Sale

You know that huge stack of papers you get each week that you use to line your dog’s kennel? Well those are sales papers intended to let interested shoppers know what items are on sale, which makes shopping for weight loss easier and less costly.

Use these papers to help you find inexpensive but in season fruits, vegetables and seafood. These are weight loss essentials; fruits, vegetables and lean proteins, and checking out those sales papers will help you make your menu as well as your shopping list.

With this much preparation how could you possibly end up with a shopping cart full of sugar, salt and fat?

Update Pantry

A crucial part of shopping for weight loss is a comprehensive shopping list, which can only be accomplished by taking stock of what items you need, that you don’t have. Keeping your pantry updated can also help avoid those after-work trips to the grocery store.

After a stressful day at the office you’re more likely to reach for comfort foods like cookies, ice cream and other foods that didn’t make it on your shopping list for a reason. That stress can make it difficult to ignore the urge to indulge.

Take a peek inside your pantry, spice rack and refrigerator to make sure you have cooking staples like olive oil, pepper, salt or pasta.

Fresh Herbs

When you start shopping for weight loss don’t be afraid to spend some time in the fresh herbs section. Fresh herbs are flavorful and aromatic, and they add a lot of flavor to dishes without adding a lot of calories.

Consider items like fresh parsley, basil and oregano; these are commonly used herbs that you will very likely use before they go bad. Dry herbs work well too, but fresh herbs are cheap so you can test them out from one week to the next.

Fresh or Frozen Produce?

When people write asking me how to shop for weight loss, the number one question is fresh or frozen fruits & vegetables.

The honest and true answer is either. If you’re confident that you will eat fresh produce without letting most of it get tossed in the trash because it went bad, then go for fresh fruits and vegetables. They taste delicious and fresh fruits and vegetables make it easier to grab something healthy on the run.

Frozen fruits and vegetables however have been picked at the height of ripeness (so they say) so you get maximum nutrients. But you can’t eat frozen peaches in the car when you oversleep!

Keep in mind that in the age of the Farmer’s Market you may be able to get fresh and ripe produce weekly. Choose fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, and let the salty canned goods stay where they belong…on the shelf!

Shopping for weight loss lets you take control of your weight loss progress and it lets you decide when you want to cheat. If you know that next Friday is your best bud’s birthday, then you can plan lighter low calorie meals that will let you indulge Friday night without guilt.

And that my friends, is true weight loss freedom.

Still having trouble keeping those large sleeves of cookies out of your shopping cart? See how a few days without that junk can transform how you look at food by reading our Eat Stop Eat diet review.