Declutter
Although this may seem like a strange topic to focus on when talking about weight loss, there is a surprising connection that has been found between people that have a lot of extra stuff in their homes and people that are overweight. One study actually found that 77% of people that have cluttered homes are also overweight or obese.
Why Clutter Contributes to Obesity
There are several reasons that clutter can contribute to a weight problem. The main problem is that all the clutter can keep you from being able to make good decisions, but being constantly surrounded by disorganization and way too much stuff can also increase your stress levels, and increased stress leads to weight gain by triggering hormonal changes.
Clutter in the kitchen can lead to poor eating choices because when you walk into your kitchen and are instantly overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that’s in there, you end up choosing something easy, which is likely to not be the healthiest option. Besides that, if the extra clutter in the kitchen includes junk food that’s been left out, you’re much more likely to grab it while passing by the kitchen.
How to Declutter to Lose Weight
The first step you have to take is to decide that you’re not going to live with the clutter in your life anymore. People that have studied this connection say that making this decision to get rid of the extra stuff in your life is likely what leads to helping you shed the extra pounds from your body because when you make a big life decision, it affects every aspect of your life.
Start decluttering your home by throwing out everything that is genuine trash, such as old papers, empty boxes, and junk food. One way to do this is to get a trash bag and commit to filling the whole thing with trash from around the house. If you’re worried about the time it will take you, try using a grocery bag instead and filling one of those every day until you’re done.
Then, you need to pick a room, preferably one where you spend a lot of time working or living. Take time to evaluate everything in the room and decide if you really need to keep it. If you have books that you read once and don’t plan on going back to, get rid of them. When going through your closet, consider the last time you wore an item, and if you can’t remember, toss it in a donation bag.
The goal of decluttering the first room is to create just one space in your house where it’s free from clutter so you can think clearly. You want to strip the room down to only the essentials and may even need to remove furniture to do so. Once you’re finished, be sure to take some time to evaluate how the clean and organized room makes you feel.
From there, move on to another room and then another until every room in the house has been decluttered. You may be surprised to find out how much weight you’ve lost already just during the decluttering process. Now, to help you reach your weight loss goals even faster, put your gym bag or exercise equipment somewhere that you can now see it since it’s no longer lost in the clutter.