Fitness and Weight Loss: ‘I tried this crazy weight-loss gadget and it actually kind of worked’

You’ve seen this kitchen safe on “Shark Tank”—so we put it to the test.

During a conversation on portion control, one of my friends said, "Sometimes you just have to throw away half the cookie." And I had to pick my mouth up off the floor.

Who would throw away a perfectly good cookie? But on the flipside, who has the willpower to save the other half for later? Certainly not me.

Enter the kSafe, a lock box designed to help overeaters keep food away from themselves. It’s a pretty simple concept: You put whatever you’re trying to keep yourself away from inside the clear box, set the timer, and lock it. That’s it. Whatever you put in there is not coming out until the time is up. Or until you go full-Hulk and try to break it. More on that later.

Perhaps you’ve seen it on Shark Tank or maybe the Today Show. But I was introduced to the kSafe via Facebook ads on my newsfeed. Though that wasn't too surprising since Facebook knows all—including that I’m an insatiable cookie monster.

As someone who writes about weight loss on a regular basis, I have all the knowledge I need at my disposal to lose weight. But somehow, even that doesn’t make it easier. One glaring reason I’ve packed on a few? I’m fighting a "can’t stop, won’t stop" mentality with my favorite snacks. Cookies, Cheez-Its, ice cream—once I pick it up, there’s a slim chance I’ll put it down until I’m filled with regret. And while I’m not overweight and generally fell alright with how I look, losing five to 10 pounds would have me feeling more myself.

I know the simple solution to that problem is to not keep those things in my house, but that doesn’t work for me. I usually stay away from my beloved cookies and cakes, but when temptation strikes at the grocery store, I buy it. What’s even more insane is that I’ll eat the entirety of whatever I buy just to get it out of the house. My thinking is that if I eat it all now, it won't be there to tempt me tomorrow.

On top of that, I live with my boyfriend who has an enviable metabolism. He eats pretty much whatever he wants. So no matter what I do, there will always be some kind of junk food in my house.

Though bingeing on food takes away my sense of self control and leaves me feeling defeated and weak, I will never be one of those people who only eats clean. A life of deprivation is no way to live.

Which brings me back to the kSafe. I decided to try out this gadget to learn a bit of self-control. At the very least, I thought I'd be able to lock the treats away, rather than throw out the food I just spent money on. So I decided to try using the kSafe for an entire month. This is my story. DUN DUN. (Yes, that’s a Law and Order reference.)

Locking away my snacks stressed me out at first.

There's no overriding the lock once it’s set, which is intense. As someone who often terrorizes myself with what-if scenarios, this was torture. What if I accidentally set the timer for 10 days instead of 10 minutes? You never know when you’ll need an emergency bag of popcorn, right?

Luckily, the kSafe comes with a countdown feature for people like me who freak out after setting the timer too long. Once you set the time, you have five seconds to change your mind before it locks. This is a nice feature to have, but the reality is that if you’re steadfast on keeping food away from yourself, you probably won’t change your mind in only five seconds.

It helped me stop late-night snacking.

If I’m going to mindlessly eat, nine out of 10 times that’s going down on a weeknight. That’s when I’m the most stressed and tired, so I have no desire to cook but every desire to eat, hence, Snack-a-Thon 2017. Even worse is that my boyfriend travels during the week for work, meaning I’m always home alone with no one to distract me or remind me that 12 pieces of cookie dough is not dinner (to which I say, anything is possible if you just believe).

One of the biggest critiques of the kSafe during its Shark Tank debutwas that although it works when the food is in the safe, there's nothing to keep you from bingeing once the food is available again. This is a fair point, but that's not what happens in my experience. I generally don’t eat if I’m not hungry, it’s just that I eat too much before my body can realize it’s full. The kSafe is perfect for this because you can eat a proper portion size, lock up the food for an hour, and then when it opens, you’re full. I would often lock up foods for hours knowing that I’d be asleep by the time the safe unlocked. And by morning, the last thing I want to consume is a moon pie.

The concept is great, but could use some improvement.

Along with cookies, I am in a lifelong relationship with Ben & Jerry. An entire pint in one sitting is just another Tuesday night. And yet, this ish doesn't work in the freezer. Or the refrigerator. How do you have a product that was originally called the Kitchen Safe that cannot be filled with perishable foods? They do suggest getting a fridge lock and keeping the key in the safe, but that is just too extreme for me.

Also, despite ordering the XL size (which was supposed to have a white top, but they sent me blue #salty), there are still many things that will not fit in this safe. Either they're too wide, like a box of pita chips, or too tall, like a bottle of wine. Granted, I could have emptied the chips or wine into the safe, but then I'm limited to using it only for that one item until it's all consumed. Plus, drinking wine from a kSafe just sounds sad.

Finally, the price is not ideal. My XL kSafe cost $54; however, that's one of the reasons I refrained from smashing it in order to eat my weight in Goldfish.

I did lose a little weight.

Over the course of that month, I lost about three pounds. Very Regina George of me. However, the kSafe wasn’t the only tool I was using to try and lose weight. I was eating healthier and exercising on a regular basis. The kSafe is a great product, but it isn’t a miracle worker unless your only issue is that you can’t stop snacking.

You’ve seen this kitchen safe on “Shark Tank”—so we put it to the test. Read Full Story