Monday , March 18 2024
If you’ve struggled for years to shed the extra pounds you’re carrying around, don’t get dejected or anxious. Losing weight is possible.

Five Surprising Weight Loss Tricks That Actually Work

Weight LossWeight fluctuations are a struggle for millions of Americans. Unfortunately, selfish corporations and so-called gurus prey on the desire to lose weight by releasing ineffective products and spreading false information. This article zeroes in on a few surprising techniques and products that actually work.

1. Eat Bigger Breakfasts and Smaller Dinners

There’s an old saying that claims you should “eat like a king at breakfast and a peasant at dinner.” Well, if you’re trying to lose weight, this may actually be one of the better things you can do for your body. According to a study published in Obesity, there’s some value in tapering off meal size throughout the day.

In the 12-week study, participants were divided into two groups. The first group ate 700 calories at breakfast, 500 calories at lunch, and just 200 calories at dinner, while the other half ate the reverse (200 calories for breakfast, 500 calories for lunch, and 700 for dinner). Both groups actually lost weight, but the first group lost 18 pounds and three inches off their waist size, compared to just 8 pounds and 1.4 inches for the second group.

Don’t start cooking up a breakfast of pancakes, cinnamon rolls, eggs, bacon, grits and all the fixings quite yet, though. It’s still important to eat healthy. Empty calories are never good at any meal, and you should do your best to keep all meals to 700 calories or less.

2. Try Fat Freezing

Have you ever heard of fat freezing? It’s the process of dropping the temperature of skin to a level where fat cells die – and despite the strange term, it’s actually been shown to work.

“In a study, the New England Journal of Medicine explains that brown fat cells, when exposed to cold temperatures, heat up and burn off from our bodies as calories,” explains Blue, a company that’s in the business. “Additional medical publications have discovered that when our white cells have been exposed to cold for prolonged periods of time they are compromised and die off. Both types of fat are processed out through the body.” Gizmodo confirms that there’s real science behind the technique.

As fat freezing technology continues to grow, look for it to become an even more popular method.

3. Light Vanilla Candles After Dinner

Most people love vanilla, but did you know that it could actually help you lose weight? One of the theories behind this idea is known as the Christmas Dinner Syndrome, which says that smells have a way of influencing our level of hunger. For example, on Christmas Day, guests are usually hungry by the time dinner rolls around, but the chef generally feels full after spending all day in the kitchen. That’s because food smells suppress hunger.

Using this principle as a foundation, the idea is that lighting vanilla candles after dinner can suppress your desire for dessert – particularly vanilla- and chocolate-flavored delicacies. It’s worth a try, right?

4. Be Smart When Dining Out

When eating out, you have to be smart about what you’re eating and how you’re eating – but it goes much deeper than ordering the salad. It’s also important to strategically position yourself when eating in a restaurant.

For starters, try putting yourself at the end of the table if you’re dining with a large group. The reason is that appetizers – such as chips, dip, and bread – generally get placed near the middle. By sitting at the end, you put these items out of reach, and so are less likely to eat them. The second tip is that if there’s a TV on in the restaurant, sit facing away from it. When there’s a TV to watch, we often mindlessly eat. You’re less likely to pig out if there’s nothing to distract you.

5. Pop a Few Vitamins

Vitamins are good for you, right? But did you know they may also subconsciously encourage you to lose weight? According to a study published in the International Journal of Obesity, people taking a multivitamin over a prolonged period of time are more likely to lose weight than those taking a placebo (or nothing at all). The theory is that we often eat in an effort to consume certain nutrients, which can lead to overeating. When we’re getting these nutrients in vitamin form, we’re less likely to eat more than we need.

Weight Loss is Possible

If you’ve struggled for years to shed the extra pounds you’re carrying around, don’t get dejected or anxious. Losing weight is possible. With so many fad weight loss strategies on the market, you have to take everything you hear and read with a grain of salt.

These are five strategies that actually work. Give them a try and see if you notice a difference.


About Jenna Cyprus

Jenna is a freelance writer who loves the outdoors; especially camping while relaxing with her family.

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One comment

  1. Dr Joseph S Maresca

    There’s general agreement on the idea of eating a big breakfast. Since breakfast is the earliest meal of the day, the food we consume can be burned off throughout the day. A good breakfast may consist of oatmeal, a glass of orange juice, a piece of fruit, plain yogurt and green tea or coffee.

    Eating more food at breakfast is better than eating late because our bodies require time to burn off the calories we consume. Night eating is the worst since our digestive systems should be resting at bedtime rather than in full blown action due to the consumption of late night foodstuffs.

    Another danger zone is dining out. Eating out is more expensive. The tendency is to over-eat or consume larger portions. The best strategy is to pack a little snack bag with a piece of fruit or nuts to satisfy the hunger pangs.

    The other thing to remember is the calorie count and portion control. Ask for the caloric content of food. Most good restaurants will be able to give you a ballpark figure on the food content and whether or not it is consistent with good dietary norms.

    Sugar content is another aspect to monitor. Generally, dieters should keep sugar content in food down to 35 grams/day. To do this, make sure to read labels very carefully. Of course, caloric content can be managed with rigorous exercise to help burn off the excess calories.