5 Bizarre Weight Loss Tricks That Work

1. Sniff a banana, apple, or peppermint
You might feel silly, but it works. When Dr Alan R. Hirsch of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago tried this with 3,000 volunteers, he found that the more frequently people sniffed, the less hungry they were and the more weight they lost – an average of 30 lb each. One theory is that sniffing the food tricks the brain into thinking you're actually eating it.

2. Hang a mirror opposite your seat at the table.
One study found that eating in front of mirrors slashed the amount people ate by nearly one-third. Seems having to look yourself in the eye reflects back some of your own inner standards and goals, and reminds you of why you’re trying to lose weight in the first place.2. Hang a mirror opposite your seat at the table.One study found that eating in front of mirrors slashed the amount people ate by nearly one-third. Seems having to look yourself in the eye reflects back some of your own inner standards and goals, and reminds you of why you’re trying to lose weight in the first place.

3. Surround yourself with blue
There’s a good reason you won’t see many fast-food restaurants decorated in blue: Believe it or not, the color blue functions as an appetite suppressant. So serve up dinner on blue plates, dress in blue while you eat, and cover your table with a blue tablecloth. Conversely, avoid red, yellow, and orange in your dining areas. Studies find they encourage eating.

4. Shoot your food
Rather than writing down every morsel, take a picture of it, and file the photos on your phone or computer by date. A visual account of your consumption may help you curb your intake. “Snapping photos and then looking back at them can make people stop and think before indulging,” nutritionist Joan Salge Blake says. It needn’t be a big production: your cell phone will do. Think about it: there you are at the salad bar, making a plate of vegetables. Don’t pat yourself on the back quite yet, though. A simple snapshot of your heaping dish may “show your extra helping of cheese or deep-fried croutons,” Joan cautions. A visual reminder might be just enough to give you pause next time before you ladle on the blue cheese dressing. -- Joan is a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. Find other healthy eating tips in her book, Nutrition & You.

5. Tie yourself upYou could try fitness guru Valerie Orsoni’s “Le Petit Secret”: “A number of French women wear a ribbon around their waist and underneath their clothes when they go out for dinner. It keeps them conscious of the tummy—particularly if the ribbon starts to feel tighter as the evening goes on!”

Via Reader's Digest

Your New Breakfast Plan

Surprise your body in a good way with these delicious, filling, but low-calorie breakfasts. Hungry Girl Lisa Lillien has a new one for every weekday!

Smoked salmon 'n' bacon sandwich
A bagel with cream cheese and lox has an average of 575 calories and 25 grams of fat. Get the same flavor for less with this: Mix up 2 Tbsp fat-free cream cheese with 1 slice chopped cooked turkey bacon, 1 oz chopped smoked salmon, 1 Tbsp chopped red onion, and 1 Tbsp chopped cucumber. Layer with a slice of tomato on a toasted light English muffin. (206 calories, 5 g fat)

Tropical breakfast bowl
This takes just seconds to throw together but will keep you feeling satisfied for hours. Mix ⅔ cup fat-free cottage cheese with 1 to 2 drops coconut extract, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and 1 packet no-calorie sweetener (optional), then top with a sliced kiwi, ½ cup sliced strawberries, 1½ tsp shredded sweetened coconut, and 1½ tsp chopped dry-roasted pecans (about 3 pecan halves). (230 calories, 5 g fat)

Apple-icious oatmeal
Hungry? This helping is huge and has nearly 7 grams of fiber. Mix a cup of water, ½ cup old-fashioned oats, 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or skim milk, for 50 more calories), ½ apple (chopped), ¼ tsp vanilla extract, ¼ tsp cinnamon, no-calorie sweetener to taste (or 2 tsp sugar, for 35 calories), and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until creamy, 12 to 15 minutes. (246 calories, 5.5 g fat)

Quick turkey scramble
A protein-packed egg dish you'll flip for: In a large skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray, cook 2 oz raw lean ground turkey with a dash each of salt and pepper. Then add 5 egg whites and scramble. Chop up 2 slices microwaved turkey bacon and add to eggs, then top off with ½ cup chopped tomato and another sprinkle of salt and pepper. So fresh, so good! (250 calories, 9.5 g fat)

Oat-rageous chocolate-chip pancakes
These little cakes fill you up without weighing you down. Combine 3 Tbsp liquid egg whites (or 1 to 2 egg whites), 1 Tbsp skim milk, 1 Tbsp water, ⅛ tsp vanilla extract, 3 Tbsp old-fashioned oats, 2 Tbsp whole-wheat flour, 2 tsp sugar, ¼ tsp baking powder, 1½ tsp mini semisweet chocolate chips, and a pinch of salt. Coat a skillet with nonstick cooking spray, warm over medium heat, and drop batter to form 5 cakes. Cook for 2 minutes, flipping once. Serve with a banana. (300 calories, 4 g fat)


Read more: Low Calorie Breakfasts - Healthy and Delicious Breakfast Ideas - Redbook

The 7 Laws of Leanness

LAW #1: Lean People Don’t Diet
What? Of course lean people diet! They’re just magically better at denying themselves than the rest of us are, right?
LAW #2: Lean People Don’t Go Fat-Free
A European study tracked nearly 90,000 people for several years and discovered that participants who tried to eat “low fat” had the same risk of being overweight as those who ate whatever they wanted.
LAW #3: Lean People Sit Down to Eat
In fact, the more you sit down and enjoy your food, the leaner you’re going to be. Punishing yourself only makes you fat!

LAW #4: Lean People Know What They’re Going to Eat Next
Planning your responses to hunger may help you shed pounds faster, say Dutch researchers. They posed their subjects questions like “If you’re hungry at 4 p.m., then . . . what?” Those who had an answer (“I’ll snack on some almonds”) were more successful at losing weight than those who didn’t have an answer.

LAW #5: Lean People Eat Protein
In a recent European study, people who ate moderately high levels of protein were twice as likely to lose weight and keep it off as those who didn’t eat much protein.
LAW #6: Lean People Move Around
I don’t mean climbing Kilimanjaro, breaking the tape at the Boston Marathon, or spending 24 hours at 24 Hour Fitness. I mean going for a short bike ride (20 minutes burns 200 calories), taking a leisurely walk (145 calories every 51 minutes), wrestling with your kids (another 100 calories smoked in 22 minutes), or fishing (there’s 150 calories gone in an hour—even more if you actually catch something).

LAW #7: Lean People Watch Less TV
Instead of calling it the boob tube, maybe we should call it the man-boob tube. About 18 percent of people who watch less than two hours of TV a day have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more—the cutoff line for obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But of those who watch more than four hours of TV a day, nearly 30 percent have a BMI that high, according to a study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.Read more at:
http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/7-laws-leanness