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5 Bizarre Weight Loss Tricks That Work

You may look crazy doing these things but they could actually work for you.

By Reader's Digest Editors
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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. -- Five Minute Fixes (Reader's Digest Association Books)

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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.  -- Five Minute Fixes (Reader's Digest Association Books)

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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.  -- Five Minute Fixes (Reader's Digest Association Books)

Plus: 19 Weight Loss Secrets From Around the World

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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.

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5. Tie yourself up

You 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!”
-- Le Personal Coach: A French Trainer’s Simple Secrets to Staying Fit and Slim Without the Gym.

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Your Comments

  • Katiemoomoo

    GReat tips. i want to be anorexic so these are great ideas.

    • rjc

      No, you don’t want to be anorexic! My daughter was anorexic and it nearly killed her. Believe me when I say there is nothing pretty about being anorexic. There are severe health concerns, both physical and mental, for a person who is or wants to be anorexic as well. Please reconsider.

      • kd

        I hope it was sarcasm. I recently finished an eating disorder program and the idea of photographing your food isn’t a bad idea. It may show what eating too much looks like but it would also so eating too much and missing meals. 

      • Julie

        I am anorexic…

    • Jjohn

      What an idiot!

      • Opie1313

        rjc, Jjohn,

        She was being s a r c a s t i c. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WPDFPSNQPLUWDDNKWWDRKEFIMY Kelly

    I started reading your article & seen Smell & Taste treatment/research & thought great,first step smell a apple, o.k., I can’t smell or taste anyhing

  • Darwyn Norris

    #3. True.  I worked in a bakery distribution warehouse and someone in marketing thought blue would jump out at the customer in the sea of red, white, and yellow bags on the shelves. They put the same bread in blue bags as the bread in the traditional yellow bags and they soon found that the yellow outsold the blue 5 to 1.  It must be disclosed that the blue bags were almost solid blue and the yellow was mostly clear, which most people prefer. Consumers like to see what their buying.

  • Sporter

    Has it worked yet?  By my calculations, you should be dead by now!

  • KQ

    does it work on chocolate?

    • Anonymous

      Oddly enough, yes. Went with hub to buy some for Valentine’s Day at a chocolate store. By the time we looked at, and smelled, all the selections we felt full and had no desire to buy any so we didn’t. Crazy but true.

  • Angielicious

    Sad fact : #1 is also the same thing pro ana people do.

  • Kzoofunguy

    Have GPS and Google develope a steering wheel lock on your car so you cant turn into a fast food place for a mayonaise with beef sandwich , large french fries, and big extra fat coffee or milk shake, several times a day between meals. LOL

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/AOUSMGLGCKOJSAOEIOYLYIG4LI Gordie Howe Is God

    I’m half bulimic . . .

  • http://www.theplasticsurgerychannel.com/procedure/breast-augmentation/ Theplasticsurgerychannel

    Thanks for all the great tips! I am currently on this weight-loss program called Fullbar which is working great for me. Now if I add these tips with my Fullbar program I will be the size I want to be in no time.