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Losing Weight

10 Unusual But Scientific Weight Loss Strategies That Make A Difference

10 Unusual But Scientific Weight Loss Strategies That Make A Difference

  • August 21, 2014 6:37 pm
  • 10 comments

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Counting calories, low carb, low fat – you’ve heard it all. But did you consider these unusual factors in your weight loss strategy?

Vanilla Your Place

Light up a candle scented with vanilla and your lust for after-dinner desserts goes down.

A UK study had people wear vanilla-scented patches and they lost 4.5 pounds. Those with a lemon patch or no patch lost only 1.5 lbs.

I’m not sure this will work if you fancy burritos or a pizza. Smelling those could make you hungry. But where would you find pizza-scented candles, anyway?

Chewing Gum

A 2011 study asked 60 people to have a sweet or salty afternoon snack right  after chewing or not chewing gum.  Those who chewed gum had 39 fewer calories of  the sweet and 11 fewer calories of salty snacks (PDF). A similar study found an average reduction of 36 calories.

A little caveat exists: the studies were sponsored by the Wrigley Science Institute.

Eat Wrapped Candy

A Swiss study discovered that people ate less candy when each one was individually wrapped. Participants who had to free their sweets ate 30% less than those who just had to grab and pop it in.

The effort of unwrapping each piece on its own sets a mental barrier and the growing pile of wrappers lets you see how many you already had.

Sleeping Enough

Do you get enough sleep? You should, because it can affect your weight.

Woman asleep under Jane Austen novel

Zzzz… Would Ms. Austen be thrilled?

For five days a 2011 study from New York had people either get four hours of sleep per night or their normal amount. On those days where the researchers pulled them from their dreams the participants ate about 300 kcal more.

No TV When Eating

What happened to the good old times when we all sat down at a table to eat dinner? Today most of us munch away in front of the television or the computer.

It can contribute to you getting fat. Canadian researchers discovered that kids who watched TV while eating lunch ate 228 more calories than those who ate without the television running.

Why? With the TV on you concentrate less on your food and on how much you eat.

Eat Slow

Once you start eating, the brain sends the “enough” signal after about 15 minutes, no matter how much you had.

In a 2008 study, women who ate fast had more calories and felt less satiated compared to slow eaters, who also drank more water. A second study found that slow eaters produce more satiety hormones than fast eaters.

Enjoy Your Food

This ties in with the last two: learn to concentrate and enjoy your food. Feel the texture and the taste and savour the experience. Because if you enjoy what you eat, you’ll eat less.

girl eating

Munch! Savour your food and you’ll eat less.

Researchers gave teenage girls milkshakes and with the help of brain scans checked how their brains’ reward centers reacted to it. The more the girls enjoyed the milkshakes, the less they had of them. Those who enjoyed them less had more, to make up for the lack of enjoyment.

In some people the brain’s reward center reacts weaker, but you can make up for it through conscious concentration on the food.

Eat In Front Of A Mirror

Mirror, mirror on the wall, tell me, did I have enough? Your mirror may not reply, but your reflected self-image will.

One study found that eating in front of mirrors reduced the amount people ate by close to one-third. Another that people who had a choice between full-fat, reduced-fat and no-fat foods and saw themselves ate less of the full-fat products (PDF).

The reason lies in self-awareness: you watch yourself doing what you do and monitor your behavior.

Where Do You Sit: A Strategic Choice

Do you often eat out? If yes, where do you sit? Facing the buffet or serving area or not?

Cornell researchers spied on people at Chinese all-you-can-eat restaurants across the United States. Everywhere the heaviest people often sat facing the serving area. The skinny people ate with their backs to the caloric wonderlands.

Make Your Plates Work For You

The bigger your plates, the more you eat. Because large plates make it look like there’s less food on them. In a 2006 study, people poured about double the amount of cereal into a 16-ounce bowl than into an 8-ounce bowl.

Similar effects also go for your cutlery and the glasses you drink from.

Pictures courtesy of Alexandre Normand, Kanaka Menehune and Timothy Krause.

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Latest Comments

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10 Comments

  1. Sooraj says:
    August 21, 2014 at 6:54 pm

    Freddie…I read some where that eating on Red plate makes you eat more. Bright colors like red, orange etc makes you feel like eating more.

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      August 26, 2014 at 6:37 pm

      Yup. That’s why you often see warm colors in restaurants.

      Reply
  2. Kim says:
    August 21, 2014 at 10:11 pm

    Funny that for me chewing gum always makes me hungry!!!

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      August 26, 2014 at 6:38 pm

      Interesting! I bet the good people at Wrigley won’t book you for advertising gigs 🙂

      Reply
  3. Steve says:
    August 22, 2014 at 2:06 am

    When it comes to eating pace, I always wonder how effective coaching for it would be. I’ve never specifically looked into it, and I don’t even know if the research exists. That’ll be my trip to the library next week, I guess.

    I’ve put some thought into modulating mechanical processing rates through other means, though. Pungency, length of forks(+how many prongs), volume contained in a spoon, all that. “Forcing it” seems to be a viable solution.

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      August 26, 2014 at 6:42 pm

      You often run into a problem with forcing: people hate it and then do the opposite. To make it work, you’d have to make sure they don’t know about it.

      Reply
  4. Abby @ BackAtSquareZero says:
    August 24, 2014 at 10:09 pm

    I am a HUGE gum chewer.

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      August 26, 2014 at 6:42 pm

      I think I chew a gum once a year 🙂

      Reply
  5. CindyB says:
    August 26, 2014 at 1:42 am

    I have heard that smelling peppermint will cause you to eat less. I have to say I would have little interest in fatty food if I was smelling anything mint.
    Chewing gum just makes my jaw sore.

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      August 26, 2014 at 6:43 pm

      To me gums after a while taste like having an old rubber glove in my mouth.

      That about the peppermint is interesting! Let’s see if I can find some research about that.

      Reply

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