SubscribeTop 8 Most Ridiculous Weight Loss Techniques
Obesity researcher Betty Kovacs and Self Magazine editor Erin Hobday collaborated on a NY Daily News piece that outlines the 8 most outrageous weight loss ideas. How they managed to whittle the list down to just 8 is an impressive feat! So here's the crazy 8:
- WEIGHT LOSS LIP GLOSS: Fuze Slenderize lip gloss promises to help shed pounds. By infusing chromium and L-carnitine into the gloss, the manufacturers believe (and are trying mightily have us believe) that this will curb cravings and boost energy.
- AIR MAKES YOU FAT: A recent In Style story suggests that all those additional air bubbles you consume while chewing gum, taking big bites or sipping carbonated drinks fills your stomach with air. Until now it seemed that air was about the only thing that wasn't making us fat!
- OVERNIGHT SKINNY CREAM: Better yet, lose while you snooze. The body balm Fatgirlsleep by Bliss promises to fight flab and diminish dimples overnight with a combo of red algae extract, moisture binders and their encapsulated "slenderiZZZe" complex. Kovacs and Hobday both agree though, that a good night's sleep is important in fighting the bulge.
- SMELL DIET: Bath & Body Works Instant Aromatherapy Crave Relief claims that rolling on their fragrant grapefruit and sweet fennel essential oils will stave off hunger. "The only time I would use smell is if somebody was walking by a bakery, and they're smelling stuff," says Kovacs. "Put some lotion on your hands to replace the smell, not as a way to curb an appetite." This smells fishy to me.
- BODY OIL: Another appetite controller, SLIMShots boasts its users eat up to 30% less a day. The single-serving shots of natural oat and palm oil are poured into your coffee, yogurt or cereal to make you feel full. I'm not sure how they came about those numbers, by I suspect is was not through the rigors of a double-blind, placebo study. You could use regular food choices to help you eat less. One's that don't sell for $80.
- LOTION POTION: A couple of drops of Clarins Body Shaping Supplement streamlines your lotions and moisturizers with plant extracts and caffeine to add powerful shaping action to your skin-care routine. I have no idea what this has to do with weight loss and I don't know the first thing about skin care products.
- CALORIE-BURNING DRINK: Enviga, Coca-Cola's sparkling green tea mixed with caffeine and antioxidants, claims that it's proven to boost metabolism and burn an extra 60 to 100 calories a day. "The one thing that can boost the metabolism is muscle," says Kovacs. Kovacs also noted this disclaimer on their website: "Weight loss requires a reduced calorie diet and regular exercise."
- EATING IN THE DARK: Eating in a dark room encourages you to eat more, studies show. Distracted diners also tend to eat more, so turn off the TV and the radio, or you won't notice how much food you're shoveling in. The authors of this article actually concur with some of this as do I. I'm not sure about the dark room thing (how dark are we talking?) but being distracted certainly has some relevance. I don't know that I would count this one as a ridiculous idea - but I will think it's ridiculous if someone writes a book about it.
There is no shortage of ludicrous weight loss products out there. No doubt, many of these products will fly off the shelves because of what they claim to do - which is a shame.
More like this in Diet Pills · May 15, 2008
OK
Im stunned that ANYONE would buy into any of these.
ok
except number seven.
because that one really works.
right?
RIGHT?!
:)
M.
ReplyTry #8 (EATING IN THE DARK) with chopsticks and it might burn a few calories :-)
ReplyEating in the dark sounds like a great idea.
Pitch black room and someone hides your food. By the time you find your meal, you will have burned a ton of calories.
Wait, I have a great idea...Diet Blindfolds...Just like eating in the dark, but way more convenient.
I am going to be soooooo rich
ReplyDoesn't it say up there that you eat MORE in a dark room? I think you're going to need some kind of flashlight-in-the-eyes device. I'll let you work out the technical details.
ReplyThe only time I eat in a dark room involves whipped cream and chocolate sauce...oh wait, you didn't need to hear that. The accompanying "cardio" that I do along with that burns a few calories, lol.
ReplyAbout #7. They had to remove that claim...
ReplyWhen googling 'Enviga', the site summary gives this claim:
"the delicious, sparkling green tea that’s proven to help you burn calories."
Personally I'm more affronted by it being advertised as 'delicious'. It was slightly less foul than a Tava I had once, but still was reminiscent of 'sparkling' bile.
Here's a new pitch;
ReplyEnviga; the rather disgusting carbonated drink that can't really do you much good one way or another, but at least it comes in tiny cans so you can finish it quickly if it's some sort of pride thing to finish what you open.
I tried Enviga one time when it first came out because I wanted to see if it was any good. It tasted OK, but I wouldn't pay $1.50 per can for it on a regular basis. You're better off just drinking green tea.
ReplyI wonder how many of these come with a little disclaimer that tells people to follow a sensible diet and exercise program to see better results? As with most dieting tricks out there I say, read the fine print. This is a great article.
ReplyFunny. There may be something to the smell thing though.
ReplyAbout Enviga, I had heard they were going to get sued b/c of their claim and had to remove it, but I just received a free case of it for providing my input as a personal trainer, and from what I saw on the cans, the claim is still there. ... Maybe I heard wrong?
ReplyI have no idea where you find these things. I am not sure why anyone would buy any of them although I know that Green Tea is making the rounds in my house, I don't like it though.
The trouble is that if someone finds that something works for someone else then everyone in an office will jump at it. I remember a few years ago in a place that I worked at everyone was trying the ECA stack of Ephedrine with caffeine and aspirin and that ended up not being a healthy way to lose weight at all
ReplyDamn Air....so everytime I breath more I am gaining weight? I guess it all works out...since those that actually believe that will stop all breathing to lose weight. I believe they call that the Darwin Award Diet.
ReplyWhen I was in college, I had a biochem professor that collected ads for absolutely ridiculous things that would help you lose weight. One that I particularly liked was Swedish Weight Loss Soap...it claimed to melt fat from under your skin by saponifying it (you know, fat + lye=soap). If it really had as much lye in it as they claimed, it would eat your skin off. Which technically would make you lose weight I guess...and require you to get a nice skin graft as well.
ReplyHow can you find the food if the room is dark? Do you just stand in front of an open fridge?
Replyooooh.
Im with Merry.
off to open fridge. turn out lite. Ill be back when Im runwaymodelthing.
Replythe only thing that make your body lose weight is cut way back on calories, get your body up and moving, us older people can't always do as much as we would like but a little is better than none,make sure the food you eat is what your body needs, once in a while a little junk food will help you stick the rest of the time, watch your fat in take, which fat or thin one should do to be healthy,make sure what ever you do YOUR DOCTOR says it will be good for you...
ReplyWeight Loss Lip gloss? My god I would have the most glossy, shiny lips if that really worked.
and so air makes you fat? Am I going to have to give up chewing gum too now??
I've got a 28 day challange to lose a stone- check out my blog and journey (to hell!) at
www.28daysleft.blogspot.com
I need all the help and advise I can get!!
ReplyHa! Can you please post information about schemes like this daily?? All of middle America and beyond will thank you for saving their hard earned money....
ReplyGet a trampoline
Replyeach session you will feel a more comfortable doing
different routines and less tension on your bones and joints compared to jogging. recommend getting a 48 inch diameter or bigger. so you can do jumping jacks or stretch on it even dips..
Maybe if you eat your food in the dark while seated on the toilet? That would make most people lose their appetites. LOL
And we wonder why charlatans like Kevin Trudeau have gotten so rich--these are large, established corporations hawking this nonsense. Someone must be falling for it to create the demand that keeps these ludicrous products coming.
ReplyHey! If someone can make make a fortune on pet rocks then some one else can make a fortune on Toilet Paper that makes you shed pounds with every wipe.
ReplyI find it hard to believe that people would actually fall for that stuff!
Replyhmm...sounds funny. Who are those genious come out such weight loss techniques :) i really can not accepet such ridiculous ideas on weight loss.
ReplyWe get bombarded from every which way about weight loss, so much so that it has become a very desperate situation for many people, this gets exploited by business. There is no magic diet that can sustain weight loss and management other than cutting out the junk and eating properly, until we learn to do that we are doomed to fat.
ReplyI recently was asked to review the newly launched Accomplix diet pill. As, always I started with the ordering process; in this case from Advanced Pharmaceuticals. The process was painless, the money back guarantee was in tact and iron clad (I received money back for my return within 1 week...fyi; I always test the return policy for new products, in this case, you are pretty much guaranteed to try the product risk free.) As far as the ingredient complex, it looked very formidable...Best Buy Supplements conducted a clinical study which reported significant results for Accomplix users. I found that I felt very energized and my appetite and cravings were diminished. I asked the company if I could speak with a success story they publish online; it all checked out, the person I spoke with lost 34 pounds in 7 weeks. In this case they were using, Accomplix, Accomplix Carb, and Accomplix H2O.
ReplyPros: Great money back guarantee. Effective product.
Cons: Many different formulations to choose from can make it confusing for buyers.
I agree that some of these seem ridiculous, but since I love playing devil's advocate, I HAVE to clear something up.
AIR MAKES YOU FAT: I highly doubt that they seriously believe that consuming air will lead to the expansion of fat cells. What this does mean is that if you swallow too much air, your body WILL bloat up and you WILL look fat. This I can prove with my occasional afternoon coke.
BODY OIL: While I doubt the potency of this particular product, it has been shown by "The Hacker's Diet" that scheduled consumption of a teaspoon of tasteless fat throughout the day does curb appetite and lead to weight loss. The author here suggests olive oil. If you google this and visits the author's website you can access all your writing and data for free as well as all his charts and spreadsheets to help you succeed. This might be difficult for someone who doesn't have an engineering degree though (I have one and was overwhelmed by the sheer scientific data this guy has)
Thats all! Personally I find that the easiest way is to calorie count. Its so fool proof and easy and helps me lose weight when I want to and to maintain when I'm done with losing. Just find a website to help you calculate how much you need to eat a day to maintain and how much to eat when you want to lose. My requirement per day is 1600, so I generally eat 1100-1400 a day.
Reply