It’s been predicted that the global weight loss industry will be worth over $400 billion by the year 2030. With a world population of 8 billion people, that means it’s worth about $50 for every single person out there. It’s safe to say that there’s a lot of money to be made thanks to weight loss, and people are constantly trying to find ways to improve their chances of getting healthy.
We all know that watching your caloric intake and exercising are standard and reliable ways to lose weight, but people still like to find an edge when they can. Some unique or unpredictable way of helping to shed the pounds. A lot of methods are not scientifically sound, and some are downright fraudulent, but there are a few weird tricks that can help you burn an extra calorie or two if you’re interested.
10. Ice Cold Water is Technically Negative Calories
One idea that people have found attractive over the years is negative calorie foods. For a long time people suggested that something like celery was a negative calorie food. That means if you eat it you burn more calories in the act of eating and digesting and you get out of the food itself. Unfortunately for the celery lovers out there, that’s not true. There aren’t any foods with any nutritional value at all that are negative calories. It doesn’t mean that there’s nothing negative calorie out there.
Ice water is the only more or less negative calorie food that you can ingest. Water naturally has no calories, so you’re already at zero calories, but if it’s ice cold your body actually needs to use energy to warm it up to body temperature, which makes it a net negative overall.
Is drinking ice water a great way to lose weight? Not really. Your body will warm the water up to 98.6°, or whatever your base body temperature is, and to do that you’re going to burn about 8 calories. That’s less than the calories you’d take in from eating a single potato chip.
9. There’s a Way To Prepare Rice That Greatly Reduces its Calories
Nearly half of the population of the world eats rice. It’s a staple grain and one of the most popular foods in history. It’s also considered fairly healthy, but as a carbohydrate it’s also something that you need to be cautious about eating in large quantities because of the potential calories involved.
A cup of cooked white rice has just over 200 calories. As a part of a larger meal, it can significantly contribute to the overall calories, especially if it’s eaten several times a day as it may be in some parts of the world. But with all that in mind, you can actually reduce the calories in rice based entirely on how you prepare it.
A cup of cooked white rice has just over 200 calories.As a part of a larger meal, it can significantly contribute to the overall calories, especially if it’s eaten several times a day as it may be in some parts of the world. But with all that in mind, you can actually reduce the calories in rice based entirely on how you prepare it.
Research in 2015 suggested that if you cook rice with some coconut oil, then let it cool down, you can reduce calories by as much as 60%. This is due to the oil entering the starch molecules in the rice and making them resistant to digestive enzymes. As the rice cools, the amylose, which is the soluble part of the starch, is stripped away and tough hydrogen bonds are formed between the molecules. All of this means that your body can’t digest those starches anymore, which means you can absorb the carbohydrates and associated calories.
If you let the rice cool in a fridge for 10 hours, you’re going to get the best results overall in terms, and you can still warm it up again to eat it when ready.
8. Donating Blood Burns 650 Calories
Now keep in mind that no one is suggesting this as a viable, and certainly not sustainable, method of weight loss. This could be pretty dangerous if you push the envelope. However, it’s worth noting that donating blood burns a lot of calories. Compared to most methods of losing weight, it burns a lot.
Donating blood just one time can burn up to 650 calories. That’s the equivalent of walking for 7 miles if you weigh 200 pounds. The reason that donating blood is such an effective way of burning calories is that your body has to synthesize all those proteins and cells again to replace the blood you’ve lost.
Most places have a fairly strict rule regarding how often you can donate blood, with many settling on at least 56 days between donations, so this isn’t a surefire weight loss cure by any means.
7. Hot Peppers and Capsaicin Increase Metabolism and Lead to Weight Loss
The active ingredient in hot peppers and other spicy foods of that nature is called capsaicin. Over the last decade or two on the internet it’s become a novelty item as people post videos of eating spicier and spicier foods and peppers just for fun.
Not everyone is aware that capsaicin actually has health benefits, however. One of these is that it can cause a significant metabolic increase. In clinical studies, patients given capsaicin have shown a marked increase in weight loss over those taking a placebo. Not only does capsaicin increase your metabolism which helps you burn fat quicker, it also acts as an appetite suppressant so you’re less likely to want to eat more which can also help with weight loss.
6. Fidgeting Can Burn 350 Calories Per Day
Would you call yourself a fidgeter? You might want to look into starting if you’re not already. People who fidget are at a natural advantage when it comes to losing weight. And of course it makes perfect sense when you think about it, because they are engaging in physical activity. It may not seem significant, but if you’ve ever watched somebody who is naturally fidgety, you’ll notice they can sustain it for a long time. Kids who have certain attention deficit issues can fidget for an entire class when they’re in school.
Research has shown that people who do fidget a lot are able to burn up to 350 calories per day doing it. This is because they have issues just sitting still and will naturally move around more often. Over the course of a year, this could translate into the loss of 30 to 40 pounds.
5. Laughter Increases Your Heart Rate and Burns Calories
Everyone has heard that laughter is the best medicine, but we probably weren’t laughing when we ended up in the hospital with the flu or a broken arm. While it may not cure a lot of diseases or help heal injuries, that’s not to say that laughter can’t be of use to your overall health. Laughter is able to increase your heart rate and burn calories as a result. Laughing for 15 minutes is the equivalent of walking about a half a mile. That can work out to about 4 pounds a year, just from laughter.
The laughter doesn’t need to be sustained, so no worries about forcing yourself to become the joke. It’s cumulative, so if you watch a few comedies or laugh with friends you’ll probably be good.
4. Urine From Pregnant Woman Was Touted as a Weight Loss Method By a Number of Doctors
There are lots of proven ways to lose weight, most of them related to how you eat in the physical activity you do. There are also a million and one quack weight loss methods that probably don’t work at all. And somewhere in between there’s a little gray area where anecdotal evidence suggests something works even though not a lot of science has been involved to prove it one way or the other. And that’s where we are right now with urine as a weight loss tool.
The hormone hCG can be found in the urine of pregnant women and in the early 2010s it became the biggest fad in weight loss, at least for those who could afford the $1,000 doses. This despite the fact that the FDA warned it had not been proven to decrease appetite or aid in weight loss.
The stuff still had to be prescribed by doctors, so there was at least a sense of legitimacy behind it. The popularity stemmed from the fact that doctors were anecdotally claiming to have observed significant weight loss in many of their patients who were using it.
The flip side of the coin is that patients who were taking the hormone were also on 500 calorie a day diets, which could certainly explain significant weight loss without having to resort to the use of urine. Reports at the time indicated that patients on the diet, and taking the hormone, or able to lose up to 1 lb a day.
Why would this work at all? The idea is that the hormone, because it’s produced during pregnancy, tricks your body into thinking it’s pregnant and increases your metabolism as a result.
3. You Burn Up To Two Times the Calories Walking on Sand Versus Hard Ground
Not all walking is created equal. Just because your legs are moving and your feet are hitting the ground doesn’t mean you’re getting the same workout as somebody else doing the same thing. Where you walk has a lot to do with how effective it is as a method of weight loss.
If you want to make the most of going for a walk, take a page from cheesy personal ads and go for a walk on the beach. Walking on the sand is going to burn about twice as many calories as walking on pavement.
Because sand is not as hard as pavement, the muscles in your legs need to work harder in order to keep you balanced on it. We’ve all gone for a walk on sand and noticed that you slip, sink, and generally have a harder time moving because of how uneven it is. But that unevenness makes it a much better method of working out, if your goal is to burn calories.
Studies conducted on diabetic patients who walked in sand as a method of exercise showed a significant decrease in body mass index, overall body fat, and an increased quality of life versus those who didn’t.
2. Hiking Burns More Calories Than Just Walking the Same Distance
In a person’s quest to lose weight there are countless options for activities that you can engage in. Some people want to hit the gym and use machines, some people prefer to go out in nature where you can run, swim, ride a bicycle, and so on.
Obviously some physical activities are going to be more intense and burn more calories than others. But it can be surprising to learn just how much more effective one thing may be compared to something else. For instance, if you want to get out in nature, you’ll burn more calories if you hike for a mile than if you walk for a mile. It’s kind of like the sand walking effect, but for slightly different reasons.
Going for a mile-long walk might burn about 100 calories for you. However, if you choose to hike that same distance then you’ll be burning about double the calories. Also, if you decide to put on a backpack that’s loaded with gear and add some weight to you, you may end up burning close to 500 calories. All of this over the same distance.
The chief reason for the increase in calories burned is that hiking takes place over uneven terrain. You have to engage more muscles and put in more effort because you’ll be walking up and down and over steeper inclines than if you’re just walking on a sidewalk.
1. Improved Posture Can Help In Achieving Weight Loss
It looks like bad posture is one of the greatest health issues to affect people who don’t even realize it’s a problem. As many as 80% of Americans will suffer from back issues and posture is one of the chief causes. But it’s more than just back trouble. Posture affects your weight as well.
Poor posture makes poor use of all of your muscles. When slouched, your muscles aren’t operating at full capacity and you have a tendency to develop more fat deposits to balance you out because you’re not in an ideal position.
Improved posture helps your better function more efficiently and means any other exercises you do will be of greater benefit. If you exercise with proper posture, you’ll receive greater gains as a result.