We’re always looking for those unusually easy ways to lose weight – but you’d be surprised just what’s out there because they are indeed out there. In fact, they’re more real than Unicorns!  Some are silly, some will make your eyes roll – but if you can’t have fun when losing weight, when can you?

The Smell Test

Just smell the food! This lifestyle tip requires you to smell your food before eating it. Aromatic foods, including apples, bananas, and peppermint can actually curb your appetite. According to research performed at the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, the more you sniff first, the more you drop – up to 30lbs!

Choccie For Brekkie

A little chocolate at breakfast sounds sinful but it’s actually the opposite. Adding a handful of chocolate chips to your oats or drinking a chocolate protein smoothie, it has the affect of giving your sweet tooth some early sweet relief, putting off any cravings until much later. Of course, in general, you’re going to want to reduce your sugar intake anyway.

Chunk It Up

When preparing your salads or casseroles, you’ll find that by cutting yourself bigger chunks isn’t just a timesaver but a weight-saver. Think about it; the more you have to chew, the slower you eat, the faster you’ll fill up! Voila.

The Withdrawal Method

It’s easier to pay for anything – food included – when you’re just handing over a shiny card each time. What if you felt that money slip through your fingers for real the next time you went shopping? Yup; you need to hit up that ATM, withdraw actual money, then pay for your food with actual cash. Hmm. Maybe you don’t need three boxes of cookies after all, huh?

Look Into My Eyes

Have you ever considered hypnotism? It doesn’t work on rebellious or stubborn people but if you’re of the right mindset, you can slip off into the ether and have a licensed therapist bring your inner willpower to the surface.

Start Big, End Small

A bigger breakfast is going to go a lot further than a big dinner – so that’s where you should concentrate your efforts. One test showed people on big dinners losing about seven pounds while those with bigger breakfasts lost eighteen.

Jog On

Here’s a fun, silly one – in fact, try doing it without laughing. For every piece of junk mail you get, take a jog around the house or building, or up and down a flight of stairs. You’ll start craving junk mail over junk food if you keep at it.

Hang Yourself

Wait, what? All we mean is that by hanging a mirror across the dining table from you will make you more self-conscious – to the point where one study said people who used the mirror reduced what they ate by a third. Make sure to smile at yourself though; it’s always good to remind yourself that you love you.

Instagram It

“Don’t play with your food” morphed into “Don’t take pictures of your food” but the Instagram generation are nevertheless creating a library of everything they’ve eaten. And what do you do with that library? Well just look at it! Literally! Look at every big fat dish of food you’ve been shoveling into your mouth recently. It looks great, sure, but…you really ate all of that?

Wrap It Up

Eating candy that’s wrapped up individually requires effort, however small. But it’s big enough that one study showed people shoveled 30 percent less candy into their mouths if they have to unwrap it first.

Of course, these fun and cute ways to drop pounds are great and should work with everyone – but they don’t address serious health concerns you might have.

If you find yourself at the crossroad of needing surgery to improve your life, don’t feel guilty about it. A decision for a healthy life needs to start somewhere. If you do decide to opt for bariatric surgery, continue with making additional healthy life choices far beyond this life changing decision; and post-operative care being one of the very first steps to success. Your state probably has plenty of options for bariatric surgery if you decide to go under the knife.

“Your surgeon will provide you with a nutritional plan after your surgery. This will likely consist of a liquid diet before slowly reintroducing small amounts of soft food. Staying hydrated during the healing period helps patients avoid constipation and kidney stones. Your daily supplemental regimen to follow for the rest of your life typically includes a multivitamin, Calcium, Vitamin D, Iron, and Vitamin B12. Your doctor will recommend the dosages that are right for you.

Any of the ways discussed in this piece will help you lose weight but don’t forget – exercise has to be a part of any weight-loss program.