50 best ever weight loss tricks backed by science

From the cupped carbs rule, to the cracker test – and everything in between.

Picture: iStock

1 Swap pasta for oyster mushrooms

The newest trend from New York is to toss ribbons of this fleshy variety through sauce instead of pasta. You'll save 441kJ per serve.

2 Put your fork down between each bite

Fast eaters consume 588kJ more per meal.

3 Take your run outside

You have to run 15 per cent faster on a treadmill to burn the same amount of kilojoules as running outside, new research from the University of Milan in Italy, reveals.

4 Say "I don't eat that"

You're eight times more likely to refuse something than if you say "I can't eat that," a study at the University of Houston found.

5 Use a mustard coloured napkin

It makes green food - think salads and vegetables - more appetising, according to new research by hygiene brand Tork.

6 Chew each mouthful 35 times

It slows down how fast you eat, reducing your consumption by 26 per cent.

7 Eat in a quiet room

Hearing yourself chew can cut food intake by one quarter, a US study shows.

8 Eat steak rare

Cooking breaks down the collagen fibres in meat, so if you eat it rare your body expends more energy during digestion.

9 Ditch your diet drink habit

Australian research suggests they can lead to you eating more. The mismatch between the kilojoules your brain expects from their sweetness and those it receives triggers hunger.

10 Drink water instead

Half a litre of water drunk before meals increased dieters' weight loss by 2kg over 12 weeks, a US study found.

11 Sleep in a cool room

A US study found that sleeping in a room set to a cool 18°C for a month helps to speed up your metabolism and increase your body's store of kilojoule-burning brown fat.

12 Bounce

You burn the same 45kJ per minute jumping on a trampoline as running at 10kph but trampolining feels easier, US experts say.

13 Eat soup

It fills you up with fewer kilojoules, so make batches. Sydney dietitian Peta Carige says: "I recommend my winter clients swap a meal for soup two nights a week."

14 Quit meat

People who went vegetarian as part of a recent US study lost twice as much weight in six months than meat eaters - even though they consumed the same amount of kilojoules each day. "A plant based diet is rich in fibre and complex carbohydrates that possibly increase metabolism," the study's author Dr Hana Kahleova says.

15 Try the 16/8 approach

This intermittent fasting strategy involves limiting your eating to an 8-hour daily window - an Italian study shows it aids fat loss.

16 Be step rich

That's the new buzz term describing those who walk a lot. "Step-rich" people weigh less, a new study in the journal Nature reveals. Aim to get in 10,000 steps every day.

17 Eat the same lunch daily

"People who do [this] eat 420 fewer kilojoules by the week's end as they get bored," Sally Symonds, director of the Love Your Weight Loss diet program, says.

18 Eat an apple before food shopping

It sets your mind up for buying healthy food, a US study shows.

19 Throw some punches

Boxing came out on top for blasting kilojoules in a recent UK study - 3350 an hour. Playing squash was second at 3129.

20 Do the cracker test

Thinking of cutting carbs? Use this test from Dr Sharon Moalem's book The DNA Restart: Chew a cracker and count how long it takes for the taste to become sweet. Less than 14 seconds and you digest carbs well and can eat more. If it's 30 seconds or more, limit your intake.

21 Think of kilojoules like money

"Before you eat, ask yourself, is it worth spending them on this food?" Symonds says. You may think twice if you were parting with cash for each mouthful

22 Drink coffee black

Milk and sugar adds 290kJ to your daily coffee habit.

23 Try a probiotic

Your gut bacteria determines the kilojoules you absorb from food. A Canadian study found the Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain doubled the amount of weight lost by dieters.

24 Sit by the window when you eat out

It will help you make healthier choices. "The darker it is, the more invisible, and less guilty, you feel," Dr Brian Wansink, from Cornell University in the US, says.

25 Clench your fist to combat food cravings

A US study shows this helps to switch on the area of the brain that controls willpower.

26 Walk during the ad breaks

It makes a difference! You'll burn about 280kJ and rack up 2111 steps for every hour of TV you watch, researchers from the University of Tennessee in the US say.

27 Eat from a red plate

The colour of our crockery affects what we eat and, like a subconscious stop sign, weight loss and red go together. We consume about 40 per cent less from red plates or cups according to German and Swiss academics. "It triggers an avoidance response that tricks us into eating less," Charles Spence, author of Gastrophysics, says.

28 Swap white carbs for their brown carb equivalent

Not only do wholegrains help to raise your metabolism, they also decrease the kilojoules you retain during digestion. The result, according to a US study, is a drop of 420kJ a day - equivalent to doing a 30-minute walk.

29 Get competitive

You burn more kilojoules when you exercise with others as your competitive nature kicks in, according to research by Virgin Active in the UK. "But don't just use this with friends," Symonds says. "Walk faster to overtake the person in front of you on the footpath, or try to beat the lift up the stairs."

30 Add cinnamon

Eating a high-carb meal? Also consume 1 tsp cassia cinnamon to "reduce the spike in blood glucose", Queensland-based personal trainer Ethan Hyde says. Avoid having it dry - instead add it to your tea or dessert.

31 Use the cupped carbs rule

"A portion of carbs fits into a cupped hand," Hyde says. "And you need just 4-8 daily."

32 Time your training

Women should train in the first two weeks of their cycle to gain more muscle strength.

33 Bake with monk fruit

This fruit sweetener has no kilojoules and no "bitter aftertaste", nutritionist Michele Chevalley Hedge explains.

34 Leave one or two mouthfuls

Simple but effective: don't eat everything on your plate. Try it.

35 Investigate acupuncture

New research from Hong Kong suggests acupuncture could stimulate hormones that lower appetite, helping you eat less. Study participants who had two sessions each week for eight weeks shed almost 2.5kg on average, without changing their diets or activity levels.

36 Make pizza base from cauliflower

It saves on both carbs and kilojoules. Plus, it just got much easier with the pizza from Michelle Bridges' new Delicious Nutritious range in Woolworths, $6.99.

37 Make kitchen paper your friend

"It can mop up oil from foods like olives before you eat them, reducing their kilojoules," dietitian and nutritionist Trudy Williams, of dietary resource FoodTalk, says.

38 Always serve fruit in a round bowl

It will feel like a treat as "we associate this shape with desserts," Spence reveals.

39 Time your workouts

For max fat burning, women need to eat carbs 90 minutes before a workout while men should exercise on an empty stomach, according to Dr Adam Collins, from the UK's University of Surrey.

40 Be salad savvy

"The fancier the salad, the fattier it's likely to be," Symonds says.

41 Know that sometimes your tracker tells lies

Fitness trackers miscalculate kilojoules burned by about 27 per cent, according to US research.

42 Embrace intervals

High intensity interval training (known as HIIT) "triggers the release of a hormone that reduces appetite", Hyde says.

43 Exercise early

It's likely that your cells are more geared up for intense exercise in the morning, research from Northwestern University in the US reveals.

44 Dust more!

A clean house might actually make you thinner according to a new US study. The researchers believe that endocrine-disrupting chemicals in house dust can trigger the growth of fat cells.

45 Embrace umami

The fifth taste, umami (best translated as 'savoury'), makes you feel fullest, fastest, Moalem says. So add flavours such as parmesan cheese and miso to avoid overeating.

46 Start the day with some sunshine

Exposure to 45 minutes of bright light between 6-9am lowered body fat and appetite in obese women in just three weeks in one Russian trial. It's thought that light exposure resets the circadian rhythm in a way that benefits your metabolism.

47 Add a little salt

To help balance adrenal function, consume 1/2 to 1 tsp of sea salt each day, Dave Asprey, author of The Bulletproof Diet, says. Fat, salt and sugar cravings can be signs of adrenal stress.

48 Drink coffee before meals

Caffeine increases alertness, which fires up your willpower, US professor Dr Dipayan Biswas says.

49 And before a workout

Drinking coffee before you exercise revs up your resting metabolism afterwards by 15 per cent according to US researchers.

50 Skip breakfast if you feel like it

People who skipped brekkie lost as much weight as breakfast eaters in one US trial. "Afternoon tea is the more important meal," Carige says. "It splits what's normally your biggest gap between meals and makes it more likely that you'll eat well in the evening." Arvo tea should include protein, carbs and fat, not just biscuits and a cuppa.

You don't need to go to the gym every day or go on a strict diet to lose weight. Here are some top weight loss tips from 'The Diet Doctor' Moodi Dennaoui and PT and former Survivor contestant Tegan Haining.

August 28, 201711:23am

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