Struggling to lose weight? Well, it should be a breeze.
We told you this week that listening to bullies like Michael Bubble will make you less likely to make fun of you.
Scientists have found that people who eat breakfast with easy-to-listen tunes in the background eat up to 54% less.
But if you can’t stand the sound of Susan Boyle, Katie Milwaukee or Barry Manello, there are other options to help reduce calories.
From slippering soups to using optical illusions, Katie Docherty explains ways to help you lose weight effortlessly.
See what you eat.
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Hang a mirror with your dining table and you will be able to make healthy choices when it comes to food.
A study by the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research found that fruit salads are more palatable than chocolate cakes when people eat in mirrored rooms.
And being able to see for themselves meant that they ate less than a third.
Soup for beginners
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According to Penn State University in the United States, choosing a delicious soup to start with will reduce the amount of calories by 20%.
Scientists believe that soup fills you up, meaning you will eat less of your basic course.
Research has shown that low-calorie vegetable broth is best for weight loss – as opposed to heavy creamy soup.
One is the origin of Werther
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If you are going to fall into temptation and engage in some mischievous behavior, stick to wrapped sweets.
A Swiss study in the journal Appetite found that people with sweet teeth ate less than a third when wrapped in cellophane.
Participants ate an average of five unwrapped sweets, compared to three and a half wrapped chocolates.
Fill the house with vanilla.
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The smell of vanilla can help suppress your appetite.
This means you eat less sweets, such as chocolate and biscuits.
Research has shown that people who wear vanilla scented patches get lost under just half a stone on average within a month.
Unfortunately, this will not work with vanilla ice cream!
Buy color plates.
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Making sure the color of your food does not match the plate on which it is served will help you eat less.
Research has shown that when people eat pasta in tomato sauce on a red plate, they serve it 30% more.
So for Mac ‘N’ cheese, keep the white plates clean.
But if you want to eat more vegetables, choose green plates.
Create an optical illusion.
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Use small plates and cups to force your brain to think you are overeating.
Delbow optical illusions (when two identical disks appear to be of different sizes) make vessels appear larger than one part on a smaller surface.
One study found that people put 9.9% more soup in large bowls.
Scrap TV Dinner
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Laughing in front of TV or on social media can cause up to a third more food.
According to research from the University of Birmingham, when we are busy, our brains cannot register what we are squeezing – that is, we eat more.
In addition, a study in the United States found that people who never ate in front of a TV were 40% less likely to become obese.
Eat eggs for breakfast.
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Eating eggs instead of grains and bread to start the morning means you will eat less throughout the day.
A US study has found that women who chose eggs instead of bagels during their diet lost 65% more weight after six weeks.
Scientists believe that these effects are due to the prolonged filling of the eggs by the people.
Enjoy lying.
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Two more hours of sleep means you will eat about 270 fewer calories a day.
A study in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found that volunteers who slept six-and-a-half hours a night ate two extra hours a night for less than two weeks.
Participants were told not to change their diet or try to lose weight.
Sit down to eat
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According to experts, when you are upright, food causes you to consume more food.
Research from Cornell University in the United States has shown that standing at parties or serving yourself at a buffet causes more eating.
Sitting at a table lets you know as much as you can about how much you are putting on your plate.
Diet drinks
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People who drink fizzy diet drinks have higher backs than those who do not.
University of Texas researchers tracked participants over a decade and found that people who drank diet drinks regularly had a 70 percent higher waistline.
When people had two boxes a day, it increased by 500%.
Turn off the heating.
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Lowering the thermostat to central heating at night will not only save the pounds in your purse – it will also prevent them from crawling around your waist.
Sleeping in a cold room at 18C speeds up your metabolism and helps you burn more fat.
But if you raise the temperature to 9 degrees Celsius, you can gain weight.