weight loss

You could lose weight when your avatar exercises

When I was a varsity swimmer in high school, I was taught creative visualization, which is a fancy way of saying that I would sit in a quiet place, close my eyes, and imagine myself in an upcoming race -- stroke for stroke. I could feel the temperature of the water, the pounding of my heart, the overwhelming urge to breathe as I sliced through the water without once turning my head for air. It was a mental rather than physical exercise, and for me at least, it translated to faster racing times.

For years, researchers have investigated this phenomenon, and now a new little study out of Temple University's Center for Obesity Research and Education finds that watching an avatar model healthy behaviors can actually help women lose weight in the real world.… Read more

Prizefight: The Fitbit Flex takes on the Jawbone Up

Wearable tech is becoming a hotbed for innovation, but fitness tech has been the category that's opened people's minds to wearing tech 24-7. So we're taking the Fitbit Flex and the Jawbone Up and throwing them into the Prizefight ring!

The Fitbit Flex is the company's first fitness wristband with Bluetooth syncing. The Jawbone Up brings a unique design that's been fine-tuned after its initial release.

Both of them measure your steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned, and quality of sleep with complementary apps.

Who will cross the finish line first? Will it be the … Read more

The Insta-Zombie Workout Plan

Like most folks, I've made "enthusiastic" commitments to be more resolute in staying healthy this year. Such crazy claims include getting off the buttocks and working out, eating healthy, and other life-changing nonsense. Recently, one of my friends started this diet called the TAO Diet, which stands for Ten and One. The premise is simple: You eat 10 salads and one meal of whatever you please. Then rinse and repeat.

I've come to realize that I'm an attention-seeking and easily distracted geek with a healthy track record of...falling off track. But rather than giving … Read more

Fat-blocking Pepsi a slimming soda in Japan

It sounds like a dieter's dream. Drink soda and lose weight. It's junk food with a healthy sheen and it's a real Pepsi product coming out in Japan.

Pepsi Special is special because of an added ingredient: dextrin, the same stuff found in Benefiber. It's a water-soluble fiber supplement that may also have some extracurricular effects with feelings of fullness and a reduction in fat absorption.

According to a study published in Appetite in 2011, soluble fiber dextrin increased participants' sense of satiety and decreased the amount of energy absorbed from the next meal. How that finding translates to a dextrin-charged soda is up for discussion.… Read more

Super Diet Genius app puts superfoods to work

Diet apps are a dime a dozen. And with good reason: your smartphone is the ideal mobile companion for counting calories, managing exercise, and tracking overall health.

The latest entry into this crowded field: Super Diet Genius. What separates this $3.99 app from the likes of Lose It, Calorie Tracker, and MyFitnessPal? It's all in the "super."

Specifically, Super Diet Genius puts you on a diet that relies heavily on superfoods -- stuff that packs the maximum vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, and overall nutrition goodness. (You know: not pizza. Not candy bars. Not French fries.)… Read more

Five fitness-tracking apps for Android

Are you wondering how you're going to reach and maintain your fitness goals in the new year?

Fitness-tracking apps take advantage of your Android phone's GPS sensor and can track your route, pace, distance, and heart rate (with a supported heart rate monitor). Most of them also allow you to upload your stats so you can view your activity history. Going further, most of them even allow you to share your workouts on Twitter or Facebook, which is a great way to solicit encouragement from your friends and family.

Here are five popular fitness-tracking apps for your Android … Read more

Calorie Shaper: Fat-burning Japanese undies

Americans are always looking for ways to drop weight without actually doing anything. That's why the Calorie Shaper line of underwear out of Japan is so enticing.

The fabric of the unmentionables features a honeycomb structure that theoretically forces your body to work harder to move. All that resistance is supposed to burn calories, but I'm more concerned about chafing.

Calorie Shapers--which, from what we can see online, sell for between $30 and $38 per pair--are available in training and daily-life versions. The daily-life option is designed to hide under your usual clothing so no one will suspect you're actually exercising as you stroll down the office hallway with a doughnut in your hand.… Read more

Seeking weight-loss counseling? Pick up the phone

Obesity is a growing problem in the U.S. Just this week, researchers at the American Heart Association projected that by 2020, the vast majority of Americans will be overweight or obese, with more than half of the country either diabetic or pre-diabetic.

Amidst all the bad news, however, researchers at Johns Hopkins University are offering a small ray of light. Their recent study on telephone counseling by health coaches finds it to be just as effective a means of losing weight as more traditional in-person programs.

That's particularly important because in-person programs are, by nature, more time-consuming and … Read more

Crave 59: Stop judging me (podcast)

Japan is killing it this week with a working demo of touchable 3D, subway rail lightsabers, and a pregnancy simulation vest that's a little too realistic. Plus, a $900 robot that will shame you into weight loss, and Eric's take on the upcoming Star Wars game The Old Republic.

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CES: An ultrasonic way to lose weight (but how much?)

LAS VEGAS. Losing weight is a sensitive topic. Principally because most people are embarrassed about the need and depressed about their ability to achieve their ideal size and shape.

So when I espied the word "slimming" at the CES booth of Korea-based Ahrong Eltech, I knew I had to stop, just in case I had magically stumbled upon the solution to so many people's largest problem.

"Slimming" is one of the most powerful words in the world. More powerful than "change." More powerful even than "money." Claim it, and you will … Read more