Drop 5 Lbs! Quickly

Chew on This Slowly

If you always rush through meals, watch out. A study from the University of Rhode Island showed that women who raced through a pasta lunch in nine minutes ate 646 calories. Those who took their time (about half an hour) consumed almost 70 fewer calories. And not only did they eat less — they felt fuller.

24-Calorie Treat

If you're craving sugar, try an almond stacked on top of a dried apricot — it tastes like a cookie. Really.

Drink Water, Lose Weight

You've heard it again and again — H2O, at zero calories, is the best diet drink. But if you're still hooked on high-cal beverages, check out these numbers: Researchers who tracked 240 overweight women found that those who replaced sweetened drinks with water lost five more pounds, on average, than those who didn't. Why these sips add up: A can of Coke is 146 calories; a cup of grape juice, 154 calories.

Stay-Skinny Pasta

How to indulge without gaining: Cook the pasta al dente, so it's firm to the bite. Why? The longer you boil noodles, the more the starch breaks down, which raises the pasta's glycemic index. This causes your blood sugar level to rise faster — and may increase your junk food cravings too. Studies show that when you cook spaghetti for five minutes, its glycemic index is 38; after 20 minutes, it shoots up to 61. But even al dente cooking doesn't mean you can eat piles of fettucine Alfredo every night. And high-cal pasta sauces are still off-limits.

30-Second Exercise Trick

Now you can work out less — and get more fit. A recent study from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, showed that about a half-hour of sprint cycling (alternating speeds by pedaling quickly for 30 seconds and then at a slow pace for four minutes) is as effective as an hour and a half of moderate pedaling. The key is the series of 30-second power bursts.

You Snooze, You Lose

Add one hour of sleep to your schedule, and you could drop up to 14 pounds this year.

Laugh Off 40 Calories

It's no joke! A study from Vanderbilt University showed that you can burn up to that many calories by laughing genuinely for 10 to 15 minutes.

Bye-bye Baby Weight!

To shed post-pregnancy pounds, turn off the tube and head outdoors, say researchers at Harvard Medical School. They tracked 902 new moms and found that for every hour of TV watched daily, a mother’s risk of retaining baby weight increased by 24 percent; for every hour of walking daily, it fell by 34 percent.

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