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Sneaky ways to slim down
All you need is a minute to start shedding pounds! Here are dozens of successful strategies to cut calories and burn more fat that take 60 seconds or less. With about ....
All you need is a minute to start shedding pounds! Here are dozens of successful strategies to cut calories and burn more fat that take 60 seconds or less. With about 1,000 waking minutes in every day, you'll find plenty of opportunities to slip these tips into your routine -- and watch the scale go down. If you've already begun losing weight, these can maximize your efforts and speed results!

1. Mix a juice spritzer
Combine your favorite juice (half of your usual amount) with plain or sparkling water. You can cut up to 85 calories per glass -- and lose 5 pounds or more a advertisement year.

2. Pick up the cordless
Burn calories while you talk: Do the laundry (68 calories), set the table (85 calories) or water plants (102 calories). (Values based on a 150-pound person and half an hour of activity.)

3. Pop a piece of gum
Researchers recently discovered that chewing sugar-free gum all day increases your metabolic rate by about 20%. That could burn off more than 10 pounds a year.

4. Pay cash for treats
Anytime someone offers you goodies and you accept, put $1.00 aside. Then give the money to your kids. When you literally pay for treats, you're more likely to say, \";No thanks.\";

5. Study the wrapper
At a quick glance, that candy bar appears to contain 220 calories. But a closer look may reveal that it (or a bottle of juice, bag of crackers or bag of nuts) provides two or more servings -- which more than doubles those calories.

6. Sip green tea before you walk
The caffeine frees fatty acids so that you burn fat more easily. And the polyphenols (antioxidant compounds) in green tea appear to work with caffeine to increase calorie burn. (If you have high blood pressure, skip this tip.)

7. Ditch diet shakes
The calorie savings are only temporary; you just eat more later.

8. Pack a lunch
Dining out more than five times a week may make you eat nearly 300 calories more a day than if you dine out less frequently.

9. Dip your bread
Use olive oil in place of butter; it's healthier and may also help you eat less. In a recent study, dippers ate a total of 52 fewer calories on average than those who used butter.

10. Sprinkle flax on your cereal
High-fiber, ground flaxseed can help curb your appetite and eliminate calories. Add it to yogurt or muffin and bread mixes. Available in health food stores.

11. Dress with this
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp olive oil
3/4 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp horseradish
Mix together. It makes for a tasty salad dressing with only 20 calories and 1.5 grams of fat.

12. Schedule a blood test
About 1 in every 12 women (most of whom don't know it) has an under- active thyroid, which can slow down her metabolism.

13. Supersize your H2O
Buy the big bottle when it comes to good-for-you stuff such as water.

14. Trick your tastebuds
Sucking on a menthol/eucalyptus cough drop can stop cravings instantly.

15. Spice up your meals
Adding hot chile pepper (or capsaicin) to food may help you stop eating sooner.

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