Some people will try anything to lose weight. And that’s exactly what the masterminds behind over-the-top slimdown strategies are banking on. But don’t be fooled by the following crazy weight loss claims—some are dangerous and could harm your health.
Tongue Patch Diet
If the idea of losing weight by having a patch sewn on your tongue seems hard to swallow, well, that's the point. The tongue patch is a new cosmetic surgery technique that can allegedly help people lose up to 30 pounds in a month via a postage-stamp-size patch on the tongue. The rough patch is designed to make eating solid food so painful that patients only consume liquids, MSNNow.com reported. The material used in the patch is marlex, an abrasive material usually used to repair hernias, and it is secured to the top of the tongue by six stitches. Side effects include difficulties in speaking and a tendency to wake suddenly from sleep, Time reported.
The Feeding Tube Diet
Feeding tubes—once reserved for the sick or elderly--are now a hot new dieting tool for brides-to-be. Tubes are placed in the nose, ported to the stomach, then hooked up to a small pump that provides a continuous drip of protein-fat liquid. At only 800 calories a day, with no solid food, weight loss is inevitable. The surprising part—dieters are living to tell about it.
Body Wraps
New mom and Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kim Zolciak tried this wacky treatment in front of the cameras. First she was wrapped head to toe in elastic bandages. Once mummified, Zolciak had to stay in motion for 45 to 60 minutes to keep her blood circulating. Unwrap and poof— she lost, or squeezed, inches off her body. Details on how the process helps you shed pounds are a bit hazy, but there are certainly more effective uses for elastic bands.
Ear Stapling
This process works exactly like it sounds. Dieters place surgical staples in the inner cartilage of their ear and leave them in for several weeks. Based loosely on similar principles of ear acupuncture, it’s believed that the staples suppress appetite. But from this angle it just looks painful.
Diet Sunglasses
The idea behind these blue-tinted specs is that food will look less appetizing—blue being associated with moldy or rotten food-- which will cause you to eat less. It’s quite a unique theory but there have been better weight loss gimmicks. We’re still convinced that the more color on your plate, the better.
Weight Loss Soap
Infused with seaweed, the soap promises to penetrate deep beneath the skin, breaking down fat to literally help you scrub your way slim. Tread lightly before trying this fad; plant-based products may be good for skincare but the jury’s still out on their fat-burning properties.
Tape Worms
Simply put, this plan is disgusting. Followers ingest the parasite in pill form, and then it travels through the body eating, growing, and attaching itself to the intestine. Naturally, one result is weight loss, but your body will also experience nutritional deficiencies in order to fight off the bug that’s just shacked up in your body.
Diet Dinnerware
The website says you’ll “lose weight while you wait,” which is literally what happens. The fork-spoon combo is made with a lighting system that tells users when to eat and when to pause. The idea is that you’ll end up eating more slowly, which will lead you to take in less food, but in the end it seems like a losing game of red-light-green-light.
