Health

Have you ever heard anyone say, “losing weight is super easy”? If your answer to that questions was yes, chances are you heard it on a late night infomercial, or possibly on one of those YouTube ads we all can’t wait to skip. Every year, there are tons of new diets, pills, programs, workouts and supplements that are developed to make losing weight super easy. Why? Probably because it’s a pain to go to the gym and eat healthily and it's super profitable to be in the weight loss business. The weight loss methods of today may seem crazy, but I promise you that just a few short decades ago, they were much more outlandish; I would even describe these methods as borderline insane or criminal. Regardless of how silly or scary these methods appeared one thing is for sure, people tried them out. Today, we take a look back at weight loss methods from days past. Get ready to be mortified and intrigued. 1. Tapeworms: Yes, people actually tried to swallow a harmful creature to eat up extra fat. Seems crazy now, but this was deemed "scientific" in the Victorian Era. Kristin Adair / NPR Can you imagine eating one of these nasty worms? I think I would throw up! 2. Enemas: You may be asking yourself, "don't people still do this?" The answer is yes! These days, however, it's not usually used for dropping pounds. Twin Cities PBS Interesting/strange fact about this method: Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (yes from the cereal) ran a sanitarium that treated patients with yogurt enemas. 3. Arsenic: Yes, this is one of the more dangerous of the pack. Worst case scenario on this one is... death! Best case? Cramps, diarrhea, and maybe a few pounds gone. buzzfeed.com Advertisers claimed the pills would speed up metabolism, but the only thing they sped up was the time until your next hospital visit. No real pounds went from this one (while alive at least). hyperallergic.com 4. Chew-And-Spit Method: This one is ridiculous. Not too much to say here, except that for obvious reasons this is not a sustainable way to shed pounds (unless your weight loss goal is to starve). The mind guru pictured below is Horace Fletcher and he crafted this amazing diet. mallenbaker.net 5. Cigarettes: This sounds healthy right? Smoking was a VERY heavily marketing concept for many years. The claim was that smoking would not only make you look cool but would also curb your appetite. nchsbands.info Check out these ladies losing weight! No, they are actually just smoking... and probably not losing any weight at all. ncpedia.org 6. Music: Medical expert Wallace M. Rogerson believed that specially tuned music would literally just burn your pounds away! If he only thought of making a dance track to his recordings, he may have actually helped people shed a few pounds. discogs.com 7. Rubber Corsets: A corset didn't help with weight goals, but it did hurt guts and crush rib cages! They did make you look thin though... victoriana.com 8. Soap: Yup, with this idea all you have to do is take a shower!!! Company "La-Mar Reducing Soap" actually said, “Wash away fat and years of age.” Nice ad right? London Media 9. Reducing Salons: If you didn't know ahead of time that this was a gym alternative, you might think it was a downtown dungeon. These machines/contraptions used everything from electric shocks to air blasters. Enjoy these photos... historybyzim.com vorply.com 10. Sauna Pants: This is 100% my favorite! What an amazing look — I may actually try to find these for next Halloween. They were popular in the 70's and basically were the definition of "hot pants." Number of pounds lost with this method? 0. banggood.com everythingzoomer.com 11. Vibration Belts: This one became an American hit! It basically just shook the pounds off, by, you guessed it, shaking you! Yeah, not too many pounds lost here. There were also a few offshoots of this method, none of which are FDA approved. huffingtonpost.com huffingtonpost.com 12. Sunlight & Air Diets: This is also known as the "Breatharian Diet." I personally think it's an amazing name, but not the best way to lose weight. It does sound fun though, relaxing and sitting in the sun! One crusader of this tactic was, Hira Ratan Manek (he also thought it was a good idea to stare into the sun). lightdocumentary.com So, lots of fun ways to get ready for the summer and lose weight! What do you think of these weight loss techniques? Credits: boredomtherapy.com