Take a picture of that jumbo bag of M&Ms and chances are you won't want to eat it. Turn every meal and snack into a photo shoot, and you'll become much more aware of what you're eating. You might lose a few too. Sari Harrar reports in "The Oprah Magazine" about this subtle strategy and two others that can affect the numbers on your scale.

First things first: Break out your camera and start snapping away. That's what 43 women and men did for one week as part of a University of Wisconsin–Madison study (they also kept a written food journal) and here's what the self-proclaimed healthy eaters learned: Their portions were too big, their meals were missing fruits and veggies and their snacks were filled with calories. Because they were shocked by what they saw (remember, they thought their food choices were already pretty healthy), they stopped taking pictures and started eating something else instead. This might work for you too, and it's really quite simple. Use the camera in your cell phone, and you'll have images to view immediately. You can also save your photos and review them with a registered dietitian, who can advise you for the long haul.

Another slimming trick: Don't relax your diet and exercise efforts on weekends, because it can offset what you've accomplished all week long. We all cheat on weekends little bit, but it often gets out of hand, and researchers say weekend eating is a problem for most everyone. So is loafing. While physical activity tends to increase on Saturdays, it's lower than average on Sundays.

And one more: Keep track of the calories you burn at rest, while working out and while living life. It's easy -- all you need is the GoWear Fit monitor. Harrar says the gadget "tracks motion, steps, sweat, skin temperature, and heat flux from your muscles, then calculates the input with an equation that takes into account your age, gender, height, weight, and other personal details to reveal your daily calorie expenditure." You wear it on your arm, download data to your computer and view your stats on a password-protected webpage. You'll get the dirt on your calorie information, total daily activity, total daily steps (from running or walking), and sleep time. Might be worth the price, which starts at $159.95, plus a $6.95 monthly online fee.