First there was a scale that uploads you current weight to your computer. Then there was the phenomenon of tweeting what you eat. Now technologically-savvy slimmers can take it a step further by tweeting their weight with this high-tech WiFi scale -- it automatically updates your latest weigh-in on twitter for all your followers to see. But it does more than that -- it also calculates your BMI and body fat, all for the price of $159.

I know what you're thinking: Why on earth would anyone want to post their weight on twitter? Withings, the French company behind this product, thinks that tweeting your weight will provide a you with a much-needed kick in the butt, "further motivating them by sharing their progress with followers," reported the LA Times. In other words, they want to shame you into sticking to your diet. It's a good concept in theory, but I have my doubts that this kind of 'shame' diet actually works.

What's your take? Would having your weight published on twitter motivate you or embarrass you horribly?

If you're worried about packing on the pounds this holiday season, here's something to chew on: A new study revealed that simply slowing down during meal time can help you lose weight.

Researchers studied appetite-regulating hormones in a test group where each person was given the same thing to eat, 10 ounces of ice cream. One group was told to eat the entire bowl within five minutes; the other within 30 minutes. After reviewing participants' hormone levels before, during and after their meal, researchers concluded that eating too fast blocked the release of hormones that make you feel full. In short, the ones who ate within five minutes still wanted more ice cream when they were done, while the others didn't.

"Most of us have heard that eating fast can lead to food overconsumption and obesity, and in fact some observational studies have supported this notion," said study researcher, Alexander Kokkinos, MD, PhD, from Laiko General Hospital in Athens, Greece in a news release. "Our study provides a possible explanation for the relationship between speed eating and overeating by showing that the rate at which someone eats may impact the release of gut hormones that signal the brain to stop eating."

One of the more common pieces of weight loss advice out there is, "Use a smaller plate." The idea is that your plate will look fuller, and you'll eat fewer calories. (I actually think this is a really good piece of advice. My current dishware includes some GIGANTIC dinner plates which look really bare, even when "full" of the proper amount of food.) Two authors have taken this idea and created a diet out of it, to be shared in the upcoming book "The 9-Inch Diet."

Since you don't need to read an entire book to understand how using a smaller plate may reduce your portion sizes, there has to be more to the diet than that. According to the book description, "Bogusky and Porter run what is arguably the most creative advertising agency in the country, if not the world. With years of experience manipulating the masses, two of the best tricksters in the industry explain how you as a consumer are being duped, and how you are actually a part of the conspiracy to make you fat."

I'm intrigued. (How ironic is an ad man named Bogusky?) It might be worth a read just to find out how we're being duped into overeating, but I can't imagine that, as far as diet advice goes, they've got anything new to share. Have you tried using a smaller plate or bowl? Did it work for you?

(via Diet-Blog)

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There's been all kinds of stories circulating around lately on what a ridiculously huge amount of calories Olympic athlete Michael Phelps consumes every day while still managing to be totally ripped and toned. Talk about efficient calorie-burning! But you don't have to be on a crazy athletic training schedule and headed for the Olympics to learn how to burn calories better (although that certainly helps, I'm sure!), just try these 5 tips:

• Eat breakfast
• Tune in to your body's hunger cues
• Drink plenty of water
• Encourage healthy bacteria (take probiotics, eat yogurt)
  
• Go heavy on the spices (cayenne pepper, paprika, chili peppers)

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Late the other night, I was watching a re-run of Denise Richard's show on TV. I caught the episode Jacki told us about -- where Denise was discussing the lemonade diet with her friends.

The lemonade diet isn't the only ridiculous plan out there. DivineCaroline counts down what they consider to be the top 10 most ridiculous diets out there. Some of their picks include the Cookie Diet, the Subway Diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet, and the Apple Cider Vinegar Diet.

Personally, I think that if you want to lose weight you should go old school. Eat healthfully, exercise, and get plenty of rest. There's a reason that advice like that has been around for years and years -- it works. It may take time to lose weight, but in the long run that's the best way to do it. Fads come and go. They rarely have lasting power and while many of them give you quick results, it's often difficult to maintain the loss.

If you're considering a diet plan, take a look at AOL Health's Diets A-Z.

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Losing weight can be a tricky business. Despite all the fancy programs and diet claims, weight loss boils down to one thing: burning more calories than you consume. But if you're not careful, you may be consuming more calories than your realize.

Counting calories seems so hopelessly 1980's, though, doesn't it? And, let's face it, tracking every calorie is a bit of a pain. But a food diary doesn't have to be an obsessive tabulation of every little thing -- it's merely a way for you to ensure you're getting a balanced, nutritious diet in the range of calories you want to consume.

It's a habit that is well worth the effort. A Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research study found that participants who kept a food diary lost almost twice as much weight as those who didn't.

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Sometimes even the best-laid plans go wrong. If you're trying to lose weight and you expect to never falter and never get off track, well ... you're fooling yourself. It's a rare person indeed who can change his or her activity and eating habits and never slip a little bit from their new ways.

Many people who are trying to lose weight succumb to "all or nothing" thinking. As in "I screwed up on my diet this morning, so I might as well just quit."

Occasional slips are just a part of weight loss. Heck, they're a part of life. You may have a slice of cake at a birthday party. You may cave in to a second helping of your yummy dinner. You may skip your fitness routine for a day. And you know what? That's OK. The trick is to not let one little slip become a big slide. One small piece of cake isn't going to negate all of the other efforts you've made toward weight loss. One skipped day of exercise isn't going to throw off your whole routine. Just be sure to get right back on the wagon and keep moving forward. AOL Body has some tips to help you stick to your diet no matter what, including how to regroup after relapse.

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I breastfed both kids -- my firstborn for nearly seven months and my second for 13 months. Why the difference? I had this fantasy that if I stopped breastfeeding I'd lose those last stubborn pounds. So I switched my first bundle of joy to the bottle and watched the pounds simply stay there. It wasn't until I joined Weight Watchers and started eating less and moving more that the pounds came off.

According to this study in the American Journal of Epidemiology cited in Women's Health, I should have been sleeping more. Women who slept five hours a night were three times as likely to retain 11 post-pregnancy pounds as women who slumbered seven heavenly hours each night. Sleep-deprived cells releasing more appetite-stimulating hormones or stress hormones may be the culprit.

Granted, switching to the bottle did allow my husband to help with middle-of-the-night feedings -- our first did not sleep through the night until 11 months. But I do have a bit of regret I stopped breastfeeding so early in hopes of instantly losing the weight. It just didn't work. Diet and exercise ... and maybe more sleep over time did.

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When I know I haven't been eating right, I like to pretend my bathroom scale doesn't exist. But there's one place you can't avoid the truth, and that's the doctor's office. It's unavoidable -- you think you're going to get past the regular weigh-in, then the nurse turns a corner and there it stands...the scale.

When researchers asked nearly 500 college students how they felt about being weighed at the doctor's office, they found that many women admitted to finding it uncomfortable, especially because it's often done in high traffic areas. Researchers were concerned that regular screenings might be put on the back burner because women want to avoid the scale, especially if they have weight to lose.

Personally, I've never had a problem being weighed at the doctor, even if I'm not proud of what I'm going to see. Nurses are usually very discreet, and I've never felt like people walking by were peering over my shoulder at my weight. But maybe that's just me. What about you? Do you get bothered getting weighed at the docs, or is this study making something out of nothing?

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It's February, time to check-in on those New Year's resolutions. If you resolved to lose weight, then chances are you're already seeing some positive benefits of your new routine. Or, maybe, you're not. Did you slip up after those first few determined weeks? Have you lost your way? If so, you're probably not alone and maybe, just maybe, you made one of these common weight loss mistakes:

• setting an unrealistic goal
• depriving yourself of every treat
• trying to look like someone you're not
• viewing your diet as a temporary thing
• focusing only on exercise, not on your diet
• avoiding exercise
• not writing things down

It's ok if you did. The beauty of long-term weight loss is that it's a marathon, not a sprint. You don't need a New Year to make a new plan that will help you reach your goals. Find out where you went wrong, then pick yourself up and begin again, this time being mindful of common pitfalls. Good luck!

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A friend recently sent me an invitation to StickK , and I found it kind of interesting. There are a lot of online support communities for people who are trying to create healthier lifestyle habits, but StickK is the first I've seen that asks you to put your money where your mouth is.

When you join StickK, you create a contract that outlines exactly what you want to do. Then, if you're interested, you commit a dollar amount to help keep you accountable, kind of like making a bet with yourself. If you reach your goal, you get your money back. But if you don't, StickK deducts the money from your account and gives it to the recipient of your choice (a charitable organization, for instance).

I could see where StickK might be highly motivating, especially if you were to put a high dollar amount on your goal. But I'm not sure if it's for me or not. What do you think? Could reinforcement like this keep you on track toward your health or fitness goal?

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I can't tell you how many people have mentioned to me that they're having a hard time coming out of the rut they've found themselves in post-holiday this year. The major complaints seem to be that they ate too much, spent too much, or just can't seem to find their groove now that the rush and anticipation of the season are over. If you're finding yourself in the same boat, check out Canadian Living's 10 ways to rebalance after the holidays.

The first tip is deceptively simple -- drink a glass of water with the juice of one lemon. According to the author, though, drinking water spiked with lemon juice can help regulate your body chemistry. Other tips include snacking on raw almonds, eating your greens, and drinking peppermint tea, as well as old stand-bys eat your veggies and take a long walk.

December is often about indulgence, and that means January is about settling that debt. Take some time today to focus on finding your balance again for a healthy and happy new year.

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A spate of processed food recalls in 2007 was responsible for making the American food consumer more aware of healthier eating habits in my opinion. From folks I've talked to, just the fact that recalls were plentiful gave rise to research on just how much processed food items many of us eat.

So, research company NPD Group says that many Americans are turning into healthier eating lifestyles and shunning diets. Is that a good move? I would say so -- eating healthy has been, for me, a complete replacement for participating in the "diet fad of the month" that grabs headlines and participants, but results in long-term eating lifestyle failure for others.

And NPD says it all in its report about as perfect as it could be said: "The problem with diets is most people feel deprived, or they're disappointed with the results. Of course, results will come if you stick with it." Do you stick with diets? Millions do not. But, changing to a healthy eating lifestyle is just that -- a lifestyle change. It's certainly not a diet change.

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Fit Gadgets is a weekly feature focusing on products and technology that will help you get fit and stay motivated or simply make life easier. It may even be a gadget that could help to save your life. From the mainstream to the obscure, I'll let you know what works and what doesn't.

While walking is a great way to burn a few extra calories, it can be hard to make walking an actual cardio workout -- one that burns enough calories to lose any significant weight anyway.

One way to make your walking workout a little more challenging is to use weights. On the average, walking alone burns anywhere from 3 to 8 calories per minute - roughly 200-500 calories per hour. Walking with added weight significantly increases the amount of calories burned - up to triple the amount.

The problem: Holding barbells gets old quickly and most of the ankle weights are clunky and awkward.

The solution: These "anatomical leg weights" from Gaiam that I found.

The leg weights are ergonomically shaped, weighted sleeves that you can slip on under your clothes. You can wear them to walk around the neighborhood or put them on just to do chores around the house. You could even wear them to work and no one would know you have them on. They weigh 4 pounds each and come in three different sizes, so you can get a set that fits nicely. The weights cost $129 for a set.

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For anyone who's lost a lot of weight and needs motivation to keep it off or for anyone who currently needs to lose a lot of weight but doesn't know where to start, this list of inspirational and rational thoughts might just be what you were looking for. It's not from a doctor, so as the author says ... you should take it with a grain of salt.

But that said, it is from someone who has lost over 100 pounds on their own, someone who's been there, done that. With over 100 personal thoughts listed, I can't share them all ... but I will list a few of my favorites:

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