weight-loss

It sounds like a dieter's dream. Drink soda and lose weight. It's junk food with a healthy sheen and it's a real Pepsi product coming out in Japan.

Pepsi Special is special because of an added ingredient: dextrin, the same stuff found in Benefiber. It's a water-soluble fiber supplement that may also have some extracurricular effects with feelings of fullness and a reduction in fat absorption.

According to a study published in Appetite in 2011, soluble fiber dextrin increased participants' sense of satiety and decreased the amount of energy absorbed from the next meal. How that finding translates to a dextrin-charged soda is up for discussion.… Read more

Diet apps are a dime a dozen. And with good reason: your smartphone is the ideal mobile companion for counting calories, managing exercise, and tracking overall health.

The latest entry into this crowded field: Super Diet Genius. What separates this $3.99 app from the likes of Lose It, Calorie Tracker, and MyFitnessPal? It's all in the "super."

Specifically, Super Diet Genius puts you on a diet that relies heavily on superfoods -- stuff that packs the maximum vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, and overall nutrition goodness. (You know: not pizza. Not candy bars. Not French fries.)… Read more

Are you wondering how you're going to reach and maintain your fitness goals in the new year?

Fitness-tracking apps take advantage of your Android phone's GPS sensor and can track your route, pace, distance, and heart rate (with a supported heart rate monitor). Most of them also allow you to upload your stats so you can view your activity history. Going further, most of them even allow you to share your workouts on Twitter or Facebook, which is a great way to solicit encouragement from your friends and family.

Here are five popular fitness-tracking apps for your Android … Read more

Americans are always looking for ways to drop weight without actually doing anything. That's why the Calorie Shaper line of underwear out of Japan is so enticing.

The fabric of the unmentionables features a honeycomb structure that theoretically forces your body to work harder to move. All that resistance is supposed to burn calories, but I'm more concerned about chafing.

Calorie Shapers--which, from what we can see online, sell for between $30 and $38 per pair--are available in training and daily-life versions. The daily-life option is designed to hide under your usual clothing so no one will suspect you're actually exercising as you stroll down the office hallway with a doughnut in your hand.… Read more

Obesity is a growing problem in the U.S. Just this week, researchers at the American Heart Association projected that by 2020, the vast majority of Americans will be overweight or obese, with more than half of the country either diabetic or pre-diabetic.

Amidst all the bad news, however, researchers at Johns Hopkins University are offering a small ray of light. Their recent study on telephone counseling by health coaches finds it to be just as effective a means of losing weight as more traditional in-person programs.

That's particularly important because in-person programs are, by nature, more time-consuming and … Read more

Japan is killing it this week with a working demo of touchable 3D, subway rail lightsabers, and a pregnancy simulation vest that's a little too realistic. Plus, a $900 robot that will shame you into weight loss, and Eric's take on the upcoming Star Wars game The Old Republic.

… Read more

LAS VEGAS. Losing weight is a sensitive topic. Principally because most people are embarrassed about the need and depressed about their ability to achieve their ideal size and shape.

So when I espied the word "slimming" at the CES booth of Korea-based Ahrong Eltech, I knew I had to stop, just in case I had magically stumbled upon the solution to so many people's largest problem.

"Slimming" is one of the most powerful words in the world. More powerful than "change." More powerful even than "money." Claim it, and you will … Read more

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday with way too much pizza and cake. Much as I enjoyed myself, the bulging belly I'm staring at today is a reminder that it's time to drop a few pounds.

I know from past experience that apps can make this a whole lot easier. After all, weight loss is nothing more than math: you just need to burn more calories than you consume. And apps take the guesswork out of it by tracking your caloric intake, deducting calories burned during exercise, and so on.

I've rounded up four winners. Take a look:… Read more

In years of economic downturn, there are still a handful of sectors that manage to remain profitable, and the health and fitness industry is one of them. Mobile apps are also enjoying quite a bit of popularity at the moment, thanks in part to the fact that so many of them are affordable. Combine the two and you get something along the lines of MyFitnessPal, a free Webware service that offers companion apps for the iPhone and Android devices (BlackBerry coming soon).

As the name suggests, MyFitnessPal is a community-oriented site designed to help you lose weight and track fitness … Read more