7 Terrifying Weight Loss Techniques You Won’t Believe People Tried Them

Weight loss techniques — Shocking historical methods for dropping pounds and getting fit.

It’s no secret that people have been struggling with their weight for centuries.

Although it’s not until you look back through history that you realize just how extreme people were willing to go to achieve the ideal figure.

From dangerous diets to barbaric surgical procedures, these 7 weight loss techniques are so terrifying you won’t believe that people tried them. Read on to find out which methods our ancestors resorted to losing weight!

7- Eating For Health — The Misguided Belief In Live Tapeworms

In 19th-century England, people looking to slim down resorted to a particularly vile technique — eating live tapeworms. Tapeworms, which are parasites, were sold in powder form and mixed into food or drinks like tea or coffee.

The idea was that the tapeworms would attach themselves to the stomach and intestines, absorbing nutrients from the food consumed. This technique was thought to help people lose weight without having to reduce their calorie intake.

Although it was widely practiced in Victorian England, this dangerous and unhygienic method had a host of side effects, including vomiting, headaches, and even death in some cases. Thankfully, people today no longer resort to such extreme measures for weight loss.

6- Living On Sunlight And Air — A Look Into Ancient Hindu Beliefs

It may sound hard to believe, but the ancient Hindus in India tried to live in only sunlight and air. The practice, known as “breatharianism,” has its roots in the spiritual belief that food was a crutch for those with weak spirits.

Breatharianism followers believed that people can be sustained solely by spiritual energy and life force. To do this, breatharians would limit their intake of food and even water and instead focus on meditating and soaking up spiritual energy from the sun and air.

The practice first gained traction in the 19th century, when several Indian yogis claimed to have the ability to survive without food or water. They touted the benefits of breatharianism, claiming it allowed them to better experience the presence of God.

As more and more people tried the technique, more success stories emerged. Today, there are still some followers of breatharianism, though most practitioners don’t claim to go without food entirely.

Instead, they focus on eating light meals consisting of fruits and vegetables, while avoiding processed foods. While it’s still difficult to prove that these breatharians are surviving on only sunlight and air, their claims remain intriguing.

5- The Dark Side Of Victorian Beauty — The Deadly Dangers Of Arsenic

The Victorians may have been known for their sophisticated and formal lifestyle, but their approach to weight loss was anything but.

In the 1800s, people believed that ingesting small doses of arsenic could help them shed a few pounds.

Supposedly, the poison would cause nausea and vomiting, making it easier to lose weight. This drastic measure was incredibly dangerous, however, as arsenic can be lethal in larger doses.

Despite this knowledge, some people continued to take arsenic to aid their weight loss goals, without understanding the potentially fatal consequences.

In the worst cases, people even mixed the arsenic with other substances to make it more palatable. This mixture could ultimately lead to death if consumed in large enough amounts.

Thankfully, people now know that arsenic is not a safe or reliable way to lose weight.

4- Chew And Spit — Not a Sustainable Weight Loss Technique

In the early 1900s, dieters had a new technique to get slim: chewing and spitting out their food.

It was thought that if you could spend more time chewing and breaking down the food, it would be digested faster and therefore reduce your overall calorie intake.

So dieters would chew their food thoroughly, then spit it out. This bizarre practice of mastication without swallowing started gaining momentum in the late 19th century.

Some say it was popularized by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s mother as well as other influential people of the day. Unfortunately, this method wasn’t very effective for long-term weight loss, since it didn’t change the way you ate, only how you chewed it.

Plus, with the lack of knowledge about nutrition back then, it was hard to determine which foods were beneficial to your diet and which weren’t.

So while you might have been able to reduce your calorie intake by chewing and spitting out food, you still wouldn’t necessarily have known what kinds of nutrients your body needed.

The practice of chewing and spitting out food is one of the most unusual and bizarre weight loss techniques to come out of the early 1900s.

It’s not something anyone would recommend today, but it was certainly an interesting approach to try.

3- The Ultimate ‘Reducing Salons’ — A Housewife’s Weight Loss Solution

In the 1950s, many housewives desperate to lose weight resorted to extreme measures — including visiting so-called ‘reducing salons’. These salons, usually housed in spas or clinics, were filled with a variety of machines that promised miraculous results.

Some of these devices included vibrating machines, ‘slimming’ belts, and the infamous electric shocks that were said to help tone muscles and burn fat.

The sessions could be painful and tiring but ultimately ineffective. Unfortunately for the women of the 1950s, this method of losing weight was more of a fad than an actual solution.

The machines didn’t do anything to reduce weight and could even be dangerous, as they could cause burns and rashes.

Despite the lack of evidence supporting their efficacy, these reducing salons continued to be popular among women until the 1960s.

2- Inflatable Sauna Pants — A Revolutionary Weight Loss Technique?

It may seem like an outlandish attempt at weight loss, but many dieters in the 1970s were convinced that wearing inflatable sauna pants would help them shed pounds. This crazy technique involved wearing a pair of pants filled with air and heated to high temperatures.

The thought was that the heat generated by the pants would force the body to sweat and thus expel water weight.

Unfortunately, this only resulted in a temporary loss in weight and many individuals found themselves out of breath and dehydrated after removing the pants.

In some cases, the intense heat from the inflatable sauna pants even caused skin irritations and blisters, making this weight loss technique one of the most dangerous in history.

1- Meditation Music — Weight Loss And Stress Relief

During the Roaring Twenties, people would go to great lengths to maintain their slim figures.

One of the most unusual techniques was ‘muscle-reading’, an attempt to lose weight through listening to specially composed music. This practice originated in Austria, where listeners believed they could burn calories while simply listening to music.

Proponents of muscle reading argued that when music was played at a certain frequency, it could cause a reaction in muscles and stimulate weight loss.

The effects of muscle reading were short-lived and the technique was quickly debunked by scientists.

However, this did not stop people from trying to make use of the method. Many listened to muscle-reading music in the 1920s, convinced that it would help them shed pounds.

Music was composed with specific rhythms and tones, intended to stimulate muscle contractions and supposedly burn calories. Unfortunately, no scientific evidence exists that this method had any positive effect on weight loss.

Points To Ponder

It’s safe to say that most of us would never dream of trying these horrific weight loss techniques.

However, it is a reminder that extreme dieting and exercise have been around for centuries, long before the advent of modern-day diet plans.

It’s essential to remember that health and beauty can never be found in deprivation but through natural and balanced means.

Eating healthy, exercising regularly, and practicing self-care should always be the top priorities when it comes to losing weight and achieving your health goals.

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