Have You Heard of These Popular Japanese Weight Loss Diets And Slimming Methods? | Guidable - Your Guide to a Sustainable, Wellbeing-centred Life in Japan

Have You Heard of These Popular Japanese Weight Loss Diets And Slimming Methods?

By Guidable Writers Oct 19, 2020

You might have heard about or seen some popular Japanese weight loss methods online or in drugstores. Have you wondered how they are supposed to work or reasoning behind them? Diet methods have also gone through several evolutions corresponding to the new needs trending these days. Today, let’s dig deeper into the Japanese way of dieting!

NOTE: These methods bellows are for reference & informative purposes only

What are Popular Japanese Weight Loss Methods?

When walking through a drugstore in Japan it’s hard not to notice all the supplements and strange-looking face roller gadgets. But what do they actually do? While we are not saying they work, or recommending you try them for yourself, if you want to know what these supplements and gadgets are supposed to do, find out below.

Beauty Supplements

When the word diet gets mentioned, what first pops into your head is probably food and supplements. Indeed, Japanese companies have dedicated themselves for research and development of diet support to help make diets easier. The list below is some trendy diet supplements that can be found in local drug stores.

Shintani Shinyakoso Diet Enzymes (For Night-Time)

Enzymes are macromolecular biological catalysts that accelerate chemical reactions and assist in the process of burning calories. According to the advertisement, as people age or continue with their imbalanced diet, they lose their enzyme reserve capacity and therefore need replenishments to burn excessive calories. This supplement helps people dissolve extra fat when they dine out or overeat and adjust their bodies into the right conditions when people eat irregularly. These diet supplements are facing intense competition from their rivals. Other similar products, like Calorie Limit from Fancl, MDC Metabolic Enzyme and Yeast Slim Pill, and Studio Graphico Calorie Limit Pills (in Japanese, Nakkata Koto Ni, meaning ‘as though you haven’t eaten’) are also extremely popular among Japanese.

Beauty Gadgets

Besides supplements and diet support food and beverages, Japanese companies like Panasonic and Refa have also developed beauty gadgets aimed at sliming down body fat. 

ReFa Body Extreme Massage Platinum Electronic Roller

This product, (which is an incredibly bizarre shape) from Japan’s leading beauty and skincare specialists MTG, has a flexible “swing arm” design that allows its users to massage their skin firmly and comfortably. It is applicable for use on the legs, thighs, arms, torso, stomach and more. To use this gadget, grip the handle and allow the eight platinum-coated heads release their microcurrent treatment by rolling the device over the area of choice. Likewise, the company also has a facial massage roller that is said to have a remarkable effect on the face’s slimming. 

Small Face Slimmer Wings Exerciser

Have you ever imagined yourself using a mouthpiece to slim down your face? The Small Face Slimmer Wings Exerciser is a rubber mouthpiece with tiny wings that help you work on your muscles’ cheeks. Bite the mouthpiece and hold it for around 30 seconds while nodding your head to make the “wings” flap up and down. These exercises are said to exercise your jaw muscles and assist in the fighting against sagging cheeks and aging. Breathing rhythmically through the mouthpiece at the same time also helps slim your stomach.

Active Pad Muscle Training Gear

Out of the incentive to make exercises easier for people who don’t have time to go to gyms regularly, Maxell has designed a flexible pad that could be used on the stomach, legs, arms, and the back. The tiny machine is designed to give off microelectronic stimulations to the body and run through a 15-step program to train your muscles and tone your body automatically. So even if you don’t have time to sweat yourself, you can still feel as though you’ve done some exercise. 

Slimwalk Overnight Slimming Socks

This pair of magic leggings is said to apply the right amount of pressure on muscles on your legs and to help tone the shape of your legs as you sleep overnight. There are even comments saying that they witnessed a decrease in their thighs of over 5 centimeters within one month by wearing these leggings. Available in two sizes, the slimming stockings apply a varied pressure across the leg, ranging from 10-21 hPa. 

Diet Routines (Eight-hour diet)

Introduced by multiple TV shows in Japan, the eight-hour diet causes a stir among Japanese ladies. The way to implement this diet is easy: You are allowed to eat whatever you want within the 8 hours, starting from your first meal of the day. For instance, if you have your breakfast at 10 am, you can eat whatever you like until 6 pm, and there is no upper limit to how many meals you have during the day. For the rest of the day, you are only allowed to drink water. To make this diet more effective, you must drink at least 2 liters of water per day. Three Japanese woman were invited to go on a TV Show as an experiment and have all witnessed tremendous weight losses after such a diet. According to Japanese experts, the reason behind such a diet is that the body gets 2/3 of the day to digest what it takes in during the eight hours (1/3 of the day). Therefore, however greasy your meal is, your body can deal with it. 

Facial Yoga

Have you heard of Facial Yoga in Japan? Facial Yoga became popular in Japan thanks to Fumiko Takatsu, creator of Face Yoga Method, now popular all over the world! She has appeared several times on Japanese TV and runs courses and trainings in Face Yoga. Have you ever considered trying to slim down your face by making funny faces every day? This method is said to accelerate the blood circulation around your face and work on the muscles that you don’t usually use to achieve slimming and anti-aging effects.

Do Japanese Weight Loss Methods Really Work?

To tell you the truth, we aren’t quite sure! Have you ever tried any of these methods and got any results? Some of these might sound bizarre or look weird, but all of these are out of the aspiration for slimmer, prettier, and healthier bodies.