Reviews of weight loss programs

Meal replacement diets Many of the easiest weight loss programs rely on meal replacements. Find the best weight loss programs for women Dieting is difficult for everyone, but women can feel like the odds are stacked against them. Find the best weight loss programs for men The good news is that men tend to lose weight more quickly than women — their higher oxygen intake and testosterone levels allow for easier muscle gain and fat loss. What is the best way to lose weight?

Replace sugars and starches with lean proteins and vegetables Switching to a high-protein diet boosts your metabolism and reduces food cravings, which helps you feel full throughout the day. Make exercise part of your daily routine Even regular minute walks or jogs through your neighborhood help speed up weight loss. Get a full seven to eight hours of sleep each night Sleep deprivation kills your will to exercise and drives you to eat quick pick-me-up foods that boost energy with fat-causing carbs and sugars.

Try intermittent fasting for weight loss Occasional fasting forces your body to tap into fat storage. Health benefits of losing weight Weight loss is often linked to healthier skin and hair.

Additional physical benefits of losing weight include: Reduced risk of heart disease, hypertension, stroke, Type 2 diabetes and some cancers Reduced symptoms of osteoarthritis and sleep apnea Improved mobility and fertility Lower blood pressure Less acid reflux Less back and joint pain Less severe allergies Psychological benefits of weight loss Being overweight can cloud the way you see yourself and the world.

Additional mental health and emotional benefits of losing weight include: Increased vitality Reduced stress Reduced depressive symptoms Improved body image and hormonal balance Better memory Financial benefits of weight loss You can save money on future health care bills thanks to improved blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Financial benefits of weight loss include: Lower medical bills Lower transportation costs Fewer prescription medications Less eating out. How to choose a weight loss program When choosing a weight loss program, think about times in the past you successfully completed a goal and what motivated you. To find the best weight loss plan for you, follow these steps: Find diet plans that work. Find a program that requires you to follow a weight loss meal plan while keeping track of the foods you eat and how much you exercise.

Avoid weight loss programs that seem too good to be true, because they probably are. According to the Federal Trade Commission , some red flags include promises to cut weight without exercise, guaranteed weight loss in a specific area of your body and claims that you can eat as much of whatever you want. Consider dietary preferences or restrictions. Think about whether or not the foods on a given diet are things you generally enjoy. Those with food allergies or sensitivities could find restrictive diet plans difficult or impossible to follow.

Some of the best weight loss food plans ship vegan or diabetic-friendly options straight to your door, while others require you to shop for very particular ingredients. Think about what will motivate you to lose weight. Every person has different motivations for success. Think about how you've met other important goals or quit bad habits in the past.

Would you be more likely to succeed using social media, in-person meetings or expert counseling using text messaging, phone calls or email? Research shows that social support, whether in person or online, helps people lose weight. The best diet programs incorporate ongoing support to help keep weight off. Some plans emphasize quick upfront results, but maintaining fat loss is just as important as losing it. Pick a plan that provides the tools and strategies you need to stay lean for the long haul, such as WW, Nutrisystem or Jenny Craig.

Select a diet plan that's healthy for your budget. The costs of weight loss programs vary depending on whether or not food is included. Find a program that delivers the results you want without straining your wallet. Weight loss questions and answers What is a weight loss program? A weight loss program is a regimen for diet and exercise. The best diet program for weight loss helps you achieve healthy lifestyle changes and provides guidance on food and nutrition to support short- and long-term weight management.

How do weight loss programs work? Weight loss programs offer guidance and support based on your personal dieting goals and nutritional needs. The most effective weight loss programs often require more homework but provide a better fit than one-size-fits-all plans.

Guidance on food and nutrition: Ask yourself if you want the bulk of your diet to be frozen meals and prepackaged snacks or if you prefer the flexibility of cooking meals and occasionally eating out. Diet plans sometimes rely on meal replacement shakes to provide healthy nutrition.

Some weight loss programs, such as Medifast and Nutrisystem , deliver frozen entrees and prepackaged snacks for easy portion control. Others create personalized meal plans and provide recipes for dieters to cook themselves. Exercise requirements: Dieters have the most weight loss success when a healthy meal plan is combined with an exercise routine.

Some weight loss plans focus entirely on diet, but most safe weight loss programs incorporate exercise directives and lifestyle strategies that naturally speed up your metabolism, which helps you lose weight and keep it off.

Weight loss support: Many weight loss programs include community support. Regularly connecting with fellow dieters can help you stay motivated. Online and in-person workshops and forums are also a great way to find new dieting tips and learn about weight management tools. How can I lose 10 pounds in seven days? If you already have a significant amount of weight to lose 50 pounds or more , you can lose up to 10 pounds in one week by following strict dietary guidelines and a cardio workout regimen.

Drastic changes in your regular lifestyle, specifically aerobic exercise and a sharp decrease in calories, causes fast weight loss. The hard part is maintaining your weight loss. What foods help burn belly fat? If you want to lose belly fat fast, eliminate all trans fats and alcohol from your diet and add bananas, yogurt, berries, oatmeal, green tea, almonds, apple cider vinegar and whole grains to your shopping list.

Foods rich in potassium and probiotics stop the blood sugar spikes that tell your body to store fat around your midsection. What is the cheapest diet program? Vegetarian and low-calorie diet programs are usually, but not always, the cheapest. The cost of your diet program depends on the level of support and guidance offered and whether or not the program includes meals and snacks.

What is the best online weight loss program? Good online weight loss programs vary based on which features are most important to you. Some use apps to log meals, track exercise, access healthy meal plans and find dieting support. For more on online weight loss programs, read our picks for the best weight loss apps.

What diet pill really works? Diet pills that work contain active ingredients intended to burn fat, decrease appetite and reduce fat absorption. Fast weight loss pills typically include caffeine, green tea extracts and medically proven weight loss supplements like pyruvate and glucomannan.

Some of the best diet pills right now also contain garcinia cambogia. How can a beginner start losing weight? Weight loss plans for beginners combine a low-calorie or low-carb diet with daily exercise. For more information, check out 31 weight loss tips to help beginning dieters lose weight fast. Are meal replacement shakes good for weight loss?

How long does it take to lose weight? Most people can expect about two to three pounds of healthy weight loss a week through dieting and regular exercise.

On average, a dieter needs to lose eight or nine pounds before other people begin to notice results, which takes closer to a month. What is a fad diet? A fad diet is one that gains rapid popularity for a time and then falls out of fashion. Most fad diets are food-specific or revolve around a gimmick. For example, the cabbage soup diet requires you to eat only cabbage soup for each meal for a week.

The paleo diet, which limits what you can eat to what was available during the Paleolithic period, is also considered a fad diet. Not sure how to choose? Get buying tips about Weight Loss Programs delivered to your inbox. Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to our newsletter!

Weight loss program reviews. Stream exercise content : Beachbody On Demand provides unlimited access anytime, anywhere to continually updated workout shows and nutritional content for all fitness levels. Purchase gear online : Bands, balls, weights and all gear used in Beachbody workout shows is available for purchase online. Support community : A free personal coach supplies motivation and encouragement to keep you accountable and connects you with other members doing similar Beachbody programs.

Meal planning : Boost your results with nutrition that complements your program. Workouts include easy-to-follow compatible meal plans with hundreds of recipes. Bundle your health and fitness journey : Pair a Beachbody On Demand subscription with a selected workout program and matching nutritional supplements and gear.

Optavia Fuelings : Optavia Fuelings contain vitamins, minerals, protein and probiotics to encourage weight loss or maintain a healthy weight. Community support : Programs include weekly community support calls.

Weight loss results : Dieters can expect to lose about 1 pound per week for 12 weeks. Four-phase weight loss plan : Dukan dieters complete programs in four phases: attack, cruise, consolidation and stabilization. Personalized coaching : Get access to coaches, nutritionists and unlimited motivational support through live chats. Weight loss results : Most Dukan dieters can expect to lose 4 to 7 pounds first 10 days.

Weight loss phases : Optifast weight loss programs have three phases: active weight loss, transition and maintenance. Weight loss supplements : Optifast chewable vitamins and minerals are designed to encourage weight loss. Food delivery : Prepackaged foods are delivered to your home. Online support : Dieters have access to weight loss support tools, personalized plans, meal trackers and exercise trackers.

Compatible with surgery : Special programs are designed to help patients lose weight before bariatric surgery. Weight loss results : Most patients lose an average of 30 pounds in 26 weeks. Disclaimer Information in this guide is general in nature and is intended for informational purposes only; it is not legal, health, investment or tax advice. Get the news you need delivered to you Sign up to receive our free weekly newsletter. Read Reviews. Shop Now. Read 11 Reviews. Get Started.

Chat with a ConsumerAffairs decision guide Live agent. Read 4, Reviews. Share your experience with this company Offers several audio-guided workouts through a fitness app. Chef V. Read 10 Reviews.

WW Weight Watchers. Read 2, Reviews. Shop Now on Amazon. Jenny Craig. Company name Contact. Logo Summary Highlights. Read reviews. Company name Contact Authorized Partner. LA Weight Loss Center. Personal Trainer Food. Read 72 Reviews. Bulletproof Coffee. Share your experience with this company Morning meal replacement drink made from unsalted, grass-fed butter, coffee and MCT oil. The Mayo Clinic Diet. Share your experience with this company Health-focused weight loss programs.

South Beach Diet. Share your experience with this company Promotes weight loss with low-carb, high-protein meals. Share your experience with this company Uses AI technology to provide a customized fitness training plan with its premium version of the app. The third phase is all about transitioning from diet to life. You will learn how to put the South Beach Diet principles into practice in your everyday life, and continue your weight loss journey on your own. The South Beach Diet is simply an excellent diet plan that has been shown to help many people reach their goals.

Among commercial weight loss plans reviewed by independent scientists, Jenny Craig is a top performer. With weight loss rates of 2.

This makes it easy to follow, but if you have health issues like metabolic syndrome, you might need a different plan that cuts back on sugars and refined carbs. If you want to lose a lot of weight fast, the HMR program is the way to go. The Atkins Diet was one of the original low-carb diets to gain popularity.

According to independent scientific research, studies vary on its efficacy: depending on which one you look at, the benefits range from a meager 0. One drawback, according to a meta-analysis of weight loss programs, is an increased rate of constipation among Atkins Diet adherents 1. The Zone Diet takes a low-carb approach to weight loss and combines this approach with a frequent-eating strategy to keep the body feeling full and prevent food cravings.

One study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that it outperformed the Atkins Diet and Weight Watchers over the course of a year, but other research on its efficacy is lacking 2. Despite its fad-diet name, the Flat Belly Diet takes a very sound nutritional approach. The Whole30 diet is paleo on steroids. It recommends eliminating sugar, grains, legumes, dairy, soy, and alcohol completely from your diet for a month. This will almost certainly be effective, since it will force you to eat pretty much only meat, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and eggs.

The real question is whether you can maintain such an aggressive diet indefinitely. Adherence to this program is low, which is why it ends up at the bottom of the rankings. Best weight loss program overall: Nutrisystem. Nutrisystem is a great all-around choice because of how easy it makes it to stick to the program.

You get great-tasting meals delivered, which takes the work out of shopping, meal planning, and calorie counting. If you want a fast and easy program, this should be your pick. The South Beach Diet is low in carbohydrates and high in protein, plus offers meal delivery right to your door.

Men often struggle with weight loss diets because preparing all your own food takes a lot of work not to mention cooking skill. Nutrisystem makes it easy to sidestep this challenge: not only are your meals pre-made; the calories are already counted out. Fortunately, the WW app is super intuitive and easy to use, making it a great choice if you want to use an app to guide your weight loss program.

For adults age 50 and older, a focus on overall health is a big factor when choosing a weight loss program. The Mayo Clinic Diet, developed in consultation with experts on everything from heart health to brain health, is perfectly suited for older adults who want to make sure their overall health improves along with the number on the scale. Research shows that support from peers or from a coach helps increase your chances of weight loss success.

WW capitalizes on this research, offering both peer support groups and coaching sessions to keep you on track to hit your weight loss goals. Pretty much anyone off the street overweight or not can name the ingredients of a successful weight loss program, but the actual statistics on how people do when they try to lose weight are pretty dismal.

The long-term success rates four or five years out are, as you might imagine, even worse. Successful weight loss is so rare that there is actually a national registry of people who have successfully lost weight and maintained it 2. You could write an entire book on the reasons why people fail to succeed at weight loss programs on their own. Indeed, many books and scientific articles have been written on exactly this topic! Good weight loss programs are a formalized way to combat all of these pressures that make weight loss an uphill battle.

Could you go it alone? Sure, and many people do. But statistically, you stand a better chance of weight loss if you join up with a program. Across a wide range of randomized controlled trials, people who are randomly assigned to a commercial weight loss program fare better than those who are randomly assigned to control interventions, which generally consist of broad advice or individual counseling sessions on diet and exercise, without the rigor and formalism of planned weight loss programs.

If you have tried and failed at weight loss before, signing up for a weight loss program is a way to boost your chances at success a second time around. To make our list of the best weight loss programs, we only considered formal and fully fleshed-out programs with specific guidelines.

Part of the success of a weight loss program lies in the structure imposed by the program. Moreover, we only considered weight loss programs from legitimate companies that have demonstrated success, either through popular adoption or through rigorous scientific research. Our research team capitalized on the findings of an exhaustive scientific review published in in the Annals of Internal Medicine which examined 45 different scientific studies on weight loss programs 39 of which were randomized controlled trials, the gold standard of modern evidence based medicine research 3.

Informed by the data from the latest scientific research, we also analyzed how practical and flexible a weight loss program is. Based on the research so far, more conventional programs like Jenny Craig and WW outperform the newer and more aggressive weight loss programs, which is why the latter ended up lower in our rankings. We realize that not every weight loss program is right for everyone. Weight loss programs can help jump-start people to change their diet.

Obesity rates are growing at a tremendous rate, and the health problems that are associated with it are increasing as well.

The scientific literature makes one thing very clear: most people are unsuccessful when it comes to weight loss. A group of experts commissioned by the National Health Institutes in described the dismal state of self-directed weight loss 3.

Most often, weight lost during a diet is regained within six to nine months after the program finishes. People tend to revert back to their initial habits, and regain all the weight they lost. Instead, it separates different meals into several groups, each of which is regulated in terms of intake. Logging food is pretty easy as well as you can even transfer meals from the last couple of days, which is great for people of habit and those that cook for the whole week.

Also important, alongside giving you exercise guidelines, the app and the coach, should you get one will help you curb harmful behavior from which health gain stems a lot of the time. The app addresses stress eating, nighttime snacks, and much more. Dealing with these unhelpful habits will impact your weight loss substantially and help keep the extra pounds off in the future.

That really increases the efficiency of the program and makes a difference for the post-diet period. Thanks to helpful coaches, smart app design for logging foods and getting personal recommendations , and a threefold system, the Noom Weight Loss plan comes out on top amidst a sea of already established competitors. The Jillian Michaels Weight Program is presented and compiled by the famous trainer, renowned for her rigorous workout regimes and strict guidelines.

So yes, right away, if you only want to cut out a few unhealthy foods from your meal plan, this might be overkill for you. This program is designed to help you lose weight in a reasonable time-frame and, more importantly, to make it stick. It might, admittedly, be surprising to see the dieting info that the Jillian Michaels program offers.

However, the dieting portion of this program is still a bit slim in terms of versatility. Sure, you get a few options for protein intake that exclude the unhealthy choices and a quick breakdown of what you should eat for slim figure achievement.

The service does, however, achieve the results, one way or the other and it seems like following the Jillian Michaels Weight Program does bear fruit and work long-term. In conclusion, those who have the free time and the willpower to workout according to the Jillian Michaels program will undoubtedly get a lot out of this service. Those who have some pre-existing health issues such as allergies know the pain of finding a truly efficient dieting option.

After all, it would have to be safe and adhere to your personal preferences and restrictions and also actually help lose weight. This program was developed by a medical doctor so it adheres to a strict standard in terms of safe weight loss.

Your food options will be highly limited, sure, but nutritious enough to sustain your body. The first stage is pretty punishing, though, as the food program eliminates common meals that are usually considered acceptable.

Thankfully, there is a bit of instant gratification as you use a mobile app from the South Beach Diet program to log your meals and calculate your nutrition intake as well as calories. Plus, the dieting plans are worked out to include people with all kinds of allergies and health conditions so the South Beach plan is all-encompassing.

There are options for home and gym workouts available so you can do quick training or, if you can, devote some real time to it. As for sticking through the tough parts, the South Beach Diet might be the best weight loss program to help with that as you get weekly chats with nutrition specialists and dieticians.

There are also several forums where participants can swap tips and recipes and those with established good results post their success stories and encouraging articles on blogs. The service also does a regular compilation of links to educational and generally useful information about weight loss and obesity so that you can see why the diet was designed this way and how you should approach it. To sum up, those who want to lose weight without spending hours at the gym or risking their health can definitely rely on the South Beach Diet Weight Loss Plan.

And once the initial dieting is over, the service sustains your further meal planning instead of leaving you hanging. Those who want to feel secure in their choice can opt for the Mayo Clinic Weight Loss Program, coming from the renowned Mayo Clinic and providing their classic level of quality. That includes optimizing them for any health issues you might have as well as your weight and height. Your weight loss will be kickstarted as the first stage includes losing around pounds in just 2 weeks.

The demands are simple and more than doable and the Mayo Clinic app will help you along with tips and encouragement. Those that have some free time can also take advantage of the exercise routines available via the Mayo Clinic guide.

The Mayo Clinic Weight Loss Plan is a great affordable alternative to exercising and eating on strict diets, offering a good way to get in shape and, more importantly, stay in shape.

Depending on your goal weight, you can sign up for the Atkins 20 and Atkins 40 to either go on a hard-set diet and really lower your body weight and potentially prevent obesity and diabetes or lose a bit and get in shape quick. Both of these options offer a low-carb approach to dieting, cutting out almost all products that lead to weight gain.

So, admittedly, the Atkins Weight Loss Program is pretty strict, especially in those first weeks when you can only eat the core vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Despite the relatively narrow subset of foods you are allowed to eat, the Atkins Weight Loss Plan does account for those with allergies and food preferences. One of the biggest advantages to name-brand diets is supposed to be their refinement.