Weight Loss Programs Reviews

When it comes to the best weight loss programs, there's no better way to sort fact from fiction than a long-term medical study. These studies make for dense reading, but they are the best sources of unbiased information on diet plans. Not all of the popular diets have been subjected to long-term clinical studies. In fact, most have not -- a major cause for complaint by the Federal Trade Commission. But we found solid research for Weight Watchers, the Atkins Diet, the Zone, Slim-Fast, Rosemary Conley, Dean Ornish and Volumetrics from the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the Archives for Internal Medicine and the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) to name a few. Comparative studies of low-carb versus low-fat diets are published in these journals, as are in-depth studies of Weight Watchers and Atkins, Internet-based dieting, comparisons of Internet-based programs/intervention methods with conventional diets and their methods, and studies on weight loss maintenance.

In reviews published in the mainstream press, Consumer Reports gave us the best comparative analysis, evaluating eight mainstream diet plans along with reviews of seven diet books. Ratings are included, and editors check whether each conforms to the latest U.S. dietary guidelines. Diets which differ widely from standard U.S. nutritional guidelines, such as Atkins, are penalized off the bat. Long-term clinical trials of each weight loss plan are a major component in Consumer Reports' diet plan review, and plans that haven't been clinically tested for longer than three months aren't rated (editors don't cite specific studies unfortunately). Consumer Reports also offered up a 2003 survey of 32,000 dieters, in an attempt to identify which weight loss programs are the most successful. By weighing experts' general recommendations for dieting strategies against specific evaluations of popular weight loss programs, we were able to formulate our ConsumerSearch Fast Answers.

From our research, we did uncover a couple of facts that apply across the board. First of all, exercise is a key component of successful weight loss for most dieters. In fact, increased physical activity is a successful way to lose weight even without calorie restrictions. And making exercise a key component of one's lifestyle is what will help you keep the weight off. Secondly, dieters who engage in long-term support, via person-to-person contact or over the Internet, have a better chance at maintaining their weight loss than those who do not. While sites like eDiets have online features that provide support, Weight Watchers is certainly king when it comes to face-to-face meetings, and clinical studies show that face-to-face meetings trump Internet-based support when it comes to initiating and maintaining weight loss.

The Atkins Diet is officially opposed by the American Dietetic Association, the American Medical Association, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health, but this is mainly because the recommended diet is far outside the realm of standard dietary advice, and the long-term effects of a high-fat diet on cardiac health are still unknown. Plenty of experts now say that low-carb diets are safe, at least in the short term, except for people with kidney problems. Our research found that low-carb diets yield faster weight loss results than traditional diets, but after the six-month mark, results from all diets are about even. In the long term, low-carb dieters, like adherents of other diets, are just as likely to lose weight if they stick to their diet, and also just as likely to gain it back when they stop the plan. All of the medical studies we found concluded with the same advice: the best diet is one that you can stick to.

In research studies, Weight Watchers easily gets the best ratings for long-term success. That's not because its overall plan is significantly better or worse than others. Rather, Weight Watchers' foundation for group meetings and support leads to a far lower dropout rate. In repeated studies, participants were able to stick with Weight Watchers for a longer period of time. Other types of diets, such as Slim-Fast (which involves prepackaged foods but no group support) had a lower dropout rate in the short term, but after four or six months, participants dropped out just as much as with other diets. Diet pills are generally found to be ineffective; see the ConsumerSearch report on diet pills for more information.  ... Continued

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

Weight Watchers is most often recommended in scientific studies and by editors at large. eDiets is the most frequently recommended online dieting resource, and several reviewers/editors recommend the increasingly popular Volumetrics diet. The Zone and Dean Ornish diets are compared side by side with Atkins in three major medical studies and compared with both Atkins and Weight Watchers in two of those studies, giving them perhaps more credibility than their peers with the same number of picks. Some reviews recommend alternatives to commercial weight loss programs entirely, such as working with a registered dietician, a free hospital program or simply doing it on your own. One review completely condemned most weight loss programs' failure to step up to the plate and perform numerous randomized trials and instead suggested the diet conscious seek help from their own doctors.