3 Commercial Diet Plans for Successful Weight Loss
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Brandi Koskie, senior editor at DietsInReview.com, a diet review and healthy living resource online, with 400 reviews, daily diet blog and recipe library.
We’ve made it our responsibility at DietsInReview.com to research the hundreds of diet and weight loss plans, pills, books and more. Our constructive, unbiased reviews have taken out the leg work for you, and can aid your decision making process. Three of the more popular reviews at our site are Weight Watchers, South Beach Diet and NutriSystem. They are some of the most successful plans around, as I show in these mini-reviews.
Weight Watchers
This highly acclaimed weight loss plan started nearly half a century ago. The small support-style meetings they had in the beginning, are the same people attend today. They now offer a top-notch online membership site, as well as specialized programs like Weight Watchers for Men. The program supports regular exercise and the flexibility to eat what you like- in moderation. The vast wealth of information provided on site, coupled with that of your counselor, give you the tools for success. It’s most famous for the Points system, which assigns a point value to foods/meals based on the fat, calorie and fiber value. You’re assigned a daily point target, and when you stay within that, you’re likely to meet your weight loss goal and keep it off.
South Beach Diet
The low-carb diet phenomenon dissipated a while back, but the South Beach Diet still stands strong with a loyal following. Cardiologist, Dr. Arthur Agatston, created the plan, giving special attention to keeping the heart in healthy, working condition. This is accomplished by removing saturated fats and reducing intake of carbs. The common result is a silenced sugar addiction and healthy weight loss. In 2008, an updated version called South Beach Diet Supercharged was released- updating the science behind the diet, as well as finally incorporating exercise recommendations. There are some food restrictions on this diet, but other benefits like balancing blood sugar, reduced cholesterol and heart health, make it worthwhile to pass on your former food vices.
NutriSystem
If you can’t keep up with preparing healthy meals to manage your weight loss- then you might try a meal delivery program. NutriSystem was a trailblazer for this concept, and stands out as a leader today. For a monthly fee of about $10/day, they’ll ship pre-packaged meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Each is portion controlled, meets the glycemic index and has a balanced ratio of carbs, protein and fat. All of this promotes weight loss and helps you manage blood sugar. The meals do come in shelf-stable packaging, so the downside is that they can have high sodium and preservatives. Preference for the foods lie on both sides of the fence- but the people who do like the meals, also rave about the success they’ve enjoyed.
There is no magic pill, secret weapon or revolutionary diet plan. People need to embrace the concept of moderation and a healthy lifestyle. Only this will get you to reach, and keep, your goals. Focus on the process, not the outcome. The outcome will ALWAYS follow the process.
The person needs to mentally get “there” as well.
I’d have to add The Abs Diet to the list, because in addition to providing tons of nutritional information and healthy eating tips, it also includes more core exercises and workouts than you’ll know what to do with.
Sometimes too much is too much. LOL. Simplicity helps, but once things are mastered you can add to the routine. Depends on the person.
There was a study recently that compared a Weight Watchers approach to weight loss with a health club / exercise approach.The study concluded that a combination of the two approaches worked best.If anyone’s interested, I went into more depth on my blog.
Cool breakdown, interesting read. Check it out peeps. Click on his name and avatar above for the story.
Thanks for taking the time to discuss these. We are constantly bombarded with advertisements and testimonials for different weight programs, and it becomes difficult to even understand what they are promoting.
HAHA. Very true. Very true.
People need to embrace the concept of moderation and a healthy lifestyle. Only this will get you to reach, and keep, your goals. Focus on the process, not the outcome. The outcome will ALWAYS follow the process.
Well said. Mastering the process is what is key so that you build some steadfast and sustainable habits.
It is happy to know that If you can’t keep up with preparing healthy meals to manage your weight loss- then you might try a meal delivery program.I am going to try
Let me know how it turns out.
Thanks for mentioning these products
Weight watchers has a huge loyal fan base, even for people who don’t really follow it anymore! It’s pretty incredible.
I was never into the whole weight watchers thing, but I have heard some success stories, as well as failures.
Really, it’s as simple as monitoring what foods you consume and keeping an idea of the calories/fats/etc that you intake. Combine that with a basic aerobic workout routine and gradually increase it over time, you will notice a significant affect.
Use Nutrition Log to keep track of all your nutrition information. You will be able to calculate calories consumed. The magic word is Qwave. There is a very easy way to track your exercises, workouts, diet, and weight loss. It`s kind of Fitness journal which is very easy to learn and to maintain. And maybe the most important – helps you to stay in touch with your goals.(qwave com)
D.S.
Hello, I’m new here. I’ve been researching diets for an article, and the ones you discuss here are the more popular ones that have been reviewed many times. What about the Sonoma Diet? Has anyone given that a whirl?
PS – I love the watermark.
Then why they need it
Hi my name is Claire Hegarty and as a UK Leading expert in Weight Loss Hypnotherapy it amazes me why there are not strict guidelines on all these so called great fad diets that claim to make you thin.
There are so many weight loss diets out there that claim to help you become thin in no time at all when in reality they do not work. You know the ones, the ones where they pay celebrities to claim they have lost weight with them.
So many diets no wonder people are overwhelmed.