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| Diet Plan Review: Best Ways to Lose Weight |
With
the holidays over, you may be looking down at the bulging evidence of too much
merriment around your waistline. If you've resolved to lose weight in 2011, you
might be considering signing up for a commercial diet plan, such as Weight
Watchers, Nutrisystem, or Jenny Craig.
The TV
ads, filled with celebrity endorsers and regular people holding out their
enormous "old jeans," make the diet plans sound terribly tempting.
Although anFTC rule now requires testimonial ads to cite typical results, the
looming question still remains: Which of these diet programs are worth your
money?
To find
out, MoneyWatch analyzed eight of the biggest diet plans. Three are
support-only plans that don't require you to buy their food, and five are
food-delivery plans. We interviewed leading nutritionists and weight-loss
professionals, pored through clinical studies, and tallied up membership fees
and food costs to determine the ones most likely to help you slim down and to
see how much you'd pay to drop 20 pounds.
Our
favorite for value and efficacy is Weight Watchers,
designed to help you change your eating habits for good. Nutrisystem is the least expensive meal delivery plan we reviewed (Medifast is
cheaper, but you have to provide one meal a day on your own). And the
silver-spoon award undoubtedly goes to In The Zone Delivery,
a white-glove service for people who'll spare no expense to drop the pounds.
Here's
how the plans stack up. See the handy chart at the bottom of the page for a
side-by-side comparison.
Weight Watchers
Cost: Choose
the 39.95 monthly pass, which includes unlimited meetings and online support.
If you won’t go to meetings, try three months of online-only services for
$53.85 (with automatic renewal at $17.95 a month thereafter), plus a $30
sign-up fee.
The skinny: The
oldest national weight-loss program, its members rave about the encouragement
they get at weekly meetings led by former Weight Watchers dieters.
Nutritionists praise the portion-control points system: Each food is assigned
points based on its serving size, calories, fiber, and fat; and no foods are
forbidden. Your point allowance is based on your weight, height, gender, age,
and activity level. “Weight Watchers has done a good job incorporating
cognitive behavioral change to weight management,” says Martin Binks, professor
of psychology at Duke University Medical Center.
Does it work? Yes. A
recent clinical study in the New England Journal of Medicine linked group
counseling sessions to weight-loss success. That explains why Weight Watchers
has impressive short-term results. A 2005 study in theAnnals of
Internal Medicine showed
participants lost an average of about 5 percent of their body weight (10 pounds)
in six months. Two years later, they had kept about half the weight off. To
help members stay on track, Weight Watchers encourages them to attend meetings
until they’ve stayed within 2 pounds of their goal weight for six weeks. After
that, you get free lifetime membership. The company says members using its
online tools in addition to attending meetings lost 50 percent more weight than
those going to meetings alone.
How much can you expect to lose? Up to 2 pounds per week
Cost to lose 20 pounds: $160 for
three months of unlimited meetings plus one more month to complete the
maintenance period. For the online-only option, plan on spending $72 for the
same four months.
Cost per pound of weight loss: $4 or
$8, not including food
Worth the money? Yes.
It’s economical and has a proven track record.
eDiets
We
looked at two plans from eDiets — one
that offers support alone, and another with meal delivery.
Cost: The
support-only plan runs about $18 per month or $99 a year, billed to your credit
card (with a $25 fee if you cancel within three months). The optional meal
delivery service, eDiets Fresh Prepared Meal Delivery, costs $110 per week for
five days of meals or $140 for a full week, plus $22 shipping, and includes the
online service.
The skinny: You can
choose from among more than 20 diet plans, including ones for diabetics and
vegetarians. Online tools let you set goals, plan menus and generate shopping
lists. There’s no face-to-face support, but you get support through online
message boards, and you can reach a registered dietitian and personal trainer
by phone at any time. The optional meal delivery service offers freshly
prepared, calorie-controlled meals delivered in a cooler.
Does it work? “People
really seem to love message boards, but there is no data yet to show whether
they are effective in helping with weight loss,” says Binks. But telephone
support has some evidence in its favor: “A couple of studies have shown that
telephone support is just as effective as live support,” says Christine
Gerbstadt, M.D., spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
How much can you expect to lose? 1 to 2 pounds per week
Cost to lose 20 pounds: For
online membership, $54 for three months. For meal delivery, which includes
online membership, $1,716 to $2,106 for 13 weeks.
Cost per pound of weight loss: $2.70 for online-only plan; about $86 to $105 for meal delivery.
Worth the money? Online
membership: Yes, it’s a bargain for round-the-clock support. Meal delivery: No
— for about the same money, other services offer better track records.
