The best diet for losing weight is Weight
Watchers, according to the experts who rated the diets below for U.S. News. Biggest
Loser, Jenny
Craig, and the raw food diet came in close behind. Other diets performed
as well or better in enabling fast weight loss, but long-term weight loss is
more important for your health.
Flat Belly Diet
Flat
Belly was among the lower third of the plans, with ratings somewhat below the
25-diet average in both short-term and long-term weight loss. The plan’s claim
that you can drop up to 15 pounds in 32 days are “somewhat exaggerated,” said
one expert. Small, short studies are the only evidence backing up any claims of
weight loss.
Medifast
Medifast
also landed in the bottom one-third for overall weight loss. While dieters will
likely drop pounds quickly, most experts felt they will regain the weight. The
diet’s relatively low ratings for long-term weight loss pulled it down in the
rankings.
Like
almost every other diet program, Nutrisystem scored better in short-term than
long-term weight loss, but its ratings were a notch below average in both
categories. And without long-term data, experts were skeptical that dieters
could keep the weight off once they graduate from packaged meals and move back
to their own cooking.
Abs Diet
Don’t
expect to lose weight and keep it off on the Abs diet. Experts gave it a
moderate 3 stars in the short-term category but only 2 stars long-term,
indicating that they considered it minimally effective. Its strict eating
schedule makes adherence difficult, and more research is needed to validate its
claims, agreed experts.
The
Anti-Inflammatory diet is not designed as a weight-loss plan, and its dismal
scores reflect that. It pulled in 2.6 out of 5 stars, and isn’t an ideal choice
for losing weight quickly—or for keeping it off over the long haul.
Zone Diet
Experts
weren’t convinced that the Zone Diet helps keep weight off over the short or
long term. While it “provides a dose of dietary discipline,” one panelist said,
portions are small, and the diet requires a lot of work, which can make adhering
to it difficult.
This diet
is among the lowest scorers in the weight-loss category. Dieters are fairly
likely to drop pounds fast, but the experts were dubious about the likelihood
that the weight will stay off because of a plethora of rules and restrictions.
One panelist described it as a “monstrosity” that’s “clearly unsuitable for children
and families.”
There’s
not much potential as a weight-loss diet, according to experts. Its premise of
favoring “good” carbs over “bad” hasn’t been scientifically validated, and
dieters won’t have enough guidance to drop the pounds and keep them off.
If weight
loss is the goal, the Paleo diet will likely disappoint, in the judgment of our
panel of experts. While they gave it slightly higher scores for short-term
weight loss than for long-term, on the whole it was by far the least effective
diet for weight loss of all 25 reviewed.
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