Which Diet Program Should You Choose?

When one gets fatter, he or she might start worrying. This is because people are aware that overweight might just raise their risk of developing many chronic diseases including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke and even cancer.

Usual recommendation from health experts, including exercise regularly and adopt healthy diets, will not really help people lose weight since most people do not have the self-discipline to follow through. So many people will try to find a suitable program for them. This can, however, never be an easy task since the weight loss industry is forever growing. Consumers have to sort through the options in order to choose an appropriate plan.

A recent study by researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine reported that out of 11 commercial weight lost programs, only 2 showed significant weight loss over 12 months. Their paper was published April 7, 2015 in the ‘Annals of Internal Medicine’. 

In the study, researchers analyzed 39 randomized-controlled research trials for 11 commercially available including Weight Watchers; Jenny Craig, NutriSystem, Health Management Resources, Medifast, OPTIFAST; Atkins; The Biggest Loser Club; eDiets; Lose It!; and SlimFast. Diets such as the DASH diet or the Mediterranean diet were not tracked as these encourage healthful eating rather than weight loss. 

It was found that Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers showed weight loss that lasted 12 months or longer, and people on these programs lost more weight than people who were in a control group, which included education and counseling.

During the duration of 1 year, people using Weight Watchers lost at least 2.6 percent more weight than those who were in a control group, and those using Jenny Craig experienced at least 4.9 percent greater weight loss. But the report did not indicate exactly how many pounds were lost on average.

Weight Watchers, which costs $43 a month, helps people track their food and exercise through a points system. Jenny Craig, on the other hand, provides low-calorie, premade meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks) and support from a coach, for $570 a month.

The study, which provided data about commercial products, showed that losing weight using a structural program is certainly better than using none. Nevertheless, it is clearly that weight loss from these programs can hardly be maintained beyond a year. According to some health experts, people learn how to eat on a specific plan but just cannot resist eating junk food after the program.

Hopefully, the results of this study could actually inspire more people to talk to their doctors about losing weight. While some people could just lose weight by following advices from doctors, other might just need a commercial program to help them.