NutriSystem ®
NutriSystem web site
Quick Glance
NutriSystem ® is one of the most popular sources of delivered, pre-packaged foods for weight loss. Perfect for the person who doesn’t need to cook for an entire family, and prefers to keep things simple. There’s no calorie counting, or complex decisions to make with this system. Simply choose from a lengthy menu of pre-packaged foods once a month, and have them all delivered to your door. The meals don’t need to be refrigerated, so you can easily store an entire month’s worth of food without taking up all of your refrigerator space. The foods selection is based on the glycemic index of carbohydrates, which emphasizes frequent, small portions of food to help reduce hunger. Currently has six plans (men’s, women’s, men’s silver, women’s silver, men’s diabetic, women’s diabetic, and vegetarian). All participants can get support from weight loss counselors either online or by phone.
Costs
Costs vary but average $300-$350/month, which comes to approximately $10/day, and since this includes all your meals and snacks, that’s a pretty reasonable price. (You may still need to purchase a few groceries from your local store, such as fruits, milk, etc.)
Sample Foods
NutriFrosted Crunch Cereal
Black Bean Tortilla Soup
Flatbread Pizza
Chocolate Crunch Bar
Jenny Craig
Quick Glance
Although Jenny Craig now has an at-home program (Jenny Direct), it was initially founded upon weekly visits to your local Jenny Craig center, and for this reason, we’ve classified it in the Real World Support Groups section. The main focus is the Jenny Craig’s pre-packaged single-serving foods that you are required to eat. You will supplement these meals with fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products that you purchase at your local grocery store. Learning portion control and adapting to smaller portions is the main purpose behind the packaged foods. Jenny Craig also focuses on exercise and learning to balance your lifestyle.
One of the things that sets Jenny Craig apart from other diets is that you eventually stop eating the pre-packaged foods and work your way back towards eating nearly anything you want, while focusing on controlling portion sizes of those meals.
Jenny Craig emphasizes fruits, vegetables, lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, nuts, whole grains, reduced fat milk products and heart healthy fats.
Costs
Membership fees range from $20-$325/month plus the pre-packaged food costs of about $14/day. The costs vary based on options such as type of support, rewards for food discounts, and specials.
Sample Foods
Banana Nut Cereal
Turkey Burger
Chicken Fettuccine
Chocolate Cake
Sonoma Diet
Quick Glance
The Sonoma Diet is very similar to the South Beach Diet and other Mediterranean-styled diets, with its own take on things. The author of the book is Connie Guttersen, R.D., Ph.D. and she stresses eating satisfying amounts of great tasting foods that are known to boost vitality and be heart-healthy. Although this diet does have an online version, we still think of this as more of a DIY plan, but we include the online information as well.
The Sonoma Diet consists of three “waves”. The first wave, lasting 10 days, is the most restrictive, and helps you overcome the bad habits of eating sugars and refined flours. The second wave is the main weight-loss phase and focuses on eating the right foods as well as understanding portion control. Plate size is used to help determine correct portion levels. The third wave is the life-long maintenance phase, which allows some previously-banned foods back into the diet in moderate amounts.
The diet also focuses on 10 “power foods”, which are:
- Almonds
- Bell peppers
- Blueberries
- Broccoli
- Grapes (including wines)
- Olive oil
- Spinach
- Strawberries
- Tomatoes
- Whole grains
Costs
Book(s): $10-$30 depending upon new or used pricing and whether you buy one or both books, plus price of groceries. Online membership is another option at $5/week and grants you access to more recipes as well as several tools, such as meal planners, grocery shopping lists, tracking tools, and community support.
Sample Foods
One sample day’s menu (breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, and dessert):
Whole grain cereal and milk
Wild Rice Salad with Chicken
1 cup raw baby carrots and celery with 2 tbsp. hummus
Pork Chops with Rosemary
Brussels Sprouts with Prosciutto
1 slice of rustic whole grain bread
1/2 cup fresh fruit of choice
1 glass Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or Syrah (optional)
Whole Wheat Pita with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
Apple-Blueberry Tart
eDiets
Quick Glance
With over 22 well-known weight loss plans to choose from, eDiets is rapidly becoming a central location for online dieting. The site (and its customer service) has had a few problems in the last few months, as it attempted to deal with its growing pains, but overall, the quality of the plans, and the options available are second to none. After filling out a questionnaire designed to help you determine which diet plan would be best for you, your tastes, and your lifestyle, you pick a plan. That plan is then tailored to fit your needs, and you are given weekly menus, along with recipes and shopping lists to download and print out. If you like have a solid guide to work from, and don’t want to have to get creative on your own, this is a great way to do it.
Each week you weigh in privately, and eDiets tracks your progress. In addition, you are given exercise routines (a free fitness plan), tools, and food substitution lists to help keep you on track.
The following diet plans are available (as well as a meal delivery option):
- eDiets Weight Loss Diet
- eDiets Meal Delivery Plan specificially designed for use with alli®
- Atkins Diet
- Winter Diet
- Glycemic Diet™
- Mediterranean Diet™
- Bill Phillips’ Eating for Life™
- Slim Fast Optima™ Diet
- Wheat-Free Meal Plan
- Low-Fat Plan
- Living with Diabetes Plan
- Heart Smart Plan
- Low-Sodium Plan
- Cholesterol Lowering Plan
- High-Fiber Plan
- Hypoglycemic/Low-Sugar Plan
- Healthy Soy Plan
- Vegetarian Plan
- Lactose-Free Plan
Costs
Currently about $18/month, but there are various options that you can choose from, so each person’s cost will vary. The meal delivery service starts at $15.95/day, and includes 4 daily FRESH, chef-prepared, meals (and snacks/desserts) delivered to your door (especially great for singles who don’t want to cook).
Sample Foods
Completely depends upon which plan you choose, but here is a sampling from eDiets own plan:
Oatmeal with Raisins and Almonds, Yogurt and Fruit
Homemade Fresh Tomato Pizza with Salad and Fruit
Pork Kabobs with Baked Sweet Potato and Salad
SparkPeople
Quick Glance
Quickly becoming one of the largest free diet sites in the world, SparkPeople is an excellent online diet destination. SparkPeople believes in the simple equation of burning more calories than you eat. The diet consists of the idea of eating whatever you want, but using SparkPeople’s tools to learn how to eat in moderation, and learn to make the right choices. The suggested meals and recipes follow the American Heart Association guidelines.
Community support is a large factor in helping you lose weight. You are encouraged to join like-minded teams of people who share the same characteristics and goals as you (such as 40 somethings with 50-99 pounds to lose or Young Moms After Pregnancy, for example). There are currently over 10,000 teams, so there’s one that’s right for you.
SparkPeople is very much a social network, where members participate by submitting recipes, voting on other recipes, and sharing experiences. In addition, you are encouraged to blog about your experience on your personalized homepage that you receive when you join.
The site also includes tools such as meal plans, calorie counter, weight tracker, exercise demos and more.
Costs
Free. (You buy your own groceries, of course).
Sample Foods
Slow-Cooker Salsa Chicken
20 Minute Chicken Creole
Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins
Skillet Lasagna
Portabella Pita Pizza
Crispy Baked Egg Rolls
Peanut and Sesame Noodles
(Thousands more recipes, and the selection grows daily)
The 1200 Calorie A Day Menu
Quick Overview
Calorie counting is one of the oldest and most-used methods of losing weight. Although each person may need a different number of calories per day to maintain a healthy weight, the one number that is most often recommended to the most people is 1200 calories per day. 1200 calories is usually just about the right amount to lose weight without doing so in an unsafe manner. For this plan, you can utilize a multitude of calorie counting resources, including small booklets with lists of calories for nearly every food imaginable to using a calculator to add up the calories listed on processed foods nutrition labels. One of the best ways, however, is to follow a planned menu for at least the majority of your meals.
Every recipe in the recipe book listed above contains no more than 350-400 calories, so by simply choosing any recipe you like for breakfast, lunch and dinner, you’ll easily stay within the 1200 calorie limit. In addition, many of the recipes can be prepared in 15 minutes or less. Each recipe includes easy-to-follow instructions and fat grams per serving.
Costs
Costs are low for this plan. You should expect to spend no more than about $20 for calorie-info booklets and recipe books (see The 1200 Calorie A Day Menu Cookbook listed above for an excellent example). The only other costs are simply the costs of your groceries.
Sample Foods
If you follow the menus listed in the above cookbook, you’ll find recipes such as:
- Buttermilk pancakes with blueberry sauce, canadian bacon, and sliced oranges
- Roast beef salad with blue cheese in pitas and fresh apple slices
- Sliced turkey with mushroom gravy, whipped potatoes, peppered peas, and apricot halves
Weight Watchers
Quick Glance
Weight Watchers encourages a change in lifestyle, as it promotes healthy habits, smart food choices, support from others, and exercise. Instead of focusing on specific foods or menus, Weight Watchers allows you to eat what you like, with flexible food plans that adapt to your lifestyle. Initially, Weight Watchers was offline only with group meetings for motivation and support, but it now offers both offline meetings and an online customized plan. Lots of tools, recipes, exercises on site.
Weight Watchers Four Principles:
* Healthy weight loss
* Realistic, practical, livable approach
* Informed choices: Learn what to do and why
* Holistic view - combining food, exercise, behavior and supportive atmosphere.
Costs
Group Meetings average $40-50 per month depending upon plan.
Online options average $17-21 per month, depending upon plan.
Sample Foods
Garden Vegetable Soup
Grilled Lean Steak and Vegetables
Melon Chunks
Stir-Fried Chicken with Veggies
Online Diet Plans
When classifying a diet plan as "online", we mean that all of the program's detailed information, the meal plans and recipes, and all tools and support are accessed online via that program's web site. Of course, many will also supplement the online version with hard copy printed materials such as books and magazines, and may also include phone support. But the primary means of managing the plan on a day to day basis is via their web site. Check this area for both paid and free online diet plans.
Real World Support Groups
Real world diet support groups generally involve signing up with a program in which you attend meetings with people in your area, or visit a diet center near you on a recurring basis. These in-person, face to face types of plans are especially useful for those who are motivated by interacting with others directly, rather than virtually as in the online world.
DIY Weight Loss Plans
We classify plans as DIY (Do It Yourself) when they only involve the dieter and some materials, such as books, etc. If you don't want any kind of social interaction, support or a strict plan, you probably will do best by winging it on your own. DIY diet plans will focus mostly on obtaining plan material from books, cds and dvds, and are often what people are seeking when searching for the top 10 diets.
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