Best Weight Loss Diet rankings

Need2Exerc1se
Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
edited November 23 in Health and Weight Loss
https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-weight-loss-diets
Weight Watchers for the win (I wonder if Oprah owns this publication)

https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-diets-overall
Mediterranean and DASH tie for best diet overall (what is the difference in these diets, red wine?)

Replies

  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-weight-loss-diets
    Weight Watchers for the win (I wonder if Oprah owns this publication)

    https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-diets-overall
    Mediterranean and DASH tie for best diet overall (what is the difference in these diets, red wine?)

    I think the Mediterranean diet would focus mostly on fish, with meat as a rare item, whereas Dash has meat & fish in the same category. And Mediterranean focuses on olive oil rather than generic fat. And yeah, the red wine is a factor too :). And because Dash was originally meant to control blood pressure it has specific limitations for sodium. But I'd bet if one person was following DASH and one was eating Mediterranean, their food would look pretty darn similar, and you could easily eat a Mediterranean diet that complied with Dash.

    I have to admit, while I think WW has a lot of issues, if someone wants to do one of the "Join our club" diets, WW is probably the best. I have started seeing the Oprah commercials for their new Freedom program and have to chuckle after seeing all the threads on here of people jumping ship because of it :lol:
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-weight-loss-diets
    Weight Watchers for the win (I wonder if Oprah owns this publication)

    https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-diets-overall
    Mediterranean and DASH tie for best diet overall (what is the difference in these diets, red wine?)

    I think the Mediterranean diet would focus mostly on fish, with meat as a rare item, whereas Dash has meat & fish in the same category. And Mediterranean focuses on olive oil rather than generic fat. And yeah, the red wine is a factor too :). And because Dash was originally meant to control blood pressure it has specific limitations for sodium. But I'd bet if one person was following DASH and one was eating Mediterranean, their food would look pretty darn similar, and you could easily eat a Mediterranean diet that complied with Dash.

    I have to admit, while I think WW has a lot of issues, if someone wants to do one of the "Join our club" diets, WW is probably the best. I have started seeing the Oprah commercials for their new Freedom program and have to chuckle after seeing all the threads on here of people jumping ship because of it :lol:

    Oh I didn't think about the sodium thing for DASH but that makes sense. I think what I eat is most closely related to the Med diet of those I've read about, which honestly is very few (I've never heard of half of those diets). I eat more meat than it recommends though.
  • WhereIsPJSoles
    WhereIsPJSoles Posts: 622 Member
    q7qolm5r0x1t.jpg

    Well, duh! That doesn't mean one doesn't make creating the deficit easier or that some don't do it in a healthier manner.

    But isn’t whether it’s easy kind of subjective? I think out of all of those the ones I wouldn’t have to pay for would be the easiest for me. Weight watchers would probably fall at the bottom.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    q7qolm5r0x1t.jpg

    Well, duh! That doesn't mean one doesn't make creating the deficit easier or that some don't do it in a healthier manner.

    But isn’t whether it’s easy kind of subjective? I think out of all of those the ones I wouldn’t have to pay for would be the easiest for me. Weight watchers would probably fall at the bottom.

    Yes, it's very subjective. There is info on the site about how the diets were rated.
  • dsboohead
    dsboohead Posts: 1,899 Member
    Slim fast? Really?!
  • abbefaria4
    abbefaria4 Posts: 46 Member
    Also, there seem to be diets that aren't even considered. For example, the slow carb diet has worked well for me in the past, and I've recently started using it again.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    abbefaria4 wrote: »
    Also, there seem to be diets that aren't even considered. For example, the slow carb diet has worked well for me in the past, and I've recently started using it again.

    Isn't that the same as the glycemic index diet?
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    dsboohead wrote: »
    Slim fast? Really?!

    What is the problem with the Slim Fast diet?
  • MissyCHF
    MissyCHF Posts: 337 Member
    dsboohead wrote: »
    Slim fast? Really?!
    I avoided Slimfast for years but one year ago I tried it and it gave me a wonderful kick start. I am now eating 'normal' meals with the odd SF meal bar and tracking my calories. I have lost 35lbs!
  • MissyCHF
    MissyCHF Posts: 337 Member
    dsboohead wrote: »
    Slim fast? Really?!

    What is the problem with the Slim Fast diet?

    Is that how someone would want to eat for the long-term? The biggest problems with Slim Fast are:

    1 - compliance in the short term
    2 - control of calories when the "diet" is complete - especially if the caloric effect of the Slim Fast diet is a crash diet because of too large of a deficit.
    3 - no real change in the eating habits that got you to where you felt you needed it in the first place.

    That said, there are people who have lost weight using it, but it's among the worst in terms of keeping weight off.
    How do you know??

  • Haldridge0519
    Haldridge0519 Posts: 2 Member
    I read the book "food can fix it". It made me think of food and nutrition in a whole new light. Only on day 5, but i do believe the book's information is making eating healthy easier. I have to mentally turn "living to eat" into "eating to live"
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
    abbefaria4 wrote: »
    Also, there seem to be diets that aren't even considered. For example, the slow carb diet has worked well for me in the past, and I've recently started using it again.

    I don't know what the entire list of diets was that they considered, but diets that don't appear in their "best" list might have been ranked too low to get into the final group.
  • Tried30UserNames
    Tried30UserNames Posts: 561 Member
    They completely ruined the WW diet a couple years ago. Unless they completely revamped it again, I think WW is just resting on its laurels. I wouldn't recommend the new program to anyone. I think it is dangerous.
  • dsboohead
    dsboohead Posts: 1,899 Member
    I really liked the food exchange program that WW had years ago. Points never really clicked for me.
  • Poisonedpawn78
    Poisonedpawn78 Posts: 1,145 Member
    I dont understand why the Fuzzy peach and Diet Dr Pepper diet is not in the list.
  • whosshe
    whosshe Posts: 597 Member
    I dont understand why the Fuzzy peach and Diet Dr Pepper diet is not in the list.

    I think it should be #1.
  • Jimb376mfp
    Jimb376mfp Posts: 6,236 Member
    They completely ruined the WW diet a couple years ago. Unless they completely revamped it again, I think WW is just resting on its laurels. I wouldn't recommend the new program to anyone. I think it is dangerous.

    You said they ruined it... you mean when it went from PPV to Smart Points (SP) in 2016?

    You said “unless they revamped it., you mean the NEW Freestyle Program rolled out in Dec 2017?

    You said you wouldn’t recommend New Program because you think it’s “dangerous”?

    I was 376# age 65 and was going to have WLS but opted to join WW for the Hundredth time in January 2013 because I knew it always worked for me BUT I never stayed on after I lost the weight.

    This time I have stayed on the WW programs, WW Inc constantly revises their Program based on research and Marketing.

    SW 376 (2013 age 65)
    CW 187 (age 70)
    GW 176

    WW works for me but that doesn’t mean it is THE BEST, it just means I found a Program that helped me to change my Lifestyle, Eat Healthy and exercise.

  • Tried30UserNames
    Tried30UserNames Posts: 561 Member
    Jimb376mfp, I thought both the food exchanges and the Points (and Core by all its names) system from the original incarnation up until 2016 was great. It was a workable, flexible, sustainable, healthy plan. They'd tweak the plan every year just a bit for their marketing.

    The changes in 2016 were enormous, completely revamping the entire concept behind WW. It is now entirely inflexible. It only works with a low fat, high sugar (i.e. zero pt fruit) 1980's style diet. With a more balanced diet that includes a moderate amount of healthy fats, I was reaching my Points limit at less than 800 calories a day, but hadn't really realized it until I passed out. I call that dangerous and unhealthy. I also call it inflexible and unsustainable. I could survive that kind of starvation diet in the 1980's when I was young and healthy. In middle age, my body can't take it.

    Unless Freestyle is a complete turnaround from SmartPoints, and from everything I've read, it's not, it remains a program I will continue to recommend against and call dangerous.

    I am a WW Lifetime member. I have joined, like you, "hundreds" of times. I have also cumulatively lost hundreds of pounds on WW. But no longer.

    I still think the support and accountability of meetings are valuable as long as you follow an old WW plan or use your own eating plan.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    dsboohead wrote: »
    Slim fast? Really?!

    What is the problem with the Slim Fast diet?

    Is that how someone would want to eat for the long-term? The biggest problems with Slim Fast are:

    1 - compliance in the short term
    2 - control of calories when the "diet" is complete - especially if the caloric effect of the Slim Fast diet is a crash diet because of too large of a deficit.
    3 - no real change in the eating habits that got you to where you felt you needed it in the first place.

    That said, there are people who have lost weight using it, but it's among the worst in terms of keeping weight off.

    Can you cite a reliable source for it being "among the worst in terms of keeping weight off"?
This discussion has been closed.