How to Choose a Diet or Weight Loss Plan

Did you know that Americans spend approximately $30 billion a year trying to lose weight? In the big business of weight loss, it pays to shop around for a program that suits your needs.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately challenging

1. Choose a program that helps you set realistic goals and aim for gradual weight loss.
2. Be sure to ask how much weight you can expect to lose per week, as well as how long it will take to reach your own weight loss goal.
3. Research the credentials of the experts involved in the program, such as doctors, nurses, dieticians and counselors.
4. Make sure the plan offers a variety of foods to ensure that you receive all the nutrients you need - your diet should include all the recommended daily allowances (RDAs) for vitamins, minerals and protein.
5. Look for a plan that includes plenty of exercise to be combined with a balanced diet.
6. Select a plan that not only helps you lose weight but teaches you to keep it off. You need to make permanent lifestyle changes to maintain a healthy body.
7. Consider how much time you are willing to spend on this program. For instance, will you need to attend meetings or counseling sessions?
8. Consider the total cost of the program, including the initial membership fee, special foods, supplements and other features.

Tips & Warnings

• Seek help from a variety of experts: a doctor, a dietitian, an exercise physiologist, a psychologist. Each can provide advice that the others cannot. Be sure to check credentials.
• Weight loss medications provide only short-term weight loss.
• Weight loss self-help support groups, such as Overeaters Anonymous or Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS), are available to those who would like peer support without following a particular commercial program.
• Opt for a commercial weight loss program, such as Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers, if you want to lose at least 10 pounds and would like a structured weight loss plan, as well as extra services and special foods.
• Ask your physician about weight loss programs that take place in a clinical setting, such as Optifast or Health Management Resources (HMR), if you are 20 to 30 percent above your ideal weight; these include liquid meal replacements in their plans.
• Single-food reduction diets (such as grapefruit or cabbage diets) are not only boring but nutritionally unbalanced.
• It is dangerous to lose more than 1 to 2 pounds per week after the first week.
• If you have any questions or concerns, contact a physician or other health care professional before engaging in any activity related to health and diet. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment.