There is no fad diet, no trick and no shortcut that can get around the basic math of weight loss. You take in calories, or energy, and use that energy to go about your daily activities. If you take in more calories than you need, you will gain weight. If you take in fewer calories than you need, you will lose weight. It's the unforgiving math of the dieter and one thing is sure: Losing weight requires increased activity, lower caloric intake, or both.
Calorie Counting
Reading food labels and keeping a tally of the calories you eat is tedious but effective. It is the simplest, and cheapest, calorie-based diet plan. It takes 3,500 calories to equal one pound gained or lost, according to the Mayo Clinic. If your goal is to lose two pounds a week, you need to cut calories and increase activity by a total of 7,000 calories, and that means writing everything down and keeping accurate totals.
Once you start paying attention to labels, and more importantly the portions you are eating, you'll learn how easy it is to cut the bulk of your intake. Some drinks at the nearest chain coffee shop contain more than 400 calories. A medium order of French fries and a Big Mac is 1,000 calories. Skip the coffee shop run and have a reasonable and satisfying 400-calorie lunch, and you've cut 1,000 calories in one day without even trying.
Weight Watchers
While the Weight Watchers formula makes an effort to qualify calories rather than quantify them per say, the program is essentially a calorie-based diet without the calculator. Points are assigned to the foods you eat based on the total calories in the item, the fat grams and the grams of total fiber. A point total based on your height, weight and activity level is your target for the day.
Weight Watchers members have access to online tools to help them compute point values on their food choices, and there is a line of Weight Watchers prepared meals available at most grocery stores under the "Smart Ones" label. Point values are printed on each box. As you lose weight, your total number of allowed daily points is reduced until you reach your goal weight and begin a maintenance program.
Meal Plans
Meal plans like Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem place an emphasis on their own, branded prepared foods to help you adjust to smaller portions and avoid calorie counting and food measuring. The plans emphasize the prepared meals early in the diet, with a few supplemental items from the grocery store recommended based on the type of plan you choose. As the diets progress, you'll be eating more fresh food from the market and fewer prepared items.
Each plan highlights the quality, taste and variety on their menus. Nutrisystem builds its menu plans based not only on calories, but also on a food's glycemic index, a measure of how readily the body can break the food down into sugars. Nutrisystem also makes the distinction between "good" and "bad" carbohydrates.
Jenny Craig offers support to members who pay for it via a 24-hour a day helpline and behavior modification classes. Nutrisystem offers online counseling and support groups.
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