Fad diets, extreme calorie restriction, meal replacement shakes and bruising trips to the gym highlight the lengths to which people go to lose that weight. The irony is that dieting is simple, but not easy. All you have to do to lose weight is take in fewer calories than you burn each day, and the pounds will slowly come off. Packaged meal diet plans can help you do just that.
Function
In practice, however, dieting can be grueling. Packaged meal diet plans attempt to numb the pain by offering sometimes tasty, low-calorie meals that are convenient and balanced roughly according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommendations for macronutrient proportions. These meals generally don't exceed about 340 to 360 calories and some are as low as about 275 calories.
Cost
Plans include readily available meals sold at the nation's grocery chains and more exclusive and specialized meals offered on a subscription, generally with home delivery. Prices vary wildly, with the grocery store items getting the nod for economical value at about $3 to $4 per meal. Subscription plans begin around $12 to $13 per day but can get as expensive as almost $50 per day. Unsurprisingly, "Epicurious," a food and beverage magazine, gives better reviews for taste and quality to the higher-priced plans. (Prices are as of November 2010.)
Benefits
Estimating portion size can be a tricky business, and packaged meal diet plans eliminate that pitfall by serving up consistent, measured portions. Inflated portions served at restaurants coupled with tricky labeling on the products you buy at the store make the process of portioning confusing and inconsistent.
Considerations
While packaged meal plans, when followed to the letter and combined with exercise, demonstrate consistently good results for weight loss, they lack some key nutrients and tend to over-process the food with added sugar and salt, according to Epicurious. Another consideration is that eating packaged meals for the weight loss period doesn't necessarily teach healthy eating habits to use when the diet is over.
Efficacy
Well-known plans test equally well in studies published in journals such as "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," "Journal of the American Medical Association" and "The New England Journal of Medicine." The noted differences are in nutritional content and quality rather than weight loss success. Plans that offer support -- either in person in weekly meetings, on the phone or online -- generally score a little higher in overall efficacy than plans that leave dieters on their own, according to an analysis of eight popular packaged meal plans by CBS Moneywatch.
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