15 Best Diet Plans to Lose Weight Fast
Updated: Nov. 14, 2022
These diet plans have been singled out for fast weight loss by U.S. News & World Reports. We picked our top 15 based on weight loss promised, convenience, sustainability, and research.
HMR program
The HMR program’s approach makes the top of the list of best diet plans because the Decision-Free plan suggests you can lose up to 66 pounds in 26 weeks. You could also drop 37 pounds on its Healthy Solutions option. The Decision-Free diet is a medically supervised, very low-calorie diet of shakes and snacks; Healthy Solutions includes shakes, snacks, entrees, and your own fruits and vegetables. You should expect to exercise plenty to lose the most weight; you can also sign up for health coaching to boost success. The convenience is a plus—but you will get a very limited choice of foods and aren’t allowed to drink alcohol or eat out. And remember: You risk gaining weight once you go back to real food. Check out these 42 tips for losing weight fast.
Weight Watchers
This well-known plan promises weight loss of up to two pounds per week, and it has plenty of evidence to back it up. The bonus is that it’s built around real food. Weight Watchers has a strong community to support your success and offers personal coaching for an additional cost. The latest plan, WW Freestyle, has 200 zero Points foods, which makes tracking what you eat less of a burden. If you have a sweet tooth, this plan may be tough because sugar is heavily penalized. Weight Watchers doesn’t accept children under 13, pregnant women, or those with eating disorders. Find out which supermarket foods are best for weight loss.
Volumetrics
This nutritionally sound book-based food plan is based on the research of Barbara Rolls, PhD, professor of nutrition at Penn State University. Rolls says you can lose one to two pounds per week on the plan. The theory is that by swapping out calorie-heavy fat-laden foods with fruits and vegetables that have a lot of water in them, you can eat more for fewer calories. To boost weight loss, you will need to be active—aim for 10,000 steps a day. You might not lose weight as fast, but Rolls has both short-term and long-term evidence to support her approach. Read more about it in Rolls’ latest book, The Ultimate Volumetrics Diet.
Medifast
Five different Medifast plans plus one meal of lean protein and non-starchy vegetables will give you a loss of about 11 pounds in eight weeks, according to the company. Although these very low-calorie diet plans are effective in the short term, weight regain is a risk over the long haul. It also depends on processed foods and requires dieters to last through the hunger pangs. The plan is not recommended if you are pregnant, have type 1 diabetes, or have any of these other conditions. Here are 17 tips for getting over a weight-loss plateau.
SlimFast
This meal replacement plan has mixed scientific evidence to support it. SlimFast promises a reasonable one- to two-pound loss per week, but you’ll need to buy its shakes, bars, and other products. The 1,200-calorie plan allows for one 500 calorie meal of regular food daily, with the rest of the calories made up of SlimFast products, fruits, and vegetables. The hard part will be sticking with the program; also, the SlimFast foods contain a lot of processed ingredients and artificial sweeteners. This isn’t for people younger than 18, or pregnant or breastfeeding women without medical supervision. Make the most of your one meal with 11 simple swaps that lead to dramatic weight loss.
Atkins diet
This high-protein, fat-rich plan claims you will lose up to 15 pounds in two weeks, but the unhealthy fat content drops the diet’s ranking. Similar to the ketogenic diet, the idea is that by severely restricting your carb intake, your body will have to burn fat for energy. Atkins has a decent amount of short-term research to support the premise, but the results are mixed. The American Heart Association links saturated fats—prevalent in this plan—to heart disease. Other negatives for Atkins are that it’s tough to sustain, and you’ll miss out on fiber and other nutrients in complex carbohydrates like whole grains. Check out the 15 best Atkins diet foods you can get at the grocery store.
Jenny Craig
This eating plan promotes an average loss of one to two pounds per week. You’ll eat portion-controlled, pre-packaged meals and snacks; you can add your own fresh fruits and vegetables. Then, you’ll slowly introduce regular meals with the help of weekly counseling sessions. Jenny Craig does have some scientific evidence to back it, and dieters say they like the personalization and support of weekly meetings with a counselor. On the downside, the program can get expensive, and it uses a lot of processed foods with long ingredient lists. This plan isn’t meant for children under 13 or people with food allergies. For a budget-friendly option, check out the best free meal planners for weight loss.
Nutrisystem
This company’s latest plan, Turbo 13, promises you’ll lose 13 pounds (and seven inches from your girth) in the first month. When you join Nutrisystem (membership is required), you’ll mix their pre-packaged meals with food you buy at the grocery store. The plan recommends splitting up your meals into a six a day. As with many diet plans, the research backs the short-term results, but there’s little evidence that it works in the long term. Convenience is the biggest pro; cons are the price and the highly processed foods. Nutrisystem is not for you if you are under 18, pregnant, or breastfeeding, or if you have food allergies.
Mayo Clinic diet
The Mayo Clinic health experts designed this plan to produce long-lasting behavior change—and lasting weight loss. You can lose six to ten pounds in the Lose It phase by adding healthy habits and ditching unhealthy ones. Food choices are built around the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid and bulky, low-calorie foods that fill you up fast—an idea that scores well in studies. The Live It phase teaches more advanced weight-loss skills to help make it stick. This diet plan’s main restrictions are to eat out less, not expect overnight weight loss, and seek your healthcare professional’s approval before starting. Don’t miss these 13 weight-loss foods that will help you shed pounds fast.
DASH diet
A favorite of health experts, the DASH diet has the primary goal of limiting sodium and lowering blood pressure, but the bonus is losing weight by shifting to a healthier way of eating. The DASH diet plan advocates building meals around fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean meats, and healthy fats. Evidence demonstrates that the approach is effective, especially when you add in regular exercise. You can improve your results, suggests some research, by adding more lean protein to the diet. This is one of the healthier approaches, and it’s easy to adapt to your needs, though the salt restrictions make eating out tough. Looking for another way? Check out these other weight loss tricks that don’t require diet or exercise.
Vegan diet
Vegetarians tend to be slimmer than omnivores, according to research. But you’ll have to have a lot of discipline and willpower to pull off a vegan diet. Support is out there—the American Diabetes Association gives its approval to the plan, and there are plenty of resources online such as the Vegetarian Resource Group if you need guidance. Following this rigid way of eating may mean could miss out on important nutrients such as vitamin B12 and calcium, but overall going vegan offers some powerful health benefits. You can expect to lose about two pounds a week. Check out the 13 things that happen to your body when you go vegan.
Flexitarian diet
This plan was developed by nutritionist Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, to allow vegetarians to have a burger every once in awhile. There is no specific weight-loss claim, but the guidelines recommend around 1,500 calories per day, so there’s a good chance you’ll lose weight. Recipes are available online and in Blatner’s book. Vegetarian diets have been linked with reduced risk for diseases such as diabetes and heart troubles, but you have to make smart food choices to avoid nutrient deficiencies. Learn about the healthy diet plan nutritionists recommend for weight loss.
Flat Belly Diet
The plan laid out in the book Flat Belly Diet! says you will lose up to 15 pounds in 32 days. The first phase offers an initial anti-bloat plan, followed by four weeks of strict eating that incorporates healthy monounsaturated fats at every meal. While the diet has no research to support it, the plan is loosely based loosely on the Mediterranean diet, which is highly backed by research.
Nutritarian diet
Developed by Joel Fuhrman, MD, a nutrition expert and researcher, this book-based diet plan is all about nutrient density: Eat the foods that have the most nutrients per serving (and per calorie), and you will be healthier overall and lose weight. Dr. Fuhrman’s 10-in-20 Plan claims you’ll lose ten pounds in 20 days. This produce-focused program has you eliminate all processed foods, dairy, sweeteners, and oils, which some people complain is too restrictive. There’s also an online component that offers membership with a community of nutritarians. Don’t miss these other 50 ways to lose weight without a lick of exercise.
South Beach
This high-protein, low-carbohydrate, diet plan claims you can lose nine pounds in two weeks. South Beach is different from other low-carb diets because it incorporates more unsaturated fats, such as those in olive oil and avocados, rather than saturated fats. On the downside, the cost can add up quickly if you’re buying the meals, and the first few phases of the diet don’t allow for eating out (or ordering in). No matter which diet plan you choose, avoid these 20 foods that are never worth the calories.
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