Going on a diet involves careful planning and plenty of research upfront. After all, you don’t want to find any diet – you want the right diet. And, if weight loss is your goal, you want to go on the best diet to lose weight that also fits within your lifestyle.
“Eating a nutrient-rich diet can make us feel better and more energised, and it lets us know we are taking steps towards a healthier life,” says dietitian Amanda Beaver. But when you start researching the best ways to lose weight, your head can start spinning with all the different “miracle” diets out there: keto! paleo! 5-2 fasting! And of course each of these has an army of true believers, who post all over Instagram about how awesome they feel giving up carbs/sugar/meat/dinner. It can be impossible to know which one to try.
How to choose a new diet
Deciding on a new diet is a big deal, and it can be tricky to select the right one for you. “One must remember that healthy weight loss is a commitment that takes time,” says dietitian Keri Gans. “There is no silver bullet. When choosing a diet, opt for one that is all-food inclusive and not one that is about eliminating foods, especially those you love.”
Dietitian Amanda Holtzer suggests asking yourself the following question before settling on a new diet:
- Is this diet sustainable for you? “Meaning, can you do it seven days a week, forever?” she says. “Because if not, the second you stop doing it, chances are you’ll gain the weight back.”
- Is this diet overly restrictive? If you’re going to feel deprived, Holtzer says it will be tough to stick with a particular diet. “Eventually, those cravings will take over,” she says. “Often, this kind of situation leads to overindulgences or even binges.”
- Will you be able to live your life while on it?I f you like to eat out with friends, grab ice cream on occasion, and enjoy mimosas at brunch, it’s important to consider if your diet will allow this, Holtzer says. “If you think you’ll have to put your life on hold to execute this diet properly, it ain’t the one,” she says.
- Will you be adequately nourished? Holtzer says this is “the most important” question to ask yourself. “Any diet that prescribes intensely low kilojoules is not the one,” she says. “Remember, the second you stop eating that way, you’ll gain the weight back,” Holtzer says.
Ultimately, Gans says, “A good fit will have many parts to it that become part of your lifestyle, not something that you will be counting the days ‘til it is over.”
How long should you give a diet before trying something new?
Sure, it’s possible to choose a diet the first time that may not be right for you. So, how long should you give it? Holtzer says “not very long.” She recommends doing daily check-ins with yourself to see how you’re feeling on a new diet. A few things to consider:
- How well you’ve been able to stick to the diet
- What you did well
- What you could have improved on
- Whether you feel satisfied from your meals and snacks
- How much you’re thinking about food on the diet
- How much the diet is impacting other areas of your life
“Even if you finish day one of a diet, and the answers to some of these questions indicate that this diet may not be right, I would say it’s time to call it,” Holtzer says. “Life is too short to be on a diet that takes away from it.” (But, she adds, if you feel like daily check-ins are too much, you can reevaluate every week.)
Gans agrees that you shouldn’t stick with something that doesn’t feel right. “If you are losing [a little each] week, then you are on the road to success,” she says. “However, if you are losing weight, but feel you cannot continue for long because it is so darn hard, the time to switch is immediate.”
Overall, Gans recommends keeping this in mind: “The best diet is the one that doesn’t feel like a diet. The plan incorporates all foods groups, teaches you about portion sizes, provides healthy cooking tips, includes dining out strategies, suggest regular physical activity and adequate sleep. The best diet is actually not a diet, but a lifestyle.”
What weight loss doctors tell their patients about diets
If you’ve tried to lose weight in the past without success or are struggling to keep off the weight that you’ve lost, it’s a good idea to consult a physician who specialises in weight management. They often have their own guidance to offer around eating plans.
“It really depends on the individual,” says endocrinologist Dr Kunal Shah. “When I’m working with a patient to choose lifestyle changes and a nutrition plan, I try to gauge what they’re going to stick with.”
Dr Kunal points out that data show low-carb diets, low-fat diets, and high-protein diets all offer similar amounts of weight loss. “It’s really about what you think you’ll be able to do in the long run that’s going to be best for you,” he says.
Thinking about your personal goals will help, too. “If somebody’s goal is to gain muscle mass, it may be better for them to go on a high protein diet,” Dr Kunal says. “If they have diabetes, a low-carb diet may be better.”
Individuality is important, stresses bariatric surgeon Dr Mir Ali. “No one thing works for every patient or person,” he says. But Dr Ali says he generally recommends patients start by reducing the amount of sugar and carbohydrates they take in.
“That reduces insulin secretion and switches on the body’s signal to burn more fat,” he says. “For some people, that’s effective enough. For others, counting kilojoules or intermittent fasting may help. Your doctor can guide you.”
What kind of diet do you go on with weight loss medications?
There is no specific diet to follow if you’re on a medication that can contribute to weight loss like semaglutide (Wegovy, Ozempic). However, it’s expected that you’ll embark on a new eating plan if you’re taking one of these medications, or at least tweak what you’re currently consuming, Dr Ali says. Otherwise, he says, it’s unlikely that you’ll see the results you’re after. (Talk to your doctor about the best eating plan for you if you end up taking one of these medications for weight loss.)
We asked a panel of dietitians to sort through some of the most talked-about diets. Here are their recommendations of the top 12 to consider, and five to forget about.
1. Mediterranean Diet
This diet consistently comes out on top, and there are a few reasons for that, says dietitian Jessica Cording. “It’s high in fibre, which is great for improving digestion,” she says. “It’s also good for heart health and cancer risk reduction.” The Mediterranean diet is rich in healthy fats and “tends to be low in unsaturated fat,” encouraging you to fill up good, nutrient-dense foods and taking a pass on unhealthy options, Cording points out.
Based on the heart-healthy lifestyle of Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, Mediterranean-style diets include healthy fats such as avocados, olive oil, nuts, and fish at least twice a week, plenty of beans, fruit, leafy greens, and whole grains, and even a daily glass of red wine. You can eat cheese in moderation, but limit the red meat to once or twice a week.
How it works for weight loss: Though this diet’s primary appeal is in its numerous health benefits: it can lower your risk of both chronic disease and cognitive decline. It can also lead to weight loss if you limit your kilojoule intake to 6,090 a day or less.
Studies have found that following either a traditional Mediterranean diet or a low-carb version of it can result in weight loss of about 5–10% of body weight over 12 months. And that weight stays off. A recent British study found that for people who had lost large amounts of weight, those who consumed a Mediterranean-style diet were twice as likely to keep it off. “This diet is easy to maintain, because the food is delicious!” says Beaver.
2. DASH Diet
The low-sodium Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet was designed as a way to help people control their blood pressure without using drugs, though a few books have used it as a basis for a weight-loss diet. DASH emphasises fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat or non-fat dairy and limits saturated fat and dietary cholesterol.
How it works for weight loss: You will certainly improve your health with this diet, and if you restrict kilojoules while following DASH’s heart-healthy rules, you can lose weight and lower your blood pressure.
A recent study of obese older adults found that those who followed the DASH diet lost weight and decreased body fat, along with many other health benefits. “DASH is one of my favourite diets,” says dietitian Meridan Zerner. “You’re getting the anti-inflammatory, high fibre, heart-healthy benefits, and if you use a personalised, kilojoule-limited plan, you can absolutely lose weight.”
3. WW (formerly Weight Watchers)
Weight Watchers has been around so long, your grandma probably tried it. With the newest version, you’re assigned a Points budget based on your food and activity preferences (foods are given points based on kilojoules, saturated fat, sugar, and protein). You can eat whatever you want within that range.
You also have ZeroPoint foods (most fruits and veggies and lean proteins such as fish, tofu, beans, eggs, and chicken breast fall into this category). The program can also be personalised to meet the needs of those living with different types of diabetes.
How it works for weight loss: Research has consistently found that WW is effective at safely taking off the kilos. A 2013 study found that dieters assigned to WW were more than eight times more likely to lose 10% of their body weight over six months than those trying to diet on their own.
“There is a lot of evidence that using a tracking app can help you lose weight,” says Zerner. She adds that even if you stop tracking every meal, it is easy to maintain weight loss once you internalise which healthy foods are low or 0 points.
4. Vegan Diet
Going a step further than the traditional vegetarian diet, vegans shun all animal products, including dairy, eggs and honey. While many choose this lifestyle for ethical or environmental reasons, some people look to the vegan diet for weight loss as well. And with the new era of plant-based meats, going vegan is easier than ever.
How it works for weight loss: Just going vegan won’t necessary help you drop the weight. After all, candy, pasta, and potato chips can all fall under the vegan label without being particularly healthy or low-kilojoule. “If you eat high-quality vegan food, like leafy greens and plant-based proteins, you can lose more weight than either vegetarians or omnivores,” says Beaver.
A 2020 Australian study came to the interesting conclusion that vegans and vegetarians are more likely to stick with the diet over the long run than those on plans such as paleo, because they were motivated by ethical and moral beliefs rather than just weight-loss.
5. Flexitarian Diet
Whereas the vegan diet goes one step beyond vegetarianism, the Flexitarian diet takes it one step back, explains nutritionist Dawn Jackson Blatner, author of The Flexitarian Diet. “This is a very pro-plant diet, but it gives you the flexibility to have [treats],” she says. There are no strict kilojoule limitations, though Blatner’s book provides a five-week plan that provides around 6,090 kilojoules a day.
How it works for weight loss: By filling your plate with more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and plant proteins, and sticking with the low-kilojoule plan, you can lose weight and improve your health. A recent review found that people who followed a flexitarian diet had lower rates of metabolic syndrome than people who regularly ate meat.
6. Intermittent Fasting
There are a few different ways to do the intermittent fasting plan. Some people eat whatever they want five days a week, then consume a very low kilojoule diet on the other two days. With the 5:2 diet, for example, you only consume 2,000 to 3,000 kilojoules on two days a week.
Other versions of intermittent fasting include restricting your eating to an eight-hour window every day. Say, eating unlimited food between 8am and 4pm, and fasting for the other 16 hours.
How it works for weight loss: by limiting your overall kilojoule consumption, you’ll take off the kilos, says Zerner, who points out that there is some evidence that this diet can also increase your metabolism rate and have other positive health effects. A 2015 meta-study found that people who did intermittent fasting lost about the same amount of weight as those who did a regular kilojoule-restricted diet.
7. Volumetrics Diet
Consistently rated as one of the best diets by U.S. News & World Report, volumetrics was created by Barbara Rolls, a professor of nutrition at Penn State University. The strategy here is simple: fill up on foods that provide the most nutrition for the least amount of kilojoules.
Foods are divided into four categories, from least energy-dense (fruits, non-starchy vegetables, broth-based soups) to most energy-dense (crackers, cookies, chocolate, nuts, and butter). Dieters plan their meals to include as many of the lower-density foods as possible.
How it works for weight loss: The math here is simple: the fewer kilojoules consumed, the more weight you’ll drop. A 2016 study found a significant association between low-energy-density diets and weight loss.
8. Plant-Based Diet
Similar to a Flexitarian diet, a plant-based diet doesn’t have any super-strict rules: You just focus on eating whole foods derived from plants most of the time, with wiggle room for the occasional piece of chicken or scrambled egg.
You’re basically taking the standard Australian diet, which features a big hunk of meat in the centre of the plate, with a few vegetables scattered on the side, and flipping that around, so vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, and whole grains, are the star of the show, and beef, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy only make small, cameo appearances when you have a true craving.
How it works for weight loss: Plant-based foods tend to be higher in fibre and lower in fat than animal products, keeping you filled up for fewer kilojoules. According to one large study, overweight and obese adults who followed a plant-based diet for six months lost an average of around seven kilos.
9. Noom
Noom is a subscription-based app that tracks a person’s food intake and exercise habits. It helps categorise foods as potentially being helpful or detrimental to a person’s weight-loss goals and also offers up daily kilojoule goals. Users of the app are synched up with coaches to help guide them through their weight loss process. “It has one-on-one support, and the tech is very convenient,” says Cording.
How it works for weight loss: The accountability aspect is “really helpful,” Cording says. Gans agrees. “If you are truthful and log everything you eat and drink via the Noom app, it will help guide you to stay within your daily kilojoule allotment,” she says. “It also focuses on low-kilojoule nutrient foods and provides a one-on-one coach via messaging, all valuable for tools for weight loss.”
10. Pescatarian diet
The Pescatarian diet is a mostly plant-based diet that still allows room for fish and other seafood. “It’s a mostly vegetarian diet, but with some fish,” Cording says. The emphasis is on eating whole, unprocessed foods, along with grilled or seared seafood for an overall healthy diet.
How it works for weight loss: “Fish is a pretty lean protein source,” Cording says. “When you compare that to somebody who was eating heavy amounts of red meat, you would expect to see some weight loss.” Gans stresses the importance of eating plenty of fruits, veggies, and 100% whole grains, along with “watching portion sizes and preparing your fish in a healthy way, ie grilled, or steamed.”
11. MIND Diet
The Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet is a combination of the DASH and Mediterranean diets, Cording explains. It focuses on foods that improve brain health with the overall goal of lowering your risk of Alzheimer’s disease and mental decline.
The diet focuses on foods like leafy greens, nuts, and berries, and is naturally low in carbohydrates. “It tends to be low sodium and high in potassium, encouraging followers to choose healthy fats and lean protein sources,” Cording says.
Research has found that the MIND diet lowered study participants’ risk of Alzheimer’s disease by up to 53% (for people who followed it well).
How it works for weight loss: The MIND diet focuses on healthy fats like nuts, avocado, olive oil, and oily fish, and is high in fibre, all of which can “support healthy weight loss,” Cording says.
It also encourages people to be more mindful about what they’re eating and what they can do to support their overall health. “The diet is low in saturated fat, which will reduce kilojoule intake and can lead to weight loss,” Cording says.
12. Ornish Diet
The Ornish diet was developed in the 1970s by Dr Dean Ornish, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. It focuses on low-fat foods and encourages followers to zero in on plant-based foods like fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, Cording says. It’s a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, meaning it discourages followers from eating meat, fish, or poultry, but allows for dairy products and eggs.
People on the diet are also encouraged to limit “bad carbs” like refined carbs, sugar, white flour, and white rice, while focusing on healthy fats from fish oil, nuts, and seeds, along with plant-based proteins like egg whites, tofu, beans, and legumes, per the Ornish Lifestyle Medicine website.
How it works for weight loss: The diet is “really about food quality and nutrient density,” which can help lead to weight loss, Cording says. On a basic level, she points out, low-fat foods tend to be lower in kilojoules and can help someone lose weight. “It can be helpful for weight loss by default,” Cording says.
Skip It: Paleo Diet
The Paleo diet is still getting a lot of buzz, even though it’s nearly impossible for modern-day humans to stick with this diet over the long-term. Based on the eating patterns of our Paleolithic ancestors, this diet requires a strict adherence to foods that would have been hunted and gathered, including lean meat, nuts and seeds, fruits and vegetables. While it cuts out processed foods, it also eliminates dairy, grains, beans and legumes.
“Any diet that has a glaring list of what’s not allowed is going to be very hard to maintain,” says dietitian Bonnie Taub-Dix. “You want a diet that makes you feel balanced both emotionally and physically.”
While the elimination of processed food is a good thing, the complete elimination of healthy whole grains can leave you with a shortage of important vitamins and minerals, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Skip It: Keto Diet
Sure, you can lose weight initially on this high-fat, low-carb diet, which puts your body into a state of ketosis. With no carbs to burn off for energy, your cells start burning off stored fat. But keeping your body in what is basically a crisis state is not a viable long-term plan, says sports nutritionist Kristine Clark, who also points out that the keto diet can lead to side effects such as headaches, muscle soreness, constipation, and fatigue.
Skip It: Sirtfood Diet
Kale smoothies are suddenly hot, thanks to Adele’s recent weight loss, which newspapers have linked to the strict Sirtfood diet. The diet focuses on the powers of foods that contain a group of proteins called sirtuins, including kale, red wine, strawberries, onions, soy, parsley, matcha tea, and oily fish such as salmon and mackerel.
The first phase of the diet involves a lot of green juices and restricted kilojoules, before you move into the maintenance phase. Restricting kilojoules will always result in short-term weight loss, but there have been no independent studies backing up this diet.
Skip It: The Mayr Diet
The Mayr Method was developed a century ago by an Austrian doctor. It involves reducing gluten and dairy, eating high-alkaline foods such as fish and vegetables, and eating slowly and mindfully (including chewing each bite of food at least 40 times!). To get the full Mayr experience, you have to visit a pricey clinic in Austria, so it’s best to simply stick with a plant-based diet and remember to eat without distractions, says dietitian Amy Gorin.
Skip It: GOLO
The GOLO diet is a program that promises to help followers lose weight by regulating their hormones, particularly insulin, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar. The diet uses a proprietary supplement called Release that includes zinc, magnesium, and various plant extracts.
GOLO is based on the idea that you can “control” your blood sugar with the diet to help you lose weight and keep it off. The diet also encourages followers to very restricted intake of kilojoules.
The supplements are also concerning to Cording. “I’m wary of anything that is based on supplements,” she says. “Supplements are not regulated – there could be anything in them. If someone is promising big things with supplements, run in the other direction.”
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