37 Diets Reviewed by the Experts

By Dietitian Juliette Kellow BSc RD

Not quite every diet under the sun here, but the majority of dieting methods most people will come across during their quest to lose weight.

The reviews range from in-depth reports written by dietitians, to more anecdotal opinions from wlr members.

We cover online and offline slimming clubs, diet delivery services, healthy dieting concepts such as low GI or high fibre, and specific diets such as Atkins and Dukan.

You'll aslo find reviews of other aids to weight loss, from hypnosis to pills.

1 - Alternate Day Fasting Diet

Alternate day fasting, the latest diet by James Johnson, as quite a hit in the weight loss world, but can intermittent fasting really help you to shift those pounds - and keep them off? Here's dietitian Juliette Kellow's Alternate Day Fasting Review

2 - Atkins Diet

The original popular low carb diet, Dr Robert Atkins diet has been the ause of minor controversy over the last 5 decades. The appeal is the relatively high intitial weight loss acheived with a ketogenic diet, though research shows that over time Atkins produces weight loss similar to simple calorie restriction: Atkins Diet Review

3 - Blood Type Diet

Hmmm, psuedo science at it's terrible best, our dietitian is much less than impressed with the Blood Type, aka Blood Group diet. It's a kind of mixture between your blood group and ancient history, tending towards the low carb. It's following is largely due to 'factional' endorsement by celebrities such as Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, nee Cole, (who didn't need to lose weight.) The Blood Type Diet Review

4 - Bodychef

Aiming for the 'healthy' badge in diet delivery services, Bodychef say their meals are ethically sourced, free from added colourings and preservatives, nutritionally balanced and designed to help you eat heathily: Bodychef Review

5 - Cabbage Soup Diet

The Cabbage Soup Diet is based around eating copious quantities of cabbage soup, and very little else. Maybe because there's no 'official' version of this diet, wild claims abound - lose 10lbs in a week, for example. If your digestion will take it, without causing your partner to file for divorce, a week on this diet won't do you any harm: The Cabbage Soup Diet Review

6 - Cereal Diet

Our review focuses on Special K as the cereal, but a controlled portion of almost any cereal will do the trick. The point is that this is essentially a meal replacement diet, but instead of replacing meals with bars or shakes you're having a bowl of cereal with milk: The Special K Diet Review

7 - CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet

Developed by Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), The Total Wellbeing Diet is nutritionally balanced and designed to keep hunger at bay. The diet is relatively high in protein, but not the typical 'low carb' type of plan: The CSIRO Diet Review

8 - Delivered Food Diets

Convenience, nearly on a plate, what could be better? Your food is delivered, neatly calorie counted and portioned for each day. But what's it like when everything is a ready meal and your week doesn't turn out quite so neatly portioned as you'd hoped. Here's an overview of the concept and popular services: Delivered Diets Review

9 - Diet Chef

Meant to take the effort out of dieting, Diet Chef is a diet delivery service that provides a calorie counted selection of food for each day of the week. This means essentially eating ready-meals for dinner, cereals for breakfast and a pot type snack meal, shake or bar at lunchtime: Diet Chef Review

10 - Dukan Diet

Low carb taken to the extreme, without the luxury of plenty of fat to make it bearable - there's no allowance for fried eggs and bacon in Dukan. It's even possible that you could lose a lot of weight in the first week - if you can actually mange a full 7 days: The Dukan Diet Review

11 - Grapefruit Diet

Does grapefruit really contain magical weight loss properties? The Grapefruit diet has appeared in various guises over the years, largely earning its fast weight loss reputation from an early extreme (800kcal a day) version. Here's what our dietitian has to say: The Grapefruit Diet Review

12 - hCG Diet

The hCG diet is a Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD) based on an intake of 500 calories a day, supplemented with either a daily injection of hCG hormone or with oral hCG drops. We look at the facts behind this pretty extreme plan: The hCG Diet Review

13 - High Fibre Diet

High Fibre's not had much time in the spotlight since Audrey Eyton's 80s classic The F Plan. Perhaps that's because the concept is too simple, and so in line with accepted dietary guidelines, that it doesn't cause that much excitement. However, it's hard to beat in terms of healthiness and this diet works. The combination of lowish fat, reasonably low calories, and hunger-busting fibre, is pretty potent for long term weight loss success: The High Fibre Diet Review

14 - Jenny Craig Diet

Jenny Craig was started in Australia over 25 years and has franchises all over the world. The main feature of the Jenny Craig system is nutritionally balanced and calorie counted pre-packed meals. The company also aims to offer support and motivation: Jenny Craig UK Diet Review

15 - Juice Plus Diet

WLR Site manager Laurence Beeken reports on the Juice Plus diet, how it works, and what it’s good (and bad) for, plus some WLR members chip in with their reviews: The Juice Plus Diet Review

16 - Lighter Life Diet

The Lighter Life diet combines a very low calorie diet (VLCD) with counselling. There are basically two types of plan offered. 'Total' is 4 replacement shakes/bars etc a day (as extreme as it sounds, no real food allowed) and 'Lite' allows for a limited dinner meal on top of 3 repacements: Lighter Life Diet Review

17 - Low Carb Diets

Low carb diets come in different forms with different levels of carbohydrate restriction. Most are aimed at getting your body into a state of ketosis, which forces it to use fat as fuel. Dietitian Lyndel Costain looks at the pros and cons: Low Carb Diets Review

18 - Low GI Diet

Nutritionists and dietitians tend to like low GI diets, because low Glycaemic Index foods are low in sugar. Low GI plans encourage you to eat healthier low GI foods and avoid foods with a high GI value. This helps you feel fuller for longer and prevents dramatic swings in blood sugar: Low GI Diet Review

19 - Maple Syrup Diet

Made popular by Beyonce (before she started taking a more healthy approach) the Maple Syrup Diet falls into both the detox and fad diet categories. The diet relies on a drink made with maple syrup and in the first 10 days that's all you get! Our dietitian gives it short shrift in this review: The maple Syrup Diet

20 - Meal Replacement Diets

Meal replacement diets generally involve replacing two meals a day – usually breakfast and lunch – with a meal replacement shake, soup or bar. There's normally choice about what to have as an evening meal, so long as it falls within a certain calorie range. Most plans like these also allow for a limited number of (proprietary) snacks: Meal Replacement Diets Review

21 - The Natural Ketosis Company

The Natural Ketosis Company is diet delivery service for low carbers who want convenience. High protein, low carbohydrate meals are delivered in a hamper every fortnight: Natural Ketosis Co Review

22 - Paleo Diet

Eat like a caveman, they didn't get fat! (Assuming anybody would know this about our pre-selfie ancestors.) Yet another take on low carbohydrate, the Paleolithic diet forbids grains, legumes, dairy, salt, refined sugar etc - because these types of food appeared after the development of agriculture: The Paleo Diet Review

23 - SlimFast Diet

This time we've left it to the users to give their opinions. here's 12 short reviews by WLR members on the Slim Fast Diet

24 - Slimming World Diet

Slimming World has been around for nearly 50 years and has some impressive success statistics. Dietitian, Juliette Kellow BSc RD reviews the Slimming World diet and gives us her verdict: Slimming World Diet Under the Spotlight

25 - South Beach Diet

It's not just the name that's enticing about the South Beach Diet Losing almost a stone in the first 2 weeks, as the diet claims, is also super appealing to dieters. South beach is a kind of low GI/low carb hybrid with an emphasis on fats being the right fats: The South Beach Diet Review

26 - Weight Loss Resources

Come on, this list would be incomplete without the ultimate anti-diet diet that is WLR. We're all about, (without being puritans), eating healthily, changing some habits, learning a bit about food and exercise and not eating more calories than your body needs. There are plenty of flexible diet plans to get you started, but we make it easy to mix and match and create your own plan. in No need for someone else to give you their opinion here, you can try it for yourself free

27 - Weight Watchers

Weight Watchers is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in the world of slimming, with 10 million Brits walking through the doors of their nearest meeting in the last decade. So how does Weight Watchers work? And is it a good way to lose weight? Dietitian Juliette Kellow puts the spotlight on Weight Watchers UK.

28 - Zone

The Lego of all diet plans, the Zone Diet suggests that you count what you eat in 'blocks'. The diet aims to achieve the perfect balance of carbs:protein:fat at every meal. Which, according to this diet is, 40:30:30. We'll leave it up to dietitian Juliette Kellow to investigate the ramifications: The Zone Diet Review

Diet Book Reviews

29 - The Traffic Light Diet

by Judith Wills

30 - The Body Clock Diet

by Lyndel Costain

31 - Sugar Addicts Diet

by Nicki Waterman

32 - No Carbs After 5pm

by Joanna Hall

33 - The Abs Diet

by David Zinczenko

34 - Curves Diet

by Gary Heavin and Carol Colman

35 - The X-Factor Diet

by Leslie Kenton

36 - Ultimate New York Body Plan

by David Kirsch

37 - The Coconut Diet

by Cherie Calbom