Easiest Diets To Follow: U.S. News Releases Its Ranking

The easier a diet is to follow, the better the odds of sticking to it. So user-friendliness was one of the factors experts considered in U.S. News' latest ranking of 25 popular diets. Is a diet filling and tasty? Does it impose stringent requirements such as eating a certain number of times per day? Are unique foods required? The experts put Weight Watchers at the top, viewing it as flexible, tasty, and allowing plenty of eating throughout the day.

More from U.S. News:
Easiest to Follow Diets: in Pictures
Best Diets Overall
Stick-to-Your-Diet Tricks You've Never Heard of for 2012

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Comments

[Jess Goss]

10:40 PM on 01/08/2012

Figures the healthiest would be the "hardest." Try actually taking responsibility for yourself instead of wolfing down packaged crap. Nutrisystem is such a lazy cop out of a "diet"

[Csvf]

05:28 AM on 01/07/2012

What the heck is wrong with the persons nails that is holding the slim fast shake can? Is that what happens on that diet?

[StrawHat]

03:11 PM on 01/06/2012

The easiest diet to follow is the "See Food" diet.

You see food, you eat it.

That's not the healthiest diet, however. I think we'll all be on something akin to an organically grown Paleo diet within the next 100 years or so. This experiment in processed Frankenfoods has been a HUGE health and fitness failure.

Eat organically grown stuff that is as close to what nature provides as possible. You can't fool mother nature. You just end up with type II diabetes, cancer, allergies, obesity, etc.

[Karl Wilder]

02:03 PM on 01/06/2012

Eat less. Move more. Works for ever person every time.

[NedraD SF]

06:44 PM on 01/05/2012

okay, but where do they rank on the "healthy" scale?

[frieda406]

11:14 AM on 01/05/2012

i agree with the weightwatchers rating. started on the plan not quite 3 months ago and have shed over 14 pounds as of today. it's really easy to follow. have not had one week where i didn't lose weight. the key is not to go into the extra points per week they give you. stay within the daily point schedule as best you can and you will lose weight. the points system is genius. and, natural fruits no longer have points. bananas used to have 2 and now? 0. one big yay for that. i have about 20 pounds to go and have no doubt i will achieve goal. add in exercise, and the loss will be even more dramatic, one suspects. after losing 4 more pounds, i'm hitting zumba classes!

[Natassha Halverson]

10:16 AM on 01/05/2012

I'd like to call BS on all these "diets" except for maybe the Weight Watchers Diet. Any diet where you are purchasing their meal plans is bad IMO. That is, unless of course you plan on eating only their food for eternity. Soon as you leave the prepackaged convenient diet, you will see changes in your body again. Any diet that tells you to not eat carbs, fats, complex whatevers, etc is also stupid. Can you realistically avoid those foods all the time? The answer my friends is NO. Honestly, my not so expert opinion is this, everything in moderation. If you love chocolate, have some. Fried chicken? Sounds good to me. Just dont gorge yourself on anything! Even too much fruit can be bad for you. I singled out Weight Watchers because rather than making you subscribe to their foods, or restricting foods, they just assign points to food. You are allowed so many points a day. Granted if you get all your points from pizza, you'll probably still be a fatty. Anywho, dont buy in to this garbage they try to sell you. Use your common sense, Google, or god forbid, get a book, and educate yourself.

[clearthinker2008]

07:43 PM on 01/05/2012

You call BS on every diet except for the one you prefer. Different stuff works for different people.

[Natassha Halverson]

06:17 AM on 01/06/2012

Actually I prefer not to follow any "Diet". Diet is way of life, way of eating, not some mapped out plan. I never said the Weight Watchers Diet is the way to go, I simply said it is the best of the choices given. All "follow this plan exactly" diets are BS

[Mike Gates]

08:55 AM on 01/05/2012

WAKE UP PEOPLE! The Better Body System by Yoli is safe, healthy & effective!
www.mikegates.mybetterbodysystem.com for more info

[BeansAndGreens]

08:39 PM on 01/05/2012

SPAM is not only a junky food.

[Kent Magnuson]

08:47 AM on 01/05/2012

Fasting every other day works well for me, but continue each day with fluids. And do something/anything for physical and mental exercise.

[jaquelynny]

10:22 AM on 01/05/2012

this works well coming off a binge, but i had a hard time with my workout energy. i felt lightheaded and lost strength

[kentmagnuson53]

08:39 AM on 01/05/2012

Fasting every other day works well for me. Drink fluids however.

[Dana Chilton]

11:30 PM on 01/04/2012

Views on diets seem to be as passionate as those of politics or religion. Atkins has worked really well for me for the past 7 years. For me, it's the easiest 'lifestyle'; much easier than Weight Watchers. For others though, Atkins is difficult and that's okay. Whatever diet you chose, just be happy with it and while you're working hard to lose weight try equally as hard to learn to love yourself as you are.

[peegan]

09:23 PM on 01/04/2012

I know a couple of people that have done well on Weight Watchers. And they kept it off. I think WW does a good job helping people learn to eat in a healthier way while still eating "real life" food.

[FlowerGypsy]

09:09 PM on 01/04/2012

Also, being a vegetarian shouldn't be considered a diet! It's a lifestyle.

[kaysings]

10:17 AM on 01/05/2012

I was just going to say the same thing, only about veganism. All the vegans I know, including myself, have been so for years, even decades, and have committed to it as a permanent lifestyle.

Being vegan also includes not wearing anything, including cosmetics, that contain animal ingredients, and using cleaning products that contain only earth-friendly, biodegradable ingredients. That's not always possible and requires reading ingredient and fabric content labels like a scientist.

It's definitely not an easy lifestyle, but my fellow vegans and I are convinced that it's worth it.

[BeansAndGreens]

08:40 PM on 01/05/2012

I agree that veganism is a lifestyle, but I disagree that it's not easy. I love being vegan.
All things considered, I have no complaints.

[FlowerGypsy]

09:03 PM on 01/04/2012

Wow, slim-fast sure sounds like a fast track to an eating disorder! You eat only their diet shakes and 1 meal a day! Strange.

[Katelyn Goodwin]

07:34 PM on 01/04/2012

I used to work for Jenny Craig and their diet just causes you to be dependent on their nasty, seriously overpriced and nutrient-deficient food. They don't teach you how to eat on your own, they just feed you their food so when you go off the diet, you gain weight because you don't know how to make anything healthy for yourself. On top of buying their food, you have to buy your own fruit, veggies and dairy, plus if you have a family, you have to prepare separate meals for them. So not worth the aggravation or money, and so glad I don't work there anymore. You don't need to spend a ton of money to lose weight.

[FlowerGypsy]

09:06 PM on 01/04/2012

It definitely seems like a hassle! My uncle is doing nutri-system and like you said, he depends on it 100%, so i'm not sure how he will do with real-life food when he stops the meal plan.