Don't know what diet to choose (I want to lose weight gradually)

Before you start this diet, consult with your doctor.

The program is split into two stages to help you lose weight. The first stage is called "Lose It!" and is constructed to help you lose six to ten pounds in the first two weeks. You will still be able to eat the food you love, but you will have to reduce your calorie intake.

The second stage of the program is called "Live It!" and will enable you to continue with your weight loss of one to two pounds per week. The Mayo Clinic Diet is considered to be efficient in providing lasting results and enabling you to lose your weight in a healthy way.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol, heart condition or diabetes will benefit from this diet.

For more information visit Mayo Clinic.

Before you start this diet, consult with your doctor.

It is a well-known fact that people in countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, live longer and suffer less from cancer and cardiovascular ailments compared to Americans. Mediterraneans  have more active lifestyle while their diet favors healthy fats you can get from olive oil or various nuts. They also eat fish more often and don't eat as much red meat.

Together with the Harvard School of Public Health, Oldways, a nonprofit organization in Boston, developed a Mediterranean diet pyramid that highlights the importance of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, olive oil as well as eating fish and seafood at least a couple of times a week. Poultry, eggs, and various dairy products should be enjoyed, but in moderation. Sugary food and red meat are not off-limits, but they should be consumed every now and then, and not on a daily basis.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol, heart condition or diabetes will benefit from this diet.

Check this Mediterranean diet cookbook for recipes. For more information visit Mediterranean diet.

Before you start this diet, consult with your doctor.

If you start the DASH diet, your menu will be loaded with fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products. It will also include whole grain food, lean meat, and fish; nuts and beans. DASH diet is rich in fiber and enables you low to moderate intake of fat. It follows US dietary guidelines for sodium intake and contains sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals. The DASH diet lowers blood pressure and cholesterol and makes it easy to lose weight in the long run. 

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol, heart condition or diabetes will benefit from this diet.

For more information visit the DASH diet.

Before you start this diet, consult with your doctor.

LEARN is not just a diet. It's about changing your lifestyle and attitude toward nutrition. LEARN is an abbreviation that stands for Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitudes, Relationships, and Nutrition. Understanding and living by those five concepts is fundamental for your weight loss and health improvement.

This weight loss program is designed for you to learn how to eat healthier and lose weight in an efficient manner. It features 16 weekly lessons that cover the five axioms of the LEARN program. When you master those lessons, you move to eight monthly lessons for further improvement of your lifestyle. You can do the program on your own by following the LEARN  manual and guidebook.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol, heart condition or diabetes will benefit from this diet.

Before you start this diet, consult with your doctor.

Flexitarian is derived from two words: Flexible and vegetarian. The term was invented in the early 90's but it became popular only 5-6 years ago. The most prominent advocate of flexitarian diet is Dawn Jackson Blatner wrote The Flexitarian diet book. She claims you don't have to get rid of meat completely to gain health benefits linked to vegetarianism – you can be a vegetarian most of the time, but still eat meat every now and then when you have cravings.

There are three degrees of flexitarian diet you can adopt:

• A beginner who eats meat five days per week.
• An advanced flexitarian who eats meat three to four days per week
• An expert flexitarian who eats meat only two days per week

After you establish what kind of a flexitarian are you, you then follow a diet plan suited for your degree of flexitarianism.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol, heart condition or diabetes will benefit from this diet.

For more information visit the Flexitarian diet.

Before you start this diet, consult with your doctor.

Losing weight is not just about counting calories and restrictions. If you make healthy and nutritive choices, you could eat plenty and still lose weight. This is where Weight Watchers come in handy with their SmartPoints system. No food is off the table, but every food is given points. The healthier the food, the fewer the points. You decide whether you want to spend lots of points on a small amount of junk food, or a few points on an abundance of vegetables. Of course, members are encouraged to spend their points on healthy and nutritionally balanced meals. If you stick to your SmartPoints limit every day, you will lose weight.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences.

For more about Weight Watchers diet visit weightwatchers.com.

Before you start this diet, consult your doctor.

Proponents of the Volumetric diet consider the denseness of certain food while planning a meal. Some foods are less dense than the other which means your calorie intake is lower than when eating denser foods. Low-density foods, that are low in calorie but high in volume, help you feel full and satisfied while dropping pounds. Optimal types of food are fruits and vegetables since they’ll fill you up without you going over your daily calorie limit.

Volumetric diet was established by nutritionist Barbara Rolls who says that this program is more of an approach to eating than it is a structured diet. With Ultimate Volumetrics diet book as your guide, you will be taught how to interpret food’s energy density and master the way of eating fewer calories while still feeling full and satisfied. Though the book encloses numerous recipes and examples of meal plans, its biggest value is that it teaches you Volumetric reasoning and how to use it in everyday life.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol, heart condition or diabetes will benefit from this diet.

For more information visit the Volumetrics diet.

The MIND diet combines two well-received diets, DASH diet and Mediterranean diet, but focuses on food that affects your brain health. Even though this diet is primarily designed to preserve your mental health, it will also help you lose weight and improve your heart health as well. 

This diet recommends eating green leafy vegetables, lean meat and fish, berries and nuts, and wine. It forbids red meat, butter and margarine, pastry and sugar in general, and high-fat dairy products.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol, heart condition or diabetes will benefit from this diet.

For more information visit the MIND diet or you can order The MIND Diet book.

Before you start this diet, consult with your doctor.

The Jenny Craig at Home program is designed for users who want to lose weight but don't want to/can't go to a Jenny Craig center(there are no Jenny Craig centers outside of US and Canada). With this program, you receive the same personalized weight loss plan, supportive personal Jenny Craig consultant and a healthy Jenny Craig menu as you would in a center. Now you can connect with your personal diet consultant over the phone and your meals are delivered to your home. You also have access to the same online tools as other Jenny Craig members which you can use to make your weight loss even more efficient.

For more information visit jennycraig.com

Before you start this diet, consult with your doctor.

Biggest Loser is a popular reality show that started in 2004 in which obese contestants lose weight by following Biggest Loser diet. With the Biggest Loser Club, the official weight loss program of the Biggest Loser, you can adopt the same diet and fitness plans like the contestants in the show.

Biggest loser diet encourages users to consume carbs that come mostly from fruits, vegetables, and whole grain products. White food(sugar, white flour, white rice, white pasta, etc.) should be completely removed from the menu or at least severely reduced. Proteins should come from lean meat, fish, and low-fat dairy. Fats should come from seeds, nuts, and olive oil.

You can use The Biggest Loser Cookbook for 125+ recipes designed for this diet.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol, heart condition or diabetes will benefit from this diet.

For more information visit biggestloserclub.com.

Before you start this diet, consult with your doctor. Even though this diet has many health benefits (you avoid all processed food), many experts consider it unsafe and nutritionally deficient because it excludes entire food groups (legumes, grains, dairy products), making it hard for dieters to get all the nutrients they need.

The Paleolithic Diet consists only from food that was consumed by our ancestors living in Paleolithic era over 10,000 years ago. The Paleo Diet advocates claim that our bodies are designed to survive and flourish on the diet that was available to our early Paleolithic predecessors. The backbone of Paleolithic Diet are meat, fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and basically anything that was available in the Paleolithic era. Foods that were not available in the Paleolithic era, and therefore are not allowed, are  grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils. Followers of this diet believe that modern day food is to blame for the obesity epidemic, as well as the increase in weight-related health conditions.

For more information buy the Paleo diet book or visit thepaleodiet.com.

Before you try this diet, consult your doctor.

This is not a short-term diet that will make you quickly lose your weight. Instead, this is a diet that you can sustain for the rest of your life. It emphasises healthy and balanced weight-reduction plan with gradual weight loss.

It consists of three phases:

• Baby steps (minimum of 4 weeks): Brace your body for weight loss. Increase level of activity, stimulate your metabolism with increased fiber intake, have small meals every couple of hours and get rid of alcohol, bad fats, sugary beverages, white bread and high-fat dairy products.
• Get moving (minimum of 4 weeks: In this phase you eat the same food from phase 1 but now you can add some "bad" food you weren't allowed in phase 1. You also have to take care of portion control and increase your activity even more. The number of calories you can eat depends on how much you are active.
• Your best life (for the rest of your life): You increase your level of activity even more, and make sure that the food you eat is wholesome, healthy and filled with nutrients and minerals your body needs. You can indulge in alcohol and junk food every now and then.

This diet can be adjusted for vegetarians and vegans. It is also healthy for people that have diabetes or heart condition.

For more information visit the Best Life diet.

Before you start this diet, consult with your doctor.

The majority of Medifast customers use a “5&1” plan that contains six meals a day. Five of those meals are Medifast products – various shakes, bars and soups. The sixth meal, which you can have at any time, is a meal  you prepare yourself. It should contain around only lean protein  and non-starchy vegetables. When you reach your desired weight, you slowly start replacing Medifast products, and progressively reintroduce starchy vegetables, whole grains, fruit and low-fat dairy products in your diet. Medifast has a special assortment of products designed for weight maintenance.

For more information visit Medifast.

Before you start with this diet, consult with your doctor.

Slim-Fast became popular with meal-replacement shakes. Currently, it has grown into a complete weight-loss program followed with an assortment of products. Calorie limit in this diet is set to 1200 calories a day. You can get them from three snacks, (it can be a piece of fruit or a Slim-Fast bar), two Slim-Fast meal replacements and a single 500-calorie meal that you prepare. 

Slim-Fast is mostly suited for people who want to lose about 20 pounds, which shouldn't take longer than 8 to 10 weeks. Most dieters will have a hard time following this program longer than that.

For more information visit Slim-Fast.

Before you start with this diet, consult with your doctor.

Successfully losing weight can be simpler if you don't have to bother with meal management chores. Nutrisystem regulates portions, prepares and delivers your meals, tells you what to eat and when to eat. You still. have to go to a supermarket every now and then. You’ll have to buy your own fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products of your own choice to supplement Nutrisystem’s products.

All of the Nutrisystem meals are low on the glycemic index and have a healthy balance of carbs, good fats, and protein. The women's program contains about 1,200 calories and the men’s contains about 1,500 calories per day, but these numbers can vary from person to person and is dependent on multiple factors (age, weight, level of activity, etc.)

For more information visit Nutrisystem.

Before you start this diet, consult with your doctor. With this diet, certain vitamins and minerals could be deficient if meals aren't planned carefully and there is a danger of getting food poisoning from contaminated undercooked or raw food.

There are many versions of the raw food diet and it is up to you to decide which one to follow. No matter what version you choose, 70-80% of your daily food intake will fruit and vegetable heated to a maximum of 115 degrees Fahrenheit(46 degrees Celsius). Only handful of people follow a 100% raw diet. Most raw food fans are vegans, but some of them choose to eat raw animal products, such as raw (unpasteurized) milk, cheese made from raw milk, and certain kinds of raw fish and meat. You’ll consume various fresh fruit and vegetables, sprouts, seeds and nuts.

All pasteurized dairy products, processed foods, refined sugars and flours are off limit. Table salt and coffeine as well. No more pasta, any kind of baked goods, junk food and most store-bought juices.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol and heart condition  will benefit from this diet.

For more information visit the best of raw food diet.

Ornish diet was invented by Dr. Dean Ornish, a well-known cardiologist. Originally, Ornish diet was developed  to prevent heart diseases and to help people who already suffer from heart diseases. Except making your heart healthier, this diet will also lower your cholesterol and make you lose weight. 

Ornish diet severely limits animal fat and cholesterol and focuses on getting nutrients from whole grains, fruits, vegetables and legumes. Only low-fat dairy products are allowed and alcohol and simple carbs are strictly forbidden. Dr. Ornish proposes that your diet contains 10% fat, 20% protein and 70% carbs. It is almost completely a vegetarian diet.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol, heart condition or diabetes will benefit from this diet.

For more information visit Ornish diet or you can order Ornish diet book.

TLC stands for Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes and it's a program created primarily to lower your cholesterol, but it can also help you lose weight. If you want to follow this diet, you will have to seriously trim your consumption of saturated fat.

Your daily intake of saturated fat should not be higher than 7% of your daily calorie intake which means you will have to get rid of high-fat dairy products and processed meat as well as pork and other fatty meat. You are allowed only skinless chicken and turkey or fish. Your daily cholesterol intake is limited to 200 mg which means you will have to do some counting to figuring out how much cholesterol a certain food has.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol, heart condition or diabetes will benefit from this diet.

For more information visit TLC diet.

Sugar Busters diet may not necessarily be the best diet for losing weight, but it certainly is one of the best to keep your sugar level in control. It doesn't give you any calorie restriction or tells you how much you should eat, but it does teach you about how to eat healthily and how to remove bad food from your diet. 

It encourages eating lots of fruits and vegetables, lean meat and fish, whole-grain foods, and low-fat dairy products. In fact, anything with a low glycemic index. Refined sugar, white flour, rice and pasta and anything with high glycemic index are strictly forbidden. You can replace it with whole grain alternatives. Since calories are not restricted, you don't have to be hungry, you just have to eat the right type of food. But, again, you won't lose any weight until you start spending  more calories than you take in your body. If your eating habits are really bad, chances are you will lose weight and greatly improve your health.

For more information visit Sugar Busters diet.

Before you try this diet, consult your doctor.

Supporters of the alkaline diet claim that some foods increase the level of acid in your body and cause you harm and weight gain while other foods decrease it making you healthy and causing you weight loss. This claim is not entirely correct because nothing you eat can significantly change Ph level of your body. But if you stick to this diet, you will most likely lose weight because you are encouraged to eat healthy and nutritionally balanced meals.

The alkaline diet promotes eating lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, soybean and some legumes. Dairy products, most grains, eggs, meat and processed food of any kind are strictly prohibited. Alcohol and coffee are also not allowed.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol, heart condition or diabetes will benefit from this diet.

For more information visit alkaline diet.

Before you try this diet, consult your doctor.

This 28-day diet plan has a bit different approach than other diets. It allows a huge breakfast that can even include sweets. The philosophy behind this is that you can eat pretty much anything you want, but only for breakfast. It is supposed to reduce cravings for sugar and junk food in the afternoon and evening.

Carbs and sweets are strictly forbidden during lunch and dinner. They also have to be considerably smaller than breakfast. If you are not used to having breakfast, it might be hard for you to adjust to this diet. Other than that, this diet is pretty easy to follow since nothing is forbidden as long as it is a part of breakfast.

Vegetarians and vegans can easy adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol, heart condition or diabetes will benefit from this diet.

For more information visit the Big Breakfast diet or order the Big Breakfast diet book.

Before you try this diet, consult your doctor.

This is one tough program. It requires lots of exercise (6 times a week, 3 days cardio, 3 weight lifting) along with fairly rigorous diet plan. You will mostly eat carbs and proteins with very little fat distributed through 6 small meals. One day per week you are allowed a "cheat" day when you can indulge in food that is prohibited during the rest of the week.

And the following is prohibited: fatty and processed meats, high-fat dairy products, processed sugar or any kind of junk food.

This diet is meant to change your lifestyle. Even though you might lose some weight quickly, it is designed to work in the long run. As mentioned before, it could be hard to follow, especially if you are not used to exercising this much. But if you stick to it, results should be satisfying.

For more information visit the Body for Life.

Before you try this diet, consult your doctor.

Inventor of BFR diet, James R.Lyons, MD, claims that yellow(or white) fat is the bad kind that makes you look soft and toneless while the brown fat makes you look younger, firmer and physically more attractive. This diet focuses on lowering percentage of your yellow fat and increasing the percentage of your brown fat.

To do this, you will have to eat 6 small meals per day and exercise regularly. You alternate between protein days and carb days. Diet is pretty casual, every food group is allowed and you even have one cheat day per week when you can eat what you want, within reason. Your diet should be filled with fresh fruits and vegetables (even starchy ones), low-fat dairy products, lean meat and fish, and unsaturated fats. You have to get rid of processed food, saturated fat, artificial flavors, and preservatives.

Even though studies are yet to confirm claims of this diet, it is likely that you will be able to lose weight following this diet, as long as you don't overindulge on your cheat day.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with a heart condition will benefit from this diet.

For more information visit the Brown Fat Revolution.

Before you try this diet, consult your doctor.

Want to start a diet, but can't imagine life without carbs? This might be a diet for you. The Carb Lover's diet allows carbs, but not just any carbs. It encourages you to eat carbs rich in resistant starch such as whole grains, legumes, bananas, brown rice and some other. They should be included in every meal you eat. Processed food, white flour, refined sugar and other low-fiber carbs are banned.

The first week is rough because you are limited to only 1200 calories, but after that, you switch to 1600 calories. 1600 calories limit is also pretty low for most adults, but this diet rich in fiber and complex carbs will make you feel full most of the time and keep your blood sugar in balance which will tame your cravings for unhealthy food. It is designed to be followed for 30 days but since it is healthy and balanced, you can stick to it much longer and maybe add 200-300 more calories per day if 1600 is too low for you.

For more information visit the Carb Lover's diet or you can order the Carb Lover's book.

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol, heart condition or diabetes will benefit from this diet.

Before you try this diet, consult your doctor.

With this diet, you won't have to count calories or be denied carbs. You will even be encouraged to eat dark chocolate every single day. Inventor of this diet, Cynthia Sass, claims that 50-100 calories of dark chocolate per day boosts your metabolism and helps you lose weight. 

You will have to get used to eating 5 meals a day, spaced 3-5 hours apart. That will keep your blood sugar under control and help you reduce cravings. In this diet you are encouraged to eat includes fresh fruits and vegetables, skinless chicken, fish and other seafood, whole grain products, plant-based fats and low-fat dairy products. Red meat, pork, processed food, alcohol and sugary beverages are forbidden. This diet even offers tips on how to maintain your desired weight (once you reach it) and how to prevent emotional eating.

For more information visit the Cinch diet or order the Cinch diet book. 

Vegetarians and vegans can easily adjust this diet to their preferences. People with high cholesterol, heart condition or diabetes will benefit from this diet.