Diets! Which Ones Work for Losing Weight and Keeping it Off?

There are so, so many diets out there. Some are low in fat, others are low in carbs. Some involve special foods, others tell you to avoid them. So what's the best diet for you? Watch and learn!


John Green -- Executive Producer
Stan Muller -- Director, Producer
Aaron Carroll -- Writer
Mark Olsen -- Graphics

[cathycovarrubias]

My husband and I went on weight watchers a few years ago. He lost 75lbs and I lost 40lbs. We both are maintaining our weight. The key to keeping the weight off is to not think of it as a diet, but a life style change. Gone are the days when we would eat pizza at least once a week and we no longer eat "seconds" after meals. We also get to the gym twice a week. Loosing weight is easy, maintaining is hard.

[tymo]

My dad recently lost about 50 pounds of weight in 5 months and has held it off for an additional 5. It took an enormous amount of daily portion control and 3-5 workouts a week. It was life-changing for him.

[TJ]

the beauty of low carb diets is that you still get eat food that tastes good ;)

[vampirebatjosieposie]

I have a suggestion: when you make lists of figures in regards to research an analysis, could you put the numbers in text on the screen as you would read them in the article so those of us who are visual learners can follow the information better? Love the show

[anikapoland]

i have always love eating and that made me lose weight super hard, tried a lot of diets and exercises along with it, but what made it possible was agoge diet. it changed my life, and maybe yours as well

[saberepee]

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Slow, permanent changing of eating habits will always outperform a sudden diet that you only keep for half a year.

It might not get you swimsuit ready or whatever, but it will improve quality of life down the road.

Best of luck. Dftba.

[cleodello]

What about long term weight loss?

(Honestly, who actually cares about the short term diets?)

[zizkazenit]

Someone tell the intern to fill the big pill with gumballs again.

[LauranHazan]

Dr. Carroll, of everyone who tells stuff I don’t want to hear, you are my absolute favorite!! 🤗

[LarlemMagic]

How to diet. Don't buy shit food. When you leave the house don't bring money so you cant buy snacks or go out to eat. Learn to cook

[MayfieldReynolds]

Great show, Aaron! I think the biggest takeaway is that the best diet is the one you keep. This applies in many situations where one must choose between several good things.

[dafoxman]

New health information keeps getting updated and Healthcare Triage brings it to you with relevant data. You have to forget about so much that you learned throughout life and rethink it. This is healthcare broken down with science.

[glennthorn]

The most sensible information I have ever listened to

[Chugosh]

Whatever the diet, having a social base to help is gold.  If you are a food addict, using food as a drug to take away the feels, then getting into a 12 step group is an option, to get at the roots of why you eat, and then simultaneously eating better and losing (or gaining) weight to a right size body. Such groups are also often free.

[feroxlara]

Your ending statements are the things people need to pay attention to.

[nealleffler]

The most effective diet that I have ever uses was what I refer to as "The Poverty Diet".
I was too poor to afford the foods I was use too. I could no longer afford eating out or even pre-packaged foods any longer. I was forced to buy fresh ingredients and cook my own meals at home. In addition, I found that I had to reduce my portion sizes to make the food last until I could afford to go to the store again. I also had to limit my intake of surgery foods and drinks because they where more expensive.
I ended up losing 25-30 lbs and keeping it off for more than a year.

[LordMarcus]

Dr. Carroll, I'd like to see a report on bariatric surgeries.  I'm considering gastric bypass in the next 4 months; it has come highly recommended by my PCP, rheumatologist, cardiologist, and neurologist (I have a battery of co-existing issues).  Currently I consume roughly 3500 calories daily (no sugary drinks), and weigh 407 pounds.  I've met multiple gastric bypass patients who all express tremendous happiness at the results of their surgery, and one person who didn't.  Most of these patients though seem to be in the <=5 year range post-op, with only one at 9 years post-op, so I feel like the super-long-term efficacy of the surgery isn't well explored.  If you were to cover the knowledge we have about bariatric surgery and short- and long-term outcomes, I would certainly enjoy that show and I think many others would, as well.

[JMulvy]

Wow, very informative way to break the stigma and stereotypes of the various diets! Thank you.

[kuhmpashun]

Reading through some of these comments just reinforces to me that people have a lot to learn about losing weight, fat, diets, exercise, metabolism, obesity and it's consequences.

I am a physician assistant. I work in both internal medicine and bariatric medicine. The simplicity of "calories in vs calories out" is misleading. However, it is not completely wrong. It is a piece of the puzzle, but it certainly isn't the whole puzzle. Here I have to clarify that much of weight loss that I am referring to is for those with obesity and/or morbid obesity. If you really want to learn more about all of these aspects, look up the term adiposopathy or sick fat disease.

The body is a very complex system, and the fat in your body is not necessarily as dormant as we once thought. The white fat (the fat in your abdomen) can become metabolically active, and produce hormones that not only increase appetite and cravings, but can increase the rate at which your body stores fat. There is a reason why people who are obese or morbidly obese have had successes over time with losing weight, but ultimately tend to regain it back, if not more.

Without going into a very lengthy post. The bottom line here is, when you look at someone who is obese, do not assume it is because that are a glutton or a sloth. It simply is not true for most. There has been a fair amount of research into this area in the last 10 years. It will take time, but the tides will shift some as people become more educated.

I did enjoy his leaving remarks. It really is true that there is no magic diet. The diet that works best for you is one you can adhere to without losing your mind. In the long term, this will be the most beneficial to you.

[feitocomfruta]

There is one diet that I was curious to hear about that wasn't included in the meta-analysis: the Mediterrainian Diet. What would it be classified as? What are some of the results from other studies on it?

RE: long term dieting - Once you hit your goal weight, you need to then consider modifying your diet to be more of a maintenance based plan. Up your calories ONLY AS MUCH as your activity level will allow you to do (calories in/calories out). That's likely the reason a lot of these dieters gain weight after they go off these diets after hitting their goal weight: they think they can go back to what they were eating before the diet and keep the weight off.