People look at ways to lose weight through exercise, calorie counting, and other methods but I was curious to see what other options I had so I asked some healthcare professionals for their opinion on commercial weight loss programs. What I discovered was that the University of Pennsylvania did a study of some of the programs typically paid for. One of the researchers said this type of study was motivated from the rising problem of obesity that we see in the United States.
The study looked at results from several programs, as compared to the cost of attending meetings and buying products for those programs. Among the non-medical commercial programs, the researchers found Weight Watchers had the best results for the lowest cost. However, some of the other big name programs had no scientific evidence of success, while costing significantly more.
The medically supervised plans had better results, at least in percent of weight lost by those staying with the plan. Now, costs seemed to be higher by quite a bit but most of these programs included medical care and group counseling, which accounted for some of the cost. The researchers found these medically supervised programs to be a popular alternative for people needing to lose weight but also those with hypertension or diabetes.
One fact that I found disturbing was that with the majority of programs, people not only gained weight back within one to two years, but as much as 50%, gained more than they originally started trying to lose. The bottom line is that the research showed little scientific evidence for use of weight loss plans being touted on the Internet. Instead, it goes back to lifestyle change, learning to eat healthy foods in moderation.