You missed one.  Medifast.  Cost me $288/month and I lost 85 pounds in a year.

I can see the value of these foodservices for people who are overweight and challenged in the kitchen. To be true permanent weight loss though, a lifestyle change is needed. People with little or no self control when it comes to food have to learn better eating habits and exercise more often because the body adapts to routine in diet and exercise. This highlights a weakness in following these programs all seven days a week and/or doing the same workout day in and out. Your body will get used to operating on low calories/fat/carbs, et cetera or the same workout routine and you'll notice immediate weight gain and the plateau effect in terms of your fitness progression with your workouts.

An efficient body in terms of metabolism= stores of fat. Our boidies do this to store extra energy for when there is something cataclsymic like a famine. In this country, this day and age this is clearly not needed. To keep your metabolism high (as inefficient) as possible, you have to keep it guessing. So scrap the 7 day a week diet and reserve one day a week where you are a little more lax. It doesn't mean you can eat anything you want, but a couple things here or there that would be breaking the diet during the week will help keep those pounds dropping. Everyone's a little different and what works for someone won't do it for another but this is universal-just like you only lose weight by eating less calories/fat/carbs than your body burns.

As for the argument that one is too busy to get in shape, you can get a fat shredding workout in 30 minutes or less. I do a lot of the crossfit workouts on my own, and one of my favorite (and most challenging) workouts is only 17 minutes! Go to to crossfit.com to get ideas or if you need structure join one of the gyms in your area. These workouts are high intensity but if you are a newbie or just starting out, the wod's (workout of the day) are scaleable and will change your life. Chances are you'll have to scale them if you are just starting out, even if you think you're in shape lol.

So put down the cupcake and join me at the gym or don't. Outside of people with legitimate physical difficulties like parapalegics or quadrapalegics or people with legitimate glandular issues- I have no sympathy for feel bad for me stories about weight issues in the media. So if you have control of your limbs and don't have any glandular issues-don't seek any sympathy from this guy. Last year a 76 year old nun from Spokane,WA and an 80 year old man completed the 140.6 mile Ironman triathlon in Kona (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride & 26.2 mile run) & yet 65 % of american adults are overweight and 31% are obese... Seems to me like being losing weight and overall health is not important to the majority of America, not to mention what people would be forced to pay in taxes if there was nationalized health care with these growing obesity rates and the resultant health problems.