Online Diet Programs Reviews and Prices

Nutrisystem Review: Online Diet ProgramsGo to Site | Back to Chart

Nutrisystem's plan focuses on the Glycemic Index, using a mix of proteins and slowly-digested carbs to stabilize your blood sugar, which helps you avoid cravings and encourages weight loss. It combines the convenience of prepackaged foods, including a wide variety of breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack and dessert options, with fresh produce and dairy from your local grocer.

The diet comes with a meal planner which outlines your five meals a day, seven days a week. The diet has various programs designed specifically for men, women, seniors, diabetics and vegetarians. In a recent study, Nutrisystem's program for diabetics was shown to help those with type 2 diabetes lose weight, lower blood sugar, cholesterol and A1C, and control their diabetes. Nutrisystem says its plan is not appropriate for nursing mothers.

All of Nutrisystem's foods can be stored at room temperature and prepared easily. During signup you select one of their offerings which include vegetarian, diabetic and silver for both men and women. They can also cater your meal plan to a specific need, such as a food allergy or dairy intolerance.

Nutrisystem offers strong online and phone support, freeing you from meetings and weekly group weigh-ins. Their website also offers motivational messages, a newsletter, online classes, bulletin boards and chatrooms, along with weight loss and fitness diaries. The site is easy to access and navigate, and can be used without purchasing any Nutrisystem meals, although without the meals you won't be able use the pre-calculated food diary tool. Instead you'll have to manually enter every item you eat.

The Nutrisystem plan includes Mindset Makeover, a free online guide that completes the Nutrisystem offering. Mindset Makeover is intended to help participants lose the weight and keep it off. It's a guided, interactive, 12 week program that teaches users core skills and walks them through how to use them. Mindset Makeover is actually fun to use and features a slick interface with videos, quizzes, tools and downloads.

Overall, Nutrisystem is an excellent program that encourages a healthy attitude about your body while providing an easy to follow program for busy people.

NextAdvisor.com is a paid affiliate of Nutrisystem, Inc.

Jenny Craig Review: Online Diet ProgramsGo to Site | Back to Chart

[Editors Note: NextAdvisor.com has an exclusive, limited time "20 pounds for $20" discount with Jenny Craig. There is no coupon associated with this offer, simply click the Jenny Craig link on NextAdvisor.com to take advantage of it.]

Jenny Craig differs from the other diet services reviewed on NextAdvisor.com by emphasizing personalized consultations and face to face support. While most other meal delivery diet programs focus primarily on the food itself, perhaps also offering various tools and resources to help you reach your diet goals, Jenny Craig places equal focus on food, body and mind.

First, you will meet privately with a consultant at one of over 650 local Jenny Craig centers for a discussion of your current lifestyle and weight loss goals, as well as an initial weigh-in. Your consultant will work with you to customize the most effective plan to help you reach your goals. If you prefer more privacy and convenience, you can choose the Jenny Direct program and speak to your consultant over the phone.

Each week, you will return to your local Jenny Craig center to meet with your consultant, who will help motivate you, overcome challenges and track your progress. You will also pick up your Jenny Cuisine meals at these meetings. You'll purchase a one week supply of meals at a time, with no ongoing obligation. If you choose the Jenny Direct option, you will have weekly phone support from your consultant, and your Jenny's Cuisine meals will be shipped to you via FedEx every two or four weeks, depending on your preference. If you do choose the Jenny Direct program, there will be a shipping fee. Initially, your diet will consist of three Jenny's Cuisine meals and one snack every day, plus your own groceries, such as fresh fruit and vegetables. You can customize your weekly menus based on your preferences.

Your consultant will help you develop a personalized, staged approach to physical fitness, as well, consisting of a combination of natural, everyday activities, playful activities and planned exercise. Your physical fitness plan will intensify as you work toward your weight loss goals, in order to help you burn more calories.

As you progress through the program, your consultant will help you learn to create your own menus and meals, and you will eventually begin to gradually integrate your own meals into your diet. Your consultant will also help you learn to make healthy choices at restaurants. By the time you have reached your goal weight, you'll have developed a better relationship with food and learned to plan and prepare your own balanced meals. You can then transition to maintenance support, which will help you sustain your new, healthier lifestyle. You will still have access to online support to help keep you on track.

If you are looking for a comprehensive support system to help you establish a healthier lifestyle overall, Jenny Craig may be perfect for you.

eDiets Fresh Prepared Review: Online Diet ProgramsGo to Site | Back to Chart

Fresh Prepared, a food delivery plan from eDiets, is designed for those well-intentioned individuals who want to eat healthy and nutritious meals, but who simply don't have the time to plan and prepare an elaborate breakfast, lunch and dinner each day. Fresh Prepared offers customers a choice of two different plans. The seven day complete program includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack or dessert every day, and is recommended for those who are serious about weight loss and prefer as much structure and convenience as possible. The five day 'weekends free' program, which only provides meals on weekdays, is more flexible and is intended for weight maintenance.

Rather than emphasizing a particular diet with restrictions and rules, Fresh Prepared focuses on supplying nutritious, gourmet meals in sensible portion sizes. Just sign in to your account and custom design your menu for the week. The meals you select will be freshly prepared to order, packed in Stay Fresh refrigerated coolers and delivered to you via FedEx. All you have to do is heat and eat your chef-prepared, personalized meals. Epicurious.com named Fresh Prepared as its top pick among diet delivery services, highlighting the many tasty meal options. When you sign up for Fresh Prepared, you also get access to the many other resources at eDiets.com, including support and motivation at community message boards, live support from registered dietitians and certified fitness trainers, a personalized fitness plan and health and fitness news, tips and motivating challenges.

If you are a picky eater or have specific dietary needs due to allergies or diabetes, this plan may not be right for you. But this program is ideal for people who prefer healthy, sensible, well-proportioned meals rather than a strict diet. Many consumers will appreciate the ease and convenience of having every meal freshly prepared and delivered to their door. For $19.95 a day, Fresh Prepared serves a fresh, chef-prepared, great tasting breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack or dessert to your front door, plus a variety of other resources designed to help you eat well, exercise effectively and lose weight.

Medifast Review: Online Diet ProgramsGo to Site | Back to Chart

[Editor's Note: Medifast is offering a $50 discount on purchases of $275 and more to NextAdvisor.com readers. To take advantage of this exclusive $50 discount on Medifast, simply enter the promo code JULY31G when prompted during checkout.]

Medifast offers a meal delivery program that is considerably more rigorous than most of the other programs reviewed by NextAdvisor.com. Medifast is focused on helping those who are obese or seriously overweight improve their health.

All Medifast meal packages are based on their 5 & 1 plan, which means that you eat five prepackaged Medifast meals and one 'lean and green meal,' which should consist of lean meat plus salad or vegetables. Your 'lean and green meal' adds some flexibility to this diet plan, since you can prepare it yourself or eat at a restaurant. The five Medifast meals are not actually full meals comparable to those offered by other meal delivery services.

Meal options include shakes and other beverages, soups, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, puddings and bars. Many of these items come in powder packets that you mix with water and microwave or refrigerate. Meals are formulated with low-fat protein and fiber and fortified with vitamins and nutrients.

Dieters using the Medifast 5 & 1 plan eat once every two to three hours, for a total of six small meals each day. The Medifast 5 & 1 plan promotes rapid weight loss by restricting dieters' daily calorie intake to between 800 and 1000. For this reason, customers who already have an exercise program in place are advised to cut their routine in half for the first couple of weeks, and customers who do not already exercise should wait two to three weeks before beginning an exercise program. Once you have reached your weight loss goals with the 5 & 1 plan, the Medifast Transition, Maintenance and Exercise plans are designed to help you maintain your weight loss.

A four week supply of Medifast meals costs $299.50, plus shipping and handling, which varies depending on your location and the weight of the package. A two week supply is $154.50. Customers ordering the four week package receive 50% off the cost of shipping, plus 3 extra meals and a shaker jar, used for mixing powdered meals with water.

These meal packages are not customizable, but individual meals and snacks are available for purchase from the Medifast website. Medifast also offers a meal package specifically designed for those with type 2 diabetes, which is available for the same prices. Enhanced packages are available, which include Super Omega-3, a nutritional supplement that promises to boost your weight-loss program, for an additional $28. The Momentum packages, which cost $169.50 for a 28 day supply or $353.50 for a 60 day supply, include flavor infusers meant to be added to water, as well as liquid Medifast meals. These products contain caffeine and green tea antioxidant EGCG, and promise to help dieters burn calories more efficiently, break through a weight loss plateau and maintain a new, healthier weight. They are designed to complement the Medifast 5 & 1 plan, with the liquid meals replacing normal Medifast meals and the flavor infusers used in addition to the normal 6 meals per day. Customers are advised to consume up to three Momentum products daily.

Medifast is an intense diet plan designed to promote rapid, significant weight loss and improved health. Because this plan works, in part, by drastically reducing calorie intake, people with unique caloric requirements or health conditions should check with their doctors before beginning the Medifast 5 & 1 diet.

Diet-to-go Review: Online Diet ProgramsGo to Site | Back to Chart

[Editor's Note: Diet-to-go is offering a $25 discount on your first full meal plan purchase. To take advantage of this exclusive $25 discount on Diet-to-go, simply enter the promo code HH1109 when prompted during checkout.]

Diet-to-go provides a three meal per day plan for those seeking low fat, low carb, or vegetarian diets. You can choose from a full plan (all three meals delivered, seven days a week), lunch and dinner (two meals delivered, seven days a week), or an action plan (two meals per day, five days per week). They also offer between-meal snacks on their website. The meal plan is created by a counselor when you start the plan, based on your nutritional needs and preferences.

Diet-to-go has physical locations in Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and San Francisco for pick-up, but you can have your meals shipped to you anywhere in the US. (Demonstrations and food sampling are also available at the pick-up locations.) The meals follow the guidelines from the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association and the American Dietetic Association.

Their website has an 'Ask the Dietitian' feature where you can e-mail your questions to their resident dietitian for answers. They also offer various tools like a BMI calculator (to tell you your current body mass index) and a diet analysis (to help you decide which Diet-to-go plan is best for you). For support, the website offers a community bulletin board which can be accessed by anyone, regardless if they are on the plan or not. In addition to the delivered meals, Diet-to-go sells a variety of prepackaged snacks through the website.

Diet-to-go seems to lack in an exercise component as well as strong support in weight loss, but it does offer convenient, fresh and healthy foods as compared to prepackaged foods plans. It is important to read the fine print on this diet (as well as any meal delivery plan), as the plan will auto-bill your credit card for the duration of your diet contract.

Bistro MD Review: Online Diet ProgramsGo to Site | Back to Chart

Bistro MD is the brainchild of Dr. Cederquist, a bariatric physician specializing in weight loss. The program was initially used at the Florida Wellness Center and went nationwide back in 2005. Dr. Phil has given Bistro MD his stamp of approval, and they are the official meal provider of the popular TV show "The Biggest Loser". They have also won Health Magazine's "best diet support" award due to their on-staff dieticians.

With Bistro MD there is no calorie counting or point calculation, they do all the work for you. Fully cooked meals are delivered to your doorstep via Fed Ex, all you need to do is heat the vacuum sealed pouches up in the microwave and put them on a plate. Customers give generally positive reviews for the amount of food they receive, the quality and taste, and Bistro MD states that all their meals are made from the "finest raw ingredients".

There are four different meal plans available - two for a full 7 days worth of food and two for a 5 day "work week" type of plan. You can choose whether you'd like snacks included in your shipment or not. The 7 day plan is a little misleading, as it doesn't include dinner on one of the 7 nights. This is part of their philosophy that having a "my night" where you can choose to eat what you want will encourage you to stick with the plan, but should be called out a little better on their website in case you think you're getting 7 dinners a week. The 5 day plan does include 5 dinners, due to the fact dieters have 2 days where they can eat what they want.

If you're the type of person who likes some flexibility and are too busy during the week to make healthy meals, the 5 day plan will probably be your preference. If you don't want to think or worry about cooking any meals, the 7 day plan is more likely to be your cup of tea.

Bistro MD is the priciest of all the meal delivery plans we've reviewed, with costs ranging from $130 to $180 per week, depending upon the plan you select. The most expensive plan includes 7 days worth of meals and snacks. The most frugal is the 5 day, no snack option. If price point is an issue, this will definitely be a consideration.

Bistro MD provides approximately 1,200 calories per day for their complete plan (which includes snacks). However, the calories count will vary between 1,200 and 1,400 calories a day. They state this is to ensure your body doesn't get used to a set daily calorie count and thereby incur a weight loss plateau. The theory is that the variable daily calorie count will enhance your ability to lose weight.

The meals are not as flexible or personalized as other meal delivery plans we've reviewed, but they do make some allowances. Men and women receive the same meals, but Bistro MD recommends that men (and active/tall women) add a third protein snack and one serving of fruit every day to bring their total calories count up to 1,500 per day. You can either buy the extra serving from them, or provide it yourself. If you chose to purchase the protein snack from Bistro MD, you'll need to add another $2 per day to your total cost.

Bistro MD was originally designed with diabetic (and pre-diabetic) people in mind, so it's appropriate for diabetics. They also will work with clients who have food restrictions due to preferences or allergies, and have a low sodium menu for clients watching their salt intake. Outside of that, what they offer is what you get. They don't offer vegetarian meals or other speciality plans. However, they are known for providing portions that are on the large size, so you shouldn't be lacking in food.

When you sign up for Bistro MD, you receive access to a registered dietician, which is nice, although it will probably be more helpful for those on the 5 day plan rather than the 7 day plan. But if you're looking for an exercise plan or fitness advice, you'll need to look elsewhere. Bistro MD focuses strictly on meal delivery and doesn't provide this service. Their website states their position on the matter - in the battle between diet and exercise, they believe diet is more important.

Overall, Bistro MD is a healthy way to lose weight and has the added bonus of being developed by an actual medical doctor who specializes in weight loss. However, they are on the pricey side, and don't provide extras like a fitness specialist or online chat room where you can get support from other members. For those who are just looking for a solid diet plan without the bells and whistles, and like the idea full meals being delivered to you, this is a solid pick.