Prepackaged Diets

There is no doubt that prepackaged diets work.  The fact is, most diet plans work if you follow them strictly.  I lost 45 pounds by purchasing and using prepackaged diets but I was not able to maintain my weight loss for more than 2 years.

What Are Prepackaged Diets?

We are talking Jenny Craig, Nutrasystem, etc.  You usually see a formerly fat B list celeb or retired jock hocking them on your TV set and if you buy one you will either go in and pick up all of your prepackaged food on a weekly basis and weigh in or in some cases you will receive your food from a package delivery company like UPS.

What Is The Main Advantages Of Prepackaged Diets?

The chief advantage of prepackaged diets is what I call their no-brainer approach to dieting.  You just open the box and eat what's inside and repeat that for meal after meal until you reach your target weight or go broke depending on which happens first. Barring any forays off the reservation you will lose weight without any effort put into figuring out why you got overweight, how nutrition impacts your body, how you will maintain your weight loss, or any executive functioning of your brain at all. Like a train on a track you have only one way to go.

What Is The Main Disadvantage Of Prepackaged Diets?

It is a toss up between the cost of the diet and the lack of involvement in your own weight loss, but I think I will go with involvement.  Most of these celebs that pitch these prepackaged diets are not around a year or two later to tout how well they have maintained their fat loss. I am not sure if this is because their contract expired or their fat loss expired, but if you contrast that with Jared of Subway fame, Jared wins hands down.  I think it is because he had to think about nutrition, research the food he was going to eat and then make the hard choices. He owned his own weight loss which is something that prepackaged diets make pretty easy not to do.

Alternative To Prepackaged Diets

There are quite a few alternatives to prepackaged diets.  You could go to your grocery store's frozen food section and buy your own packaged healthy foods.  You'd be getting the same benefits for a lot less money.  You could also find diet plans that assist you in planning your diet menu and providing you with support forums where you can learn and share with others.  This is the way I finally lost my weight and kept it off.  The point is, don't just stop after you read this article take action and find a plan that will teach you about nutrition and help you adjust your lifestyle enough to take off the weight for good.

1. Prev:Managing Your Calories and Health Takes Strong Leadership
2. Next:Here's Some Foods To Avoid When Trying To Lose Weight